6 Social Media Insights About The New Playstation And Xbox Consoles

For the first time since 2013, PlayStation and XBox are launching new flagship video game consoles; the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles will be released on November 10 with the PlayStation 5 available November 12. Here are 6 social media insights, quantifying anticipation by gamers around these new systems.

Insight #1. The Audience Is More Interested In Both PlayStation And Xbox During The Pandemic. 

There were 31,876,122 Tweets that mentioned PlayStation between March – September 2020, which was a 72% increase from March – September 2019. Similarly, there were 18,087,097 Tweets mentioning Xbox between March – September 2020, which was a 53% increase from March – September 2019.

On social media, far more people talk about specific video game consoles than video games in general, both before and during the pandemic. For example, there were 3,848,239 Tweets that mentioned the phrase Video Game between March – September 2019, which only increased by 12% to 4,294,521 Tweets mentioning Video Games from March – September 2020.

Insight #2. There’s Been 519% More Twitter Conversation Around the PS5 Compared To The Next Gen Xbox 

Using both the volume of Tweets and Twitter sentiment as a measuring stick, there’s far more excitement around the upcoming PlayStation 5 than Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles. There were 1,068,753 Tweets mentioning the PlayStation 5 between September 29 – October 29, 2020 with Twitter sentiment around those Tweets being 38% Positive and 8% Negative. In comparison during the same time period; 172,614 Tweets mentioned either Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S; with sentiment around those Tweets being 32% Positive and 7% Negative.

Insight #3. The Expected Inventory Shortage Is Taking Up A Small Percentage Of The Conversation Around Next Generation Consoles 

Both Microsoft and Sony have warned that due to there being more demand than supply, many people will be unable to purchase a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X on the launch date, with those issues expected to extend into 2021. So far, that’s not dominating the conversation around the upcoming consoles. Between September 29 – October 29, 2020; there were 430 Tweets that mentioned the Playstation 5 and either the phrase Sold Out or Shortage, just 0.04% of the overall Tweets mentioning the PlayStation 5. During the same time period, there were 302 Tweets that mentioned either the Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S and the phrase Sold Out or Shortage, which is 0.17% of the overall Twitter conversation around those consoles. 

Insight #4. Console Size Emerges As Possible Achilles’ Heel Of PS5 

While the social media conversation around the PlayStation 5 is overall very positive, one area where there’s been more pushback is around the size of the console. The PlayStation 5 is physically the largest video console in modern history, and between September 29 – October 29, 2020 there were 4,960 Tweets mentioning the size of the Playstation 5, with sentiment around those Tweets being 20% Positive and 19% Negative. In the same time period, the Size of the smaller Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles was only mentioned in 2,937 Tweets, with sentiment around those Tweets being 16% Positive and 8% Negative 

Insight #5. Spider-Man: Miles Morales Is The Most Anticipated Game On PS5 

Between September 29 – October 29, 2020 there were 24,399 Tweets mentioning both the PlayStation 5 and the upcoming title Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the most Tweets around any title that will be available at launch. During the same time period, Demon’s Souls was mentioned in 18,484 PlayStation 5 related Tweets while Godfall was mentioned in 9,190 PlayStation 5 related Tweets. 

Insight #6. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Is The Title Most Mentioned Around The New Xbox 

Meanwhile, between September 29 – October 29, 2020, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which will also be available on PlayStation 5, was mentioned in 3,023 Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S related Tweets, the most for any title that will be available on the new XBox models. In the same time period, The Falconeer was mentioned in 2,592 Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S related Tweets and Yakuza: Like a Dragon was mentioned in 1,202 Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S related Tweets. 

Want to learn more social media insights around gaming brands? Request a ListenFirst demo today! 

The Economics of Influencers: A Guide To Measuring Partnerships

How can you measure influencer success?

Studies have repeatedly shown that advertisers can expect a much higher return on investment from their influencer marketing efforts than from any other form of advertising. However, measuring success is a problem.

This guide will help you understand the economics behind influencer partnerships.

3 Emerging Social Video Platforms Marketers Need To Know About

Around our recent blog post about Zebra IQ’s Gen Z Trends Report, we asked Zebra IQ CEO Tiffany Zhong the question, what’s the emerging social video platforms for Gen Z engagement that marketers are least likely to be aware of? She quickly identified three: Squad, Bunch, and Twitch. To help bridge the information gap, here’s a quick overview on what you need to know about those three increasingly important social media platforms. 

Squad 

The Squad app launched in January 2019 and enables up to six people to video chat at the same time on their phones. Critically that includes the ability to screen share. Targeting teen girls, Squad has seen a huge amount of growth since the beginning of the pandemic, for example Squad CEO Esther Crawford announced that usage of the app increased by 1,100% during the last two weeks of March. With teens using Squad to share videos from streamers like Netflix, Disney+, and Hulu from their screen while they chat about what they’re watching;  Squad is enabling communal watching at a time where that can only exist virtually.    

Bunch

The Bunch App also enables group video chatting, though in the context of playing mobile games together. By using the same party ID, users can play popular mobile games like Uno!, Mario Kart Tour and Roblox at the same time on their phones. Since the pandemic started, users are spending over 1.5 million minutes a day talking to friends on the app, with the number of daily game sessions per user growing by 75% recently. While the user base had previously skewed male, it is currently 62% female. For those looking to see each other face to face for a socially distanced game night, Bunch is an increasingly popular solution.

Twitch 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dh_BZPxveY

Founded in 2011 and now a subsidiary of Amazon, the live streaming gaming platform Twitch wasn’t exactly obscure before the pandemic, but has seen significant growth since. For example, viewership grew to 5 billion hours watched between April through June, up over 60% from those same three months in 2019.  It’s also no longer just a platform for hardcore gamers; Amazon Watch Party integration means Twitch can be used for people to watch and chat about Amazon Prime movies and TV programs together in real time. 

Meanwhile, the politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just played the game Among Us on Twitch, with the livestream peaking at 440,000 live viewers, the sixth highest such total on Twitch ever. By authentically embracing the fun, communal experience of livestream gaming, AOC successfully found a non-traditional way to connect with the Gen Z audience.

Conclusion 

While video was becoming more important on social media regardless, the pandemic and social distancing has only sped audience adaptation of apps and platforms that find new ways to optimize video. By understanding which of these emerging solutions are being embraced, marketers can be ahead of the curve in promoting their brands on these apps.    

Looking for more hot tips on what’s the next big thing around social media video? Request a ListenFirst demo today!

Social Insights Around The Final Presidential Debate

With Donald Trump and Joe Biden having just wrapped up their second and final debate together, ListenFirst decided to take a closer look and see what social analytics could tell us about the two candidates’ performances, the topics that stood out, and what the social media audience is talking about most.  

First Impressions Mattered More Around The Presidential Debates 

There were 787,741 Tweets using the official #Debates2020 hashtag on October 22, 2020 in the United States. In comparison, there were 1,316,265 Tweets using the #Debates2020 hashtag on September 29, 2020; around the first presidential debate.

Sentiment Around Trump Was Less Negative Compared To The Previous Debate 

There were 3,199,419 Tweets in the United States that mentioned Donald Trump on October 22, 2020 around the second debate which -43% less Tweets than the 5,626,707 that mentioned him on September 29, 2020, the day of the first debate. Still, Twitter sentiment around Donald Trump was 44% Negative and 14% Positive the day of the first debate, with that improving to 40% Negative and 18% Positive the day of the second debate. He generated less Tweets the second time around, because the Twitter audience viewed his performance as more steady. 

Joe Biden has less variance on Twitter around the two debates. On September 29, 2020, there were 3,507,702 Tweets mentioning him, with sentiment around those Tweets being 44% Negative and 11% Positive. On October 22, 2020; Biden was mentioned in 3,126,047 Tweets with sentiment for those Tweets being 42% Negative and 12% Positive.

