social insights: internet of things (iot)

Social Insights: Internet of Things

How IoT executives, practitioners, and thought leaders engage on Twitter

A Social Insights Report from: In collaboration with:

Why an Internet of Things?

What does the Internet of Things mean to people? For some, it’s excitement for all the cool things that the latest Apple Watch or Fitbit will do to make our lives easier or healthier. For others, it’s the day when our smart-tastic fridge will call our self-driving car to swing by the store for milk. But while these innovations are both practical and phenomenal, they barely scratch the surface of what the Internet of Things will mean for us in the near future. The explosion of connected devices will impact far more than just consumer conveniences. The Internet of Things—or “IoT” as it’s called by acronym-lovers—will directly affect how factories are run, how products are manufactured, how transportation operates, and how energy is created and consumed. We’ll have the ability to track, analyze, and alter most of our physical world through the electronic devices around us. And these devices will communicate with each other to make our physical world a better place... with or without our help. This is exhilarating—but it can also be frightening.

In a world where devices interact with people, systems, and each other, IoT must take into account identity, data, and security in both human and machine communications to work safely and effectively. That’s where Neustar comes in. Simply put, we will help to register and secure these devices and empower the analytics to make enlightened decisions that will affect everything around us. