The Heartbeat of the Internet is Speaking but is Sirius XM Listening?
Love it or hate it, Twitter is the best online resource for putting your finger on the pulse of just about anything in real time. It was just a few months ago while searching Google for information about Circuit City store closings that it became clear to me that traditional search results weren’t going to cut it this time around.
The problem with Google was, every article I read on the day the bankruptcy was announced, said that Circuit City was going out of business and that you better hurry up because there are deals left and right that won’t last long. The reality was, the guys who wrote those articles couldn’t have had any idea what was really going on in the actual stores. So, I headed over to search Twitter and what did I see? Twenty to thirty posts per minute coming in from people who were actually in the store telling me that there were hardly any deals as of yet (thanks for saving me a trip).
That day it became clear to me that the power of real time search results, from millions of reporters on the street, was going to be a huge asset to those who knew how to harness its power. Sure, I thought it was neat when the first accounts of the Hudson River plane crash (including pictures) came across Twitter before any major news organization could even get on scene but, what happened at Circuit City showed us all just how easy it could be to track any major brand.
All it takes is a simple search to see just what people are saying about Sirius XM right now. No longer does anyone have to take anyone else’s “word for it” when it comes to Sirius XM subscribers doing, saying, or thinking anything. We can all simply see for ourselves and one can only hope that the powers that be at Sirius XM are doing the same thing.
As a quick sample, the following tweets were grabbed in under 10 minutes, while searching through a span of 5 hours during just one day worth of “Sirius” related tweets.
The Good
@maggieschmerin: Can’t remember the last time I was stuck in traffic this bad. Probably bc w/ #Sirius, you don’t notice traffic, without it, I’m struggling.
So entertaining that the stress of the commute just floats right off of you.
@WaitressTails: Took tonite off to go to dads for his bday. Got him sirius radio.
Can you really find a better gift for under $100?
@mhuffaker: Forgot my Sirius reciever in my homedock. This sucks!
Once you get a taste, it can be hard to live without.
@keithelmy: Just turned my iPhone into a Sirius Stiletto. I love science so much I want to take it behind a high school and get it pregnant.
People are willing to do anything to stream Sirius XM to their iPhone.
The Bad
@Daveyduke: Very unhappy right now… Sirius ended my 6 months for free deal today, without any notice. They could have at least twitta’d me! Geez
A little unrealistic but, Davey reminds us that Sirius XM is still not fully embracing social media.
@ki_lo: So hey, don’t play WRONG anymore, Windsor & Detroit radio stations that I have to listen to coz I can’t afford SIRIUS/XM no more right now.
Times are tough and an extra $2.00 is a lot to some people.
@SkonFlicka: SIRIUS radio SUCKS and are FRAUDULANT #@$%&@$ BASTARDS! Anyone interested in a class action lawsuit?
Some people aren’t fans of the recent, lets say, less than clear marketing.
@asantana: Canceled Sirius Radio subscription and now streaming Pandora on iPhone on my drive in/from work. Dropped calls yes, dropped streams no!
The competition is growing every day.
I am not exactly “in the know” when it comes to the intricacies of all the big name companies but, I would venture to guess that most of the big guys already have “social media experts” monitoring their brand name on a daily basis and if they don’t, they are really missing out on some of the best, candid, free, and real-time data anyone could hope to get their hands on. So Sirius XM, do you have your finger on the pulse? I know that I do.
Great read, thanks.
im in a chicago airport with my xmp3 , listening to last nights dj skee mix show and lovin it, next ill listen to my recording of tony toca’s show with dblock as a special guest. this 3 hour layover will be nuthin’
sirius xm rules, big names, best content.
Good article. thanks.
Nice article Charles,this is one example of twitter vbeing used for good info,but i’m sorry,God help us the lynch mob mentality has returned from the wild west with twitter in my opinion..Too mush power in the hands of morons is too tempting to spiral out of control with false reporting and dangerous consequences to many innocent people..JMHO
Johnny
exactly…all we need is another way for every a-hole with an axe to grind popping off about SiriusXM!
SO you HAVE to have a SiriusXM sub to twitter on this sirius twitter? So you know 100 percent all responses are actually users. Interesting concept Tyler. Thanks for bring it to our attention. That is a very useful tool. Like have ONLY subscribers giving feedback on service, converage, etc…
So if you get a “tweet” for this “line” or whatever, you know 100 percent fact its an actual SiriusXM sub. So what am I missing Tyler? Sounds like SiriusXM is innovating with Twitter here. They seem to have tied the service together somehow, taking full advantage of it already. I just then I miss the ponit of the question in your articles title? A little help>?
it’s charles’ article not tyler’s, i dont think tyler ever writes about stuff like this.regardless, i dont think you’re seeing the point he’s making tho. imo, the internet world is becoming more involved in our real world activities. so as a capitalist what to do? get with the times, adjust to the game and widen your range. with sirius i think charles is saying get with the program already. at least thats what i understood from this article. you’re taking this WAYYYYYYY out of context. i could be wrong though. gl
Relmor’s utter ignorance and conspiracy theorist colors once again shinning through. Yeah dude some top secret agency is creating thousands of twitter accounts to say both positive and negative things about this company. I just wonder who is doing it for all the other companies being talked about on twitter. You’re such a dolt that you failed to realize who wrote this article even though the above commenter mentions Charles.
