Wonkosphere is a new presidential campaign tracker buzz tool that  "promises to provide some relief to political junkies by providing them with a quick summary of what the hottest buzz is among hundreds of politically-oriented blogs. It uses a proprietary text-analysis technology to sift through the mountains of words to weigh what blog authors are discussing, and is updated every four hours", according to Wired Magazine.

"…Wonkosphere employs Chandler, Ariz.-based Crawdad Technologies' Listening Post technology. The private sector uses the software to monitor consumer buzz about their products in the blogosphere and across social media. The site's creators are ASU professors Steve Corman and Kevin Dooley. "

I'm actually interested in the Listening Post Technology more than the Presidential Tracking Application - but even there, I like the segmentation that's been set up with Republican, Democratic and Independent threads.

Here's the Listening Post FAQ:

LISTENING POST FAQ

 

 

Q: How does Crawdad Listening Post™ work?

 

A: The Crawdad Listening Post™ listens to blogs, social networks, web sites, discussion boards, news media, and periodicals to tell you how your brand is being talked about.  We can also track your competitors’ brands for you.

 

 

Q: How is Crawdad different?

 

A: Crawdad does more than just find mentions of your brand—we analyze brand conversations using patented natural language technology which measures both the content and sentiment of customer comments.  These analytics are then presented in a Listening Post™ that you can access via the Internet.

 

 

Q: Why can’t I just have someone read all of it?

 

A: Because it takes too much time, costs too much money, and yields results that are potentially biased and incomplete.  With Listening Post™ on their desktop, your managers and analysts can highlight and focus on the most important buzz, and detect emergent threats and opportunities.

 

 

Q: How long does it take to start-up a Listening Post™?

 

A: All we need to know is what you’re interested in tracking, and we can have your Listening Post™ up and available to you within 24 hours.  We can also design customized interfaces, metrics, and analytical functions for you.

 

 

Q: How do I access my Listening Post™?

 

A: Once set up, anyone in your company can sign-on to a password protected web site where your Listening Post resides.  Crawdad can set up a Listening Post™ to be updated weekly, daily, or even hourly.

I'd think this technology could be added to Second Life and other 3D Virtual World Buzz Monitoring and it's vary reasonable in price - here's the brochure - http://www.crawdadtech.com/lpbrochure.pdf

I would be very interested in testing out the Crawdadtech Listening Post.