As data has shown for prior years, the majority of buzz was posted in the days leading up to the shopping holiday, with the peak occurring on the day of the shopping event itself. In 2011 buzz about Black Friday/Cyber Monday peaked the day after Thanksgiving and made up 2.9 percent of all buzz that day, representing a 15 percent relative increase in the share of buzz compared to 2010.

Cyber Monday buzz has also increased compared year-over-year, and is likely to climb further as discussion of Cyber Week sales continues throughout the week. An interesting development this year comes from the increase in blog posts about Black Friday, which now accounts for 47 percent of all buzz mentioning it, led by the large volume of blog posts made weeks ahead of the shopping holiday.

What are consumers saying about Black Friday/Cyber Monday?

Looking more closely at what consumers are discussing about the shopping holiday through social media, NM Incite evaluated buzz about Black Friday/Cyber Monday to uncover popular topics. An overwhelming majority of buzz was neutral in tone, indicating that consumers rely on social media platforms to share information related to deals and sales both online and off.  Another 94 percent of Cyber Monday posts were neutral in tone, with consumers sharing links to sales and deal-related news. Today’s findings reflect an earlier study by NM Incite which showed that receiving deals/discounts was one of the more popular reasons Americans use social media.

NM Incite also looked at the top 10 shared links on Twitter, and found many of the more popular links were also used to share information about Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Posts from popular news sites ranked among the most shared links on Twitter , including a story from Mashable sharing the best Black Friday deals, as well as news coverage about the shopping holiday from CNN and ABC News. The most shared links included pictures on Twitpic related to Black Friday as well. Tweets sharing deals rounded out the list of most shared links on Black Friday, whereas links to deals topped the list for Cyber Monday buzz, making the deals instantly accessible on the shopping holiday.

Not surprisingly, the top drivers of social media use among social networkers are keeping in touch with family and friends (89% and 88%, respectively) and finding new friends (70%).  Another driver of use is the desire to view and contribute to reviews of products and services as 68 percent of social media users go to social networking sites to read product reviews and over half use these sites to provide product feedback, both positive and negative.  Other top reasons social media users engage in social networking include entertainment (67%), as a creative outlet (64%), to learn about products (58%), and to get coupons or promotions (54%).

The study also looked at the differences in use among social media users with children and those without, finding that parents are more likely than non-parents to use social media for almost every thing, with dating being the exception.  Parents are 26 percent more likely than non-parents to visit social networks to play games, 23 percent more likely to use as a creative outlet and 20 percent more likely to use for entertainment.

Methodology

NM Incite’s ‘State of Social Media Survey’ is based on a representative sample of 1,865 adult (18+) social media users who were recruited from the Nielsen Online Panel to take an online survey. “Social media user” is defined as participating, talking, and networking online through various platforms to share information and resources. This includes Internet forums, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, video sharing, consumer rating and other social networking websites. The survey fielded from March 31 to April 14, 2011.

]]> http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/friends-following-and-feedback-how-were-using-social-media/feed/ 0 http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/most-buzzed-about-emmy-nominated-performances/ http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/most-buzzed-about-emmy-nominated-performances/#comments Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:01:57 +0000 Nielsen Wire http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/?p=29094 The court of (social media) public opinion has voted, and the Emmy winners are in. An analysis of online buzz by Nielsen reveals that of all the best actor/actress nominees, Michael C. Hall’s performance as Dexter generated by far the most buzz—both during the regular season and following the Emmy nominations in July. Hall was nominated for Best Actor in a Drama; he handily won his category with 84 percent of all buzz mentions about the nominees.

Mariska Hargitay’s portrayal of Detective Olivia Benson in Law & Order: SVU was the buzz winner for Best Actress in a Drama Series. Edie Falco as Jackie in Nurse Jackie and Louis C.K. as Louie in the show Louie generated the most buzz of their categories, Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, respectively. Each delivered a performance that generated the most buzz of all their categories’ nominees.

Interestingly, nominees who play the titular character, i.e. “Nurse Jackie,” “Dexter” and “Louie,” are mentioned more frequently in buzz. Louis C.K. garnered the second most buzz among all nominees in the lead acting categories, benefitting from his personal use of social media (especially Twitter) to discuss the show.

