January 30th 2009 2:30 pm PT

Top Social Brands of 2008

Ad Age posted an article about The Most Social Brands of 2008. Xbox (#5) was in good company, along with the iPhone (#1) and CNN (#2.) But if you read the the complete list you may see a few surprises (Sears? social? really?) Are any of your favorite brands missing from that list? Do any others surprise you?

Edit: The product director for this survey stopped by to post his response to some of the comments

 

Archive By Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson

permalink: http://majornelson.com/2009/01/30/top-social-brands-of-2008/

  • AndrewTerry

    congrats to the Xbox team – and to the Xbox community, too; they play as a big a part in brand promotion as any PR firm or marketing dept.

  • ElektroDragon

    Yes, Zune is missing! I am shocked and appalled, especially given the emphasis placed on the Zune Social!

  • Warrengonline

    I guess automobiles count, but not the insurance that covers them? Where’s Geico with that Gex-like lizard? Or Progressive with the truly entertaining female Service Rep? No EBGames/GameStop? Skechers Shoes nor Fossil Watches did not make the list. I’m going to die a slow painful death – watchless and barefoot.

    Well, at least I’ll go happy with my Xbox360 and Xbox Live still kick’in! Good job, good job!

  • r3dreck

    Everyone did their jobs, now lay them off.

  • Ahmedz

    iPhone is so overrated it’s not even funny >_>

  • Anonymous

    How is Xbox a top social brand? If anything, the Wii is a top social brand. The fact that Xbox is number 5 and Wii isn’t even up there makes that list fail. Not everyone is going out and getting an Xbox. I can understand something like iPod or emo haircuts if that counts, but not Xbox. What a horrible list. No offense but that’s a list anyone can compile. It all seems like random things.

  • Hehe

    Another ”Microsoft blowing its own trumpet” post from majorsoft.com.

    How about you guys actually get busy and spend time working – preferably on regional (i.e NOT USA ONLY) content ????

  • MrGreen13

    I love when people decide to bash Major and hide behind the Anon name! Get a life….plus why do you come here if your such a hater! Xbox is a major SOCIAL brand because of live….it’s a social thing.

  • strutton

    Great comments. As the product director at Vitrue responsible for the SMI and the Vitrue 100 list, I thought I would share some details with everyone.

    ElektroDragon,
    Zune is a social brand, but just missed the Vitrue 100 list. Looking at the data I can see some significant growth in the past month. If Zune maintains, it will likely show in a future list.

    Warrengonline,
    Yes, EB Games, Gamestop, Fossil and Skechers are all below the top 100. You can check their SMI score today at http://vitrue.com/smi (note The Vitrue 100 list is based on December data.)

    Kigmal,
    The Wii rolls up under Nintendo’s score. Given its popularity, we plan to break it out as its own brand (separate from Nintendo) on future versions of the list.

    Thanks again for the comments, and feel free to reach me here or at the Vitrue 100 list. http://vitrue.com/100

    Michael Strutton

  • Warrengonline

    @strutton
    Thanks! But I do not want to assume, I put fossil vs timex and this is the data returned:
    Vitrue SMI:
    fossil
    on: 01-30-2009
    24.5

    Vitrue SMI:
    timex
    on: 01-30-2009
    2.01

    fossil vs nike

    Vitrue SMI:
    nike
    on: 01-30-2009
    184

    To be brief, does that mean Fossil ‘out sold’ Timex and Nike ‘out sold’ Fossil? Thanks again!

  • strutton

    @Warrengonline The number represents how much a term is talked about on social networking sites (general social networks, micro-blogs, video sharing, photo sharing and the mainstream blogosphere). The numbers you pulled show that Fossil is more talked about than Timex and Nike is most talked about between all three. We are not measuring sales, or web traffic, just social conversations.

    Thanks for the discussion!
    Michael Strutton – Director Product Management at Vitrue. http://vitrue.com/100

  • Turtle502

    I can see how a lot of people talk about Xbox socially. Hopefully it’s discussed for all the right reasons! ;)

  • hied

    Interesting. One difficulty though with this list is that some of the terms may be frequently used in ways that have nothing to do with the brand — Lincoln for example.

