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 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.

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

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.

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 May 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 May 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.

The top six brands held their positions in this month’s list. Twitter, Google, Obama, iPhone, Facebook and YouTube remain strong with increased buzz across all online mediums. Windows jumped past Mac this month thanks to buzz on Windows 7. Linux moved up two spots, while the NBA jumped six spots thanks to an exciting month of Playoff games. The NBA’s active Twitter account has nearly 700,000 followers, and several players are also tweeting. Notably, @dwighthoward, who gave a shout out to his Twitter followers in a post-game interview, has quickly amassed nearly 200,000 followers and has been called the next big ad man by Ad Age.

Dell jumped 22 spots thanks in part to a new Studio line of laptops, as well as the continued growth of @delloutlet, which has nearly 600,000 followers on Twitter. BlackBerry jumped five spots, corresponding with their strong sales — BlackBerry Curve is outselling iPhone so far in 2009. Nintendo dropped 8 spots as some of the video game chatter shifted to Microsoft’s Project Natal and Sony’s Motion Controller.

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

What do you think of when you hear the word apple? A fruit that keeps the doctor away? George Washington? Pie? Nope.

How about consumer electronics. Welcome to 2009.

Brands often become ubiquitous words for their products, like Kleenex facial tissues. But who would have predicted 50 years ago that the fruit kids brought their teachers as a gift would be replaced in our language by a brand name?

There are hundreds of types of apples that can be used in countless recipes, but the topic cloud for the word “apple” (pulled from millions of Internet conversations over the last year) shows that technology-related words were far more prominent than recipe or baking.

To build the trend chart below, we used a massive query including all Apple products (iPod, iPhone, Macbook, Mac, etc.), software (iWork, iLife, etc.) as well as words associated with Apple (technology, software, computer, apps, features, developers, etc.) compared to all other apple-related content (excluding Big Apple, Fiona Apple, etc.).

What are some other examples of successful branding? What do you think of first when you hear the word windows?

Update 04/08/09: For more details on how we determine our ranking, view The new rules of branding

If sheer volume of conversation is any indication, Twitter is the hottest brand in the market. Twitter dominates a tech-heavy list of brands in our March 2009 Social Radar Top 50. The Social Radar Top 50 measures the most social brands by the number of unique topics of conversation. These brands are top of mind for consumers and bloggers today — Social Radar determined rankings according to the number of individual websites with at least one post about each brand to accurately capture the brand’s reach across the web.

The list below is based on overall conversation volume through the month of March 2009, including blog posts, news feeds, forums, social networks and Twitter posts. The +/- number represents the ranking change since February 2009.

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

For the full March 2009 list, download the PDF. Be sure to visit our Social Radar Top 50 page for access to each month’s results.

Questions? Comments? Tweet me: @adamcoomes