Analysis of the Internet discussion about Slingshot introduction

Slingshot by FacebookReactions across

Social media

Reactions across social media

Analysis based on social media and the Internet monitoringFacebook’s Slingshot announcement

01

Introduction02

Analyzed period

All data was collected with the Internet monitoring tool – Brand24.

17th-23rd June 2014

On the 17th June Facebook launched a new photo messaging app called Slingshot. This report aims at analyzing reactions to this announcement across social media.

20,799Total number of mentions collected in the analyzed period

13,100Total number of social media authors who published contents related to Slingshot introduction

1,600Total number of domains and subdomains which contained mentions about Slingshot

Report scope

1Buzz analysis

Number of mentionsEstimated social media

reachSources of mentions

2User-generated

contents analysisMain categories of

mentionsSentiment of contents

3Sample mentions

4Conclusions

03

1Number of mentionsEstimated social media reachSources of mentions

Buzz analysis

Number of mentionsWhat is the buzz for particular days

1. peakFirst increase in the buzz on 9th June is related to rumors about supposed Slingshot introduction that spread in social media.

2. peakThe second and the highest t peak reflects the official announcement.

3. peakThe third increase in the number of mentions is also related to the news. This time Facebook announced that Slingshot was available for all user internationally.

04

Increased buzz is related to announcements

The number of mentions holds on the low level before the official Slingshot announcement and on the average after. Slight rise in the number of mentions on 9th June is related to rumors about the app introduction. On the 17th the number of mentions started to swell rapidly and reached the peak value on 18th. After that it began to fall slowly. It proves that discussion is more intense during specific events or announcements in the news.

t

12

3

Estimated reach of discussionWhat is the reach of contents related to Slingshot on particular days

05

Increased reach is related greater number of mentions

Reach of a discussion is related to the increase in the number of published contents. However, on the third peak the increase in the reach is scant in relation to the number of mentions. What is more, the reach holds on a low level during the depicted period. The only exception is the time when the Slingshot was introduced and when the reach added up to nearly 15 million users.

t

12

3

Sources

Twitter News Photo Facebook Blogs Forum Video Other0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80% 73.6%

4.3% 3.8% 2.6% 2.3% 2.2% 1.7%9.4%

Share in all mentions

Share in all mentions

Sources of all mentions

06

Twitter as the most popular source of mentions

Twitter is the most popular source of mentions in this analysis and its meaning has been increasing recently amongst social media users. People not only create contents on this platform, but also share contents from other websites. They use it more eagerly than Facebook, which here gets only 2.3%. News websites generate definitely less mentions than Twitter, but still they are the second most popular source of mentions. News platforms usually are very active when something new is introduced, as it was in the case of Slingshot. Other platforms play less important part in the analysis. Amongst them the most popular were photos and videos sharing sites (5.5% jointly), especially Instagram.

t

Shared contents from news platforms

Techcrunch NY Times Mashable The Verge The Next Web BBC Wired.com0%2%4%6%8%

10%12%14%

6.9%5.1%

11.9%

7.0%8.0%

3.0% 3.4%

Estimated share in all mentions

Estimated share in all mentions

What are the most popular news websites for sharing contents

07

The vast majority of Internet users share information from news websites on social networks

81% all mentions include only shared news about Slingshot introduction from other platforms. Sharing information does not require much effort, so people are more eager to click a button „share” on the news website, rather than create their own content on their profiles. Amongst all news platforms the most popular for sharing news about Slingshot introduction is Mashable.com. The most often people share those contents on Twitter.

t

Shared contents from news platforms

Techcrunch NY Times Mashable The Verge The Next Web BBC Wired.com0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

975,098

2,227,639

1,238,392

540,565

1,101,576

42,504

549,212

Estimated social media reach

Estimated social media reach

From which news platforms do shared contents have the highest reach

08

Number of mentions does not reflect the actual reach

Even though, Internet users share articles from Mashable the most often, shared contents from this platform do not generate the highest social media reach. NY Times have the highest social media reach and it might result from the fact that its readers are more influential than from other news websites.

t

Slingshot vs. Snapchat

Slingshot Snapchat

141 713 unique mentions

Snapchat is still more eagerly discussed in social media. However, the increase in buzz is not related to the application itself, but to its newly-introduced competitor.

129 573 unique mentions

Phrase Slingshot appears nearly five times rarer than Snapchat. As we mentioned before the increase of buzz occurs when the Slingshot was introduced.

2

09

Number of mentions (14th June -27th June)

Slingshot vs. Snapchat

Slingshot Snapchat

Large reach

In the case of Snapchat, the estimated social media reach was on the average or high level.

1The reach on the low level

Except for March 16-20, 2014, the estimated social media reach remained on the low or very low level.

2

10

The estimated reach of contents (14th June -27th June)

Slingshot vs. Snapchat

Slingshot Snapchat

Photos & videos – 14.2%

On the other hand, many people add #snapchat hashtags to their Instagram photos and videos, so the share of photos and videos in total number of mentions is relatively high.

1Photos & videos – 6.4%

Internet users publish much less pictures and videos which concern Slingshot. It results from the big share of mentions from news websites.

