With the news today that we apparently spend more time chatting with one another via our devices than in person, it seems like a good time to check out the crowdsourcing potential of Twitter.
Wearable devices are just around the corner, BrandWatch partnered with digital strategy agency Brilliant Noise to investigate what tweets can tell us about the public appetite for smartwatches, Google Glass, virtual reality specs, fitness trackers and all the rest.
Here’s six things they discovered from analysing eight million conversations online (75% on Twitter).
Wearables chatter is exploding
Year on year the conversation around wearables has exploded – increasing a staggering 190% when you compare the first quarter of last year (973,300 mentions) to that of this year (2,816,814 mentions).
Early adopters are pretty negative about it
Interestingly, half the online negativity about wearables came not from those who were sceptical about the technology, but from those who actually owned it (51% of negative chat was from owners) – hinting that the reality might not be living up to the hype.
The tech’s struggling to catch on outside the US
Wearables still seem to be finding it difficult to find a real market outside of the US, which accounts for 70% of the conversation about the technology, followed by the UK (7%), Canada (3%), Australia (2%) and India (2%).
People are still most excited about Glass
Google Glass was the most-talked about product in the US. Glass, Fitbit and Pebble emerged as the top three products mentioned by volume in the US, while in the UK the rankings stood as Fitbit, Nike Fuelband and Google Glass.
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And men are talking about it more than women
The majority of Google Glass conversation is taking place among men, at 74%, and most Glass chatter comes up in Google’s home country, the States, at 53%.
Women are more optimistic about wearables than men
While men dominated wearables conversation (65% vs. 35%), at 42% women are more positive than men about the potential of the technology.
