The social media research agency today launched EvoPlay to encourage brand owners to explore the type of data available to them via the web.

Co-founder Tessie Ting said “there is still a lot of reluctance” to the idea of using data from blogs, forums and social networks – what the company refers to as “social media data” – in place of the more traditional market research data sets.

The EvoPlay website is “consumer-facing,” she says, “but at the same time it is for companies”.

“They get a chance to have a look at the data and get a feel for it,” says Ting. “The scientific principles of social media research can be intimidating, but this tool helps people see it in a more basic form by creating an engaging experience.”

EvoPlay presents social media data on a variety of topics in the form of speech bubbles, marked as either positive or negative and placed between concentric circles. Each circle represents a different day, so users can explore how online opinions shift over time.

The sample data used on the website is sourced from Conversition’s social media analysis and reporting platform, Evolisten.