The ability of the Emmy’s to generate buzz is also undeniable. While all of the category winners dominated buzz conversations both during the season and following the nominations, most nominees saw considerable increases following the nominations. Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) and Mireille Enos (The Killing), for example, received more buzz mentions following their nominations in July that in the entire ten months prior.

Other findings include:

• Comedy nominees tend to generate more buzz than those in drama series, on average.
• Actress nominees tend to garner a more even share of buzz, whereas the male nominees were dominated by a couple lead characters.
• The Lead Actress in a Drama category had the least buzz overall, while Lead Actor in a Drama had the most.

Amidst many questions about how the next console transition will play out, Nintendo prepares to share details about its new console at E3 2011 next week. According to the opinions of gamers, expressed in both surveys and online chatter, anticipation is high for Nintendo to deliver as it has so successfully with the Wii since that initial reveal six years ago.

To put some context around Nintendo’s plans to launch a new console, Nielsen surveyed gamers about their expectations for and interest in buying a variety of assumed or rumored new gaming platforms to be released in the near future. Almost half of gamers (47%) expect Nintendo to release its new console (known as Wii 2, Wii’s successor or Project Café) within the next two years, surpassing the many other assumed or possible options. This likely reflects rumors of its pending announcement and alleged features such as HD display and controllers that include an embedded touch screen. It may also speak to some latent demand for Nintendo to delight gamers once again. Far less has been said publicly about new consoles from Microsoft and Sony but confidence is reasonably high that they will release these in the near future as well.

Beyond expectations, nearly a quarter of gamers say they would buy a new console from Nintendo (27%) within six months of release, but a near-equal share say the same for new Sony and Microsoft consoles. A second tier of interest contains all of the iOS devices and gaming handhelds (13% – 18%). These figures are driven partly by the current installed bases of precursor devices and the profile of the gamer for each. As a result, Nintendo’s comparatively larger Wii audience is behind much of the interest in the new Nintendo platform. The sheer size and diversity of this audience speaks to the opportunity and challenge for Nintendo in converting Wii gamers to a new platform.

To illustrate this potential challenge more fully, interest in the new Nintendo console among more hardcore, multi-platform Wii gamers is instructive. These are gamers who have experience on both the Wii and an alternative console (Xbox 360 or PS3). These groups voice greater interest in a new Microsoft or Sony console than in one from Nintendo, which could be explained by a number of factors including comparative use or satisfaction with the precursor consoles, time since purchase of precursor consoles, prioritization of a “primary” console based on the precursors, and value considerations. Uptake among these audiences will ultimately depend on the actual features, price point, and timing of release for the Nintendo console, versus satisfaction with currently owned platforms and other new system options.

In a positive sign given what is at stake for Nintendo, online discussion points to heightened anticipation for Nintendo’s console versus the major hardware unveils of E3 2010 at the same time last year. Overall buzz about E3 is up dramatically year-over-year (59% increase), with the new Nintendo console accounting for 22 percent of total messages this year, compared to 4 percent in 2010 for Microsoft’s hands-free gaming add-on Kinect, which was unveiled at the show last year. Much of the increase in overall chatter is coming from Twitter this year versus last (29% of Pre-E3 buzz in 2011 vs. 8% in 2010).

Trended buzz shows a substantial increase in interest generated by rumors and confirmation of the new Nintendo console seven to five weeks pre-E3. This is especially so compared to 2010 buzz for Kinect and Nintendo’s own 3DS handheld, which was unveiled last year at E3 as well. In the past several weeks the differences in chatter have narrowed, though it remains to be seen if any more key buzz-driving information will be released before the much-anticipated unveiling.

Since the start of the opening kickoff, though, Adidas has reasserted itself at the top of World Cup brand dialogue. When looking at the top 10 official sponsors and their major competitors, a follow-up study by NM Incite, a Nielsen McKinsey Company, found that in the first two weeks of the tournament Adidas overtook Nike as the top brand. Adidas buzz accounted for 25.1% share of World Cup buzz online compared to 14.4% before the event. Nike, meanwhile, dropped from 30.2% to 19.4%.

