Sentiment Attribution Engine: Know Exactly Why Your Reputation Changed
Sentiment Attribution shows which forums, topics, author groups, and time periods drove a reputation shift so teams can act on the real cause.
Know the cause, not just the change
A sentiment drop is only half the story. This engine is built for the next question: what actually caused the movement, and where should the team look first?
Net sentiment shift
-15%
current-period change versus the prior comparison window
Top source
Rollitup
responsible for 60% of the total decline
Top issue
LED drivers
topic cluster driving 25% of the negative change
Positive offset
+0.02
THCFarmer partially counteracting the drop
Four ways to find the why
Attribution works because it lets you decompose the same shift from multiple angles instead of forcing every problem into one view.
Forums
Which communities moved the score
See whether the change came from one forum, several communities, or a spread that signals a wider reputation shift.
Topics
Which issues carried weight
Break sentiment change down by subject so you can tell whether product quality, support, shipping, or some other topic is driving it.
Author cohorts
Which audiences reacted
Separate new growers, returning voices, and high-volume posters so you know whose opinion is actually moving the brand.
Timeline
When the shift happened
Follow the curve over time to see whether the change arrived suddenly or built gradually across the reporting window.
What appears on the page
The analysis flow is designed to move from headline movement to supporting detail quickly, so you can stop at the top factor or keep drilling as needed.
Period comparison
The page starts by comparing current and previous sentiment so you can see the size of the move before reading any explanation.
Contribution view
Each segment gets a contribution score showing how much it pushed sentiment up or down rather than just how often it appeared.
Top factors
The three biggest drivers are surfaced in plain language so you do not need to interpret the whole table before acting.
Drilldown table
A sortable detail layer shows contribution share, volume context, and segment performance so the explanation stays defensible.
Evidence context
Post counts and linked source views keep the analysis tied to real conversation instead of turning attribution into a black box.
How to work the breakdown
The best use of attribution is disciplined and quick: find the biggest contributor, validate it, then move to the underlying evidence.
01
Compare the current period against the previous one so the overall shift is explicit.
02
Switch between forums, topics, author cohorts, and timeline to see which dimension explains the movement best.
03
Read the top drivers and drilldown rows to find the specific segment pulling the score up or down.
04
Jump into Mentions or related dashboards to validate the explanation and decide what action comes next.
How teams use it day to day
Attribution is most useful when it shortens the path from “something changed” to “here is the exact thread, topic, or audience we need to examine.”
When sentiment drops
When sentiment improves
Open Analytics
Sentiment Attribution is available on the Analytics page when there is enough comparison data to support a real reading. If the sample is too thin, VueLeaf tells you that directly instead of pretending certainty.