Last week, Apple confirmed many speculations of the release of a computing tablet after announcing the launch of the Apple iPad. In wake of the news, social media felt a massive influx of iPad related posts, tweets, mashups as Apple endured praise and criticism from all over the world. Here’s a look at the social media buzz surrounding the iPad:

Activity surged on the day Steve Jobs unveiled his precious new product and nearly 400,000 bits of content were generated on the interweb on this day alone!

Apple must be doing something right upsizing the iTouch because people seem to be really into this new product. Without even getting a chance to sample the actual device, 75% of social media references have been positive.

Here we see a word analysis that shows the to terms associated with each sentiment. “Lack” was the most popular negative term and it seems that the deficiency of the usual computing features and abilities (can someone say Flash?) really tickled some nerves.

This is what it looks like to put all iPab conversations into a word cloud. Here you see that Steve Jobs was a big part of the chatter as were alleged product features. So here it is, straight from the horses mouths. People dig the iPad. Are you going to get one?

The Social Radar Top 50 measures the brands with the most active Web presence based on overall online conversation volume. To create the Top 50 list, we used Social Radar to analyze millions of blog posts, news feeds, forums, social networks and Twitter posts to aggregate a list of the words and brands mentioned most frequently on the Web during all of 2008 and 2009. The list measures the number of unique individuals or sources that posted content about each brand during 2009 rather than the overall number of mentions, which would be more heavily influenced by big fans who post frequently about a specific brand.

This year has certainly been interesting. Several new brands made their way to the mainstream making our 2009 Top 50 list, such as Kindle, Amazon’s hit e-book reader, and Android, Google’s mobile OS that is spreading onto smartphones like wildfire. Interestingly, Samsung and Nokia took a big hit this year, as sexier smartphones such as iPhones and Android-powered devices from HTC and Motorola gain more attention.

The list certainly shows that 2009 was the year of Social Media. Twitter moved ahead of Google to take the number 1 spot, while Facebook and MySpace made significant leaps over big brands as well. Most video game related brands were down this year as well, including Sony, Wii, Xbox, and Nintendo. It also appears TV brands all jumped this year including Disney, MTV, Fox, BBC, CNN, ESPN, and ABC.

Download the PDF:

View the full list below, or download the PDF. For additional information about how you can analyze chatter sentiment to gauge positivity/negativity, view key words mentioned about your brand and identify key influencers, visit www.infegy.com/socialradar.

Social Radar Screenshot:

Questions or comments? Twitter me @adamcoomes.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last month, you have probably been hearing about the ad battle between AT&T and Verizon that is paralleling a political campaign with constant attacking on both sides. It all started when Verizon decided to make a silly spin on iPhone “There’s an App for That” ads by making a “There’s a Map for That” ad, exploiting AT&T’s poor 3G network coverage. To fight back, AT&T decided to sue Verizon, leading to a war of attack ads back and forth that has no end in sight.

What does the consumer do in this situation? Sit back and watch in amusement? Take sides? One thing’s for certain - they’ve been talking, and Social Radar is showing us some interesting insight. Let’s take a look.

Now let’s take a look at the sentiment after the ad battle.

The sentiment appears to have effected AT&T the most severely, appearing to be a success for Verizon. But, both brands gained at least some negativity. Though this is good news for Verizon, let’s take a look at this from another perspective.

Below is a trend chart from September 1st, 2009 through today of Droid Mentions (blue line) versus Commercial/Ad Mentions (red line) within Verizon chatter.

What’s concerning here is that as soon as Verizon began to run these AT&T attack ads, chatter around their beloved Droid devices has dramatically decreased. We can see very clearly that consumers are losing focus and beginning to chat more about their commercials than the very ammunition they are using to sell against AT&T and the iPhone.

It will be interesting to see how this continues to play out. Are attack ads a good way to point out flaws of competitors or does it simply lose their consumers’ focus?

The November 2009 Social Radar Top 50 measures the brands with the most active Web presence based on overall online conversation volume. To create the Top 50 list, we used Social Radar to analyze millions of blog posts, news feeds, forums, social networks and Twitter posts to aggregate a list of the words and brands mentioned most frequently on the Web during November 2009. The list measures the number of unique individuals or sources that posted content about each brand during November 2009 rather than the overall number of mentions, which would be more heavily influenced by big fans who post frequently about a specific brand.

