When people talk, it means that there’s something going on. Sometimes, the chatter is caused by events which are also highlighted by the media, but sometimes the buzz proves that the headlines don’t always reflect the things which are important to people.
The past week’s online discussion had a bit of both:
Lady Bird
 On Wednesday, July 11th, Ms. Claudia Alta Taylor (Lady Bird) Johnson, the former first lady of the United States and the wife of the late president Lyndon B. Johnson, Died of natural causes, at the age of 94.
If you live in the states, and even if not, you probably heard all about it on the news. Fittingly, the forums and discussion groups paid tribute to who must have been a very special lady. The term “Lady Bird” shot up to the top of the Omgili Buzz Cloud, which indicates that this was a very popular topic on the discussion sphere.
There were Two terms which were associated with Lady Bird more than others:
- Road Beautification – As First Lady, Johnson started a capital beautification project (Society for a More Beautiful National Capital) to improve physical conditions in Washington, D.C., both for residents and tourists. Her efforts inspired similar programs throughout the country. She was also instrumental in promoting the Highway Beautification Act, which sought to beautify the nation’s highway system by limiting Billboards and by planting roadside areas.
- The National Wildflower Research Center – was founded in 1982 by Mrs. Johnson and actress Helen Hayes and is now known as Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and is officially a component of the University of Texas at Austin.
Guitar Hero
 Two of the biggest chatter topics of the past week were “Guitar Hero” and “Resident Evil”. These were definitely not mainstream media headline topics, but for the gaming community, which is evidently a big one, these were the top issues. The event that drove the gaming discussion was the E3 Media & Business Summit that took place in Santa Monica on July 11th-13th. This is a special media event for the gaming industry. Being what it is, it panned out a truckload of announcements which resonated in the discussion sphere.
Console games
Snapshot 15.6.2007-15.7.2007
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Console Games
Dynamic Chart – Past Month |
This weeks buzz cloud had a wide representation for many other video games and gaming platforms, some of which were:
Metal Gear, Final Fantasy, Xbox Live, Playstation 3, Mario Galaxy, Sims 2, GTA IV, Tomb Raider, Rock Band, Unreal Tournament 3, Silent Hill 5, Nintendo DS, Ace Combat 6, Heavenly Sword, Guitar Hero III, Halo 2, Battlefield 2.
That’s a big part of the cloud!
 Well, I’m not a big gamer, but I had a chance to play a little “Guitar Hero” at my brother’s house and i wanna tell you – It’s Addictive. I couldn’t stop, even though, in the beginning I was getting Booed by the crowd. One more observation about the game is that its really funny to watch someone else play. Imagine someone standing there, holding a little plastic guitar, with no strings, moving their body and twitching their face, much like rock guitarists do when they take center stage for a solo. Anyway, try it, its great.
The news about Resident Evil is the the upcoming launch of “Resident Evil 5”. The trailer for the game was launched this week, and from what I read, its something to look forward to. Its expected to launch sometime in 2008. |
Looking at the conceptual bubble (A Term cloud of the topics most associated with the search term) for some of the candidates, this week, I found that unlike in previous weeks, the top of the list was comprised of “The Issues”. In some cases it looked like a campaign roster. When looking at Barack Obama’s conceptual bubble, these terms were all in the top 10: Death Penalty, Assault Weapons Ban, Iran Sanctions, Same Sex Marriage, Abortion Rights, ANWR Drilling, Universal Healthcare, Embryonic Stem Cells.
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San Diego is usually mentioned in the discussion sphere with relation to sports. Its either something about the Padres or something about the chargers. So when I found “San Diego” at the top of the Buzz Cloud I figured I should look for some sporting event if I want to find the cause. Wrong!!! I searched for the terms most associated with San Diego in the past week and it hit me in the face with a great big POWWW!?!@?!
Comic Con is a 4 day comic tradition, that started in the basement of the U.S. Grant hotel in 1970, with an estimated attendance of 300 people. Comic Con 2006 was hosted, as usual, at the San Diego convention center, and hosted 137,000 people.
People who are lucky enough to get tickets to this event, usually go there dressed up as their favorite comic hero (or villain). Comic Con holds a grand mascaraed ball every year.
Looking on the “News” tab on Omgili Buzz, I found 
The Simpsons movie was released in the states on the 21st of July (Saturday), and the buzz has begun. This will definitely be a part of next weeks chatter charts. From what I’m reading so far, people are loving it. 
Like last week, a video game made it o the top of the Omgili Buzz Chart this week as well. This time it’s 
Senator Hillary Clinton is leading the buzz count on the democrat’s side. The reason for the lead is mainly the fact that she is the democrat’s leading runner so fittingly, she is mentioned in many of the discussions on the elections topic. One term that seemed to appear together with Hillary in many discussions was “Swift Boat”. This term was coined in connection with 
I am following the online discussion regarding the US Presidential race, on a daily basis. My basic expectation is that the online discussion will be a mirror image of what is portrayed in the media, on the blog-sphere and in the polls. That’s why I was very surprised to find extreme differences between the different platforms.