The joint approach is being rolled out in the US first and is designed to integrate social media and online discussion into the brand tracking programmes many companies already use to monitor their in-market performance.

Cymfony’s Natasha Stevens (pictured) said: “Clients have access to many different online listening tools. But today’s challenge is not access, it’s understanding – understanding of how to determine what’s important and how to best integrate social media insights with other forms of existing research.”