I doubt Twitter will ever do this mostly because of the scale of the problem and because I don't see why they would release it as a product for free (even if they came up with something solid).
They bought Bluefin (biggest acquisition pre-IPO) which did a ton of really great sentiment analysis. They ended up shelving Bluefin's product (which was targets at brands and TV networks), because they'd already signed a deal with Nielsen. A shame too. Bluefin's data was amazing. And they had lots of paying customers.
It could be a very easy add-on play for big users, but Twitter hasn't historically wanted to be in the services business.
> I don't see why they would release it as a product for free (even if they came up with something solid)
Brand perception is huge thing! Twitter can heavily push brands towards improving the positive sentiment by promoted & recommended campaigns. Giving a Free tool to Tweeps is a great way for lead generation and getting people bought into sponsored tweets, hashtags etc.
I doubt Twitter will ever do this mostly because of the scale of the problem and because I don't see why they would release it as a product for free (even if they came up with something solid).