Big-name companies increasingly recognize the importance of discussions about their products on social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. But keeping track of so many conversations in real-time is a daunting challenge.

A startup called Viralheat, based in San Jose, CA, has launched an analytics package designed to allow in-depth analysis of the tenor of this back and forth. The company hopes its software will help its clients sort through the often overwhelming amount of available data from the social Web.

Viralheat monitors tweets, blog posts, video uploads, discussion on Facebook pages, and other social data sources. A user can be quite specific about what she wants to monitor--for example, focusing on discussions about the movie "Avatar" that take place outside the United States. The tool collects data that fits the bill and lets customers view them individually or as graphs that show broader trends.

The software also tries to identify the mood of a conversation, and to figure out who the main influencers are. To do this, Viralheat uses natural language processing techniques and a set of proprietary algorithms that tag posts as either "positive" or "negative" in tone.

The company offers several levels of pricing, ranging from $9.99 per month for the individual plan to $89.99 per month for the plan intended for large companies. The basic plan allows a user to monitor up to 10 profiles, while the premium plans add features, such as access to the API.

Viralheat already counts Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Nokia among its customers.
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