Chrysler’s ads for the Fiat 500 starring Jennifer Lopez have become a lightning rod for the car’s disastrous launch. The Fiat 500 was supposed to be one of Chrysler-Fiat’s big global brands, and its answer to BMW’s iconic Mini. But in the US, the Fiat 500 is off to a dismal start since launching in March. It initially expected to sell 50,000 units in the first year, but so far, it’s only at 15,000. In fact, 29 of its 130 US stores didn’t sell a single one last month. No one believes that Lopez would drive through her old ‘hood in the South Bronx in a Fiat.

Then, in a brazen product placement stunt,  Jennifer Lopez featured a Fiat at center stage of her American Music Awards performance Sunday night.

Jennifer Lopez mentions within Fiat conversations

Lopez appeared in nearly 13% of all Fiat conversations online following the American Music Awards performance.

Fiat buzz

Fiat buzz peaked in early November.

Fiat sentiment

Negative buzz spiked dramatically following the American Music Awards performance.

Did Jennifer Lopez sell out?

The boxing world was quick to react upon hearing news of the death of former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, who passed away at age 67 Monday night after a brief bout with liver cancer.

Then Tuesday, hip-hop artist Heavy D died at age 44 after collapsing outside his condo in Beverly Hills. The music community called Heavy D “the only rapper everybody always loved.”

In today’s world of social media, fans have more outlets than ever before to express condolences to those who have passed.

Heavy D and Joe Frazier mentions

Although neither had been in the news recently, both received a huge amount of condolences online this week.

Content distribution by category

More fans paid respects to Heavy D via Twitter, while Joe Frazier received more image and blog posts.

Dr. Conrad Murray was convicted Monday of involuntary manslaughter in the June 25, 2009, death of Michael Jackson.

The Internet reacted immediately, with topics like #DoctorsBetterThanConradMurray trending on Twitter last night.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Conrad Murray buzz

Conrad Murray mentions spiked 10X yesterday following the conviction.

Conrad Murray sentiment

Conversation topics around Dr. Murray were nearly all negative.

Propofol, the drug Dr. Murray used on Jackson, was mentioned in 44% of conversations and was 90% negative.

British band Coldplay released its fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto, Monday, Oct. 24. The album is positioned to head straight to the top of the Billboard 200 charts next week.

Coldplay chose not to make its new album available on Spotify or any other streaming music subscription service. Fans will either need to purchase physical copies or MP3 downloads from places like Apple’s iTunes store, Microsoft’s Zune store or Amazon. The decision is more likely financially motivated as Coldplay stands to make a great deal more money by encouraging the tens of millions of consumers who have streaming music subscriptions to purchase the songs.

How has the new album release affected Coldplay’s buzz online? We used Social Radar to find out.

Coldplay buzz October 2009-present

Coldplay buzz is currently more than 3x higher than its previous high point within the last two years.

Coldplay sentiment

Conversations around Coldplay are currently 76% positive online. The new album name, Mylo Xyloto, is currently being mentioned in 6% of Coldplay conversations. Rihanna, who collaborated with Coldplay on a song for the new album, is being mentioned in 5% of all Coldplay conversations. The classic Coldplay track “Fix You” is currently mentioned in 6% of all Coldplay conversations.

Dr. Conrad Murray — the physician who was Michael Jackson’s personal physician when he died June 25, 2009, with a lethal amount of the anesthetic in his system — is now on trial for Jackson’s death. Today in court, the jury heard the security guard’s 911 call, the most damning yet against the 58-year-old physician.

How does the public feel about the trial? Is Dr. Murray guilty? We used Social Radar to gauge public sentiment around the trial.

Conrad Murray buzz

Chatter around Dr. Murray spiked to its highest point yesterday.

Conrad Murray Sentiment

Conversations around Dr. Murray have been an average of 63% negative, spiking to their highest point 80% negative today.

Does the American public think Dr. Murray is guilty?

 

 

The U.S. military is in outrage over rapper Soulja Boy’s new song “Let’s Be Real”, in which he raps “f**k the army troops.” Soulja Boy has since apologized. Is the apology too late? Has the rapper negatively affected his reputation? We used Social Radar to find out.

Soulja Boy mentions

Soulja Boy mentions shot up 400% following the incident.

