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.

With same-store sales down 7% in the U.S. during the most recent quarter, KFC is attempting to transform itself into KGC.

KFC has been a trending topic on Twitter most of the week thanks to coupons announced on The Oprah Winfrey show on Tuesday, May 5 for two pieces of chicken, two sides and a biscuit. The coupons could be downloaded at UnThinkKFC.com until the end of May 6.

KFC then announced on May 7 that due to “overwhelming response” it can no longer accept the free coupon, but will introduce a rain check program to take care of inconvenienced customers.

KFC’s promotion quickly turned into an exercise in crisis management as long lines and angry customers shared their experiences online. Overall online chatter around KFC has been generally positive following the announcement.

Though the positive chatter has trended slightly down over the past two days while negative chatter has trended up.

This giveaway is KFC’s second national giveaway in the last two weeks. The chain declared Monday, April 27 “UNFry Day” and gave away 4 million pieces of chicken. In addition to a full-page ad in USA Today, KFC also unveiled a new ad campaign with a TV spot produced by Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris containing endorsements from celebrated chefs Sandra Lee, editor-in-chief of Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Magazine, and TV One’s G. Garvin. Despite all of these tactics, the Oprah promotion generated considerably higher chatter for KFC than UNFry day. So marketers take note — free food isn’t exciting enough to talk about unless Oprah is involved.

As a point of reference, we compared KFC chatter to McDonald’s, the fast food chain typically generating the largest amount of chatter online. KFC spiked past McDonald’s during both promotions. But can KFC sustain chatter in the long term? Will customers like the grilled chicken enough to go back and keep talking about it when they have to pay for it?

Television host/Emmy Award winner/philanthropist/billionaire Oprah Winfrey @oprah has decided to send her first tweet during live TV today.

Ashton Kutcher @aplusk will be be Oprah’s guest, discussing today’s win in the race to a million followers over CNN @cnnbrk and Britney Spears @britneyspears.

What does it mean for the future of social media? TechCrunch wonders if soccer moms will take over the service.

Check out the trend chart below. Even someone with a reputation as established as Oprah’s — one of the most powerful people in the world — is trending up in chatter the last few days thanks to Twitter. Her buzz should continue to rise today after the show airs. The topic cloud below represents topics of conversation on the web related to Oprah over the last two days.

Social media is evolving. Kutcher gets it. “For one person to actually have the ability to broadcast to as many people as a major media network, sort of signifies the turning of the tide from tradition news outlets to social news outlets,” Kutcher said in a YouTube video.

It’s exciting news. As Brian Solis said in his blog, we participate in social media to express ourselves. We become media. We become influencers. Solis goes on to discuss the potential of social media to empower individuals moving forward.

What’s next? Googlezon may be here before 2014.