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I Spy With My BrandsEye: Russian Fires
by Naaz Parkar on 2010/08/18
Natural disasters seem to have dominated the year 2010 - from earthquakes, to volcanoes, to the recent Russian fires. Who would ever have thought one of the coldest regions in the world would experience such a severe heat wave that would cause this much damage? The heat wave has been termed ‘the worst heat wave in the millennia’. The threat has been truly felt on the ground with a state of emergency being declared in 35 regions.
The conversation around the Russian fires has been lower than most other trending topics such as the BP oil spill and the Icelandic volcano. This does not mean the negative responses have been taken mildly and there is little concern around the Russian fires.
In 24 hours, there were 207 online mentions focusing on the Russian fires. These mentions reached approximately 3,278,270 people and had an advertising value equivalent of R 739,163.25. The publicity around the world by top consumers and media houses has led to these values.
The media sources of the conversation varied, with 65% of the mentions originating from consumers. Press constituted 23% of the conversation, while enterprise drove 12% of the conversation. This high percentage of consumer conversation can be attributed to the sharing of content through social media channels. Furthermore, consumers also drive the volumes of press conversation upwards by sharing press content and writing about it on blogs.
The negative conversation and concern around the Russian fires has been the most evident. The main reasons for the concern and fear amongst the public can be associated with certain topics. These can be broken down into;
• 45% of the conversation mentioned nuclear threats
• 36% of the conversation mentioned the effect of pollution
• 29% of the conversation mentioned the effect on the environment
• 29% of the conversation mentioned cases of smog
• 28% of the conversation mentioned the effect on climate change
• 22% of the conversation mentioned the word NASA
These key concepts show the main areas of concern around the bush fires. The key theme was the threat of the fires reaching the nuclear plant. Environmental degradation and climatic effects are also areas of concern.
Even though the fires were in Russia, the origin of the conversation was somewhat surprising with;
• 63% from the USA
• 10% from UK
• 13% from Europe
• 3% from Canada
• 3% from Japan
• With the remaining 11% originating from various other countries.
This shows that the Russian fires are an issue of global concern. The damage to our environment and to human life cannot be quantified. However, yet again the statistics reflect the powerful reach and role of the internet during natural disasters.
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