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.

On October 3, ABC News and Yahoo announced a partnership to deliver more online news to their audiences. With the deal, ABC News content will be prominently featured on Yahoo News. The deal helps ABC grow its online reach and helps Yahoo drive further traffic to its own site by featuring original, made-for-online content. ABC launched a Web-only news series, starting with a live interview with President Barack Obama, and plans to feature online interviews conducted by Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Robin Roberts and others.

Then, October 5, Microsoft joined a list of companies considering a bid for Yahoo.

We used Social Radar to analyze how each of these stories affected Yahoo buzz.

Yahoo buzz

Yahoo buzz had been steadily declining for the past three years. Following the recent announcements buzz has nearly doubled.

Yahoo sentient

Conversations around Yahoo have been 71% positive over the last 30 days. Microsoft is currently appearing in 11% of Yahoo conversations.

How would a Yahoo-Microsoft partnership change the game? Could Bing and Yahoo together beat Google in the search game?

Microsoft unveiled the new Windows 8 operating system at its Build Conference in Anaheim, Calif. today. The OS, a complete rebuild of Microsoft’s flagship product, is designed to work with both tablets and PCs.

We used Social Radar to analyze preliminary conversations online.

Windows 8 sentiment

Conversations around Windows 8 have been overwhelmingly positive today.

Content distribution

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far today, 90% of chatter has come via Twitter, 56% in English. As expected, the majority of comments were made by males.

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

Google announced today that it would acquire Motorola Mobility, the cellphone business that was split from Motorola, for $12.5 billion. The acquisition, by far Google’s largest ever, turns Google (which makes the Android mobile operating system), into a full-fledged cellphone manufacturer, in direct competition with Apple

With the acquisition, Google gains a portfolio of 17,000 patents and another 7,000 patents pending globally. The word “patent” was mentioned 24 times on Google’s conference call this morning to discuss the deal. Google CEO Larry Page and other executives talked about how Motorola Mobility’s portfolio of patents will help protect google and its Android phone software from “anti-competitive threats” from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Google and Motorola buzz

Nearly 79% of conversations around Google and Motorola today have been positive.

Where does this acquisition leave other Android phone makers?

Last week Facebook attempted to create buzz about an upcoming announcement today, inviting people to an “awesome” event online. It didn’t take long for the news to leak that the event would focus around Facebook’s long-rumored video chat product.

Facebook unveiled today video chat powered by Skype, as well as group chat.

Facebook buzz

Overall chatter around Facebook today is about equal to its average for the month.

Facebook vs. Google buzz

Many called today’s announcement Facebook’s response to Google’s Google+ announcement last week. Overall chatter around Facebook still trails chatter around Google.

Facebook’s new Skype video chat feature continues the integration between Microsoft and Facebook, including Microsoft’s Bing search engine, which indexes Facebook’s social data. With Facebook’s entry into the video-chat market, they’ll be competing with Apple’s FaceTime, Google Talk and the new Google+ Hangouts.

Skype mentioned within 6% of current Facebook chatter

We measured the number of Skype, video chat and group chat mentions within Facebook conversations, as well as the number of “awesome announcement” mentions to determine whether the attempted hype helped create buzz. Skype is currently generating the most buzz within those topics, being mentioned in nearly 6% of all Facebook conversations online. The “awesome announcement” hype attempt did not appear to help generate significant buzz for Facebook.

What are your thoughts on the new Facebook features announced today?

Microsoft yesterday unveiled Windows 8, which includes a touch-optimized, tile-based main interface, melding the user friendliness of modern smartphones with powerful PC features like complete access to the file system, the ability to see more than one app at a time on screen, and desktop caliber apps.

Apple, on the other hand, is poised to announce the eagerly awaited cloud system iCloud during Monday’s WWDC, among many other new features and announcements (OS X Lion, iOS 5).

We used Social Radar to measure buzz around Microsoft Windows 8 to Apple iCloud, OS X Lion and iOS 5.

Microsoft Windows 8 vs. Apple iCloud, OS X Lion, iOS 5 buzz

Windows 8 is currently generating more buzz than Apple iCloud, iOS 5 and OS X Lion.

Microsoft vs. Apple buzz

Throughout the last 30 days, Apple has generated more chatter overall than Microsoft, despite a large spike for Microsoft around May 10 following the Skype acquisition.

Microsoft sentiment

Microsoft conversations are currently 65% positive, which is below the average 80% positive throughout the last month.

We will check back Monday following Apple’s WWDC with further analysis around Apple buzz.

Microsoft announced plans to buy Internet phone service Skype for $8.5 billion in its biggest-ever acquisition, placing a rich bet on mobile and the Internet to try to best rivals such as Google. The software company outbid Google and Facebook, which sources said offered to partner or buy Skype for $3 billion to $4 billion.

The news comes shortly after Apple was named the world’s most valuable brand, dethroning Google, which held the title for four years. In its annual BrandZ ranking of the world’s 100 top brands, Millward Brown estimated the worth of Apple’s brand at $153.3 billion.

We used Social Radar to measure conversations around both stories.

Skype, Microsoft & Apple buzz

Chatter around Skype is up 793% today following the acquisition announcement.

