The Wall St. Journal reported this morning that the United States Justice Department is seeking to block AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile on antitrust grounds.

The FCC says that the review process is not yet complete, but should this prove too large an obstacle to overcome, AT&T will have to pay T-Mobile’s parent company upwards of $6 billion.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

AT&T sentiment trend

Sentiment around AT&T is at its most negative point in the last six months.

AT&T conversation topic cloud August 30-31, 2011

 

 

Nearly every negative topic of conversation around AT&T currently revolves around the Justice Department’s antitrust claims.

How will the blocked deal effect the AT&T brand? Sprint stock is already on the rise.

On Monday, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s mobile payment service Square released a Register app for merchants to use an iPad at the point of purchase. With the software merchants can complete transactions with absolutely no plastic as long as the customer has Square’s mobile app. Square has built a wallet into its app called Card Case, which stores payment details, sharing your name when checking out, processing the transaction and sending a text message confirmation.

On Tuesday, Ad Age reported that Square’s Card Case system marked the first major mobile payments launch in a category that has everyone from Visa to AT&T in a tizzy. And while Square nabbed Visa as a strategic investor in April, Visa is also launching its own mobile wallet competitor based on near field communication (NFC) technology, which will enable users to touch or wave their phone at the register to pay, rather than give their name to a salesperson.

Then, today, Google announced Google Wallet, an app that the company says will make your phone your wallet. You’ll be able to tap, pay and save using your phone and near field communication. Google is field testing Google Wallet now and plans to release it soon. Users will be able to store credit cards, offers, loyalty cards and gift cards. When you tap to pay, your phone will redeem offers and earn loyalty points. Google also plans to store things like boarding passes, tickets, IDs and even keys.

We used Social Radar to measure buzz.

Google Wallet chatter online

Google Wallet, which had been nearly unmentioned before today, experienced a 116,483% spike in chatter.

Google vs. Square vs. Visa vs. MasterCard vs. AT&T vs. Verizon mentions within “mobile payment” conversations

Visa and Square generated the most overall chatter within “mobile payment” conversations over the past month. However, Google spiked above all others today, being mentioned in 90% of all “mobile payment” conversations.

Did Google Wallet just change the game? How will Google Wallet affect plans and offerings for Square and Visa moving forward?

After nearly four years of rumors and speculation, Verizon announced this week that the iPhone will be available on the Verizon network beginning February 10.

Verizon vs. AT&T chatter

Chatter around Verizon spiked following the announcement.

iPhone mentions within Verizon and AT&T conversations

We measured the number of times iPhone was mentioned in each conversation around both Verizon and AT&T. On average, iPhone was mentioned in 33.8% of Verizon conversations and 5.75% of AT&T conversations within the last month.

AT&T vs Verizon mentions within iPhone posts

When we look at overall conversations around the iPhone, Verizon has appeared in around 11% of iPhone conversations, while AT&T has appeared in less than 4% of iPhone conversations overall so far in 2011. Following yesterday’s announcement, the word Verizon appeared in 41% of iPhone conversations.

Verizon vs. AT&T conversation sentiment

Conversations around Verizon have been 77% positive so far in 2011, while conversations around AT&T have been only 69% positive.

Verizon conversation topic cloud

In the days since the Verizon iPhone announcement, the only word even remotely negative (in grey) appearing in Verizon conversations is AT&T.

AT&T conversation sentiment around service, reception and calls

Conversely, negative sentiment around the words service, reception and calls within AT&T conversations spiked following the Verizon iPhone announcement.

What will the Verizon iPhone mean for Verizon and AT&T moving forward? The Wall Street Journal reported analyst estimates that Verizon could add more than 10 million U.S. iPhone customers in 2011. How will AT&T respond?

Samsung turned heads this summer with its launch of the Galaxy S line of Android smart phones. Samsung even accomplished the rare feat of coordinating the launch across all four major U.S. carriers – T-Mobile (as the Vibrant), AT&T (as the Captivate), Sprint (as the Epic 4G) and Verizon (as the Fascinate).

With competition in the mobile market heating up, we decided to breakdown the buzz on the Galaxy S.

