3. Today’s Discussion
• Illustrate how directional insights obtained from social media can facilitate
and even precipitate new product innovation when opinions are quantified in
aggregate at a more granular, issue-based level.
– Case Study on Leading Smart Phones
– Case Study on Pharma
• Listening Analytics Methodology
• Additional Takeaways
• Q&A
3
4. Smart Phone Case Study
Apple iPhone vs RIM Blackberry Storm vs Palm Pre vs Google HTC G1
5. Smart Phone Case Study Background
• Analysis done by a marketing research firm
– At time of study, neither of these companies were clients of the firm
• Social Media Study Time Frame: 1/2/08 – 8/22/09
• 8,106 Sites Discovered
• 309,854 Opinions on the Subjects and Issues
5
6. Social Media Analysis Marketplace Buzz
• Mentions of Palm Pre show a steady gain in the six weeks surrounding its launch, while iPhone
mentions are sharply up following the Pre’s launch date.
Prelaunch Postlaunch
6000
5000
June 6, 2009
Palm Pre
4000 Launch Date
3000
2000
1000
0
iPhone Palm Pre Blackberry HTC G1
6
7. What’s Actually Being Said About the Smart Phones?
• In the most popular category, Applications, iPhone dominates buzz volume.
– Postings frequently mention the availability and low cost of individual iPhone applications
“I can get an iPhone and there are thousands of apps I can get for 99 cents, or I can get a WinMo phone and spend $25
for a similar app”– Message Board Posting
“Seriously, I have bought several more apps for my iPhone than I ever have for WM because they are almost all less
than $5.00, and it's like stopping to buy a cup of coffee, I don't even think about the cost.”– Message Board Posting
• Palm Pre performs well among other iPhone competitors in Applications, but is comparatively
weak in Multimedia mentions.
100000 92503
90000
80000
70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
18485
20000 13399
7159 4141 5906
10000 2333 800 1160 445 2489 1417 498 1705 1520 725
0
Applications Multimedia Display Screen Web Browsing
iPhone Palm Pre Blackberry HTC G1
7
8. Comparing Sentiment at a Feature or Issue Level =>
Product Development & Positioning Insights
• Although Apple has a strong lead in volume for Applications buzz, Palm Pre does about as well
on ratio of Positive/Neutral to Negative comments.
• Palm Pre has its highest positive/neutrals in the Web Browsing category, and highest negatives
in Display Screen.
iPhone Palm Pre Blackberry HTC G1
83% 84% 84%
90%
79% 78% 78% 80% 83% 81% 81%
80% 76% 76%
70% 71% 72% 69%
70%
60%
% Positive / 50%
Neutral 40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Applications Multimedia Display Screen Web Browsing
0%
10%
% Negative 20%
17% 16% 17% 19% 16% 19%
30% 21% 22% 22% 20%
24% 24%
40% 30% 29% 29% 31%
8
10. Visualizing the Relationships =>
Product Development & Positioning Insights
• Consumers associate Palm Pre with Multimedia, iPhone with Applications, Blackberry Storm
with Display Screen, and Web Browsing with G1.
10
12. Pharma Case Study Background
• Analysis done by a management consulting firm
– Directional insight led to customer recommendation for product
development
• Social Media Study Time Frame: 11/3/05 – 5/27/08
• 514 Sites Discovered
• 123,624 Opinions on the Subjects & Issues
12
13. Visualizing the Side Effect Relationships Helps Direct
Product Development & Marketing Communications
• Negative opinions under issues “discovered” reveal that users are unhappy with the way the
drugs have to be administered.
• Such an insight leads to a product development recommendation that can impact not just one
brand but an entire product category.
13
15. Listening Analytics Methodology
– Using advanced technologies like NLP (Natural Language Processing) and machine
learning, GeeYee's solution is able to quantify social media content through
generating tag data (similar to that of "coding" techniques) on three dimensions at
the sentence level: subject, topic, and sentiment (along with other inherent
attributes of social media content such as URL, author information, post time, etc.).
– When people communicate in social media, particularly in forums , blogs, and social
utility sites, they mention multiple subjects and issues and often do not explicitly
refer to the subject or product feature/issue. For example:
• Implicit Subject. “This phone has a great battery life.” The subject is not
explicitly mentioned but our solution will pick it up nevertheless.
• Implicit Product Feature/Issue. “This camera is too large.” Here the feature
“Size” is not mentioned but our solution will detect it as such.
• Context-dependent. “This battery life is ‘long’” is a positive sentiment whereas
“This movie line is ‘long’” is a negative sentiment.
15
17. Additional Takeaways
• Social media is one data point amongst others for optimal new
product development decision making. Remember, social media is
directional and traditional marketing research is representative.
• Directional insights into product development decision making are
more clear when entire product categories are visualized.
• Relevant social media data is essential (i.e. don’t want edible fruits
showing up in the Apple & Blackberry smart phone study).
17
