Listening to the Market – A Case Study ♯

We have been working with Microsoft for several years to help them understand and track their relative performance in the market compared to the competition as well as to help anticipate future trends. Additionally they use our solutions to understand the sentiment that is attached to Microsoft by the public as well as the impact of any campaigns that they launch.

In this new case study, learn how one department of Microsoft UK has been using our continuous online insight to assist them in tracking and meeting their objectives of improving customer relations and enhancing marketing effectiveness.

Read the new case study here now!

The Link between the Online Debate and Outcomes ♯

The referendum on the Alternative Voting system in the UK took place last week and the ‘No’ campaign won the vote. This concurs with our finding in our white paper: Using the Internet as a Market Research Database: Revelations of the UK Elections 2010; that relative share of the online debate reflects voting behaviour. In our white paper we found that changes in daily election poll results could be estimated by measuring the changes in the relative amount of online discussion. In our analysis of the global English debate on the Alternative Vote we found that the ‘No’ Campaign generated a larger share of the online debate and this indeed reflected voters’ preference in the end. 

The Official Royal Wedding Website Returns to Royally Rule the Roost ♯

At the end of March we began analysing the key influencers in the debate on the Royal Wedding and discussed how we measure influence. We followed this up towards the end of April to see how the influencers had changed.

Let’s have a final look at the top 20 most influential websites in the debate on the Royal Wedding:

Table 1: Top 20 Influential Stakeholders in the Debate on the Royal Wedding

There have been sizeable shifts in the top 20 influencers since April. The Official Royal Wedding Website managed to return to the top of the chart, after falling to rank 6th in April. Interestingly the high-ranking Australian news media outlets have fallen from the top 20 as more US news media outlets have taken their place.

We tracked a number of different topics in relation to the Wedding, such as the Cake, the Dress, Security, Westminster Abbey, Rings, Souvenirs and the Honeymoon. We found that Westminster Abbey was the most discussed, followed by the Dress, but when the voices were weighted for influence, the Dress became the key issue, followed by Security.

We analysed the debate on the royal couple and found that Kate was marginally more discussed than Prince William and also proved more popular among influential stakeholders.

Report compiled during the period 1st October 2010 – 6thMay 2011. Please email me (Sophie.hill@onalytica.com) if you would like further information on findings presented in this blog post.

Big News for 'Big Data' ♯

There is an interesting article in today’s Financial Times by Richard Waters – A Binary Goldmine – in which he discusses the growth of the sophisticated technology now available for analysis of ‘Big Data’ and the business benefits it brings.

In particular, this paragraph struck a chord with us: “Meanwhile, as the analysis of digital information develops, the traditional management virtues of gut instinct and seat-of-the-pants decision-making are being replaced by reliance on intensive number-crunching and the objective testing of multiple potential courses of action.”

If you subscribe to the FT, the full article can be found here.

Will We Have a ‘Yes To AV’ or a ‘No To AV’ in Today’s Referendum? ♯

The referendum to decide whether to introduce a new voting system to replace our current first-past-the-post system is taking place today. We have been tracking the debate on the Alternative Vote (AV) since the 1st January 2011. 

We posted our first blog on this topic on the 14th April 2011.

As might be expected, discussion of AV has increased dramatically since January and in the first five days of May there has been more debate than what was seen during the whole of March! AV is clearly a hot topic but let’s have a look at discussion of the different campaigns:

The ‘Yes To AV’ campaign generated marginally more buzz between January and March than the ‘No To AV’ campaign, however, during April ‘No To AV’ came into focus, only for the ‘Yes’ campaign to move marginally ahead during the first week of May. That said, the volume of coverage is only part of the story; the influence of the voices and the sentiment of what is being said also need to be taken into account. 

Overall, ‘No To AV’ has been slightly more discussed and has proved more popular among influential stakeholders. Interestingly, the ‘Yes To AV’ campaign has featured in more polarised coverage than the ‘No’ campaign, appearing in a sizeable proportion of negative posts and only slightly more positive posts. Whereas, when those posts are weighted for the influence of the different voices in the debate, the landscape changes dramatically; the ‘No To AV’ campaign features in 25% unfavourable debate while ‘Yes To AV’ campaign appears in only 21%. Essentially, those who are influential in the debate are discussing the ‘Yes’ campaign in a more positive light. The first five days of May have proved particularly negative for the ‘No’ campaign, but will sentiment determine the results of the referendum or will the high volume of ‘No’ discussion put that stance in the forefront of the public’s mind? In order to establish the overall picture we need to analyse the influential voices in the debate.

So let’s have a look at how the top 20 most influential websites in the global English debate on AV have changed since the last time we looked at them:

For information on how we calculate influence please see our blog post looking at the key influencers in the debate on the Royal Wedding.