It appears the more civil second debate benefited both candidates; there was less negative conversation around Trump, while Biden was mentioned in a greater share of the online conversation compared to the first debate.

Trump Still Picking Up More New Followers on Debate Night 

On the day of both debates, Trump outperformed Biden by every owned social metric. Joe Biden generated 112,211 new fans or followers on social media and 3,609,228 responses to the content he posted on September 29, 2020 with Biden receiving 94,228 new fans or followers and 3,714,619 responses to the content he posted on October 22, 2020.   

In contrast, on September 29, 2020, Donald Trump generated 135,541 new fans or followers on social media and 10,928,044 responses to the content he posted. Meanwhile on October 22, 2020; he generated 115,227 new social media fans or followers with the content he posted receiving 11,864,718 responses on the day. 

On Twitter, Biden Was More Linked To Hunter Than Trump Was To The Coronavirus

During the second debate, Joe Biden’s biggest line of attack was trying to blame Trump for the coronavirus response while Donald Trump attempted to steer the conversation to Biden’s son Hunter. It appears that Donald Trump was more successful at influencing the social media conversation. There were 290,061 Tweets in the United States that mentioned both Joe and Hunter Biden on October 22, 2020, with sentiment around those Tweets being 41% Negative and 8% Positive. Overall, there were 751,872 global Tweets mentioning both Joe and Hunter Biden on October 22, meaning 61% of the Tweets talking about the two were coming from outside of the United States.  

Meanwhile, there were only 141,439 Tweets that mentioned both Donald Trump and the Coronavirus on October 22, 2020 in the United States, with sentiment around those Tweets being 45% Negative and 12% Positive. 

There Was A Negative Response On Social To Biden’s Oil Policy 

Perhaps the biggest policy news to come out of the second presidential debate was that Joe Biden wanted in the long term to transition away from the oil industry. It was not well received on Twitter. In the United States on October 22, 2020 there were 145,430 Tweets mentioning Joe Biden and either Oil or Fracking, with Twitter sentiment around those Tweets being 42% Negative and 6% Positive. 23% of the Tweets expressed the emotion of Anger specifically. 

Twitter Panned Both Presidential Debate Moderators 

Being the moderator of a presidential debate remains a rather thankless role. On television Kristen Welker received great reviews for her moderation of the second debate, for instance Chris Wallace admitted he was jealous that Welker got to moderate a debate where there weren’t hundreds of interruptions. However on Twitter, sentiment around both moderators was overwhelmingly negative. 

There were 932,190 Tweets that mentioned Chris Wallace in the United States on September 29, 2020 with Twitter sentiment around him being 51% Negative and 13% Positive. Meanwhile there were 126,402 Tweets that mentioned the moderator Kristen Welker in the United States on October 22, 2020; with sentiment around those Tweets being 46% Negative and 17% Positive.      

Want more social media insights about current events? Request a ListenFIrst demo today!

How The Audience Feels About Halloween During The Pandemic

Can Halloween still be fun when every other day of 2020 has already been so scary? To answer that question, ListenFirst examined how the social media audience is responding to Halloween this year, giving marketers an analytics based view of how the holiday will or won’t be different this year, and what Halloween related messaging is still connecting on social media. 

People Care More About Halloween More This Year

There were 8,453,455 Tweets mentioning Halloween during October 1-19, 2020, which was 45% more Tweets than mentioned Halloween between October 1-19, 2019. Additionally, during October 1-19, 2020 sentiment around Halloween has been 45% Positive and 11% Negative compared to sentiment being 39% Positive and 12% Negative during the same time last year. 

In a topsy-turvy world, people are looking for all kinds of reasons to celebrate.

There Is More Fear Of Trick-or-Treating 

Between October 1-19, 2020, 9% of the Tweets discussing Trick-or-Treating expressed the emotion of Fear, up from only 4% during the same time last year. Many Tweets spoke to the public health concerns, for example pointing out that “public health advice is to NOT go trick-or-treating this year”. 

