Today, I wanted to do some shameless self-promotion. I have been working very closely with some great talented folks in Milpitas and New York to launch the Nielsen Online Analyst Blog called “Connecting the Dots.” Its been a really fun project and they even allowed me to post on the Blog!
We already have some great post up from many of the analysts, I have been working with at Nielsen Online. I look forward to all the great insights to come in the future. So, I want plug anymore just head over to “Connecting the Dots” and browse some really cool information.
Special thanks to everyone who worked so hard on this project with me.
A follow up to my Buzz for the Triple Crown from last week:
Horse-racing fans eagerly anticipated the Belmont Stakes this weekend as Big Brown competed for the Triple Crown. After breezing through the Kentucky Derby in May and the Preakness later that month, Big Brown surged to the head of the pack with a major spike in online conversations referencing the “Triple Crown.” Even after a disappointing loss at Belmont, Big Brown was still able to influence a significant amount of discussion although much less optimistic in sentiment.
The first wave in consumer discussions took place on May 3rd, as Big Brown captured the Kentucky Derby crown at Churchill Downs. Sentiment drivers included the remembrance of second runner-up Eight Belles, who collapsed after the race and was immediately euthanized, Big Brown’s big win and references to Barbaro, the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner who shattered his leg in the Preakness later that year.
Online chatter for the “Triple Crown” peaked on May 17th as Big Brown won the Preakness, up 18.5% from May 3rd, while conversations increased 64% for “Big Brown” in the same time period. Most conversation centered on Big Brown’s run at the second leg of the triumvirate and whether he had the stamina and strength to do it.
The final and largest spike for Big Brown came last weekend as his completion of the historic feat was on the minds of the digital world. Belmont Buzz was almost three times as much as the two previous races with 0.15%. However sentiment was noticeably less optimistic as Big Brown failed to gain the Triple Crown. Many of the messages referenced him being in the same class as the 11 horses that have won the first two legs but lost at Belmont. Ultimately, though, the data showed failing to win the Triple Crown is still something to buzz about.
The query we ran is located here.
Horse-racing fans are eagerly anticipating the Belmont Stakes as Big Brown will compete for the Triple Crown on June 7th at Belmont. After breezing through the Kentucky Derby in May and the Preakness later that month, Big Brown caused an uptick in online conversations around the Triple Crown. The first spike in consumer discussion took place on May 3rd, as Big Brown captured the Kentucky Derby crown. Conversation drivers included the remembrance of second runner-up Eight Belles, who collapsed after the race and was immediately euthanized, Big Brown’s big win, and references to Barbaro, the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner who shattered his leg in the 2006 Preakness, and then put to rest. Online discussions for the Triple Crown peaked again on May 17th as Big Brown won the Preakness, up 18.5% since May 3rd, while conversations increased 64% for Big Brown.
The horse racing world is eagerly anticipating the Belmont Stakes. Big Brown, the winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, will compete for the Triple Crown on June 7th at The Belmont Stakes in Elmont New York. With two-thirds of the Crown complete, Big Brown has been causing an uptick in online conversations leading up to and the day of the events.
The first spike in consumer discussion took place on May 3rd as Big Brown captured the Kentucky Derby crown. Conversation drivers for the first spike were not solely focused on Big Brown’s win. Other topics driving discussion included Eight Belles (the tragic runner-up who was euthanized on the spot after the race) and Barbaro, the 2006 Preakness Winner who was put to rest after shattering his leg during the race.
Online discussions for the Triple Crown peaked again on May 17th as Big Brown won the Preakness Stakes; it was up 18.5% since May 3rd, while conversations increased 64% for Big Brown. Discussions were primarily based around whether Big Brown would be able to capture the Triple Crown or if he would fall short like Smarty Jones.
Special thanks to Sandra Parrelli for helping with the data/idea to this post. And have fun at the race this weekend.
Below is my post for both the BlogPulse Blog and the Hey! Nielsen Blog:
Is it possible to predict how much buzz a movie opening will get based on the buzz three days before it opens? Using BlogPulse, Nielsen Online’s free tool that mines data from over 78 million blogs, I queried two recent movie premieres (Iron Man and Speed Racer) and one about to open today (Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull).
