February 27th, 2011 by Sten Franke
Social media users see “Black Swan” as Best Picture, Darren Aronofsky as Best Director, Natalie Portman as Best Actress in a Leading Role and Jeff Bridges as Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Social media users see “Black Swan” as Best Picture, Darren Aronofsky as Best Director, Natalie Portman as Best Actress in a Leading Role and Jeff Bridges as Best Actor in a Leading Role.
ethority has analyzed over 40,000 user opinions relating to the Oscar nominations in forums, blogs and on Twitter with the help of its Web-Monitoring Software Technology. The most interesting question for the research team was: Which of the nominated films and stars are being most heavily discussed in English and German language social media channels? Who are the hottest candidates for the Academy Awards in user-generated media?
The results of the study provided a few surprises. According to social media users, the films are running neck and neck. The differences between Black Swan (17%), True Grit (14%) and Inception (13%) are so small that we will be waiting with bated breath until the envelope is finally opened on Sunday night. The picture is clearer for Best Director: Darren Aronofsky, with 31% of all posts, is significantly ahead of David Fincher (23%) and David O’Russel (18%) – according to the users, we at least know that the winner’s name begins with the letter “D”.
Things are even closer in the race for Best Actor: Jeff Bridges holds a lead over James Franco (both 24%) of only a few hundred posts. Jesse Eisenberg is only 4% behind. By far the clear favorite amongst film bloggers and commentators for Best Actress is Natalie Portman with 45% of all posts. Anette Bening (17%) and Michelle Williams (15%) can’t even make out the leader’s tutu from that distance.
Sten Franke, founder and CEO of ethority comments: “As a film buff and enthusiast, I would have expected The King’s Speech to have been discussed far more strongly and to have stood higher in the users’ favor. But at the end of the day, we are only showing what the community thinks. The Academy has the final say! We’re keeping our fingers crossed.“
The core of social media lies in the interaction with the target group. Automated social media monitoring offers the possibility to identify what users think about a film, a brand or a company. Users utilize the social web to air their views and opinions honestly, without any sugarcoating.
“Monday will mean going into the office early after a long Oscar night.” Adds Benedikt Köhler, COO of ethority. “We will want to compare our own generated data with the Academy results as quickly as possible and see how buzz developed during the Oscar night. The results will, of course, be available to read in our blog.”
About ethority: ethority GmbH & Co.KG as a Social Media Specialist is one of the leading providers of social media monitoring, strategy consulting, marketing, branding and market research in the field of social media. Ethority has been working successfully with large German and international businesses for more than 10 years. The company’s client base includes global and online brands and medium-sized companies in the field of B2C and B2B who are looked after by the more than 50-strong ethority team based in Hamburg, Munich and Atlanta.
September 24th, 2008 by Sten Franke
With regard to the image a network presents for the users, DaWanda from Berlin scores best. Contrastively, in a comparison of image values, Yigg, the participation news portal, received bottom marks. These are the results of the first German Start-Up Monitor of Hamburg’s social media specialists ethority. Concerning the quantity of comments on the web, StudiVZ as well as Xing are in the lead. Alongside the networks, blog merchandiser Trigami and T-shirt designer Spreadshirt are represented in the Top Ten of the German buzz.
ethority GmbH & Co. KG examined this novel branch more closely, in cooperation with Wirtschaftswoche, resulting in a Buzz Monitor of the German digital founders. For this monitor, comments from news sites, online communities and weblogs within the German internet are automatically registered and classified via gridmaster internet search technology.
Online start-ups are notably dependent on discussions and recommendations on the internet. In online channels, the overall volume of statements concerning the respective start-up and its products might be a major indicator for its economical success. Moreover, the online communication between users about the particular start-up provides a fundamental basis for customer growth. Thus, the buzz exerts direct influence on the foundation’s financial success. These emerging online companies, such as StudiVZ, impressively illustrate the effectiveness of digital word of mouth for company success.
Star-Ups: Tops and Flops:
Start-Ups-Buzz Top 10:
August 15th, 2008 by Sten Franke
This week we would like to welcome a new blogger at ethority. From now on David, Alexander, Alic, Wilton and I won’t be the only ones blogging about social media for ethority. In the future, Fiana will be concerned with tech-gossip and will host ethority’s upcoming vodcast.
Hey Fiana, why don’t you introduce yourself?
Hey everybody!
Working at ethority, I constantly discover new (web-)worlds that fascinate me. They’re funny, crazy, pathetic, preposterous, weird, exciting or simply interesting. Every day there’s something new and it seems almost impossible to grasp everything that is going on in the web 2.0 world today – it really is a jungle out there! And I love it! That is why I cannot wait to share my thoughts with you. I will start a tech-gossip column that will at least fill you in on what’s going on in my world – the web 2.0 world that is, of course. Moreover, I will be in charge of ethority’s vodcast we are working on right now and a few podcasts, so that there will not only be “ink” but also sound (in two different languages) and visual of me. Until then, I will post blogs on this site concerning different topics.
See you soon!
*Fiana*
July 29th, 2008 by Sten Franke
On Monday morning I came across a highly interesting article in the Financial Times. The title of this article was Peace for Pixels. The article introduced a start-up from the Silicon Wadi. The company provides its clients an operating system which is not tied to a specific Mac or PC but can be used worldwide via browser and with any internet access. For the user, this service is free of charge and it enables him to access his self-made browser desktop from every web-enabled computer. The domain name g.ho.st also is the motto, at which g.ho.st is short for Global Hosting System. By means of the Palestinian browser desktop, it is possible for the user to administer his emails or have access to his previously filed Word documents, for example. The number of offers, which can be integrated into the g.ho.st desktop, increases from day to day. In order to guarantee a secure and comfortable access for the user, g.ho.st resorts to Amazon as web hoster. Below, the CEO of g.ho.st, Zvi Schreiber, provides a bit more insight into the idea behind the web-based operating system:
In addition to the highly promising technical idea behind g.ho.st, the way the Palestinian start-up works is also worth mentioning. Beside commercial success, Schreiber’s concept when founding this company was to encourage peaceful dialogue in the Middle East. The start-up is supposed to serve as a role model for international understanding in Palestine. G.ho.st has two pillars in this region. One office is located in the Israeli city Modi’in, the other in Palestinian Ramallah. Although the two towns are geographically only a one hour’s drive apart, the distance which is the origin of conflicts between Palestine and Israel is not conquerable without further ado. Nevertheless, in order to facilitate an effective cooperation a continuous video hook-up connecting the two offices has been arranged, for example.
Zvi Schreiber demonstrates the fact that the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israeli can also be peacefully solved by cooperating. In its own special way, the project g.ho.st illustrates the positive and highly innovative synergies which can result from such ideas.
May 15th, 2008 by Sten Franke
Social networks enjoy increasing popularity with internet users. There is hardly a better way to take care of one’s personal circle of friends or business network. But which communities enjoy a good reputation with their German and English users and which do not? Which networks within the eight surveyed linguistic areas is talked about most frequently on the web? Which opportunities do network operators provide for marketers to use these platforms for advertising purposes?
The international social network study illustrates: within the channels of communication in German user generated media, SchülerVZ receives the worst image values according to the evaluations. In English-speaking areas, xanga.com achieves only bad image values whereas the international buzz is focussed on Facebook, Myspace and LinkedIn. In German-speaking areas, StudiVZ achieves the first place in the buzz index ranking. Concerning marketing strategies, traditional banners are still the prevailing choice for marketing within the social networks. Widgets are up and coming. The appeal of these small web applications lies in their immensely far range of coverage and they are increasingly provided by networks.
„The results of this study illustrate the prominent role of social networks within the environment of user generated media. No matter if within the EU, North or South America – In the future, social networking will more and more become one of the established social channels of communication. This is the specific reason why the appeal of networks will become particularly stronger for marketing departments. Although the first large-scale behaviour-targeting attempts of various network operators had to be classified as failures, the general marketing qualification of social networks should not be questioned. Take widgets, for example. These small programs are just one of the possible methods which lead to successful marketing.
But although they have many tempting possibilities in social networks, advertisers should not lose contact with the users. The key for successful marketing of social media offers lies in the direct and outspoken communication with the users…” says David Nelles, Company Spokesman of ethority GmbH & Co. KG.
For more than 10 years, ethority GmbH & Co. KG is successful at the market being experts in semantic web analyses and online marketing. ethority’s expertise includes market research and online marketing as well as the analysis, initiation and realisation of word of mouth campaigns in Germany. Here, ethority is not confined to the German-speaking market but is able to serve all international markets by means of their multi-lingual approach.
May 13th, 2008 by Marcus Lauks
With immediate effect, the ethority GmbH & Co. KG includes the web service Twitter und large networks such as Xing in their monitoring and advisory portfolio. According to NZZ (Neue Züricher Zeitung), the number of twitter users has doubled within the past six months. But also the many-to-many communication within the online communities of major networks becomes increasingly important for the social media analysis.
With this extension, ethority is the state-of-the-art provider in the field of social media analysis. Micro-blogging and communication in online communities within the major networks produce a flow of information which should not be underestimated and which has to be evaluated accordingly.
Nils Maier, Director Business Development and Operations at ethority, states: “Monitoring the micro-blogging service Twitter enables us to be directly located at the pulse of sentiments and opinions of the consumer generated media. Not only the ordinary internet user has discovered Twitter but also journalists and news agencies increasingly use this service in order to spread information within the web. This development indicates that ‘twittering’, as a type of communication channel, will establish itself more and more and, thus, becomes highly interesting from the perspective of social media analysis. A specific field of application for the twitter survey is the utilisation of received information as a leading indicator for the issue management. In the United States, it is customary that companies keep an eye on twitter. On this point, see also Michael Arringtons experiences with Comcast. We have modified ethority’s range of services in order to provide our clients with an overall insight into web 2.0 communication. Hereby, overall means not only the conventional websites, weblogs and online communities but also network communities and twitter streams. “
May 13th, 2008 by Sten Franke
Within the channels of user generated media, family holidays are the most frequently mentioned issue. Users in weblogs like to discuss the topic of winter holidays, whereas a vacation in the snow does not enjoy great popularity in online communities. Here, users prefer to talk about cruises, while this topic cannot be found under the bloggers’ top 5 ways of travelling. Moreover, and in contrast to active online community members, bloggers rather choose to have conversations about package tours. Concerning the ways to travel, bloggers and online community members seem to agree on adventure and city travels. In both channels of communication, they are the most frequently discussed.
Top Ways to Travel – Online Communities:
Cruises
Last Minute
Adventure Vacations
City Trips
Family Holidays
Top Ways to Travel – Weblogs:
Package Tours
Adventure Vacations
City Trips
Winter Holidays
Family Holidays
Users in weblogs and online communities also agree on the way of booking travels. At this, statements for booking offline have the lion’s share of the topics. About 2/3 of the statements on both channels are allotted to the traditional booking method. This confirms the results of the recent AGOF study. Consumers like to obtain detailed advice in the user generated channels but prefer to book offline in a travel agency.
Booking Methods – Online Communities:
Internet
Travel Agency
Booking Methods – Weblogs:
Internet
Travel Agency
The here described booking behaviour indicates the path that marketers have to take in the future. The increasing consumer focus on information concerning products or travels in online domains sets new benchmarks for a successful marketing mix. No matter if it is a large-scale print campaign or an elaborate TV spot – traditional forms of advertisement impress consumers to a lesser and lesser extend. Therefore, it is essential to meet the consumer where he increasingly searches for information. More and more often, customers use portals such as Holidaycheck, TripAdvisor or Opodien in order to obtain information about their potential travel destinations and holiday accommodations before booking. In any case, marketers of the tourism industry should be prepared for this tendency, especially in consideration of the current number of internet users. By now, according to the latest survey of Bitkom, already 63% of the Germans roam the internet.
May 13th, 2008 by Sten Franke
Regarding travels outside Europe, the US and Asia are clearly the main topics in weblogs and online communities. This resulted from the quantitative analysis of consumer comments in the current study. For the intense buzz in the United States, surely the decisive factor is the favourable dollar exchange rate because of which the US has become something like a shopper’s paradise.
In online communities, the African continent ranks third as a potential travel destination, whereas it ranks fifth concerning the overall buzz in weblogs. Bloggers show a greater interest in American Oceania and South America.
This quantitative netnographic study was based on 6500 user opinions in weblogs and online communities concerning the topic of Social Networks. The categorized and evaluated comments originate from ca. 1000 blogs and 400 online communities which have been located with the assistance of the gridmaster technology. Within the scope of this process, the respective channels of communication, topics and the tonality of the comments have been recorded.
The ethority study illustrates the importance of the channels of communication within web 2.0 for the tourism industry. Online communities and weblogs are increasingly used by consumers as relevant sources of information. Furthermore, recommendations, which are exchanged in these channels of communication, exert direct influence on booking decisions. The studies conducted by the American market research institute eMarketer, in collaboration with Deloitte (2007), are able to document this influence by means of their data.
April 7th, 2008 by Sten Franke
Surely, several families are already busy with planning their next summer holiday. By now, as the recent AGOF Study was able to show, about 50% of the internet users arrange their holidays online. On holiday portals such as Opodien, users exchange their opinions about their favourite travel destinations and types of leave. The study Travel Trends 2008 conducted by ethority GmbH & Co. KG intended to record the holiday-buzz, at which the base data were provided by 6500 authentic user opinions. Here, the first part of the study was concerned with the evaluation of the most popular destinations within weblogs and online communities.
According to the ethority results, Germany is the top destination for german bloggers and community users. In the course of the analysis it became clear that the German’s favourite type of leave is a short trip betweentimes. At present, short trips to Berlin or to the Baltic Sea at weekends are extremely popular. The top 5 ranks regarding travel destinations are represented by the German tourism industry’s usual classics such as Austria, Italy and Spain. However, it is astonishing that the classics Greece and Turkey cannot be found among the most popular destinations of German internet users – both travel destinations are not represented within the 5 top countries. In the second part of the study Travel Trends 2008 the international top destinations of German users, the top types of leave and the favoured booking methods are presented.
