The social media landscape in Malaysia : Edelman DBI

Here are the key findings:

The consistency in the technology brands and channels that rank amongst Malaysia’s top 10 list since the launch of the Digital Brand Index (DBI) in 2009 supports its use as a predictable measure and benchmark of technology brands’ performance online

The DBI 10.3 captured 66,783 mentions of 47 major technology brands researched across 467 influential online channels in Malaysia between April and June 2010.

Despite showing a drop in brand mentions by 26 per cent, Google maintained its spot at the summit of top 10 brands. A recorded 11,281 brand mentions for Google far outpaced Maxis, which recorded 4,985 mentions.

Apple leapfrogged four spaces in the DBI 10.3 for Malaysia, from eight to fourth this quarter with a 48 per cent increase in brand mentions across 66,783 posts.

Maxis, one of three Malaysian companies in the DBI, moved to second spot with a 23.7 per cent increase in brand mentions, pushing Microsoft to third.

Competition in consumer electronics and mobile devices remain heated, with Sony dropping from third to fifth, Nokia dropping from sixth to seventh, and Samsung dropping from ninth to tenth spot.

Malaysia’s three main telcos continued to represent the local technology sector out of a total of eight Malaysian brands in the DBI database.

Only a few technology brands are engaging and influencing effectively through Twitter, the dominant channel for technology conversations in Malaysia

Twitter continues to be the top channel for brand mentions in Malaysia with over half of online mentions occurring on the micro-blogging tool.

However, only two of the top 10 ‘buzziest’ channels were found to have a local Twitter presence. There is clearly an opportunity for brands to become smarter about communicating through this channel. Although a brand can set up a Twitter account in five minutes, it is important to recognise the ongoing account management commitment and the need to plan engaging and relevant content.

As negative sentiment towards a company can quickly spread on Twitter, it is crucial for technology brands to monitor for specific feedback on their products and services and determine suitable responses when appropriate.

Apart from Twitter and Facebook, location-based social networking site, Foursquare, is gaining popularity as another channel to connect and share experiences, particularly with the high penetration of mobile smartphones among Malaysians.