Microsoft – Skype acquisition sentiment

Conversations around the acquisition have been 62% positive today.

My biggest question is…will Skype work on my MacBook and/or iPhone anymore?

Nintendo reported yesterday plans to cut the price of its Wii console to $150 as soon as May 15. Over the past year, Wii sales have slowed considerably. Nintendo revealed earlier this year that it sold about 7 million Wii units in the U.S. in 2010. It had sold more than 10 million units in 2008 and about 9 million units in 2009. The Wii has trailed the Xbox 360 so far this year in overall sales.

Wii chatter

The price drop generated a small increase in chatter. However, we noticed a much higher spike in chatter around Wii conversations on April 25. Further analysis showed us that Nintendo announced plans to release Wii 2 in 2012 that day.

Wii vs. PlayStation vs. Xbox

As we posted yesterday, PlayStation has been facing increased negative buzz due to its hacked PlayStation Network. Regardless, Xbox has generated the highest amount of buzz overall throughout the last month.

As we move into day 11 of the PlayStation Network fiasco, Sony continues to rebuild its beleaguered network while apologizing profusely to users.

Sony believes hackers obtained user account information, including home addresses, email addresses, birth dates, usernames and passwords and potentially even credit card numbers.

PlayStation chatter

Apparently some users don’t appreciate what they have until its gone. Chatter around PlayStation is up 79% as more news about the outage is revealed.

PlayStation sentiment

PlayStation sentiment, which is generally between 80-90% positive, spiked up to 65% negative.

XBox sentiment

Meanwhile, XBox sentiment is currently 81% positive. Can Microsoft XBox capitalize on Sony’s PlayStation Network woes and steal market share?

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011 kicked off in Las Vegas this week with several companies making major announcements along the themes of mobility, 3D and 4G with new TVs, cameras, phones and games. But the biggest buzz of the conference so far has been generated around tablets.

The iPad’s success in 2010 validated the market, opening the door for countless other companies to attempt to make a splash and try to become true competitors to Apple’s popular device.

We used Social Radar to run analysis on topics of conversation around CES this week. The word ‘tablet’ has appeared in 25% of CES posts, and 91% of the discussion around tablets has been positive.

CES Conversation Topic Cloud

Several companies made tablet announcements this week:

• Motorola debuted an Android Honeycomb tablet, the Xoom, a 1080p device running Android 3.0, a version of the OS built specifically for the tablet form factor. Android 3.0 is the first version of Android to have a full tablet interface variation different from the phones.
• Research in Motion (R.I.M.) will be offering a tablet called the BlackBerry PlayBook designed to completely integrate and synchronize with BlackBerry devices.
• Microsoft announced Windows-7 powered tablets. Several different versions offer unique features, including touchscreens, slide-out keyboards, dual-screen machines, stylus-friendly tablets and more.
• Samsung announced a new Sliding PC 7 which bridges the gap between netbook and tablet. The device is a 0.78 inch thick touchscreen tablet that transforms into a netbook when you reveal its slide-out keyboard hidden underneath. In addition, Samsung also added an LTE modem and upgraded camera to its Galaxy Tab.
• Pandigital announced 7- and 9-inch tablets running Android 2.1.
• Microvision announced a prototype Android ‘mini tablet’ with built-in projector.
• OpenPeak debuts OpenTablet 10 with a transflective display, front-facing 720p cam, an HDMI out for 1080p video, a digital MEMS microphone, and optional 3G connectivity in addition to the standard WiFi.
• ASUS announced a new tablet lineup – three Android-based Eee Pads and one Windows-based Eee Slate, each with its own “twist” (the Slider, Transformer, MeMO and Slate EP121).
• Acer announced the Acer Iconia Tab A500, a 10-inch Tegra 2 tablet with Verizon LTE.
• T-Mobile announced a G-Slate tablet, the company’s first 4G tablet and running Android 3.0.
• Toshiba announced an Android-powered tablet with it’s 10.1-inch widescreen display, built-in SD card reader as well as a mini USB connection and full-size HDMI and full-size USB ports.
• Dell announced the Streak 7, deemed a ‘Generation Y tablet’ based on price. The device runs Android 2.2 with a 7″ multi-touch display.

Within all CES tablet-related conversations, Android Honeycomb appeared in 14% of posts while iPad appeared in 21% of posts.

CES Tablet-Related Conversation Topic Cloud

We ran further analysis on each of the tablets announced at CES 2011.

Mentions Within CES-Related Content/Articles

The Motorola Xoom is generating the most tablet buzz so far this week, followed by BlackBerry Playbook, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Toshiba Tablet, and ASUS Eee Pad.

We conducted topic analysis on each of the top five tablets generating the most buzz.

CES Tablet Conversation Topic Distribution

How does the tablet conversation compare when you group them by Android, Apple, Windows 7, and Linux/other?

CES Tablet Conversation By Group

CES Top Sources

Which are the key sources talking about CES 2011? Engadget is the top source, currently making more than 32 CES-related and generating more than 1100 links in per day.

We will continue to monitor CES buzz this week and tablet buzz throughout 2011. Which tablets do you think are best positioned to rival the iPad?