Over 3.5 Million Users and Facebook is Still Not Malaysia’s Buzziest Channel


By on January 21, 2010
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According to the latest Digital Brand Index (DBI) by Edelman and Brandtology, Twitter overtook Low Yat Forum as the Malaysia’s buzziest channel (in terms of brand mentions). In the Top 10 list of Buzziest Channel in Malaysia, Malaysia’s leading social network, Facebook, is no where in sight. On methodology, the survey states it “monitors key brands.. across a list of popular online channels.” With 350 million population worldwide, Facebook is undeniably one of today’s most “popular online channels.” The absence of Facebook in the Top 10 – it’s either not covered in the DBI survey or it implies Facebook users in Malaysia converse less about brands compared to Twitter’s users. If it’s the latter, is Facebook a viable media for brands in Malaysia?

Also, the press release mentioned about 120,000 Twitter users, as of July 2009. The figure is misinterpreted. In July 2009, there were only over 200 users tagged with ‘Malaysia’; as of today, there are 377 users. The 120,000 figure is the total number of Followers of the then 200+ “Malaysia-tagged” Twitter users. WeFollow has since abandoned the display of the confusing stat, and now opted for a more straight-forward one – total number of users with a specific tag.

Nevertheless, DBI is somewhat an interesting survey to see brands people talk about online. Only 40% in the Top 10 Buzziest Brands in Malaysia are local brands – Maxis, Celcom, DiGi and Packet One (all are telcos companies). The survey monitors brands in these categories – Internet and Software, Consumer Electronics, Mobile and Telecommunications, Business and Consulting, and IT and Technology.

The DBI 2.0 was released yesterday and the full press release here

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