This empirical thesis analyses the impact of sentiments in online media
on consumers, businesses, and society as a whole, and how knowledge of
these correlations can be used in a variety of applications. The results
show that the sentiment data can be employed in a variety of ways,
functioning as an interesting new explanatory variable to complement and
approximate survey data in areas such as tourism demand, consumer
confidence, and many more. In particular, the cross-country sentiment
analysis reveals compelling information on media biases, the reporting
on alternative truths, and countries as a filter bubble. In addition to
quantitative comparisons, the descriptive statistics reveal important
information on the sentiment developments across countries. While this
research is able to provide interesting findings for real-world
applications for consumers, businesses, and society, the awareness of a
media landscape that is heavily and increasingly dominated by negative
news is particularly striking. Thus, in addition to the actual
applications, above all, the thesis shows the media landscape in which
everyone must act in the future.