A relatively new development in web search engines – particularly since the launch of Facebook’s Open Graph platform – has been the means to search “the social web”, ie Facebook, Twitter and other such social platforms where users share and recommend content.

For us this has proven an excellent means to gauge buzz around the artists we represent, understanding just how much people are talking about them and sharing their content. One example was the launch of Kano’s new track “Get Wild” last Friday. The track debuted at 6.55pm (ie last track of the show, reserved for Westwood’s hottest track of the week), and immediately went on sale via Kano’s website using Topspin. Knowing that this track would also be shared illegally amongst the online community, we were keen to see what people were saying about the track and how much were people were getting excited about it, as the reality is that sales figures simply do not tell the whole story about an artist’s popularity anymore. Using Kurrently, we were able to monitor in almost real-time the responses to the track online – with the feed updating live, without a need to refresh. As the screengrab below demonstrates, it is clear this track is being shared and talked about in positive terms:

Tellingly we can also see who is illegally sharing the track (thanks for that @DreadLoxxx – I obscured the URL!), which speaks volumes once again about privacy on the web and what information is in fact viewable by anyone. For now though I will leave that discussion to other people.

As a simple and immediate means to gauge response to your artists release, real-time social web searching can be a great tool – be sure to try it out.

Got a query or comment – leave it below!

Tags: buzz, kurrently, social web

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Articles & Analysis, Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.