  • EFE Assassin

    This is off topic, but Major, are we EVER going to be able to delete games off our list that we dont want on there?????

  • hied

    In case I wasn’t clear, most references to #28, “Lincoln”, surely were references to Abraham Lincoln. He was discussed frequently in the run-up to the inauguration as Obama assembled his “team of rivals”.

  • hied

    @EFE Assassin, in case you didn’t know you can do that now IF you don’t have any achievement points for the game.

    I’d probably remove Yaris if I could. I only play it to try to get those darn achievement points. (Actually, for a free advergame, I don’t think it’s as bad a game as most people say. My theory is that people hate it because it’s hard. Admittedly, the other free advergame, Dash of Destruction, is a better game, and the achievements are much easier.)

  • HunCity87

    haha…Kia beat Porsche….my Spec5 is going to like that!…

  • MACPH1ST0

    Anyone wanna bet that the majority of these “social conversations” that got Xbox to #5 on the list were about faulty hardware issues?

  • Parassassin

    @ Kigmal,

    I don’t think you understand what the writer meant by social brand. It has nothing to do with how socialble you or other people think, it has simply used a crafty search algorithm to scour social networking site and pick out brandnames and word parings. The list is just reflecting the most talked about brands not the most popular or most sociable.

    It would be interesting to see the five words either side of the brand name so we can put some context to this list!

  • Warrengonline

    @strutton
    Wow. That is some awesome data! Now that I understand it makes a lot more sense. Thanks again!

  • Turtle502

    why do people want to remove games from their games-played lists? I could see if you have 0 achievements, but are people really that ashamed that they’ve played/tried certain games that they want them removed? I bet they’d want to keep the GS they earned, though… :\

  • BeeDizz

    “Anyone wanna bet that the majority of these “social conversations” that got Xbox to #5 on the list were about faulty hardware issues?”

    Majority might be pushing it. But i know ALOT of my talks with non-gaming friends looking for a gaming console said pretty much the same thing when it came to the 360.

    “The 360 looks like it has a TON of games, but i hear it breaks all the time?”

    What can i say? Yes they do a better job, and they fix it for you with a somewhat simple process, but it DOES break down, often. It sucks, but what can i say. Thats 90% of what i talk about in regards to the 360 with non-gaming, non-console owning, friends. Of course all my gaming friends and i talk about all the great games on 360.

    And to be fair, the same people ask about the Wii.

    “I hear it’s for kids and the games suck?”

    And they ask about the PS3.

    “I hear it doesnt have any games.”

    So i guess it goes both ways.

  • EFE Assassin

    why do people want to remove games from their games-played lists? I could see if you have 0 achievements, but are people really that ashamed that they’ve played/tried certain games that they want them removed? I bet they’d want to keep the GS they earned, though… :\

    Because I have tried some games that are sh** and I dont want them on my list anymore. I should have the right to remove them If i want. If that means the achievements i earned go away too with the game, then so be it.

    and Hello Hied ;) Yes I know about the 0 thing, but I want to be able to take off what I want, not just ones with 0 gamer score ;)

  • reyla

    Facebook isn’t on there? Seems weird.

  • Warrengonline

    @Turtle502 & EFE Assassin
    Removing 0 Achievement games from previously played is desired (personally) because I have trial games I tried and decided not to purchase the full versions. I compare games with friends and strangers all the time at random. Some times it even traverses to the path of trading tips on “How did you get that achievement?” Youtube is a great resource, but it is nothing like hearing a person who actually achieved it relive that great accomplishment. But also, it is slightly annoying when people invite you multiple times for a trial they though you upgraded to the full version. So, deleting the 0 Achievement works in a lot of ways.

    @BeeDizz
    The Wii is an awesome party machine (7 to 95) and humble enough for the kiddies (3 to 13). But as a games go like on the NES, SNES or GameCube, the Wii does not seem to grab enough attention for play after the laughing of company stops. Well, that’s my personal opinion based on my experience with the Wii’s (my friends’, my own and my co-workers and mine I sold).

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