Part of Adidas’ increased buzz levels were due to discussions around the controversial official ball of the World Cup – the Jabulani. For the week ending the 13th June, which included the first three days of the tournament, the ball accounted for 8% of all English-language messages related to the World Cup.

“Half the game in buzz is ‘fanning the flames,’” said Pete Blackshaw, executive vice president of digital strategy at Nielsen. “The Adidas football Facebook page, for instance, is now up to over a million fans and they are dropping new content several times a day, all while the average post is generating upwards of 100 comments. At the end of the day, brands need to keep the buzz ball in the air as long as possible – sponsored or otherwise.”

Budweiser, too, overcame a pre-tournament ambush from Carlsberg to assert itself as the most highly buzzed beer brand tied to the World Cup. Buzz share for the official beer of the World Cup climbed to 4.9% as it overtook Carlsberg, whose share fell to 2.4%.

Other official sponsors who enjoyed a noticeable increase in World Cup buzz included Hyundai/Kia (from 2.4% to 4.7%) and McDonald’s (2.8% to 4.2%).  The overall share of buzz for the 10 official World Cup partners/sponsors increased from 52% to 66% since the start of the tournament.

“Sponsorship still matters, but it’s far from a ‘conversational’ guarantee,” added Blackshaw. ”For big events like the World Cup and Olympics, you can always expect a modest ‘echo effect’ from any level of paid or sponsorship investment, but that’s just the foot in the door. The rest really depends on variables like timing, creativity, controversy, and a combination of brand readiness and agility.”

The NM Incite follow-up study compared the share of online buzz between World Cup sponsors and their major competitors in relation to the World Cup in the run up to the event (month-long period ending June 6th) and during the first two weeks of the tournament (11th -25th June). English language World Cup-related messages on blogs, message boards, groups, video and image sites – including Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter – were monitored for the study.

The Nielsen Company conducted a survey in March 2010 and polled more than 27,000 Internet users in 55 markets from Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, North America and South America to look at how consumers shop online: what they intend to buy, how they use various sites, the impact of social media and other factors that come into play when they are trying to decide how to spend their money. What we found was that there are some products bought online that are universal, and others that still have yet to build a significant share of trade. Further, while checking online reviews are popular for some products—particularly consumer electronics and cars—shoppers still trust the recommendations of friends and family most.

Opinions Count
One of the great benefits of online shopping is the ability read others’ reviews of a product, be they experts or simply fellow shoppers. These opinions are most important when it comes to purchasing consumer electronics: 57 percent of online respondents consider reviews prior to buying. Reviews on cars (45%) and software (37%) rounded out the top three most important online influences when making a purchase.

Online reviews and peer recommendations also played a key role for shoppers researching future purchases of consumer electronics, cars and travel, and 40 percent of online shoppers indicate they would not even buy electronics without consulting online reviews first.

Pity the product or retailer that consumers don’t like: while most online consumers (59%) said that they are not more likely to share a negative product experience online via Twitter or writing a review, 41 percent would.

For more insights, download the complete report: Global Trends in Online Shopping.

All three participants couldn’t stress strongly enough that the social landscape has changed and that the relationship between brands and consumer has been flipped on its head because of the way consumers connect. So much influence (and insight) is now in the hands (and tweets, posts, votes and updates) of the consumer. “Consumers expect brands to be listening,” said Blackshaw. “It’s a no-blink environment for brands.” Consumers aren’t always paying attention to your marketing message, warned Taqqu, but they are paying attention to each other. Brand loyalty is in no way a lock for today’s consumer who is constantly reevaluating brands.

The power and appeal of social media is not just hype. The facts bear it out. After friends and family, the number one driver for brand trust is online reviews and feedback from the social media space. If brands believe that trust is central to their message and their marketing, then social networks must be part of the ROI equation. Eliason notes the immediacy of response can be not only a huge credibility and trust builder with customers, it can also help the bottom line. He said a when customer tweets about a station outage, it saves Comcast considerable time and money in its response effort because information was received in real time.

