Justin Timberlake just took the next step in his campaign to bring MySpace back. Timberlake joined Panasonic on stage at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show to announce the MySpace app for TV, which aims to make TV more social.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around MySpace online.

MySpace buzz

MySpace buzz has been on the steady decline for years, hitting a low point in September 2011. But since then, mentions have been on the rise.

MySpace sentiment

Conversations around MySpace are currently 74% positive. ‘TV’ currently appears in 12% of MySpace conversations. ‘Justin’ and ‘Panasonic’ each appear in 6% of MySpace conversations.

Can Justin Timberlake really bring MySpace back?

Facebook has once again redesigned the news feed and officially launched a ticker in the right-hand side of the screen displaying real-time updates. The news feed reflects the addition of the recently launched smart friend lists, the subscribe button and the relocated privacy controls on the site.

The updates precede the upcoming “major profile redesign” Facebook is expected to roll out at its f8 developer conference tomorrow.

As with most Facebook updates, many users complained. MySpace even became a trending topic on Twitter last night, comparing the new Facebook changes to the fledgling overly complicated MySpace design.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Facebook buzz

Facebook mentions — which are typically already high compared to other topics — increased 300% overnight.

Facebook sentiment August 18 – September 19

Facebook sentiment September 20-21

Negative chatter increased 9% following the changes. The word ‘MySpace’ appears in nearly 2% of all Facebook conversations. The word ‘Facebook’ appears in nearly 60% of all MySpace conversations.

#NewFacebook sentiment

The hashtag #NewFacebook was also trending overnight and today. Nearly 80% of all mentions were negative.

Facebook vs. Twitter vs. Google+

Not to be outdone, Google+ announced several new features, such as turning Hangouts into a bona fide broadcast platform. The search giant even added search to the service, and alerted users to the new changes with a giant blue arrow on the Google.com homepage.

Twitter, which typically generates the most mentions online among the big three, fell behind to Facebook following all of the current buzz.

Will tomorrow’s f8 conference, which speculates potential partnerships with Spotify and others, increase positive buzz for Facebook?

Altly is aiming to build an alternative to Facebook because, well, every Coke needs a Pepsi.

Altly’s founder Dmitry Shapiro, founder of Veoh and former executive at Facebook rival MySpace, listed his critiques of Facebook and said that most people believe that no one can possibly create an alternative. So he’s doing it himself.

Remember Diaspora? The open source social network and potential Facebook challenger launched last year and has since seemed to fade into oblivion.

Does Altly stand a chance?

Altly buzz

Altly is already generating more buzz than Diaspora. That’s good for them, right? Let’s add Facebook into the mix…

Altly vs. Facebook buzz

Ohhhhhhhk, can’t even see the little spike anymore.

Mr. Shapiro does have a point. Competition ultimately drives companies to innovate and perform. Somebody has to challenge Facebook. Anyone? Bueller?

Discussing online social media buzz around hot topics. This week we discuss MySpace’s Facebook Integration, Apple announcement of Beatles finally on iTunes, Facebook’s new messaging system, Black Friday and of course, the Prince William / Kate Middleton wedding.

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.

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 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.

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

Once again, Twitter holds on to the top spot. MySpace jumped 17 spots, mostly due to MySpace’s new mail service. Amazon jumped 6 spots to #16 from chatter regarding the acquisition of Zappos. eBay jumped 8 spots and Skype joined the list this month due to a legal battle that may threaten the future of Skype.

There were some other surprises this month as well. The LG Chocolate helped LG jump 11 spots. Starbucks joined the list thanks to their Free Pastry day spreading lots of chatter. BlackBerry jumped 15 spots thanks in part to rumors about the new BlackBerry Storm as well as their new app store. Nintendo, Wii, Sony, Playstation and XBox all dropped this month after buzz from the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) subsided.

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.