2

11

Sources of mentions (14th June -27th June)

2Main categories of mentionsSentiment of contents

User-generated contents analysis

Contents’ categories

0%10%20%30%

12.6% 13.3% 13.3% 14.7%3.4%

31.0%

4.3% 7.3%

Share in user-generated contents

share in user-generated contents

What are the main topics of a discussion related to Slingshot introduction

12

The biggest share of general opinions about the app

In this part of the report we considered only mentions generated by users. We excluded contents shared from other websites and analyzed a proper discussion about Slingshot. Nearly one third mentions include general opinions about the app and its introduction. A fair part of the Internet users talk about Slingshot’s options and features (nearly 20%), and the most stimulating is Reply to Unlock feature which forces a user to respond before seeing a photo or video. The Internet users also share their experiences with the app. Mentions which include comparison between Slingshot and Snapchat have similar share in the Internet discussion (each 13%). Smaller, but also important, part of a discussion concerns opinions about Facebook operation and its recent moves and policies.

t

Contents’ categories with sentiment

0%10%20%30%

Share in user-generated contents

Positive

Neutral

Negative

What is the share of positive, neutral, and negative contents in the discussion

13

The most favorable proportions in contents related to the app utization

Contents concerning the app usage have the highest number of positive mentions in relation to negative ones. On the other hand, Slingshot does not stack up against Snapchat. Negative mentions which include comparison between Snapchat and Slingshot surpass the positive ones in this category. One more interesting fact is that amongst general thoughts about Slingshot neutral mentions exceed 50%. It means that Internet users have mixed feelings about the app.

t

Sentiment of contents

Positive Neutral Negative0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%

30.02%

36.77%33.21%

Estimated share of mentions

Estimated number of mentions

What is the sentiment of contents related to Slingshot

14

Relatively high level of negative contents

Opinions about Slingshot introduction are divided into similar proportions. However, such level of negative opinions (over 30%) is relatively high.

t

Positive opinions

0%15%30%45%

45.9%

10.7% 11.3% 13.8%4.4% 2.5% 2.5% 6.3% 2.5%

Estimated share of positive opinions

What are the main reasons for generating positive contents

15

General thoughts about the app represent nearly a half of positive opinions

In the case of positive opinions, people express their general feelings rather than focus on detailed features of the app.

t

Negative opinions

0%

10%

20%

2.2%8.4% 10.7%

6.7% 9.6% 6.7% 7.3%2.8%

23.0%15.7%

5.6%

Estimated share of negative opinions

What are the main reasons for generating negative contents

16

Wide range of different reasons of dissatisfaction with the app

Except the general discontention with Slingshot, people complain about Reply to Unlock feature which forces users to respond to the message before the actually see it. Many Internet users (about 10% negative mentions) think that the app will fail in the near future. The privacy settings are also open to doubt. This is not the first case that people do not trust Facebook security policies. Many find Slingshot useless, confusing, or senseless.

t

2%

Share of mentions from FacebookFacebook as a source of mentions in positive, negative, and in all contents

17%

Positive contents Negative contents

17% 2%

17

People generate more positive contents on Facebook

The interesting fact is that on Facebook people write many more positive opinions than negative ones. Share of mentions from Facebook reaches 17% of all positive opinions. It means that Facebook’s users are more satisfied with the app than other platforms’ users.

t

3Main categories of mentionsSentiment of contents

Sample mentions

Positive mentions18

Positive mentions19

Positive mentions20

Positive mentions21

Positive mentions22

Positive mentions23

Positive mentions24

Negative mentions25

Negative mentions26

Negative mentions27

Negative mentions28

Negative mentions29

Negative mentions30

Negative mentions31

Negative mentions32

4Conclusions

Conclusions33

Sources of mentions

The most popular source of mentions is Twitter. The other do not play an important part in the analysis. However, in the case of positive mentions, contents from Facebook represented 17%.

t

Estimated social media reach

Estimated social media reach held on the low level except the time when Slingshot was officially introduced.

t

The number of mentions related to Slingshot

Number of mentions held on the low level before Slingshot introduction. It increased slightly when the Slingshot was rumored in the Web and went up rapidly when the app was officially launched. After the 20th the buzz held on an average level and again increased a little when the app went global. Each increase was related to the news and it proves that Internet users willingly share information that they read in the Web.

t

Conclusions34

Categories of user-generated contents

General thoughts about the new app are the most common in user-generated contents. Many Internet users also discuss in social media about Slingshot’s features, and options. Quite a lot contents concern the comparison to other photo sharing app, Snapchat.

t

Shared contents

Contents which are shared from news websites represent over 80% all mentions. Twitter is the most popular platform for sharing news.

t

Sentiment of user-generated contents

Both positive and negative user-generated contents represent about 30% of all mentions each. The rest of contents have neutral sentiment. Such level of negative opinions is relatively high and reflect the general dissatisfaction with the news.

t

Thank you for your attention35

AddressUS: +1 (718) 737-76391562 First Ave #205-2290New York, NY 10028-4004

fb /Brand24

Get Social

t @Brand24app

Websitewww.brand24.net