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When is this Social Media bubble about to burst? And which company is going to be involved: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or maybe Groupon?
ethority initiated a study in May 2011 monitoring the buzz generated around the internet bubble discussion involving the major web companies.
This might feel like a déjà-vu taking us back to the year 2000. The values of internet firms soared into vertiginous heights. On its first day of trading LinkedIn’s IPO was up 109% and Facebook is said to be worth $100 billion already. These speculations trigger memories of the new economy age and the burst of the dot-com-bubble. In May 2011 The Wall Street Journal writes “LinkedIn IPO Brings Internet Bubble Talk”. Other headlines include “LinkedIn-Inspired IPOs Threaten New Bubble” (Bloomberg) and “If it looks like a bubble and walks like a bubble...” (CNN Money).
The Social Media Intelligence and monitoring experts from ethority wanted to get to the bottom of this topic and conducted a study based on data from their new gridmaster monitoring software. The study analyzed the count of discussions around the keyword “internet bubble” in connection with the most important online companies on different Social Media channels like forums, blogs and microblogging sites covering 3 languages – English, French, and German. It unveils that Facebooks seems to be a key bubble candidate. The social network was mentioned in discussions around 8.500 times. Other tech firms that rank in the top 5 include LinkedIn, Twitter, Google and Groupon. Against expectations Groupon just ranks number 5 in the ethority “Bubble Barometer”. It seems like the discussions on the initial public offering and the business model of the start-up have not entirely reached the Social Web just yet in May.
Sten Franke (Founder and CEO of ethority): “I don’t think the results as a whole are really surprising anyone, although I did expect Groupon to be at the top. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter still hold monopoly in their segments and play an important role in the digital environment and the lifestyle of modern consumers which makes them indispensable for advertisers. So the question remains if Groupon is going to be the next Boo.com? Even if the penny-pincher mentality dominates and we keep enjoying one price battle and discount after another, it isn’t certain as for how long this will last. Therefore, I tend to look at the long-term success of Groupon rather critically, unless they can land a strategic partnership with a location based service like Foursquare or Gowalla.”
ethority (ethority.net) – Social Media Intelligence is one of the leading providers of monitoring, market research and strategy in the Social Web. For more than a decade the experts for Social Media Intelligence have been successfully advising agencies, global players, brand manufacturers, online brands, and medium-sized companies from different consumer and business domains. ethority compiles comprehensive market studies, develops smart Social Media strategies and offers tailor-made monitoring solutions for companies and agencies in more than 70 languages. The gridmaster technology has been designed specifically to offer one of the most efficient tools for Social Media monitoring. Apart from individual results and standard KPIs like buzz, sentiment, platforms, and topic cluster, it also acquires reach, campaign ROIs, competitor benchmarks, as well as demographic and geographic data. The company employs more than 50 staff members working from Hamburg, Munich and Atlanta. A comprehensive overview of all relevant German Social Media channels is provided in the Social Media Prism.
More information on the Bubble Barometer: Read the ethority Weblog and find out more about the study and download.
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susanne.krohn[.]ethority.de 
