It's day 51 according to CNN and with all the coverage on the BP gulf-spill it has become impossible to not consider the magnitude of this catastrophe. I struggled with the idea of posting on a topic which is taking a significant environmental and emotional toll, but it's one that had me thinking about sharing two hot button topics - online reputations and auto-sentiment.

This discovery started back in April when I tweeted about auto-sentiment, and joked how saying sorry seemed to imply a degree of reputational liability:

The link in the tweet was referencing how a number of tweets which included the word "sorry" were automatically flagged negative using Twitter Sentiment's search tool.

I referred to it in a joking manner then, and in the past I have certainly made my views and opinions known on the role of forgiveness in social media. No doubt that there certainly has been enough coverage on the accuracy of auto-sentiment or lack of the same - with the more extreme views calling for a complete overhaul.

But the question then still rings true now: isn't auto-sentiment human assisted and directed algorithmic reputational scoring anyway?

Sadly, it seems to have taken a "BP gulf spill" to Fonz-smack the auto-sentiment jukebox:

I've always believed silence being far more damaging than openly admitting you made a mistake. With BP's "media management" or lack of accepting blame in this catastrophic event, perhaps we find the previously sinking accuracy of auto-sentiment turning the tide with spot-on timeliness.

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