Washington Whispers

Obama’s Online Buzz Is Coming Back

May 6, 2010 RSS Feed Print

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By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers

President Obama has got his Internet buzz mojo back. Our monthly Zeta Interactive review of political buzz on the web, which last month had him at low of 51 percent, has jumped to 55 percent and probably because he was leading the fight against Goldman Sachs, the most buzzed about issue last month.

Zeta Interactive, the digital marketing firm that logs political buzz searches, also found that Obama's healthcare plan swooned in the monthly buzz contest, likely because it was finally signed into law and the fight over it died down.

But Zeta tells us that the nation seems agitated and eager for the fall elections.

"With so many hot button political topics occurring in the past month, online buzz surrounding the political landscape has reached new heights, with more volume and frequency than we have ever seen before on Zeta Buzz," says the company's CEO Al DiGuido. "People are taking to the Internet to weigh in with their opinions on these topics, and the overriding theme seems to be that of dissatisfaction. Whether it's the overwhelmingly negative tone being used to describe the Goldman Sachs congressional hearings, or the millions of bloggers calling for change in the upcoming primaries, our buzz findings illustrate that a wave of unease and uncertainty has penetrated through the online landscape."

Here's their April Update:

Summary: Once again, it was a really interesting month from a buzz standpoint in the world of politics, as for the first time in five months Obama's healthcare plan was not the buzziest story of the month. Goldman Sachs congressional hearing stole the show in April, receiving more buzz than any other story in the political world. Additionally, Obama's buzz improved for the first time in several months, moving from 51% to 55%. Buzz surrounding the upcoming primaries continues to heat up as well, receiving the 3rd most buzz of all political stories in the previous month.

For the first time in four months, President Obama's healthcare plan did not receive the most buzz of all political stories in a given one-month period.

The April 27th Goldman Sachs hearing and discussions received the most buzz of all political stories in April. Take the following data points for example:

The Goldman Sachs congressional hearing received 26% of the volume share of all political stories last month. This was 3% higher than buzz surrounding Obama's healthcare plan, which finished 2nd at 23% of the volume buzz.

The reaction to the Goldman hearing was extremely negative, as the brand suffered a 28% drop in tonal buzz following the hearing. Heading into the hearing Goldman buzz was 73% positive, placing it in the same category as other financial organizations such as Morgan Stanley (72% positive), JP Morgan/Chase (75% positive) and Barclays (78% positive). However, following the meeting, Goldman buzz plummeted to just 45% positive, placing it well below all of the aforementioned brands.

Three of the most popular words or terms used to describe the Goldman hearing were "justice", "greed" and "bonus/bonuses" (note: "bonus" was used primarily in posts from people who referred to Goldman bonuses as being unjust.

After suffering a buzz drop in March, Obama's overall online reputation improved slightly in April. His tone increased to 55% positive, which is a 4% positive improvement from the previous month, when his buzz hit a year-long low of 51% positive. While Obama's online buzz did pick up slightly in April, it still has a long way to go before it recovers to his Inauguration Day buzz, when he received a term-long high of 81% positive buzz.

While Obama's healthcare plan was the 2nd buzziest political story of the month, the upcoming primaries generated a significant amount of buzz, receiving the 3rd most volume buzz of all political stories in April at 19% of the total volume share. Judging by the keywords being used to describe the upcoming primaries, it seems like the online community is viewing them as an opportunity for a fresh start in government. For example, three of the most popular words or terms used to describe the primaries online are "change", "new" and "leader/leadership."

Here's the breakdown of the Top Five political stories which received the greatest volume buzz last month:

Goldman Sachs Congressional Hearing: 26% volume share of all political stories last month

Obama/healthcare: 23% of volume share

Primaries: 19% of volume share

Obama/oil spill: 16% of volume share

Senate/financial bill voting: 11% of volume share

Other: 5% of volume share