Leading technology blog TechCrunch, which draws 33 million page views per month, posted statistics yesterday that Chrome passed Firefox as the browser most often used to visit www.techcrunch.com. For the month of November, Chrome was number one for the first time, edging out Firefox 27.80% to 27.67%.

According to StatCounter, Microsoft Internet Explorer is still the most used browser overall, followed by Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Opera. Data from November 2009 – November 2010 below shows a steady decline in Internet Explorer usage, and a steady rise in Chrome usage.

We used Social Radar to measure online conversation around each browser.

Since early 2009, Chrome has gone from nearly last to nearly first among the most discussed Web browsers.

Since early summer, Chrome only slightly trails Internet Explorer in overall chatter.

As discussed in the TechCrunch article, Mozilla is slated to launch Firefox 4 early next year and Microsoft is preparing to launch the initial release of IE9.

Google releases a new version of Chrome every six weeks and is preparing to launch a Chrome Web Store featuring downloadable apps. By the end of the year, Google will launch Chrome OS.

Meanwhile, Safari is the browser used on every iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch now, which helps boost Safari’s numbers.

How will increased mobile traffic and social browsers affect the numbers moving forward?

Microsoft released Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) beta this week, offering an overhaul on design and user interface. The new browser is now compliant with HTML5, CSS3, SVG2 and W3C standards, includes javascript support as well as full hardware acceleration to improve speed. New features and layout changes include a minimalist design with streamlined toolbars that focuses more on web content to provide a cleaner experience. Read more in this Engadget review.

We used Social Radar to analyze Web chatter and determine initial reaction.

Sentiment around IE9 the past few days has been 90% positive.

Internet Explorer 9 sentiment

Comparatively, sentiment around IE8 during past month was only 52% positive.

Internet Explorer 8 sentiment

We analyzed chatter around IE9 vs. competitors Chrome, Safari and Firefox. Notice the IE9 spike below.

Overall chatter IE9 vs. Safari vs. Chrome vs. Firefox

Microsoft worked closely with developers to integrate feedback into the IE9 development process. Now Microsoft is reaching out to the Reddit community, asking for users to test and provide additional feedback to incorporate into enhancements.

In other good news for Microsoft, Neilsen announced this week that Bing passed Yahoo to become the #2 search engine. As part of the IE9 demo, Microsoft touted improvements to Bing, which will work like a native application in IE9, enabling a better integrated search experience.

IE9 was appearing in 21% of Microsoft related conversations online yesterday. And with 90% of those conversations being positive, Microsoft is poised to regain browser market share.

Internet Explorer 9 chatter within Microsoft conversations

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.

The August 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 August 2009. The list measures the number of unique individuals or sources that posted content about each brand during August 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 holds its reign at number 1 yet again. Disney jumps 9 spots and Marvel joins the list as Disney’s acquisition of Marvel made huge news at the end of the month. Playstation launched 11 spots due to the introduction of the PS3 Slim with its long-awaited price drop. Xbox 360 also made news with the announcement of a price drop, sneaking it up 3 spots.

Also worth mentioning, the build-up of chatter momentum for the upcoming NFL season rose NFL 13 spots. Firefox and NASA both take a dive as natural fallout from their big announcements last month: NASA’s 40 year celebration of Apollo 11 and Firefox’s version 3.5 update.

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.

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

The June 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 June 2009. The list measures the number of unique individuals or sources that posted content about each brand during May 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 held on to the top spot, though once again trending down this month. iPhone jumped two spots to #2 overall and Apple jumped three spots to #6 thanks to buzz around the iPhone 3G S release.

Firefox jumped 10 spots thanks to increased chatter leading up to its new Firefox 3.5 release, which was downloaded more than a million times within a few hours.

XBox jumped 5 spots to #11 overall after the Project Natal announcement at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Surprisingly, with both the Project Natal and Bing search engine announcements this month, overall Microsoft buzz only increased one spot to #9 overall.

CNN jumped 13 spots, due in large part to a steep surge surrouding the news of Michael Jackson’s death. MLB jumped eight spots as the baseball season heated up in the month of June.

Finally, HTC joined the Top 50 this month, with talk about its new widget-based HTC Hero Android smartphone announcement.

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.

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