Is the comment section the most underrated tool in social listening?

Comment sections used to be an afterthought. Now they shape how content spreads, how brands are perceived, and what actually sticks online.

In this episode, I’m joined by Brett Dashevsky, co-founder of Siftsy, to get into how comment sections have evolved into one of the most influential (and chaotic) signals on the internet. We break down how reactions, memes, and tone in the comments can drive perception in real time — and why most brands still don’t know how to read what’s actually being said.

We also get into the challenge of analyzing sentiment at scale, and how tools like Siftsy are trying to make sense of it.

Highlights:
(00:00) Meet Brett Dashevsky
(01:18) The Siftsy origin story
(08:17) What brands don’t know about the comment section
(11:57) Why comments aren’t just “positive” or “negative”
(14:38) Decoding memes, emojis, and pictures in the comments
(16:51) The comment section as a community
(20:00) What BookTok’s comment sections reveal
(22:14) Who runs the comments? The audience
(24:17) Showing up with intention in the comments

Resources:

Hear more from Brianna in the Stop the Scroll Newsletter: https://briannadoe.substack.com/

Brianna’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianna-doe/ 

Brett’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettdash/
Discover Siftsy: getsiftsy.com

Check out Creator Economy NYC: https://creatoreconomynyc.com/