However at the same time, the social audience is talking more about Trick-or-Treating and is actually more positive about the activity.  Between October 1-19, 2020 there were 374,888 Tweets mentioning Trick-or-Treating with sentiment around those Tweets being 42% Positive and 16% Negative compared to 298,836 Tweets last year that were 38% Positive and 18% Negative. The reason people are talking about Trick-or-Treating more is because they’re discussing safe ways to participate in the activity, for instance a socially distant Trick or Treat Cavalcade or using kitchen tongs to distribute candy to kids.

Masks Will Be An Even Bigger Deal This Halloween 

Halloween was already the one day of the year where people already wanted to wear masks, and it looks that’s only going to be more true during the pandemic. There were 38,730 Tweets mentioning both Halloween and Mask between October 1-19, 2020, a 75% increase from the 22,107 Tweets that mentioned both Halloween and Mask between October 1-19, 2019. 

Don’t Expect A Lot Of Coronavirus Related Costumes This Year 

Looking at the 100 Tweets mentioning Halloween Costumes that generated the most responses between October 1-19, 2020, not a single Tweet either showed a coronavirus related costume or even talked about wearing one. More popular was celebrity throwback outfits, such as Lil Uzi Vert dressed as Frankenstein’s Monster, a rat costume you can’t unsee, pitches for Riverdale or Ratchet cosplay, and people dressing up their dogs. The audience is looking for escapism in their Halloween outfits, meaning the opposite of direct references to the pandemic. The one current events story that has taken off as a Halloween costume is a Mike Pence/fly wig or just a fly costume, which sold out the night of the debate. 

Snack Food Posts About Halloween Performing On Par With Last Year 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGQBDC0FyBw/

Looking at the top 200 performing social media posts by 764 CPG Food brands between October 1-19, 2020, there were 19 social media posts that mention Halloween, with those posts averaging 9,299 responses. A Nutella Instagram post about breadsticks and pretzels with chocolate dip generated 26,259 responses and was the best performing of these Halloween posts. In comparison, among the top 200 best performing posts by CPG Food brands between October 1-19, 2019; 7 of those posts mentioned Halloween, with the Halloween themed posts averaging 9,272 responses. Even if less people will be Trick-or-Treating this year, the social media audience is still just as interested in Halloween related posts about snacks. 

Conclusion 

While Halloween is going to look a little different this year, online at least, it doesn’t have to. The social media audience is looking for Halloween related content that reinforces a sense of normalcy to the holiday, and gives them a night off from the gloom and doom. 

Does your brand want more social listening insights around holidays during the pandemic? Request a ListenFirst Demo today!   

10 Social Media Insights About Gen Z

Whoever feels like they just don’t understand kids these days, clearly hasn’t talked to Zebra IQ yet. The creator community platform is at the forefront of understanding Generation Z and their annual report is a treasure trove of insights about the social media habits of people born between 1995 and 2010. While you should definitely download their full Gen Z Trends Report here, ListenFirst below has highlighted 10 key insights from the report. 

Insight #1. Front-Facing Video Has Become The New Normal During The Pandemic

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_prHBnJ1HZ/

As Gen Z  is sheltering in place, video is becoming increasingly important in how they communicate with each other. 65% of Gen Z is using FaceTime, with 9% of Gen Z using quick Zoom calls. While sharing self-shot video content on social media might have been a non starter for brands before the pandemic, it’s a video format that both the audience and brands have become increasingly comfortable with, such as stars like Eva Longoria filming a L’Oréal Paris hair commercial from her iPhone and Demi Lovato doing a photoshoot via FaceTime.     

Insight #2. Facebook Is The Social Platform Gen Z Is Having Regrets About  

Only 1% of Gen Z feels they’re on TikTik too much, with 19% of the demographic saying they spend too much time on Facebook. While Facebook still offers more reach, the fact that Gen Z feels so much better about their time on TikTok, signals it’s an app with a huge amount of upside for marketers.  

