Wayne Barnes in higher demand than Graham Henry

Press release

Wayne Barnes in higher demand than Graham Henry

12 October 2007, AUCKLAND – As the fallout from the World Cup continues, internet blog chatter, search engine requests and social networking sites have seen an explosion in requests & information about English referee Wayne Barnes.

Analysis of blog chatter, search engine requests and social networking sites undertaken by Auckland based Demand Creation Agency, Marker, has shown some interesting results;

-          The search term “Wayne Barnes” has surpassed ‘Graham Henry” in total search volume.

-          Aucklander’s seem particularly interested in learning more about “Wayne Barnes.”

-          Facebook (www.facebook.com) now has over 30 groups dedicated to Wayne Barnes, with one group growing to 3500 members since Sunday.

-          Wayne Barnes has a Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.com) entry updated with Sunday’s performance. Mr. Barnes Wikipedia entry was initially doctored including threats, however has since been corrected.

-          One YouTube (www.youtube.com) post of a TVNZ interview the morning after the game has been viewed over 5600 times.

-          The search term “All Blacks” reached an all time high in search volume on 7 October with New Zealand & France generating the highest volume. This is twice the previous volume recorded during the 2005 Lions Tour.

-          For the first time, October 7, saw internet news reference volumes for the “All Blacks” surpassed “New Zealand.”

Since Sunday, bloggers on the other hand, appear to have taken a more balanced approach with an increasing volume posts on Graham Henry than Wayne Barnes.

Nonetheless, both issues hit their peak on Sunday & Monday and have steadily decreased since then.

The blog analysis was undertaken using a number of blog & interest research tools.

ends

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