SXSW has made many startups successful: Twitter, Foursquare and others. We at Biz360 put together a study examining the rise and fall of social media conversation around a handful of the hottest startups from SXSW 2010. Check out this study to figure out who generated the most pre-conference buzz and sustained it after the event.

1. SXSW Buzz Report
Is SXSW Buzz sustainable?
4/9/2010 1

2. Prior To SXSW, We Asked Ourselves…
• In the past, heavyhitters like Twitter launched at SXSW
• We asked ourselves:
– What will be the most buzzed about startups during SXSW?
– Who will be this year’s darling?
– Is SXSW buzz sustainable? What does it actually do for the business?
• And so we set out looking at the data to see if we can see
trends and formulate hypotheses…
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3. How We Came Up With Our Set Of Companies
We looked at companies that came up in articles referencing
“Next Big Thing” and “Launching” in relation to “SXSW”
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4. How We Came Up With Our Set
Twitter Ad
Platform
GigaOm Spotify is
covers Lokast rumored to
lanch in the
Gowalla U.S.
QR codes were the
talk of the town but
didn’t sustain buzz
Twitter Ad Platform
Location-based
services are the new Lokast
“black
Note: tags listed are for illustrative purposes only; we looked at many more tag clouds 4
4/9/2010

5. Let’s take a look at identified companies to uncover
WHICH STARTUP DROVE
CONVERSATION BEFORE SXSW?
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6. Share of Voice Prior To SXSW
We identified the following companies as the ones to watch, based on our research,
and plotted them against each other
BizSpark
Accelerator
Companies
Foursquare, Gowalla and Twitter’s ad model announcement dominated the conversation
Our prediction: location based services will be the super-star
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.1.10-3.10.10 for keywords “[company name]” AND “SXSW” 6

7. Let’s Take A Look At The Newer Startups
Because Twitter, Foursquare and Gowalla dominated the conversation,
we decided to isolate the newer startups to take a closer look
Plancast is a hands-down winner.
Our prediction: Plancast will have the most sustainable buzz
4/9/2010 7
Note: we considered dates 3.1.10-3.10.10 for keywords “[company name]” AND “SXSW”

8. And A Look At The Big Guys
Now let’s take a look at just the top 3 to see if location based services will rule the day
over Twitter’s hyped ad model announcement
Foursquare and Gowalla combined command more mindshare than Twitter’s ad model chatter
Foursquare is much more popular than Gowalla.
Our prediction: Foursquare will have more sustainable buzz than Gowalla
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.1.10-3.10.10 for keywords “[company name]” AND “SXSW” 8

9. Looking at the same companies during SXSW to see what changed:
WERE OUR PREDICTIONS CORRECT?
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10. How Did Things Change During SXSW?
We considered the same companies during 3.11.10-3.17.10
Most notable growth: Bump, Spotify and Foursquare. Our prediction was right re: Foursquare
Twitter grew 50% due to Ev Williams’ keynote
Several companies lost mindshare
Gowalla lost approximately half of its buzz, Plancast lost 60% of its buzz
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.11.10-3.17.10 for keywords “[company name]” AND “SXSW” 10

11. Let’s Focus In On Newer Startups During SXSW:
Huge growth for Bump and Spotify; large loss for Plancast
All BizSpark Accelerator winners gained mindshare
QR Codes
did not
catch on
BizSpark
Accelerator
Competition
Winners
Our prediction was wrong re: Plancast -> Spotify and Bump dwarfed everyone else
Plancast remained a strong #3 competitor
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.11.10-3.17.10 for keywords “[company name]” AND “SXSW” 11

12. Big Guys During SXSW
Foursquare and Gowalla lost some mindshare against Twitter’s ad model,
but Foursquare still ruled supreme in the land of Location Based Services
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.11.10-3.17.10 for keywords “[company name]” AND “SXSW” 12

13. What does it all mean to the business?
IS SXSW BUZZ SUSTAINABLE?
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14. Which New Startup Grew SOV After SXSW?
Spotify almost doubled its mindshare
Compared to during SXSW, Bump and Plancast experienced a huge drop
SimpleGeo, Siri and Pitch engine started to climb
Of BizSpark Accelerator winners, Siri is the only one that continued to increase
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.18.10-3.31.10 for keywords “[company name]” 14

15. Could Spotify Beat Out Location-Based Services?
Spotify beat out Gowalla, but Foursquare is still top of mind
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.11.10-3.17.10 for keywords “[company name]” 15

16. Just as predicted….
LOCATION BASED SERVICES
ARE THE CLEAR WINNER
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17. Geo-Loco is Hot!
Foursquare continues to dominate Gowalla
Before During
After
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keywords “Gowalla” and “Foursquare” 17

18. Let’s take a look at main companies’ social media chatter on a trendline
to see:
WHAT EVENTS DROVE CHATTER
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19. Chatter Patterns Before and During SXSW
•Foursquare spike driven by Mashable’s article about 374k checkins in one day: http://mashable.com/2010/03/14/sxsw-foursquare-checkins
•Pete Cashmore’s interview: http://mashable.com/2010/03/15/pete-cashmore-time-sxsw-2010/ and other coverage, such as
•Daily Finance: http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/foursquare-and-rival-geo-location-games-find-lots-of-love-at-sxs/19399581/
…To mention just a few…
Twitter chatter driven primarily by Ev Williams’ keynote
Top stories driving this Foursquare conversation spike:
•Foursquare back in the app store: http://mashable.com/2010/03/09/foursquare-back-app-store/
•New badges, new partners, new promotions: http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/8301-13577_3-10466198-36.html
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.17.10 for keywords “[company name]” AND “SXSW” 19