Insight #3. Much Of The Opportunity For Brands On TikTok Is Around Challenges  

A TikTok user noticed that when they bit into a plastic bottle of Martinelli Apple Juice it sounded like biting into a real apple, and immediately the rest of the platform gave it a shot, trying to determine if the sound was real. To date there have been 100 million views on TikTok of the hashtag #Martinelli and 211 million views of the hashtag #AppleJuiceChallenge. For brands, their best chance to go viral on TikTok is often to create a challenge that’s fun and easy to participate in.  

Insight #4. Avatars Could Emerge As A Key Way To Do Celebrity Campaigns During The Pandemic  

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4OFX06hyDn/?igshid=p81014a2wrkgoffset

Saying it’s been harder in 2020 to get celebrities to make brand related appearances would be an understatement but custom avatars have been taking off on social media, and could help bring back to the star power to campaigns that can’t be shot in person. For example, Genies is the largest avatar company, is used by celebrities like Rihanna, Justin Bieber, and Jennifer Lopez, and has partnered with brands like Gucci, Frito-Lay, and New Balance. For example in a paid Instagram post, an Offset avatar samples both Flamin’ Hot and White Cheddar Cheetos with that post generating 97,704 responses. 

Insight #5. Mobile Games Are Getting More Chatty 

Bunch is a mobile video chat app, funded by video game publishers like Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, and Ubisoft that allows players to talk to each other while they play such Gen Z friendly multiplayer games like Minecraft, Fortnite, and Flappy Bird. Having just closed a $20 million dollar funding round, Bunch has had more than 50 times more monthly active users since March, and their success is a signal that mobile video games are increasingly going to be used for messaging.   

Insight #6. During The Pandemic, Live Performances Can Also Mean Gaming Platforms  

While live performances in 2020 have primarily occurred on platforms like YouTube or Instagram Live, gaming platforms have also emerged as a virtual performance space that appeals to Gen Z audiences. For example an in-game concert by Travis Scott on Fortnite generated 27.7 million unique views while comedian Jenny Yang has been using Animal Crossing to host a comedy show. With many of the live events that brands traditionally sponsor indefinitely on hold, thinking outside the box and sponsoring live shows in gaming platforms is a great alternative to reach the same audience. 

Insight #7. Emojis Can’t Necessarily Be Taken At Face Value 

As Gen Z is the first generation raised on smartphones, the way they use emojis have more subtext and nuance. For example the sneezing emoji is often an indicator of doubt or frustration while the smiley cowboy emoji represents fake happiness that’s covering up anger and sadness. When it comes to social listening around Gen Z, understanding emoji slang can be the difference in forming the right response strategy.   

Insight #8. Connecting More Important During The Pandemic 

Since the pandemic started, 35% of Gen Z feel like their mental health has worsened while 29% expressed that maintaining relationships has been the hardest part of isolation. Given the current situation, social media campaigns that help connect the audience to each other will be especially welcome. 

Insight #9. There’s More Opportunity For CPG Food During The Current Moment  

When polled, 50% of Gen Z felt that they were spending more on food since the pandemic began. With Gen Z eating more at home, and increasingly concerned about their food budget, CPG Food brands might want to considering leveraging a company like Fooji which helps brand acquire and engage fans through giveaways, sweepstakes, and promotion such as mailing fans new food items in exchanging for Tweeting about the promotion. 

Insight #10. Gen Z Cares About Social Justice, Not “Politics” 

While only 24% of Gen Z self identified as being very political compared to 26% saying they’re not political at all; 90% of Gen Z says they support Black Lives Matter. Gen Z is extremely proactive when it comes to social causes, for instance BTS fans raising more than $2 million dollars for Black Lives Matter related non-profits. Brands posting on social media around just causes is both an opportunity to do the right thing and build brand loyalty among Gen Z  followers. 

Want to learn even more social media insights around Gen Z? Request a ListenFirst demo today!