Mark Zuckerberg rang the NASDAQ opening bell. Employees hosted a “hackathon” and worked all night. Facebook Inc. took eight years to stage one of the most anticipated initial public offerings ever. The anticlimax came Friday, as Wall Street bankers struggled to prevent the newly minted stock from ending its first day with a loss. The stock had been widely predicted to soar on its first day. Instead, Facebook’s underwriters battled to keep the stock from slipping below its offering price of $38 a share.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Facebook buzz

Rather than skyrocketing today, Facebook mentions actually dipped.

Facebook sentiment

Negative (red) conversations around Facebook surged while positive (green) mentions dropped.

The word ‘public’ was mentioned in 22% of all Facebook conversations, and those mentions were 67% negative.

For further analysis, visit http://infegy.com/socialradar.

General Motors’ decision to cancel the entirety of its $10 million Facebook ad budget is, arguably, the second major shoe to drop on the social network’s ad budget. Back in January, Procter & Gamble scaled back its $10 billion annual ad budget to take advantage of free impressions offered by Facebook in the form of Likes and status updates. That’s two out of America’s top three biggest advertisers.

If P&G and GM both question why they should pay to be on Facebook, how long before Facebook’s other big advertisers—American Express, AT&T, Disney, Verizon—suddenly start to question their return on investment?

Will the negative news have an impact on Facebook’s IPO launch this week?

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

GM mentions within Facebook conversations

GM was mentioned in 3% of all Facebook conversations online this week.

GM and Facebook conversation sentiment

Conversations mentioning GM and Facebook were 43% negative.

IPO mentions within Facebook conversations

The IPO is currently being mentioned in more than 5% of all Facebook conversations.

Facebook IPO sentiment

Facebook IPO conversations have been an average of 57% positive. Many experts are warning investors to stay away from the Facebook IPO.

Will you participate in the Facebook IPO?

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Monday that Facebook reached an agreement to buy photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion. Reactions online varied. Read Write Web said it was all about investors, leading up to Facebook’s IPO. CNN said Facebook will ruin Instagram.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversation data online.

Instagram buzz

Instagram buzz has continued to increase sharply over the last six months.

A closer examination of Instagram mentions over the last 30 days shows that buzz around the Instagram Android launch was higher than buzz around the Facebook acquisition.

Instagram mentions within Facebook conversations

Instagram was mentioned in 32% of Facebook conversations following the acquisition.

Instagram sentiment

Conversations around Instagram have reached their most negative point, currently only 68% positive.

Instagram conversation sentiment

Facebook, acquisition, 1 billion, and Mark Zuckeberg are all prominent topics of conversation within Instagram mentions online. Facebook acquisition mentions within Instagram conversations are 57% negative today.

Is Facebook’s decision to purchase Instagram a red flag?

Last week Eva Longoria participated in a Pepsi NEXT “Drink It to Believe It” promotional campaign in New York City’s Times Square, by giving out free samples of Pepsi NEXT, which the company says has 60% less sugar than regular Pepsi.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversation online.

Eva Longoria mentions within Pepsi Next chatter

Eva Longoria was mentioned in more than 25% of all Pepsi NEXT conversations online following the event.

Pepsi NEXT conversation sentiment

Conversations around Pepsi NEXT are currently 79% positive. Pepsi’s new campaign in which Funny or Die improv comedians select fans to impersonate trying the new soft drink was mentioned in 17% of conversations, and those mentions were 100% positive. The comedians will create mock videos impersonating the fans based on their Facebook profiles.

Pepsi NEXT content distribution

Approximately 41% of Pepsi NEXT mentions are currently coming via Twitter, and 49% via blogs.

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

Photo-sharing social network Instagram released its long-awaited Android app today. Instagram has been around since 2010, available only to iOS devices. Android users will join a community of 30 million registered users, who contribute more than 5 million photos a day.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around Instagram online.

Instagram buzz

Instagram mentions have skyrocketed online since January 2012. Instagram is currently being mentioned in 0.5% of ALL Internet conversations. Pretty impressive for an app only available on iOS until today.

Instagram vs. Facebook buzz

We compared Instagram mentions online to Facebook, which is consistently one of the brands generating the most buzz online. Instagram is nearly equal to Facebook buzz today.

Is Instagram poised to be the next dominant social network?

Posterous, once a blogging service competitive with Tumblr and now a group conversation tool, has been bought by Twitter. We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Posterous buzz

Posterous mentions are currently at their highest point of the year.

Posterous sentiment

Conversations mentioning Posterous and Twitter are currently 82% positive.

Content distribution

Posterous conversations are currently being mentioned 48% via blogs and 47% via Twitter.

Will the Posterous acquisition help Twitter compete with Facebook for social network supremacy?

Flash sales website Gilt Groupe this week will offer discounts solely determined by its members’ Klout scores, Gilt has partnered with Klout — which measures a social media user’s online influence from 0 to 100 on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Foursquare — to offer the unique discount on Klout’s Perks platform. The discount begins Tuesday, offering 20% off for users with scores up to 20, and increases each day through March 10, with 100% off for users with scores between 81-100.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Gilt conversation sentiment

Positive conversations around Gilt group spiked today.

Gilt conversation topic cloud

Conversations around Gilt are currently 97% positive. Klout is already being mentioned in 27% of all Gilt conversations, and the sale hasn’t even started yet.

Do you think we’ll see more offers with better discounts for more influential customers online?

Facebook launched its Timeline feature for brand Pages on Wednesday this week. At New York’s fMC (Facebook Marketing Conference) this week, the company said that following brands on Facebook is no different than following friends and family. The new brand pages introduce a suite of new advertising tools. Companies like Redbull have already started taking advantage of the new layout and features.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around Facebook online.

Facebook buzz

Facebook was mentioned in 3.6% of ALL Internet conversations on Wednesday this week.

Facebook sentiment

Conversations around Facebook are currently 67% positive.

Facebook conversation topic cloud

Facebook Pages are appearing in 26% of all Facebook mentions, and conversations are 85% positive.

What are your thoughts on Facebook’s new Page Timeline features? How will the changes affect the way you advertise?

Facebook purchased location-based service provider Gowalla with plans to move away from displaying a time-based feed of your friends’ recent check-ins, and focus instead on creating Stories around the places you and your friends have visited.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around location-based services and the acquisition online.

Gowalla vs. Foursquare mentions

Gowalla, which had not been generating significant buzz this month, spiked above Foursquare mentions following the acquisition speculation last week and confirmation today.

Will the acquisition help Facebook conquer the location-based market that it failed to do with Places?

U.S. President Barack Obama teamed up with LinkedIn for a town hall about creating jobs and growing the economy, streamed live online today. The town hall was part of the President’s effort to promote the American Jobs Act, a bill he introduced earlier this month at a joint session of Congress.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

LinkedIn buzz

Buzz around LinkedIn today following President Obama’s town hall increased slightly, but LinkedIn mentions were higher in May following its IPO.

We reported last week that Facebook buzz increased significantly following its redesign and f8 conference. How does Facebook buzz compare with LinkedIn?

LinkedIn vs. Facebook buzz

Facebook mentions dwarf LinkedIn mentions online. Facebook buzz is at its highest point in the last six months by a large margin.

LinkedIn sentiment

Conversations around LinkedIn the last 30 days have been extremely positive. Today sentiment around LinkedIn is 91% positive.

Facebook sentiment

Conversations around Facebook the last 30 days have been an average of 72% positive. Today sentiment around LinkedIn is only 59% positive.