Chatter trend: iPhone vs. HTC Evo vs. Droid X vs. BlackBerry Torch vs. Galaxy S

Measuring chatter: iPhone vs. HTC Evo vs. Droid X vs. BlackBerry Torch vs. Galaxy S

As expected, iPhone 4 generated the most online chatter in the last month against the HTC Evo, Droid X, BlackBerry Torch and Galaxy S.

However, chatter around Galaxy S specifically has been steadily rising over the past several months.

Galaxy S chatter trend

Galaxy S sentiment

Sentiment around Galaxy S has been very positive, with 85% of conversations being positive and only 7% negative.

Galaxy S sentiment trend

Galaxy S Negative Words

The word ‘problem’ was among the most frequently used negative words.

By drilling into individual posts for further analysis, we found the words ‘slow’ and ‘lag’ among those used most often with the word ‘problem’.

We also looked at the overall topic cloud to reveal some of the key words used in Galaxy S posts, sized by relevance and colored by sentiment.

Galaxy S Conversation Topics

The word iPhone appeared in 22% of Galaxy S posts.

Galaxy S Most Influential Sites

Analysis of the Top Sources using the Social Radar visualization tool reveals Engadget blog as the top source based on links in, links out and relevant posts.

Galaxy S chatter: Captivate vs. Epic 4G vs. Fascinate vs. Vibrant

We also analyzed chatter around each of the four Galaxy S phones: the T-Mobile Vibrant, AT&T Captivate, Sprint Epic 4G and Verizon Fascinate. At the moment, the Vibrant is generating the most chatter, followed by the Captivate, the Epic 4G and then the Fascinate.

Galaxy S content breakdown

Further breaking down the percentage of content contributed by various sources reveals 67% of chatter around Galaxy S was generated by microblogs, 22% by blogs and 11% by forums.

So how does the Galaxy S chatter compare among Android enthusiasts vs. iPhone enthusiasts?

We created a watch list consisting of blogs and news feeds specifically focused on Android products, and compared which of the Android phones were generating the most chatter. We included Galaxy S, Galaxy A, Evo, Nexus One, Hero, Droid Incredible, Droid X, Droid 2 and myTouch on the chart below:

Android phone chatter among influential Android bloggers:

Conversely, we thought it would be interesting to run the same query among top iPhone focused blogs and news feeds to see which of the Android phones were generating the most chatter among iPhone enthusiasts:

Android phone chatter among influential iPhone bloggers

Nexus One dominated chatter among both Android and iPhone sources. Although the Nexus One has been on the market much longer than the Galaxy S and has been generating chatter for a longer period of time. Interestingly, the Galaxy S is not generating as much chatter among iPhone blogs and news feeds, though it is one of the most discussed among Android sources.  We will check back with an update and further analysis once the Galaxy S line has been on the market longer.

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.

Rank	Chg	Brand
1		Twitter
2	(+1)	Google
3	(+2)	YouTube
4		Facebook
5	(-3)	iPhone
6		Mac
7	(+1)	Obama
8	(-1)	Apple
9	(+3)	Windows
10	(+3)	Microsoft
11	(+18)	Android
12	(-3)	iPod
13	(-2)	MySpace
14	(+1)	XBox
15	(-5)	LG
16	(+1)	Fox
17	(-1)	Yahoo
18	(-4)	BlackBerry
19	(+2)	Amazon
20	(-1)	Playstation
21	(+2)	NFL
22	(-4)	BBC
23	(-1)	Wii
24		CNN
25	(+6)	AT&T
26	(-6)	Disney
27	(+5)	Firefox
28	(-2)	Sony
29		Oprah
30	(+4)	Nokia
31	(-4)	MTV
32	(-2)	NBA
33	(-5)	Starbucks
34	(-9)	Linux
35		ABC
36	(+4)	Dell
37	(+1)	eBay
38	(-1)	Skype
39		Verizon
40	(-7)	ESPN
41	(-5)	Ford
42		Wikipedia
43	(-4)	UPS
44		NASA
45	(-1)	Samsung
46	(-1)	BMW
47		Intel
48	(+2)	CBS
49	(-3)	Blu-Ray
50	(-7)	Canon

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.