There were quite a few shifts this month. The success of Windows 7 has increased the chatter of Microsoft and Windows, raising their ranking three spots. Verizon has made it into the Top 50 this month and AT&T has increased rank mostly due to chatter around recent Verizon-AT&T attack ads. Also making an appearance this month is Oprah due to her announcement of the show ending in 2011.

The biggest surprise this month is Android, or “Droid”. It has made a remarkable jump to 11th place, surging past heavy hitters iPod, Blackberry, and even MySpace. It received nearly identical amounts of chatter as Windows and Microsoft this month.

View the full list below, or download the PDF. For additional information about how you can analyze chatter sentiment to gauge positivity/negativity, view key words mentioned about your brand and identify key influencers, visit www.infegy.com/socialradar.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @adamcoomes.

The October 2009 Social Radar Top 50 measures the brands with the most active Web presence based on overall online conversation volume. To create the Top 50 list, we used Social Radar to analyze millions of blog posts, news feeds, forums, social networks and Twitter posts to aggregate a list of the words and brands mentioned most frequently on the Web during October 2009. The list measures the number of unique individuals or sources that posted content about each brand during October 2009 rather than the overall number of mentions, which would be more heavily influenced by big fans who post frequently about a specific brand.

There are no big surprises with the Top 10 this month. NFL dropped 10 spots as the season opening excitement has died down a bit, while NBA jumped 11 spots as the basketball season kicks off. AT&T has dropped, while other cell phone related brands have increased such as LG and Blackberry, as well as newcomers to the list - HTC and Android. With many new Android devices out and on the horizon, as well as the recent “droid does” campaign, Android has joined our list this month at a surprising 29th place.

View the full list below, or download the PDF. For additional information about how you can analyze chatter sentiment to gauge positivity/negativity, view key words mentioned about your brand and identify key influencers, visit www.infegy.com/socialradar.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @adamcoomes.

At this point, we’ve all seen the iDon’t advertisements for Verizon’s new Motorola Droid, which is rumored to be the ultimate iPhone killer/competitor. So how big of an influence is the release of this shiny new product having on our feelings towards the Apple iPhone? We used Social Radar to get a sense of whether or not the Droid is actually a threat to the Mac world.

First we look at overall activity for the past month.

Looking at this chart, overall Droid traffic has been no where close to that of the iPhone, however this gap is closing as news of more and more features are being brought to the public eye. So what about sentiment? Which do people like more?

At this point in time, it is interesting that feelings are leveled (for the most part). The Droid hasn’t even been released, yet people are responding fairly well to the information they’ve got so far. Could this mean that we’re all just straight up tired of the iPhone and we’re just THAT excited to get our hands on something different? Or are these number just reflective of how us consumers feed into the big boy reviews? Are we being brainwashed?

This last chart shows top sources for related content in relation to other posts and the reach each has amongst their audience. Who influences you?

Corporations and advertising agencies often look for creative ways to measure the ROI on campaigns and announcements. Was the direct mail more effective than the TV spot? Did the announcement increase buzz? Was it positive or negative?

We used Social Radar to create a mini case study on Verizon’s trend chart below to determine the cause of the spike in chatter on Oct. 6.

I simply clicked on the peak on Oct. 6 to generate some instant analysis. First, the topic cloud:

We can instantly determine that Google, Android Phones and Map were hot topics on Oct. 6 based on the size of the words. And those three words were all green, meaning sentiment was generally positive. Good news for Verizon so far.

By hovering over the word Google below, we quickly find that Google was mentioned in 47% of posts on Oct. 6, and sentiment was 90% positive. Verizon announced on Oct. 6 an agreement with Google to co-develop several Android-based devices and promised to introduce two Android-based handsets within the next few weeks.

Similarly, hovering over the word map below shows that it appeared in 12% of posts and 81% of the comments were positive. AT&T was mentioned as a related topic. During the Oct. 5 Monday Night Football broadcast, Verizon aired a new TV spot capitalizing on complaints about the AT&T’s network with a play on Apple’s signature tagline for the iPhone: “There’s a map for that.”

