Social media is a great way to get a bead on the hottest trends in almost any industry you can think of, and the Android OS has just been crowned the hottest mobile OS in the smartphone space. A new study from Norwegian consulting firm Integrasco shows that Android has pulled ahead of Windows Mobile as the most buzzworthy trend in social media circles like Twitter, YouTube and tech blogs. In fact, social media mentions of Android has been steadily skyrocketing since the beginning of last year, and has been eclipsing the buzz from Apple’s media-darling iPhone almost since the get-go.
Windows Mobile hype has been on a steady decline, according to Integrasco’s metrics, but still accounts for a healthy 33% of social media mindshare in the last quarter of 2009. Android, on the other hand, took home 40% of social media mentions in Q4 2009. Compare that to the iPhone’s measly 7% share, BlackBerry’s 2% slice and the 1% of mentions going to webOS, and it’s clear that Android is getting a lot more attention from online gossipers.
So, what’s going on here? Is Google’s operating system really attracting that much more attention than the iPhone? For that matter, is Windows Mobile really out-buzzing the iPhone? The iPhone is a hype machine befitting Apple’s half-eaten logo – how is it not one of the hottest trending topics in social media? Well, this is pure speculation, but consider this – Android users skew heavily male. And, the Android platform is generally seen as the “geek” platform of choice. Could it be that it’s these more tech-savvy users that are driving the online buzz around the little green robot?
What do you think? Is Android the hot new platform to watch for? Will Microsoft make a comeback with Windows Phone 7 Series (catch our hands-on demo here).
[Integrasco via AndroidAndMe]