Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

It seems like common sense that an increase in tweets can drive an increase in live TV viewership, but until now there's been scant proof of such correlation. A study released by Nielsen has found just such a relationship. In fact, Nielsen went so far as to use the other c-word: causation.

Relying on live TV ratings and tweets for 221 primetime broadcast episodes that were studied using SocialGuide -- a venture between Nielsen and McKinsey & Co. that captures Twitter activity for all U.S. TV programming -- the study found correlations between tweet and tune-in surges.Not surprisingly, a lift in ratings often yields more tweets. According to the findings, a rise in live TV ratings drove up the number of tweets about the programming among 48% of the episodes sampled. But more interestingly, on the flip side, an increase in the volume of tweets drove up live TV ratings in 29% of the episodes included in the study....

Content is the fuel of social interaction on the Web: Nearly one-quarter (23%) of all social media messages and one-half (47%) of industry-specific social messages contain links to content, according to a new study by AOL and Nielsen. The amount of content shared via social media varies by channel:

- 42% of all Twitter posts contain content-sharing links; 73% of Twitter posts related to a specific industry (auto, tech, finance, and entertainment) contain sharing links.

- 41% of all blog posts contain content-sharing links; 64% of industry-specific blog posts contain such links.

- 12% of all Facebook posts contain content content-sharing links; 22% of industry-specific Facebook posts contain such links....

"Brand" will always be a nebulous term. Arguments rage about its true value, especially on social media...

Although recent research shows that it can be responsible for nearly 15% of your total worth (Or much, much more, if you’re J.K.Rowling), it’s still seen by many as the ultimate wooly metric. There’s no doubt that being a household name will improve your chances of success in social, but just how far will it take you?

I’ve taken a look at the world’s top ten brands, and matched up their profiles across the biggest social media platforms.Let’s see what’s in a name...