The results are interesting, showing that buzz levels for each movie seem to be equal as they spike and decline in the days before and after the opening. Does this pattern hold true for all premieres? Three days before the premieres of Iron Man and Speed Racer their buzz levels began to spike and eventually tripled on opening day. Iron Man went from 0.182 to 0.486 percent of all blog posts and Speed Racer went from 0.055 to 0.195 percent of all messages measured by BlogPulse.
The buzz level for Indiana Jones three days before was 0.273 percent of all messages. If the theory holds true on opening day, we will see the spike for Indy triple to somewhere in the 0.8 percent range… well beyond Iron Man which has been the biggest blockbuster this year. We’ll check back next week to compare the buzz and the box office for Dr. Jones.
Some data from my company, the latest information on social networks. Enjoy.
NIELSEN ONLINE PROVIDES TOP U.S. SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES AND BLOGS FOR APRIL 2008
Nielsen Online provides April’s top U.S. social networking sites and blogs for your reference. They are ranked by unique audience and rounded to the nearest thousand, so LinkedIn had 8.7 million unique visitors in April 2008, growing 361 percent over April 2007.
Please note that these are custom lists compiled by the Nielsen Online PR team with the help of our media analysts. While these lists are not meant to be exhaustive, they provide a good idea of the significant players in each space.
We periodically review the lists and add new sites, so the results may change accordingly. Please source data to Nielsen Online.
Building from last week’s story about the London Mayor’s election, I wanted to look at some baseline analytics behind the race. Keeping in mind that Boris Johnson eventually wins the race all these charts seem to take on an interesting look. Is it possible to predict an election based on buzz, volume and traffic? If you believe these charts the answer is yes.
Buzz
First look at the below Blogpulse chart (query here) showing the buzz leading up to the May 1, 2008 results. Conversations appear equal through the second week of April but after that they begin the initial spike in Boris Johnson’s favor. The old adage goes “no publicity is bad publicity” and although I have not looked at sentiment it seems to bare true here as Boris peaks much higher than Ken in the buzz chart. (Additionally, Boris Johnson also shows up on the Key People chart here at number thirteen.)
Volume
Volume is an interesting metric online. Ultimately it is about your brand popularity and reach. Or how much the press is talking about you. This Google Trends chart shows that Boris Johnson outpaced Ken Livingstone in news volume too. How did an incumbent so quickly lose press mentions? Did all the online squatters have an effect on Mr. Livingstone’s ratings?
Traffic
Finally, looking at traffic can show you interest about a candidate’s platform. Compete.com’s analytics tool shows backboris.com getting much more traffic than kenlivingstone.com. Which actually did not even register on their graph. Does this mean people were just not intrigued enough about the incumbent to check his website?
Buzz, traffic and volume metrics give us different insights into online behaviors and working in tandem they can help complete the story. They give us an interesting look at the Mayor’s election in London and how a candidate swung the tide in his favor. Was it his online savvy or the help of other’s acumen that helped Boris Johnson?
A whitepaper my company put out last year states that CPG (Consumer Product Goods) product launches can increase buzz by leveraging media spend. That buzz is significantly multiplied by a variety of factors surrounding a product launch. And major public announcements can be amongst the biggest drivers. The above chart shows how Led Zeppelin’s announcement of a charity performance gig sparked major ancillary insights. These secondary branches off of original announcements provide valuable insights, via CGM (Consumer-Generated Media), into your current brand.
What can you mine about your brand from the chatter around the internet?
Google Analytics version of Michigan…
And Google Maps Version…
Has anyone noticed the inconsistencies between Google Maps and Google Analytics version of the State of Michigan? I see that Google Maps which parses satellite data is a correct representation of the State whilst Analytics is a poorly outlined version. It looks like they came from different sources. Is Google not leveraging its internal resources to keep the brand consistent across departments? I am not sure what is at play here but it looks like Analytics has some room to improve.
Anyone else agree?
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