Tribeonomics Inc. is trying to combat a problem posed by anonymity on the internet.

Companies and governments are often battered across the social media spectrum because a nameless, faceless online mob opposes what they are trying to do.  And John Doubt, the co-founder and President of Tribeonomics, says his company’s technology can help to analyze that cyber-gang to produce a deeper understanding of its members.

“If there was some knowledge of who those people were, maybe we could help mitigate the damage,” Doubt said Tuesday night in his pitch at the Launch36 Demo Day. It was the second time in a few months I had heard his pitch, as Tribeonomics also went through the McKenzie Accelerator, so Doubt presented at the McKenzie Angels Den in the spring.

Moncton-based Tribeonomics distinguishes itself from other social media analytics tools, which mainly help a company to promote its brand or understand the public reaction to it. What Tribeonomics does is assemble a mass of online postings representing a position on a certain issue, then divide the people writing those comments into various communities.

“Nobody’s looking at the community and how they define themselves,” said Doubt. “There’s a huge volume of data but the quality of that data is suspect. We’ll fix that.”

As an example, Doubt revealed the work Tribeonomics has done on people opposing the shale gas industry online. He and his team examined other social media posts by the same people and were able to categorize them in various communities. Some of the major segments were environmentalists, culture advocates and anarchists. It would be futile to prepare a message for anarchists, but the knowledge that environmentalists and culture advocate oppose fracking would allow proponents of the industry to word their promotional campaign in terms that can appeal to these communities.

``By knowing what they are interested in, you know how to talk to them,’’ Doubt said.

So far, Doubt and his partners have developed the first algorithm for the system and are in the process of developing the second. They have assembled a universe of 5,000 U.S. companies with more than 50 employees and $20 million in annual revenues, and these will be Tribeonomics’ target clients. These companies would all have analysts on their payroll, and Tribeonomics would make these analysts more efficient, said Doubt.

The company’s goal is to sell 500 licences to its software by the end of Year 2, which mean it would break even for that year.

Doubt has spun Tribeonomics out of his previous venture, Mindmeld Multimedia Inc., which has invested $150,000 into the company. He is seeking a further $250,000, which together with government programs like Irap and SR&ED will cover the costs of software development.

Editor's Note: This is the second of several articles on the companies that presented the Launch36 Demo Day hosted by Propel ICT in Moncton on June 26.