Twitter Leapfrogs Established Digital News Sources finds the Asia Pacific Quarterly Digital Brand Index (19 Jan 10)

Consumer gadget excitement doubles online during the gift-giving season

Singapore, January 20, 2010 – Edelman and Brandtology today unveiled the results of the second quarterly Asia Pacific Digital Brand Index (DBI 2.0). Conducted across eight regional markets during the last three months of 2009, the DBI 2.0 found:

• Mentions of large technology brand doubled in the last quarter of 2009, reaching 1.5 million across Asia Pacific’s top 300 large technology brands, covering almost 3,800 channels and online sites.
• Twitter’s massive growth trajectory has seen it become the dominant channel for sharing news about technology brands across Asia, except in China where it is banned. For example, in India, Twitter represents over three-quarters of all online conversations tracked.
• Despite massive online buzz generated by Microsoft around Windows 7, Google continued to be the most discussed brand across the region, generating significant mentions in areas such as its Chrome and Android operating systems, and the Nexus One smart phone.

Asian Netizens Defining Brands Online
The online conversation boom during the holiday and gift-giving season saw massive increases for consumer technology firms. The quarterly DBI captured the intense consumer excitement for recently-launched products from consumer-tech brands online, including Canon, Dell, Microsoft and Sony. Buzz was especially palpable around new mobile phones being launched in time for the gift-giving season from brands such as Samsung, Apple and LG.

“Brand status is clearly in the hands of Asian netizens – a frightening reality for many marketers in the critical year-end selling season,” said Bob Grove, Director of Technology, Edelman Asia Pacific. “The marked increase in conversations during the month of December indicates an intense eagerness to seek answers as buying intent ramped up, but there remains little evidence that brands are investing in social media to help consumers make a choice.”
 
Asians Flock to Twitter
Fast adoption by Asians over the last quarter has seen Twitter leapfrog many well-established local online news sources to become the dominant technology conversation platform. This was especially pronounced in markets such as India (76 per cent of all conversations tracked), Australia (58 per cent) and Indonesia (46 per cent). Such high conversation-share levels indicate that Twitter has quickly gone from being a social media plaything for Professionals, Managers, Executives and Businessmen (PMEBs), to a must-have application for mainstream consumers – especially those accessing the internet via their mobile phone. The findings from the DBI 2.0 are consistent with Indonesia, Australia and India being placed in the top ten countries using Twitter globally.

“The incredible speed with which Twitter grew to become a mainstream channel for the discussion of technology brands is phenomenal,” said Eddie Chau, Founder & CEO of Brandtology. “The wider acceptance of Twitter in Asia Pacific has important implications for brands who are considering a multi-channel social media strategy. The doubling of overall mentions in the DBI this quarter reinforces the growing need to craft a comprehensive approach to social media –particularly in gathering deeper insights online about customers’ consideration factors when making a purchase. This is important if firms are to adopt a truly customer-centric approach in business and product development.”

Survey Methodology
The DBI was conducted across eight key markets in the Asia Pacific region, namely, Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore. Delivering deep online insight on a quarterly basis, the Asia Pacific Digital Brand Index monitors key brands from the following broad categories: Internet and Software, Consumer Electronics, Mobile and Telecommunications, Business and Consulting and IT and Technology, across a list of popular online channels – including influential blogs, forums, and online news outlets. The channels were selected by identifying conversations based on both qualitative as well as quantitative research. For more information, please visit http://www.edelmanapac.com/index.jsp?series=36 and/or http://www.brandtology.com/index.php/press_release/dbi2.

About Edelman
Edelman is the world’s leading independent public relations firm, with 3,200 employees in 51 offices worldwide. Edelman was named PRWeek’s “2009 Agency of the Year,” PRWeek’s “Large Agency of the Year" (for the third time in the last four years), and Holmes Report’s “2009 Best Large Agency to Work For” and was listed as a top-10 firm by Advertising Age in 2007 and 2008.

Edelman represents technology brands around the world, many of which are included in the Digital Brand Index. For more information about Edelman visit www.edelmanapac.com.

About Brandtology
Brandtology is one of the largest independent business and brand online intelligence service providers that combines technology, processes and trained professionals to deliver accurate and relevant intelligence to global organizations. Our proprietary opinion mining technologies aid organizations in listening to digital conversations across countries in multiple languages while our trained Social Media Professionals ensures high accuracy and relevancy of the intelligence provided to clients. Astute use of such intelligence has enabled Brandtology’s global clients to make timely and informed strategic decisions for public engagement, crisis management, media planning, campaign measurement, product development and strategic planning, amongst other uses.

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