Fast Facts

• More than 40% of consumers go online to check reviews and consumer feedback before purchasing consumer electronics.
• 60% of those going online have visited a social network, with half going back everyday according to Facebook.
• 23% of social network users expect companies to listen and respond to what is said online

The Big Question
A conference attendee asked if brands were alienating their older customers by focusing on Twitter, or blogs. Comcast’s Eliason stressed the importance of meeting the customer where they are. It’s critical that brands have multiple channels to allow feedback. While Twitter customer service is hot right now, traditional surveys, call centers and focus groups aren’t going away. Just like every social media space is different, every interaction point is different, so brands need to rethink and expand all their customer touchpoints.

Globally, the total minutes spent on social networks monthly saw a more than 100% gain over the same time last year, driving the average time per person spent on social networks to over six hours per month.

NOTE: Effective with June 2009 data reporting, Nielsen has made several enhancements to the U.S. NetView service.  For some sites, trending of previously-reported data with current results may show percentage differences attributable to this methodology change and should only be compared directionally.

Twitter’s audience levels grew by more than 400% in 2009 and nearly one quarter of online Australians (23%) read ‘tweets’ in the past year, 14 percent ‘followed’ companies or organizations via Twitter (up from 5% in 2008) and 13 percent posted ‘tweets’ (up from 4% in 2008). Wikis continued to grow as a popular form of online content – close to three quarters of Australian Internet users (73%) read a wiki in the past year compared to 61 percent in 2008 and just 37 percent in 2007. Nearly two in five online Australians are now interacting with companies via social networking sites, reinforcing notions that Australians are open to engaging with brands and companies online.

“The opportunities for brands and companies to tap into the social media phenomenon are really just beginning to emerge and to date we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg,” states Melanie Ingrey, Research Director for Nielsen’s online business. “Incredibly, nearly nine in 10 (86%) of Australian’s online are looking to their fellow Internet users for opinions and information about products, services and brands, and Australians’ engagement with online word of mouth communication is going to increase in coming years as social media plays an increasingly important role in consumer decision making.”

Social networking on sites such as Facebook was a key driver in Australians’ trial and uptake of social media. Close to three in four online Australians (73%) have looked at others’ profiles on social networks and well over one third (37%) of these report to be interacting with others via social networking sites on a daily basis. Facebook dominates the online social networking space, with three quarters of Australian Internet users (75%) reporting to have visited Facebook, 59 percent have a Facebook profile, and the average time spent on Facebook in a given month is 8:19 hours – seven and a half hours more than its closest rival site, YouTube. Moreover, 83 percent of social networkers name Facebook as their main social networking platform, up from 72 percent in 2008 and 34 percent in 2007. And, as reported recently in a global view of social networking usage, Nielsen data showed that Australia topped even the U.S. when it came to time spent per person on social networks.

Networking On The Go
The rise in smartphone ownership (43% of online Australians now own a smartphone) and relaxed download caps on mobile phone plans has seen mobile social networking gain traction in the past year. Nielsen found that over one quarter of social networkers (26%) participated in mobile social networking in the past year, with younger consumers the most likely to participate in social networking via mobile – 66 percent of mobile social networkers are under 35 years of age. Facebook is the most popular social networking site accessed via a mobile (92% of mobile social networkers have visited Facebook), followed by YouTube and Twitter (18%) and MySpace (9%). However, Twitter sees the most frequent mobile usage, with half of its mobile users visiting the site daily. In comparison, Facebook saw 36 percent of its mobile users visit the site daily, while 22 percent of MySpace users and 16 percent of YouTube users were making daily visits.

Overall, the active unique audience to social networks grew nearly 30%, from 244.2M to 314.5M in the last year. In the U.S., the average active unique audience grew to 149.M from 115M in February 2009.

Across the 10 countries measured, Facebook drew the largest active unique audience globally and claimed nearly three times the sessions per user of MySpace, the next closest network. Facebook users also spent more time per session, logging nearly six hours per user across the globe.