The internet is abuzz with the launch of Apple’s iPad. Modestly priced at $499 for the 16GB base version, this gadget packs in quite a punch. The iPad has received mixed reactions online. In order to better understand the reactions, we would like to present the share of voice analysis followed by overall popularity and sentiment analysis.

Share of Voice analysis

The iPad has drawn the wrath of a few critics owing to missing features such as a camera, flash and the fact that it cannot multitask. But the sleek new design and ebook features are definitely praise worthy. Overall, iPad had 2,900,000 twitter mentions, 106,816 blog mentions, 87,513 forum mentions and 83,513 news mentions.

Share of voice analysis

Overall popularity

The fact that iPad’s popularity has been decreasing is worth a mention. On the 27^th of January 2010, it had 898,000 mentions whereas on the 31^st of January 2010 it had 299,334 mentions. A 68% decrease in mentions in just 4 days. Are people losing interest?

Blogs

In the blogosphere, the overall sentiment was neutral at 49%. Positive sentiment constituted 32% whereas negative sentiment was a mere 19%. Negative sentiment towards the iPad is decreasing whereas positive sentiment is increasing. Country wise, U.S blogs talked most about the iPad followed by U.K and Germany.

Sentiment analysis – blogs

Sentiment trends – blogs

Top countries – blogs

Twitter

Twitterverse had a field day with the launch of the iPad. Globally, iPad had 2, 900,000 mentions on Twitter. While 74% of tweets were regular, 15% were retweets and 11% were replies. The popular phrases for iPad show that the most discussed keyword was ‘Grammys’. It was a popular phrase because Stephen Colbert touted the iPad at the Grammys to read out the song of the year nominees. Other most discussed phrases were ‘iPad tablet’ and ‘iPad may get video’.

Twitter popularity

The fact that iPad’s popularity has been decreasing is worth a mention. On the 27^th of January 2010, it had 757396 mentions whereas on the 31^th of January 2010 it had 159055 mentions. Will iPad die with the hype?

Popularity – Twitter

Social media has been the buzzword for quite sometime now. It’s here to stay. In simple terms, social media is the usage of social networks, blogs, social bookmarking, videos etc to facilitate social interaction. The main aim here is engagement through conversation. Content is king when it comes to social media because it is user-generated. Social media is more like a dialogue unlike traditional media where communication is one-way.

Social media and its importance in website promotion:

Social networking websites include Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn etc. Digg, Delicious and StumbleUpon are examples of social bookmarking tools. YouTube and metacafe are popular video sharing sites. Sites like Blogger, Wordpress and Typepad are blog hosting sites. Twitter is an excellent example of micro-blogging. It is also one of the most viral platforms on the web.

Social networks like Facebook are popular social media tools. With more than 300 million active users and more than 70 translations available on the site, Facebook is kind of a big deal. It is a huge social media platform where companies engage users through fan pages, groups and events. Facebook also allows businesses to create ads.

Microblogging platforms such as Twitter are viral platforms. Twitter facilitates instant interaction. It can also be a great place to announce contests, events and even a new new blog post.

A Blog is the simplest and most effective way to build an online presence. It’s a place to discuss, debate and share ideas about your company, products and services. With a blog you can control what information you want to display. A blog also means better search engine ranking and greater visibility.

Social bookmarking tools are effective in promoting websites. It gets you backlinks and traffic. It’s a great way to share interesting and relevant links, which in turn leads to better search engine ranking and higher visibility online.

Contributed by Jade D’costa