Trend Watch :: Social Media Metrics as Market Indicator

This week, I was doing some research on a client here at Ascentium, and stumbled across a tid-bit in a news item from the Business Insider describing the forthcoming expansion of Microsoft’s retail establishments, a rather large and high-profile push for the company.

The article presented several data points which bolstered the notion that the expansion would be a financially viable business move for the company, based on real data in the existing stores. Further on down, buried deep in the article, was the following: One more data point about Microsoft's stores, courtesy location-based "check-in" app Foursquare: • On Foursquare, in Phoenix [actually, Scottsdale], Microsoft had 42 unique visitors, with 55 check-ins overall. The Apple store down the street had 119 unique visitors with 620 check-ins. • In the mall in Mission Viejo, Microsoft's store has 50 unique visitors checking in 132 times. Apple’s had 60 unique visitors with 90 check-ins.

What struck me as odd was the use of using consumer-generated social media metrics to bolster a data point. I hadn’t quite seen that before in the industry. Of course we’ve all seen trending metrics associated with Twitter and peripheral reference made to the visits counted in Foursquare, but it was the first time that I’ve seen an industry heavy hitter (The Business Insider) quote the statistic as a valid data point. Not two days later, I stumbled upon an article in Mashable showcasing Twitter stats and how they relate to foretelling possible box office receipts in Hollywood. The article basically stated that the use of Twitter actually outperformed typical market indicators when foretelling box office success. Check it out here: http://mashable.com/2010/04/02/twitter-the-killer-box-office-predictor-2... Have social media statistics become dependable enough? Comments?