What is Social Intelligence?
Social intelligence is the practice of using online data to understand what audiences do, follow, and engage with — not just what they say. It includes several branches, one of which is social listening — capturing conversations and sentiment from those who post, comment, or use specific keywords. I use this approach primarily in my trends and foresight work, where identifying shifts in language and sentiment can provide early signals of cultural change.
But most of my work focuses on a different branch: behavioural and interest-based social intelligence. This newer approach analyses what people actually do online — the accounts they follow, the brands they engage with, and the content they spend time with — giving a much fuller picture that includes the often-overlooked silent majority.
It’s a powerful way to:
Identify stretch audiences — those you're not reaching yet, but could be
Understand where people spend attention and why
Spot opportunities for partnerships, growth, and sharper positioning
Map the lives of a target audience at scale — with huge detail and clarity
To give you a sense of the level of insight: I can identify where an audience over-indexes across more than 6,000 lines of data — from whether they’re more likely to be vegan or visit galleries, to which coffee brands they prefer, where they’re likely to do their weekly shop, which streaming services they subscribe to, and even which local authority they live in. It also covers genres they read, personalities or public figures they follow, their attitudes, hobbies, and the art forms they enjoy — offering a rich, nuanced view of how they think, live, and consume culture.
Unlike traditional audience research, which often relies on self-reported data or small-scale surveys, this method draws on large-scale behavioural datasets — revealing real patterns in real-time.
You don’t need to have access to CRM data or a social following. In most cases, I can define and explore your audience using public interest data — without relying on first-party data at all. That said, when a project calls for it, I can layer in CRM or owned social data to add nuance, context, or support a specific business case. I'm also experienced in more traditional research methods. Where it makes sense to combine or compare sources — including industry reports, sales data, survey data or CRM insights — I’ll bring those into the mix.
Unlike sales or industry data, this approach enables us to look beyond those already engaged — reaching people who are more passive, less frequently involved, or have never interacted but may do so in the future. This is especially important when it comes to identifying growth opportunities.
In every case, I start from the business question: what are you trying to learn, solve, or unlock? From there, I map the most relevant and available data — and work back to design a project that delivers useful, actionable insights.
If you're curious about how this works in practice, the best place to start is with your key audience question. From there, I can help define the most relevant dataset — and shape a project that brings your audience into focus.