There has been considerable movement in the top 20. The most noticeable change was Iain Dale’s Diary, which was knocked out of the top 20 by new entrant, the Financial Times. Although the top five stakeholders have held their rank, the rest of the top 20 has been somewhat reshuffled. Total Politics Magazine experienced the greatest increase in influence over the time period, closely followed by the Liberal Democrats Website.

At this point there are still more websites in the top 20 dedicated to the Liberal Democrats than any other party. Nevertheless, the Conservatives are indeed present in the top 20 and furthermore, both Conservative-focused websites have become more influential in the past few weeks.

It will be interesting to see if the high levels of discussion signify a No in today’s referendum or if strong sentiment and influential voices encourage a Yes from the UK electorate.

Report compiled during the period 1st January 2011 – 5th May 2011. Please email me (sophie.hill@onalytica.com) if you would like further information on findings presented in this blog post.

Onalytica Shortlisted for Hot Companies of the Year at the Festival of Media ♯

We are delighted to announce that Onalytica has been shortlisted for the Festival of Media Hot Companies of the Year 2011 taking place in Montreux, Switzerland in May.

A list of 11 of the world’s most ground-breaking digital businesses has been revealed as the shortlist for the Media Accelerator Programme (MAP) is unveiled - judged by some of the world’s leading media figures, digital financiers and innovation experts. The shortlist will now progress to the final judging stage in front of delegates at the global Festival of Media 8-10th May.

The Festival of Media Global, the world's first festival of media creativity and innovation, through its Media Accelerator Programme is searching for the best emerging digital businesses - from ad networks and social platforms to mobile app developers - which will transform the media industry over the coming years.

Bernhard Glock, former President of the World Federation of Advertisers and one of the judges for MAP comments: “For me, what is at stake with MAP is the future of media. I was looking for people, ideas, approaches that can change the way we do media in the future. And I was pleased to see exactly that: a diverse range of great new emerging companies that are approaching media from very different angles and that all have the potential to improve and in fact completely change the name of the game in media.”

Who is Influential in the Debate on the Royal Wedding This Week? ♯

At the end of March we began analysing the key influencers in the debate on the Royal Wedding. Now we are going to look at how those stakeholders have changed as we approach the big event.

Influence is dynamic, in that a stakeholder can become more or less influential on a topic over time.  So who are the current top 20 most influential websites in the debate on the Royal Wedding?

Table 1: Top 20 Influential Stakeholders in the Debate on the Royal Wedding

We saw the Official Royal Wedding Website climb to the top of the chart in March, surpassing national online news media from the UK, the US and Australia. Now we have seen it fall to rank 6th, as it became less influential in the debate and was overtaken by news media outlets from the UK and the US.

Four stakeholders fell out of the top 20 between the 29th March and the 19th April 2011 including; ABC News, Celebuzz!, TMZ - Celebrity Gossip and Fox News.

As we come closer to the date of the wedding, the top 20 is becoming more and more dominated by online news media outlets as stakeholders dedicated to the Royal Wedding and celebrity gossip sites, such as the Official Royal Wedding Website and Celebuzz, are becoming less influential.

Report compiled during the period 1st October 2010 – 19th April 2011. Please email me (sophie.hill@onalytica.com) if you would like further information on findings presented in this blog post.

Who is Influential in the Debate on the Alternative Vote? ♯

The referendum to decide whether to introduce a new voting system to replace our current first-past-the-post system is fast approaching. We have been tracking the debate on the Alternative Vote (AV) since the 1st January 2011.

For information on how we calculate influence please see our blog post looking at who is influential in the debate on the Royal Wedding.

We found the top 20 most influential websites in the global English debate on AV:

Table 1: Top 20 Influential Stakeholders in the Debate on the Alternative Vote

Interestingly, at this stage, the Liberal Democrat Voice is the most influential politics-focused website. Furthermore, of the nine websites dedicated to a particular political party, five of those had a penchant for the Liberal Democrats, compared to three for the Conservatives and one for Labour. Whether this will have an effect on the results of the referendum, we will have to wait and see.

Report compiled during the period 1st January 2011 – 12th April 2011. Please email me (sophie.hill@onalytica.com) if you would like further information on findings presented in this blog post.

We Are Now on Twitter ♯

We are pleased to announce that Onalytica is now on Twitter.

Follow us - @Onalytica for events, announcements and general news.

Follow us - @OnalyticaHiring for recruitment news and new job announcements.

Onalytica UK Insight Managers Survey 2011 Now Available to Download ♯

We recently conducted our first UK Insight Managers Survey to find out more about Insight Managers, how they relate to their colleagues in other departments, which challenges they face and what up and coming trends they have started to notice.

We posted a summary of the results to our blog not long ago: Results of the UK Insight Managers Survey 2011.

Now, the full report is available to download in the Resources area of our website.

If you have any problems downloading the survey please email me (sophie.hill@onalytica.com) and I will be happy to help.

Are You an Insight Manager?
Do you want to become part of this growing networking group? - Join the Onalytica Insight Manager Forum by sending us an email at: insight@onalytica.com.