The 69th annual Golden Globes were broadcast from Hollywood on NBC Sunday night. The show awarded best comedy TV series to Modern Family, and best drama to Homeland, among other surprises.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around the Golden Globes online.

Golden Globes buzz

The term ‘Golden Globes’ was mentioned more times online Sunday than all four of the winning NFL Divisional Playoff team names combined.

Golden Globes sentiment

Conversations around Sunday’s Golden Globe awards were 83% positive overall. George Clooney was one of the most talked about stars, appearing in 15% of all Golden Globes chatter — 97% of Clooney mentions were positive. Ricky Gervais, the show’s host who promised sharp-tongued swipes at celebrities, was called dull and awkward.

Content distribution

Interestingly, 88% of chatter around the Golden Globes came via blogs.

Did you watch the show? What did you think?

In early December, we posted that Tim Tebow was generating more buzz than Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo and Drew Brees thanks to the Denver Broncos winning streak and the Tebowing craze.

Sunday, Tebow wrote the most magical chapter in his early career with his overtime upset of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the NFL Playoffs.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around Tebow online.

Tim Tebow buzz

Tebow mentions are currently nearly double their highest level in December.

Broncos buzz

Broncos mentions reached their highest point of the season on Sunday.

NFL playoff team buzz

The New Orleans Saints were the most talked about team on Wild Card weekend. The chart above displays the top six most discussed teams over the weekend.

We will continue to monitor NFL buzz on the road to the Super Bowl.

Tim Tebow, quarterback of the Denver Broncos, continues to confound critics and delight fans as he guides the Denver Broncos to win after win, moving them ever closer to a playoff spot. Despite having terrible stats (he ranks 30 out of 34 quarterbacks this season), Tebow’s Broncos have found ways to win games since he became the starting quarterback .

And if that’s not enough, “Tebow” is a verb now, too. To Tebow is “to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different” according to Tebowing.com.

How does Tebow’s buzz compare to other leading NFL quarterbacks? We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Quarterback buzz

Tim Tebow has thrust his name into the spotlight over the last six months, surpassing Mark Sanchez, Tony Romo, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady in mentions online.

Tim Tebow sentiment

After increasing negative buzz through mid-September, conversations around Tebow have been positive the last two months. Tebow has the Broncos leading the AFC West at 7-5 and currently ranked 10th in ESPN’s NFL Power Rankings.

NBA Commissioner David Stern cancelled the first two weeks of the NBA season this week after negotiators for the league and its players’ union were unable to reach an agreement. “We remain very, very far apart on virtually all issues,” Stern told reporters in New York. “We just have a gulf that separates us. We are so far apart . . . we can’t close the gap.”

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around the NBA online.

NBA conversation topic cloud

Conversations around the NBA are currently 45% negative

Meanwhile, one of the NBA’s biggest stars, LeBron James, caused a stir this week by contemplating joining an NFL team as a free agent.

NFL conversation topic cloud

LeBron is currently being mentioned in 10% of all NFL conversations online. Overall sentiment around the NFL is 68% positive, 23% more positive than NBA conversations.

NBA vs. NFL buzz

NBA chatter spiked above NFL chatter this week thanks to the cancellation news. We will continue to monitor NBA buzz online until the lockout is resolved. Is the NBA alienating the fan base it worked so hard to build in the post-Jordan era?

The country stopped to remember the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center tragedy yesterday. Family members, President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other political leaders visited the new National September 11th Memorial. NFL games across the country paid tribute to Americans who lost their lives. Many used social media to pay respects and remembered where they were when terror struck 10 years ago using the Twitter hash tag #on911.

We used Social Radar to measure conversations around September 11, 9/11, #on911, etc. online.

9/11 mentions

9/11 was mentioned in an unprecedented 1.7% of all Internet conversations yesterday, making it one of the most discussed topics online ever. Since we built our Social Radar database in 2007, we rarely see conversation topics pass even 1% of all conversations.

Content distribution

Approximately 93% of mentions came via Twitter. 61% of posts were made by males. For further analysis, visit www.infegy.com/socialradar.

The NFL lockout and labor dispute started in mid-March and is already causing unique effects, including scarcity of merchandise and players trying other sports.

How has the labor dispute affected perception of the NFL?

NFL sentiment Feb 2010 – Feb 2011

Conversations around the NFL were 74% positive from February 2010 – February 2011.

NFL sentiment March 2011

Positive conversations around the NFL in March 2011 fell 10% to only 64% positive overall. The word ‘owners’ appeared in 23% of all NFL conversations this month, and chatter was 68% negative.

Will the labor disputes have a long-term negative impact on America’s most popular sport?

According to an Ad Age article today, marketers are making a strong push to engage with customers on social media with their Super Bowl dollars this year. And with the NFL literally counting down the hours to Sunday’s Super Bowl 45, we decided to run some analysis around conversations online.

Overall chatter around the Super Bowl is down YOY. We measured overall chatter around the Super Bowl throughout the month of January 2010 vs. January 2011. Chatter around Super Bowl 44 in 2010 was 26% higher last year in January 2010 leading up to last year’s Saints vs. Colts game than this year’s Steelers vs. Packers game.

Steelers vs. Packers Chatter Total Jan. 2011

We measured overall conversations around both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers. Chatter around the Packers was over 2% higher throughout the month of January.

Steelers vs. Packers Mentions within Super Bowl Chatter Jan. 2011

We also measured overall chatter around the Super Bowl, the Steelers and Packers are being mentioned nearly identically within Super Bowl chatter — the Packers were mentioned 0.4% more often than the Steelers within Super Bowl conversations.

Steelers vs. Packers Sentiment Jan. 2011

Conversations around the Green Bay Packers were 78% positive throughout the month of January 2011. Conversations around the PIttsburgh Steelers were only 69% positive during the same time period.

As the top eight NFL teams square off this weekend in Divisional Playoff matches, we measured conversations around each team to determine which is generating the most buzz.

NFL Playoff team buzz Dec. 13 – Jan. 15

Over the last month, the Jets have generated the most buzz, while the Falcons, despite having one of the league’s best records, generated the least buzz among teams still competing in the Playoffs.

NFL Playoff team buzz Jan. 6-13

When we adjust the timeframe to just the last week, the Jets are still generating the most buzz and the Falcons still the least, however the Seahawks and Ravens are generating significantly more chatter after big wins last weekend.

NFL Playoff team sentiment Jan. 6-13

When we compare positive and negative chatter over the last week, the Packers generated the most positive discussion, followed by the Ravens, Jets, Steelers, Patriots, Bears, Seahawks and Falcons.

Last night’s lunar eclipse, which coincided with the winter solstice for the first time since 1638, was a hot topic of conversation. The eclipse surged past NFL, WikiLeaks, Facebook, iPhone, Twitter and even Christmas to become one of the most discussed topics online. Eclipse was mentioned in nearly nearly 1.5% of ALL online conversations through yesterday and today.

The Associate Press released their top 10 sports stories of the year:

1. Tiger’s lost year
2. LeBron’s free-agency
3. Saints’ Super Bowl win
4. Giants’ World Series win
5. Lakers’ repeat as champs
6. NFL concussion awareness
7. Canada Olympic gold hockey win
8. Spain’s World Cup victory
9. Jimmie Johnson’s drive for five
10. Stephen Strasburg’s debut

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around each topic. The top 10 AP stories are listed in order below with bars representing amount of chatter on blogs, Twitter and other news feeds.