In addition, by scrolling down the Social Radar analysis page, we find the full list of 11,394 posts about Verizon on Oct. 6. The first two on the list are about the new ad campaign and the Google Android announcement.

So within a few seconds,we conducted some detailed analysis on Verizon’s spike in chatter on Oct. 6. Will the new ad campaign and Google partnership announcement lead to increased market share for Verizon? People are certainly talking.

It’s been at center stage in recent tech news, with companies strategizing to develop the ultimate mixed reality application. Popular review website Yelp as well as long time mobile phone manufacturers Nokia have hopped on the augemented reality wagon, bringing major hype to this technology and stirring up some conversations in social media.

The question stands: How do we feel about these star-trek-like nodes of information overlays? Social Radar tells us this:

Since the beginning of July, a whopping 87% of posts, comments, and chatter around augmented reality has been positive. Notice that only a mere 2% of people are conflicted in their opinions. So can we assume that this will be the wave of the near future?

Perhaps. Looking at the sentiment trend graph, positive volume has been on a steady incline overall. Note that the hump in negativity that came mid September was brought on due to an announcement of an AR release by Nokia, that did not bode so well amongst consumers. Next we’ll take a look at actual feelings and overall concerns.

It’s confirmed. Augmented reality is COOL. So whats the “problem”? Apparently there are a few concerns, including integration of other phone features and overall functionality. People are scared that these apps will not improve their daily lives and instead complicate the sole purpose of the device in question. I guess you can say that there is a lot of doubt.

Want to get in on some AR discussions? Here are the hot beds.

Here’s an idea; an augmented reality app that pulls up social media analytics when a product, business, or person is over-layed. Haha!

On the heels of Apple’s Sept. 9 Rock and Roll event, we decided to analyze conversation share around some of the big announcements.

The Nano made big news at the event with the announcement of its new built in camera, 2.2-inch display, Genius mix capability and built-in FM radio.

The iPod Classic increased capacity to 160GB while keeping the price the same at $249.

The iPod Touch was advertised as the most affordable gateway to the App Store at $229, with no monthly fees. The keynote called the Touch Apple’s fastest growing product line and highlighted its gaming and pocket computing capability.

Apple also highlighted iTunes 9, which includes Genius mixes, home sharing, iTunes LP and a redesigned store layout.

We used Social Radar to measure share of voice for the following words within coversations about “iPod” within the last month: Touch, Nano, Classic, Shuffle, iPhone, Zune and iTunes.

Conversation around Nano spiked dramatically following the announcements, but Touch still holds the highest share among iPod conversations online.

iPhone and Touch hold the largest percentage of posts within the last 30 days at approximately 30% each, with Nano and iTunes each under 10%.

At WWDC 2009, Apple announced big news of the first known turn-by-turn navigation application available for iPhone 3G and 3GS users made by TomTom, one of the biggest players in portable navigation. This was expected, but exciting to see, as many iPhone users were hoping to have yet another great use for their iPhone: a portable GPS navigation unit for their vehicles.

After TomTom was announced, many people waited for its release, thinking it was the only option. Many of those who knew that there were other navigation applications being launched decided to wait for the release of the TomTom application, expecting it to be the best solution. However, after analyzing millions of online messages with Social Radar, it doesn’t appear to be a clear winner.

We compared the four largest navigation application competitors currently available on the iPhone App Store: Navigon MobileNavigator, TomTom, CoPilot, and AT&T Navigator . Here are some interesting findings.

First, we can see the obvious surge in chatter around TomTom upon its release on the App Store. We can also see that none of the other three navigator apps received hardly any buzz upon their launch.

Next, we did a sentimental comparison of the apps. Overall, these apps all appear to be pretty positive and are quite close in sentiment. CoPilot is slightly more negative than the rest.

And finally, we used Social Radar’s sentiment analysis to determine the most negative words used when referencing these applications to determine the issues and dislikes about each app.

Things worth noting:

The word problem appeared the least when referencing the TomTom app.
The word bad appeared the least in the Navigon MobileNavigator app.
The word slow appeared the most in the CoPilot app.
The word pricey appeared the least in the AT&T Navigator app.

Though it’s hard to make any conclusions of the obvious choice, one thing is for certain: TomTom is not the only choice. If you are in the market for an iPhone navigation device, make sure and do your research before buying into hype.