Not a top secret agency. Some from Sirius, some from Sirius’ competition. Some from biased idiots who don’t have subscriptions to Sirius but bitch about the service. It’s not hard to be anonymous on the interweb, and pretending to be a satisfied customer when you actually work for a company is not a new marketing strategy.
Twitter is garbage. Garbage in = garbage out. A phrase coined 40 years ago. It’s texting on steroids. And texting is the silent killer of American minds. Kids under the silence of texting staying up all night; using it to cheat during the day.
A new record of votes on American idol was coming from texting, after 9PM.
We thought Cell phones were a danger, at least they were watching
some of the road. Now we are seeing texting while driving.
Texting was meant as a low priority message to be read later.
Now it’s Real Time.
We see that you don’t like text messaging but what does your dislike for technology have to do with the validity of this article?
Your point about the American Idol texting record reinforces it’s importance. Twitter is hardly garbage, its a treasure trove of free market research for those who might need it.
Yes, texting is very popular. And it’s all bad news. Did Ashton Kucher or Larry King read all the twitter messages on the race to the 1 million? 1 million people (without duplicates) wasted their time.
As far as the article, well, it has nothing to do with Sirius. What do you want, 19 million Sirius subs to twitter? Well, I guess we want 100 million, as an investor. Ads killed myspace and will kill facebook, just like spam killed personal email. These are just fads.
BTW Twitter will kill blogs, if not already.
lets update it for them.We are better marketers then they are so whenever we get info about content or good articles post them on sirius’s twitter! nothing against these sites but theres a better chance your articles will be read by kids or adults on twitter just cause its the now thing.
Michael
IMHO thats a pretty damn good way to get the kids turned on to SiriusXM…However…can be a double edged sword…with bashers tweeting their asses off trying to keep the sp down!
The people who actually can keep the share price down will be moving millions of shares to do so. What they will not be doing is wasting their time commenting on blogs or microblogging services which will ultimately have no effect on the share price.
Soundstage
If that is the case…why has another Sirius blog been able to trace the IP address of posters with several different login names back to a CBS corporate IP address. May not be the millionaire investors…can be paid bashers!IMHO
1. Thats hearsay.
2. If they are actually doing that (which they probably aren’t) they are totally wasting their time because there isnt a comment on a blog that is going to change the share price of this stock.
Charles…. from my perspective this is probably one of your best articles…. Twitter is a great source of real time info, too much information sometimes but, as you say it is a critical piece of “social technology”, happening in real time…. You are spot on when it comes to what any Marketing and Customer Service center should be keyed into if they want their company and job to survive…. If you want to know what your customers are thinking just ask them… The competition for all business models is becoming acute, and only the most innovative will survive…..
Big Willy. Shame shame shame. You should know better by now.
Put down the whiskey, brother. Go reread my post. I never mentioned Charles name once. I think you have delusional vision. You may have hoped I made a spelling error too, because your reply to my comment is border line stalkerish.
If your obsession with me is a problem, you may want to seek help.
Tylers point is that FINALLY we can get instance responses and input from SiriusXM subs. You can already. ALL OVER THE INTERNET. In feedback sheets. Countless incoming calls. Market studies. Car numbers. Twitter was dumb was I first heard about it. Dumb today. I would never twitter. Fad, passing fad. Its a message board for texters. Except the novelty will wear thin. WOW. A mass texting program!!! NEAT!! LOL Tyler makes it sound like this is finally the communication companies have been looking for. Not true. His article title denotes SirisXM, even though the company said they are using it for marketing. And no, my point isnt, dummy, that 1000s for fake responses and accounts would start up. But for believeablity, how does it differ from any other form? If anything, it would be less reliable. Sorry If I had to explain things to do, but I did talk so so you could understand.
Anytime someone tries to discredit you by comparing contrasting other issues to completely different issues, is a sign of desperation.
You are delusional. You responded like your comment was to Tyler. You are so blind drunk with SIRI that you dont even see what is happening around you.
You may think that Twitter is dumb but that doesnt make it dumb nor does it make it any less powerful. Do you really need people to take the time to explain to you why Twitter is more powerful and more real time then all of the above things you mentioned because its pretty simple to see.
Your shameful responses and uncontrollable spiraling attitude is truly scary for anyone who has watched what you have evolved into since you started running around posting about this company.
Good luck, you are going to need it in life.
Wow, I was so amazed Charles actually wrote something, I assumed. This does change everything. I apologize to Tyler. And of course Charles wrote it!!! LOL OF COURSE. LOL Hes predictable.
You are the one who is predictable my friend. Take a moment out of your day to read some of your more recent posts around the net and pretend like you did not write them for just one minute and then sit back and ponder what those posts must read like to civilized human beings.
Passing fad. Not anymore reliable than other forms. Charles article isnt even true. He mentions
“All it takes is a simple search to see just what people are saying about Sirius XM right now. No longer does anyone have to take anyone else’s “word for it” when it comes to Sirius XM subscribers doing, saying, or thinking anything. We can all simply see for ourselves and one can only hope that the powers that be at Sirius XM are doing the same thing.”