20. Which Companies Sustained Buzz Afterwards?
Foursquare is alive and kicking long after SXSW draws to a close
Spike driven by its addition to Bing Maps
http://ecoustics-cnet.com.com/8301-13577_3-20001145-36.html?part=ecoustics-cnet
Spotify did consistently well
Bump and Plancast are no longer top of mind SimpleGeo is spiking – driven by launch of SimpleGeo marketplace
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/30/simplegeo-launch/
Gowalla dropped but rebounding towards the end of month
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.18.10-3.31.10 for keywords “[company name]” 20

21. What Drove Spotify’s Increased SOV?
Driven by rumors that Daniel Ek will announce Spotify’s entrance into the U.S.
Published by CNET, RWW, PC Mag, Current, Mashable, TechCrunch (see below)
Sources:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/spotify_founder_leaves_us_looking_to_mog_napster_o.php
http://current.com/technology/92324385_spotify-when-will-you-come-to-us-sxsw.htm
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-20000574-36.html
http://mashable.com/2010/03/16/spotify-sxsw/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361451,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/16/spotify-bigger-than-sweden/
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keyword “Spotify” 21

22. BizSpark Accelerator Grew Bump’s Mentions
BizSpark Accelerator Competition drove mentions…
…But mentions declined afterwards
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Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.17.10 for keywords “Bump” OR “Bu.mp” OR “Bump Technologies”

23. Plancast’s Mentions On A Trendline
Plancast iPhone App prior to SXSW- http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/11/plancast-iphone-app/
After SXSW, Plancast conversations declined, save a spike on 3.20.10
Mark Hendrickson Next Web interview got nice pickup:
http://thenextweb.com/location/2010/03/19/interview-plancast-ceo-mark-hendrickson-part-1/ /
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Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keyword “Plancast”

24. Let’s take a look at main companies’ source distribution to see:
WHERE PEOPLE ARE TALKING
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25. Where Is Foursqare Discussed?
During SXSW, Foursquare traded in some of its Twitter chatter for blog coverage
Before During
after
After
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keyword “Foursquare” 25

26. Gowalla Also Moves To Blogs
Similar to Foursquare, some Gowalla discussion moved from Twitter to blogs and back to Twitter
Before During
after
After
4/9/2010 Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keyword “Gowalla” 26

27. While Plancast Remained Mostly on Twitter
More of the Plancast conversation moved over to Twitter
Before During
After
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Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keyword “Plancast”

28. So Did Bump
Conversations about Bump mostly happen on Twitter, and that share is growing
Before During
After
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Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keyword “Bump” OR “Bu.mp” OR “Bump Technologies”

29. Spotify Moves To Blogs and Discussion Boards
During and after SXSW, Spotify discussion shifted from Twitter to blogs and discussion forums
Before During
After
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Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keyword “Spotify”

30. What does it all mean?
CONCLUSIONS
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31. Conclusions
• Coverage in Mashable, TechCrunch, CNET and RWW can go a long way in raising
awareness
– Each article in these publications causes reblogs and a flurry of tweets and retweets
– SXSW is so fragmented that without major coverage, your product announcements,
sponsorships and other news will get drowned
• Winning BizSpark Accelerator boosts awareness during SXSW but it doesn’t sustain
– Unless you get major publication coverage
– Siri experienced growth afterwards, because it got a new VP Product and was written up
in TechCrunch http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/19/siri-gummi-hafsteinsson/
• You need to be in a sector that people care about to retain the buzz
– GeoLoco remained buzzing afterwards because location based services are hot
• Doing a keynote during the event also helps
– Especially when it’s driven by rumors of a new business model or a product
announcement
• Bottom line: to get and sustain SXSW buzz, you need to announce major events on
major publications. Feature and app releases need to be timed to SXSW
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32. Business Implications
• If you are planning a major event, product launch, conference presence or
announcement, you need to measure your social media efforts
– Know what you want to get out of the event – is it awareness? New signups? Traffic to
site?
– Benchmark your performance to the before and after state of affairs
– Benchmark yourself to your competitors
• You never know when you are gaining or losing share of voice to your competitors
until you track it
• Losing your social media edge is much easier than gaining it back
• Being able to understand what drives spikes and troughs in conversation is key to
understanding what works for you and your competitors
• Tracking social media is a tremendous source of competitive intelligence
• You need to know which medium your brand is discussed in, so you can be more
present in outposts that matter
• Social media research helps discover micro and macro trends in the industry
• Buzz is not manufactured; it’s driven by buzz-worthy events
– Make sure your product, content and events are buzzworthy!
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33. Chat with us on Twitter: @Biz360 @themaria
Facebook: http://facebook.com/biz360
Or visit http://ci.biz360.com
To find out how you can measure and effectively
monitor your way to social media success
Bi-weekly demos are available at http://bit.ly/smdemo
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