Soulja Boy sentiment

Nearly all conversations around Soulja Boy mention the military incident. Sentiment around Soulja Boy is currently more than 70% negative overall.

Has Soulja Boy done permanent damage to his reputation?

MTV aired the 28th annual Video Music Awards (VMA) Sunday night. MTV integrated social media into the experience, encouraging viewers to use social media and their various devices — tablets, smartphones, and their computers — in addition to tuning in via cable TV, to weigh in on the show.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

VMA mentions

VMA mentions more than doubled in 2011 compared to last year’s show.

VMA sentiment

Conversations around the 2011 VMAs were an average of 74% positive. Lady Gaga was the biggest topic of conversation, appearing in nearly 13% of all VMA mentions. Lady Gaga kicked off the night dressed as her male alter ego, Jo Calderone, and stayed in character the entire show. Beyonce, who announced she was pregnant, was the next most mentioned artist, followed by Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber, Jay Z and Miley Cyrus.

Content breakdown

Approximately 96% of VMA chatter came via Twitter, 46% of chatter was in English, and 60% of mentions were made by males.

Artist buzz

In addition to VMA mentions being up this year, buzz around Bieber, Gaga and Beyonce are also at their highest points of the year. Looks like MTV can still generate buzz about music at least once per year.

For further analysis, visit www.infegy.com/socialradar.

Hip-hop artist Talib Kweli was one of the first musicians to get into Turntable.fm, the still-in-beta service that lets users spin tunes in avatar-filled chatrooms. Kweli visited Turntable.fm headquarters this week, and now has his own avatar and Turntable’s first verified account.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around both Talib Kweli and Turntable.fm.

Talib Kweli mentions within Turntable.fm conversations

Kweli was mentioned in nearly half of all Turntable.fm conversations online this week.

Turntable.fm mentions within Talib Kweli conversations

Turntable.fm was mentioned in more than 60% of Talib Kweli conversations this week.

Talib Kweli buzz

Overall buzz around Talib Kweli spiked to its highest point of the month following the rapper’s visit to Turntable.fm.

Talib Kweli conversation topic cloud

100% of the Turntable.fm mentions within Talib Kweli chatter were positive. Overall chatter around Kweli was 79% positive this week.

Will Kweli start a trend for more artists joining Turntable.fm and getting verified accounts and personalized avatars?

Turntable.fm, the upstart online music sharing service, received good press in June following its launch. Turntable.fm turns music into a social game by letting members set up or join rooms where they can play music for each other.

Fast Company reported this week that labels, promoters and bands such as Passion Pit are turning to Turntable.fm rather than Facebook or Twitter or even radio to announce concerts. Lady Gaga and Kanye West are listed among the company’s latest investors.

Will Turntable.fm turn into the best promotional tool for artists to interact with fans? We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Turntable.fm buzz

Turntable.fm buzz spiked in June following its launch and has since subsided considerably.

Online music sharing comparison

We compared Turntable.fm to other popular music sharing and discovery services such as Blip.fm, Pandora, Rdio and Spotify. Blip.fm consistently generated the most conversations online among the five services, followed by Pandora, Spotify, Turntable.fm, and Rdio.

Has the initial excitement around Turntable.fm already worn off? Or will we see more artists use the platform to launch music, make announcements and interact with fans?

Popular electronic dance music DJ Kaskade inadvertently started a riot in Los Angeles last week during a block party before the “Electric Daisy Carnival Experience” movie premiere.

About 2:30 p.m. last Wednesday, Kaskade tweeted to his 92,000 Twitter followers that he was heading to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre for a block party: “ME+BIG SPEAKERS+MUSIC=BLOCK PARTY!!!” But as Kaskade rolled up in his tricked out flatbed truck with an over-the-top sound system blasting, thousands of people crowded Hollywood and Highland and the block party grew out of control quickly — showing the power of social networking.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Kaskade buzz

Despite being on tour and releasing new music this summer, buzz around Kaskade spiked to its highest point by far last week thanks to the riot.

Kaskade sentiment

Conversations around Kaskade, which were an average of nearly 90% positive throughout the month, spiked to 46% negative following the block party riot.

As a result of the riot, AMC Theaters cancelled its nation-wide one-night Aug. 4 screening of the movie. Will the riot help or hurt Kaskade’s reputation in the long run?