Nestle Crunched Online After Palm Oil Controversy
Recently, Nestle has been under fire from tech-savvy environmentalists over its use of palm oil in Kit Kat bars. On March 17th, Greenpeace released a report about Nestle’s palm oil use, staged a protest outside company headquarters, and posted a negative video on YouTube (not for the faint of heart), each asserting that Nestle bought palm oil from an Indonesian company that causes deforestation.
The YouTube video, which depicts an office worker opening a Kit Kat bar and finding an orangutan finger, ignited a full-scale social media war against Nestle, complete with vandalism of its Facebook page and an outpouring of angry tweets. In the wake of this outrage, Nestle tried to remove the video and Facebook posts, which only made things worse. Some marketing experts have even suggested that Nestle delete its Facebook page. Considering that Nestle only purchases 1.25% of its palm oil from the company in question, the online response has been huge.
In light of that response, we thought it would be interesting to use our technology to check out the online conversation surrounding the controversy. Here’s what we found:
21% of the conversation still supports Nestle. Most of these tweets, blog posts and forum comments attacked the credibility of Greenpeace’s evidence, while a few thought the YouTube video was just too shocking.
30% of the conversation is anti-Nestle. Conversation in this category focuses on increasing awareness of palm oil’s environmental impact, with several users calling for a boycott of Nestle products.
20% of the conversation thinks Nestle handled the situation poorly. Much of this conversation centers around Nestle’s ruined facebook page and advises that Nestle change its PR tactics, especially when it comes to social media.
12% of the conversation seeks more information about palm oil. These tweets and posts speculated about the real impact of palm oil and didn’t take a side. Many asked for more data and think that specific actions, like boycotts, are probably premature.
18% of the conversation commented on the powerful influence of social media. The overwhelming response online piqued the interests of many bloggers and tweeters. Many state that Nestle and other companies should pay more attention to social media and use this episode as a learning experience.
Here at Crimson Hexagon, we think that last 18% are particularly astute. If you’d like to learn more about social media monitoring and what our technology can do, contact us at hello@crimsonhexagon.com.
Yes Joe, This Is a Big Deal
President Obama just signed into law a universal healthcare bill modeled, in some respects, on the healthcare system that we have here in Massachusetts. Regardless of how they feel, people agree with Joe Biden that it will have massive ramifications for the economy and well-being of the American people for decades.
Given the intense emotions that the reform debate has drummed up, we thought it would be fascinating to analyze the online conversation surrounding the bill’s passage. Here’s what we found:
The Online Conversation – 47% For the Bill
Almost one-third of the conversation was specifically in support of the legislation. Many of these tweets said that it was “about time” that universal healthcare was enacted and that healthcare is a human right rather than a privilege.
Another 17% of the conversation was in support of healthcare reform, but focused against Republicans. This blog is for all ages, so many of these exact tweets won’t be repeated here, but suffice it to say that if you were to search any curse-word AND Republicans in Twitter, you’ll see some of what we found.
Opinion Against the Bill – 39% of Tweets
Almost as many of the tweets were against the healthcare bill. One quarter of the conversation expressed opposition, for reasons ranging from the high cost to decreasing freedom. Anti-abortion Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak managed to capture the ire of 16% of the tweets, the vast majority of which expressed anger that he reversed course and supported the bill.
Finally, 13% of the conversation, for and against the bill, was simply confused or amused by the byzantine, parliamentary process by which the Congress passes laws.
So What Does It All Mean?
Our opinion analysis appears to confirm what we already knew; people are divided and frustrated with the process. Surprise! If you want to see what we can do for your political campaign, product, or brand, e-mail us at hello@crimsonhexagon.com.
Who Really Causes #FailWhales at SXSW?
I’m having a great time here in Austin representing Crimson Hexagon to the wonderfully nerdy SXSW-Interactive masses. We are part of the Porter Novelli tent that just announced their upcoming social media platform, which will combine our tool along with the impressive influencer analysis from our friends at Traackr and workflow from Spredfast to fully dominate the social media monitoring and sentiment analysis world.
We’ve been hearing people complain about how Twitter failwhales have been popping up all over the place as SXSW tweeters barrage the site. It’s unusual to walk into a room or party at SXSW that doesn’t have a solid majority of occupants staring at their iPhones and/or laptops. We thought, why not check out what people are really talking about at SXSW.
As you can see, one sixth of the tweets with the SXSW hashtag are loving the convention and another 13% are using this weekend as an opportunity to meet up with bloggers, clients, partners, luminaries, gurus and others. All the fun that those people are having made 17% wish they were attending themselves.
Not all people are satisfied with their festival experience. There are supposedly 40% more people here than last year’s Interactive portion, so it’s no surprise that 15% of the conversation is overwhelmed by the crowds. Another 13% were of the opinion that “South by” isn’t worth the money ($6 for a bottle of beer is A BIT ridiculous…)
Finally, over a quarter of the tweets about SXSW were people complaining about how Twitter and Foursquare are slow because of SXSW! So yes, SXSW Twitter discontents, Twitter may be going a little slower lately, but look no further than your own thumb as it types out complaints to find the culprit.