Social Flooring Index Conversations - April 2011

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the Social Flooring Index analysis is exploring the conversations taking place.

In the April 2011 Social Flooring Blog Index update, 168 blogs have generated 7,571 conversations in the last 6 months. That's approximately 45 posts per blog over 6 months, or 1.877 blog posts per week.

In comparison, 88 blogs generated 1,532 conversation in the August 2010 Social Flooring Index update which corresponds to 17.41 posts per blog over 6 months or .7254 blog posts per week.

In other words, definite improvement!

Supporting this observation is the graph below which illustrates the consistency of posting taking place.  The conversations take place regularly with expected dips during the Christmas/New Year Holidays. Might the early March dip correspond to Spring Break?

The Wordle image above captures the top 50 terms from the 7,571 Social Flooring Blog Index conversations.  More specifically, you'll note general topics, such as:

• Help in 43% of the conversations
• Home mentioned in 36% of the posts 
• Water appearing in 10% of conversations 
• Installation coming up in 7% of posts

No surprise, there are plenty of product category conversations: 43% specifically mention carpet, tile, wood,  hardwood, wood, vinyl, cork, laminate, flooring or stone [what did I miss in that query?]. However, this is a significantly lower percentage compared to the 65% that I observed in August 2010. I interpret that as meaning that broader conversations are taking place around flooring than were last year.

Relating to individual product categories:

• Flooring - 21%
• Carpet - 13%
• Tile - 11%
• Wood - 14%
• Wood flooring - 9.63%
• Laminate - 6%
• Hardwood floors - 4.35%
• Vinyl - 4.2% 
• Cork - 2.4%

Other relevant categories:

• Carpet cleaning - 3%
• Design - 17%
• Color - 9%
• Cleaning - 7%
• Interior design - 3%
• Sale or Promotion - 3%
• Fashion - 2%
• Recycling - 1.44%
• Indoor Air Quality - 1.02%

AB 2398, a critical carpet industry and recycling topic, has 18 mentions from:

• Primarily the CRI Blog, but also  
• Wool For a Better World Blog
• Designing For Life, Bentley Prince Street's Blog
• Home Construction & Improvement - Expert Home Improvement Advice
• Surfaces/StonExpo Blog in a post by Jim Gould

Surprisingly, I found few conversations relating to allergy (.5%).  I expected more given the Spring allergy season and decided to explore a bit more by expanding my search beyond the Social Flooring Index blogs. Indeed, I found 68 conversations and was pleased to notice - as you can see in the chart below - that the frequency of conversations had indeed ramped up as allergy season was unfolding.

Fascinating, don't you think?

What I conclude from all of this is that the Flooring Industry has a great deal of untapped social opportunity ahead for rich conversations that do more to connect the serious social flooring blogs together. They might also bring to life for readers and customers this category which offers so much beauty to those who use it and need it.

What do you observe from these Social Flooring Index conversations? How might you go about broadening conversations and drawing others in?

Previous posts in this series include:

• Social Flooring Blog Index - April 2011
• How Networked Is The Social Flooring Blog Index - April 2011
• Social Flooring Index Tribes - April 2011
• Geo-Location & Social Flooring Blog Index - April 2011

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Best,

C.B.

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Image created via Wordle
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