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

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… 4/9/2010 2

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” 4/9/2010 3

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

Let’s take a look at
identified companies to uncover WHICH STARTUP DROVE CONVERSATION BEFORE SXSW? 4/9/2010 5

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

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”

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

Looking at the same companies
during SXSW to see what changed: WERE OUR PREDICTIONS CORRECT? 4/9/2010 9

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

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

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

What does it all mean
to the business? IS SXSW BUZZ SUSTAINABLE? 4/9/2010 13

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

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

Just as predicted…. LOCATION BASED
SERVICES ARE THE CLEAR WINNER 4/9/2010 16

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

Let’s take a look at
main companies’ social media chatter on a trendline to see: WHAT EVENTS DROVE CHATTER 4/9/2010 18

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

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

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

BizSpark Accelerator Grew Bump’s Mentions
BizSpark Accelerator Competition drove mentions… …But mentions declined afterwards 4/9/2010 22 Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.17.10 for keywords “Bump” OR “Bu.mp” OR “Bump Technologies”

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/ / 4/9/2010 23 Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keyword “Plancast”

Let’s take a look at
main companies’ source distribution to see: WHERE PEOPLE ARE TALKING 4/9/2010 24

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

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

While Plancast Remained Mostly on
Twitter More of the Plancast conversation moved over to Twitter Before During After 4/9/2010 27 Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keyword “Plancast”

So Did Bump Conversations about
Bump mostly happen on Twitter, and that share is growing Before During After 4/9/2010 28 Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keyword “Bump” OR “Bu.mp” OR “Bump Technologies”

Spotify Moves To Blogs and
Discussion Boards During and after SXSW, Spotify discussion shifted from Twitter to blogs and discussion forums Before During After 4/9/2010 29 Note: we considered dates 3.01.10-3.31.10 for keyword “Spotify”

What does it all mean?
CONCLUSIONS 4/9/2010 30

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 4/9/2010 31

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! 4/9/2010 32

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 4/9/2010 33