Amazing. Apparently Twitter is a lie detector too. FINALLY. A way to communicate that is accurate. What a joke. Article is a bash, and its not even an accurate bash. They use it, and he bashes them for being late again. lol lol lol
Charles why do you make it so easy for me? When are you going to write an unbiased piece? Im still waiting.
You’re a cancer plain and simple. You’re continued ignorance is staggering and why anyone would pay attention to your sadly ignorant and childish posts is totally lost on me.
I would take the time to argue against your point (if you want to call it that) but, it would be a waste of time because I would be counter pointing your comments that lack the basic understanding of how the technology works.
For the record, I see 4 positive comments and 4 negative comments, which is hardly a bash and could not have been more blatantly unbiased.
Save the sanctuary that it siriusbuzz and ban relmor from posting on these articles once and for all. Please.
I could not agree more. His posts are a total waste of space and his inability to coexist with like minded people has become disturbing.
I second that, he has turned into a bashing troll to the point where he sounds like an out of control 3rd grader who needs to sit in the corner.
so true. this guy misses the point of the article so completely and he makes himself look like a know it all asshat when he couldn’t be more wrong.
Sadly, he probably works in marketing at Sirius.
Glass
Now thats funny!
Twitter? Come talk to me in 2 years. See who still “twitters”. LOL Dumb idea. Charles is a basher, plain and simple. Sirius has Twitter up on a slide on their own stockholder meeting, has a twitter account, is using it, and he says they need to get with the times. His article is a complete bash, with no facts.
Competition is growing everyday. Yes, Twitter is competition for SiriusXM. So is texting then.
“Love it or hate it, Twitter is the best online resource for putting your finger on the pulse of just about anything in real time.” This article starts with an opinion. And doest stop from their. You can try to discredit me all you want. Yes, go read my posts. You will learn something.
You clearly have still not been able to read the article.
Regardless of twitter being a good idea or bad idea in YOUR eyes does not change its importance right now.
Twitter being on the slide and Sirius XM tweeting has nothing to do with the premise of this article which you still haven’t read because you would rather jump to the comments and bash people who clearly have a better grasp on things then you do.
The article is hardly a bash and you are seemingly the only person who thinks it is a bash. Shouldn’t that tell you something?
Even if you were capable of making a coherent point rather then putting together strings of ramblings posts in a row, those points would lose all credibility by the manner in which they are delivered.
I will leave my comments to that and will certainly not “come debate you in the forums” I would rather sharpen a pencil and stick it in my eye then waste time trying to explain how things work to someone who is incapable of listening. I could get just as much accomplished by talking to my shoe.
I have said my piece.
I know you haters prefer to take potshots at me through articles. Come talk to me on the forum. Debate me. Of course you wont, because you will look foolish. You dont read my posts. You read one thing you dont like, and jump to conclusions. I am neither a cheerleader or a basher. I speak honestly. If you cant handle that, then thats your problem. I praise when I feel it deserves it. If your going to post a biased article, I dont care who you are, you going to hear about it.
Biased?!?!? There were 4 pro comments and 4 con comments, how is that biased? Youre a retard. Biased would have been pointing out that you can get a feel for things and then posting only 10 negative comments.
I am a cancer? So Im spreading? LOL LOL
AHAHHAHAAA
Im spreading!!!
Soon every one will be posting logically, and sensibily. Excellent. Cant wait till you get “cancer” and start speaking coherently.
Guys: Loved the dialog while I enjoy my first cup of Joe.
I’m for Twitter and any other means available to SiriusXM to help sell its services. The goal should be to attract subscribers,and to increase brand awareness. I don’t think I would ever Twitter, it just sounds silly, but on the other hand maybe in time, like I never blogged before or paid much attention to the SiriusBuzz website, and now I begin my day by visiting with you all…..
what’s the point? I have no idea what you are saying….but, then again, I don’t waste all day tweeting with unknown strangers. again, what was the point of this article?
Folks and to all Investors Sirius XM don’t expect this company to be anything like Apple , Pandora, or the Slackers of the world to Leverage/Capitalize on Social Media Technology among other opportunities . They are idled/stuck in the decade of the 80’s.
WOW! The second rate increase in 4 months!
I just received an email that Sirus XM is increasing rates $1.98 on primary subscriptions and another $0.97 for multi-receiver subscriptions to cover U.S. Music Royalty Fees beginning 7/29/2009. Really? Those royalty fees are going to cost them $15M-$18M per month? I find that hard to believe.
I love satellite radio, but I don’t like being raped of my hard-earned cash while listening to it. I was just about to signup for the $3.00/month online subscription so I could get the iPhone app, but that ain’t happening now. And I’m really close to just dropping the whole thing completely and going back to listening to CDs.
Had to drop one radio but dont drive anyway Home use only. Yes true that there are terestrial sites but there are no commercials which makes sirius great. If SIRIUS could go world wide with stations from all over added to what we have now it would be the best thing that they could do. I hate Sirius and I love Sirius. Lets see what happens. David