Click to enlarge. Source: Crimson Hexagon
FORTUNE — Here’s one way to measure the reaction of the public — as opposed to the press or the Street — to Apple’s (AAPL) new iPhone.
Crimson Hexagon, a Boston-based social media research firm that uses technology developed at Harvard (get it? Crimson?) gathered and analyzed nearly 1.7 million responses to the iPhone 5 launch posted on Twitter between Wednesday morning and Thursday afternoon. Roughly 1.4 million of the tweets expressed an opinion about the product.
The results are shown on the graph above, but you might find it easier to digest them in summary form:
38% of the tweets were positive about the iPhone 5
– 13% were excited about the iPhone 5 or intend to purchase
– 18% expressed anticipation or excitement over the launch
– 7% were engaged in positive conversations surrounding iPhone 5 features like 4G LTE
31% of the sentiment was neutral
– 6% of tweets discussed sales expectations
– 19% spread the news
– 6% simply asked questions about the new device
19% of tweets expressed humor or sarcasm
11% of the sentiment was negative
– 7% didn’t care about the launch or thought it was just a lot of hype
– 4% said they would not purchase the device or expressed dislike of Apple and iPhone 5 features
