Study shows increased online conversation on wearable tech

LONDON — Much has been made of Google Glass and its undisputed position as the king of wearables, but the conversation about this product has been one that is about its future. At this point, though things do not look astonishingly good, nobody knows if it will tip or fall over, so the chat has been focusing on what will happen as opposed to what has already happened.

A recent report by digital agency Brilliant Noise and social media monitoring company Brandwatch redresses this imbalance by analysing more than eight million online conversations on wearable technology over the past 18 months.

The results were interesting: Year-on-year, the conversation on wearables has increased an impressive 190 per cent when comparing the first quarter of last year (973,300 mentions) to that of this year (2,816,814 mentions). Yet, despite the increased conversation, people are still reserving their opinion on the technology — only 8 per cent of the conversation contained sentiment of any kind, with 6 per cent positive and 2 per cent negative.

Unexpectedly, most of the negativity came not from those sceptical about the technology but from those who owned it (51 per cent of negative chat was from owners) — hinting that the reality might not be living up to the hype.

Twitter dominated as the main location where the conversations are taking place, with 75 per cent of all mentions, and news sites come in a distant second, at 10 per cent. More than two-thirds of the conversation emanated from North America, reinforcing the notion that the wearables market is more advanced there. Elsewhere across the globe, the conversations were negligible, perhaps further evidence of an overhyped and localised industry.

“While a lot of the buzz is around Google Glass, people are more likely to be actively talking about buying a Fitbit, a product that has been available to the public for some time and is becoming mainstream, while Google Glass is still an outlier,” said Mr Jason Ryan, a partner at Brilliant Noise.

The winners of the space where a new brand battleground is beginning are products that allow users to monitor aspects of daily life such as food consumed and physical activity. Fitbit and Pebble emerged as the top three products mentioned by volume in the United States, while in the United Kingdom, the rankings stood as Fitbit and Nike+ FuelBand.

Apple’s recent announcement of its HealthKit tool should see online conversations about wearables increase exponentially over the next 12 months.

“One of the interesting things that came from this research is that chatter about wearable tech is no longer confined to the water cooler in the engineering department. Discussion about wearables has become far more commonplace ... and we’re seeing more types of people in more kinds of places talking about it. Just like with smartphones ... almost a decade ago, we’re on the cusp of a cultural shift that reflects our changing attitudes towards how we live with technology,” said Mr Will McInnes, Brandwatch chief marketing officer. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH