Ryan Lochte Makes a Bigger Splash Than Michael Phelps Among Olympics-Related Social Media Conversations

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Attensity, the leading provider of social analytics and engagement applications for Social CRM, has released an analysis of public reaction in social media to the 2012 Summer Olympics. Using Attensity Analyze, the company's social analytics application, Attensity identified and analyzed over 197,000 comments about the Olympics posted on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, news sites, forums, videos and other social sources starting from the Omaha swimming trials and leading up to the opening ceremony. The results from the entire data set from June 23-July 23 show that social media users expressed an overwhelming 98 percent positive sentiment toward the games, with the most-used Twitter handles showing excitement brewing over unconfirmed rumors of a performance by pop group One Direction. The vast majority of the overall comments, however, focused on American swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

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The full Attensity report is available as a free download at http://www.attensity.com/2012/07/27/2012-olympics-social-media-analysis/ and summarized on the Attensity blog at blog.attensity.com. It contains social data on key themes as well as the most commonly used hashtags.

"With the worldwide buzz over the Olympics reaching a fever pitch as we approach the opening ceremony televised tonight in the U.S., we decided to use Attensity's social analytics solutions to find out the sentiment expressed on social networks toward the games and the key athletes," said Michelle de Haaff, vice president of strategy and corporate development at Attensity. "We were amazed by the volume of conversations centered around Phelps and Lochte and the insights into the respective popularity of the two swimmers."

Attensity's data reveals that the peak of mentions about Lochte and Phelps occurred on June 25 when Lochte won the men's 400-meter individual medley final at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha. The single highest spike in social media comments among this month-long period, however, came on July 19 after Lochte tweeted that he would make phone calls to fans.

Phelps generated more comments in social media than Lochte, with 96 percent expressing positive sentiment toward Phelps. Lochte, however, swam ahead of Phelps by earning an astonishing 99 percent positive rating. What accounts for this slight difference is Lochte's super-loyal fanbase dubbed "The Lochte Nation," whose giddy comments contrasted with those on Phelps's perceived overexposure and past marijuana usage.

About Attensity™
Attensity's social analytics and engagement solutions are the choice of the world's leading brands for Social CRM. Attensity is the only company that gives business users the ability to analyze millions of real-time customer conversations from any online, social media or internal source, and extract the industry's most accurate insights to drive business decisions. From its headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., Attensity is powering the Social CRM strategies of companies such as Charles Schwab, EMC, JetBlue Airways, Lloyd's Banking Group, Siemens, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, StubHub, Travelocity and Whirlpool. Visit www.attensity.com and follow the company at blog.attensity.com, on Twitter @Attensity, and on facebook.com/Attensity.

©2012 Attensity Group. Attensity is a trademark of Attensity Group in the United States and/or other countries. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. All rights reserved.

Contacts:
Michelle de Haaff, VP of Strategy, (650) 433-1700, [email protected]
Lisa Hawes, Sterling Communications, (408) 884-5155, [email protected]

SOURCE Attensity