Rank	Chg	Brand
1		Twitter
2	(+1)	iPhone
3	(+1)	Google
4	(-2)	Facebook
5	(+1)	YouTube
6	(+2)	Mac
7		Apple
8	(-3)	Obama
9		iPod
10	(+2)	LG
11	(-1)	MySpace
12	(+2)	Windows
13	(-2)	Microsoft
14	(+5)	BlackBerry
15	(+8)	XBox
16	(-1)	Yahoo
17	(-1)	Fox
18	(+4)	BBC
19	(+1)	Playstation
20	(-2)	Disney
21	(+3)	Amazon
22	(+5)	Wii
23	(-10)	NFL
24	(+2)	CNN
25	(+4)	Linux
26	(-1)	Sony
27	(-10)	MTV
28	(+2)	Starbucks
29		Android
30	(+11)	NBA
31	(-10)	AT&T
32	(+1)	Firefox
33	(+3)	ESPN
34	(-6)	Nokia
35	(-1)	ABC
36	(+1)	Ford
37	(-5)	Skype
38	(-7)	eBay
39		UPS
40	(-2)	Dell
41	(+4)	MLB
42	(+2)	Wikipedia
43	(+3)	Canon
44	(-4)	Samsung
45	(+4)	BMW
46		Blu-Ray
47	(+3)	Nintendo
48	(-5)	Nike
49		HTC
50	(-2)	CBS

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.

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.

The September 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 September 2009. The list measures the number of unique individuals or sources that posted content about each brand during September 2009 rather than the overall number of mentions, which would be more heavily influenced by big fans who post frequently about a specific brand.

Twitter falls a bit, but still takes top spot. LG’s new BL20 Chocolate helped LG jump 11 spots. NFL rises again this month as the NFL season heats up. MTV jumps 13 spots due to buzz around the MTV Video Music awards. AT&T’s announcement of MMS support on the iPhone raised AT&T’s position up 5 spots.

Rank	Chg	Brand
1		Twitter
2	(+1)	Facebook
3	(-1)	iPhone
4		Google
5	(+1)	Obama
6	(-1)	YouTube
7	(+1)	Apple
8	(-1)	Mac
9		iPod
10		MySpace
11		Microsoft
12	(+11)	LG
13	(+6)	NFL
14	(-1)	Windows
15	(-3)	Yahoo
16	(+1)	Fox
17	(+13)	MTV
18	(-4)	Disney
19	(-4)	BlackBerry
20	(-4)	Playstation
21	(+5)	AT&T
22	(-1)	BBC
23	(-5)	XBox
24	(-2)	Amazon
25	(-5)	Sony
26	(+3)	CNN
27	(+1)	Wii
28	(-2)	Nokia
29	(-2)	Linux
30	(+2)	Starbucks
31		eBay
32	(+5)	Skype
33	(-9)	Firefox
34	(-1)	ABC
35		Oprah
36		ESPN
37	(-3)	Ford
38	(-3)	Dell
39		UPS
40		Samsung
41	(+3)	NBA
42		Intel
43		Nike
44	(-6)	Wikipedia
45	(-4)	MLB
46	(-1)	Canon
47	(-4)	Marvel
48		CBS
49	(-1)	BMW
50	(-3)	Nintendo

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.

It seems that Twitter is changing the world 140 characters at a time. We reported last week that Twitter was the most social brand in the month of March. Twitter experienced 76.8% growth during March as everybody from Snoop Dogg to Fortune 500 companies to local churches to President Obama is tweeting on a regular basis. Here are just a few headlines this week:

Twitter Passes New York Times
Is Twitter Killing RSS?
AT&T uses Twitter during service outage
New York church brings Good Friday to Twitter

Think about that for a minute. Twitter is surpassing one of the most established publications in the world, eliminating the need for feed readers, providing reliable communication during an outage for one of the biggest cellular service providers, and even spreading the gospel.

Rainn Wilson says he has more twitter followers than the population of Tulsa after just a few months on Twitter.

John Mayer says he was lamenting the loss of fan mail in the tech age until he realized Twitter is the next best thing.

Golfweek says Twitter is the biggest trend to hit the Masters since the green jacket.

Ad Age says that advertising agencies need to think more Twitter and less TV.

How has this micro-blogging company with only 30 employees surpassed behemoth Google in buzz within the last few months? Check out the chart below to see how Twitter has surged past big names like iPhone, Facebook and even Google in web chatter.

Nearly 1 out of every 100 online conversations mentions Twitter. And only a fraction of the population has actually realized the power of Twitter. Where is its ceiling?