Paul predicts Spain, People predict Netherlands

Friday, July 9th, 2010

The time is now. Spain vs Netherlands. Who will win? Who can say? Paul the Octopus can say as evidenced by his 80% accurate predictions. Science always comes through in the end.

Given Paul’s extraordinary celebrity status, we decided to do some scientific research of our own. We gathered thousands of conversations from thousands of different websites and conducted our own version of science, social media research, that is.

Right now, Paul is viewed quite favorably by those who feel he is important enough to talk about. Opinions towards Paul are 34% positive, including 5.5% of people who just love him.

However, about 54% of conversations are neutral with another 4.5% being negative, possibly people who love him literally to death. We should assume those negative opinions are from people who are now regretting cheering for the losing teams. They are regretting their choices so much that they have selected a specific use for poor Paul, and have overwhelming chosen to cook him for dinner. What are the preferred cooking methods you ask? Frying has taken the lead position and is preferred by 56% of the nellys followed by grilling, boiling, and barbequing.

But who do the people think will win? Spain is generating about 52% of the conversation while the Netherlands is generating about 48% of the conversation. But, the Netherlands is generating 42% positive scores (of whom 8% would bet their life) compared to Spain’s 37% positive scores (of whom 7% would bet their life).

Poor Paul is betting his life too.

For the love of Vuvuzela!

Friday, June 18th, 2010

In the last few days, many people have been introduced to the musical instrument called the Vuvuzela. What do we really think of it? Let’s find out! We gathered more than 25 000 verbatims that mentioned the Vuvuzela from across the internet. Then, we conducted a content analysis to evaluate how people were talking about the instrument. Here are the results:

Based strictly on how people talk, the Vuvuzela is compared to a trumpet or french horn, and is much loved in South Africa. It is well-suited to someone wearing a jersey, drinking beer, and sitting in a  stadium.  No surprises there! So let’s get to the facts, jack!

• About 16% of people like it or love it, but about 20% of people find it annoying, offensive, irritating, and obnoxious.
• 12.4% of people like the sound while another 19% hate the sound. They talk about the noise, the blaring,  how deafening it is, and how it can wake the dead.
• When people talk about pride, 33% of them feel it is a great way to show their pride in their country but 10% think perhaps there is a better way to show your pride.
• In terms of health issues, 39% of people worry about how the instrument can be damaging to hearing. But, almost 2% of people are willing to forgo their hearing for a little bit of fun.

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Be sure to get your vuvuzela blackberry app. You can download it here!
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But who cares about all that negativity! Turn on the game!!

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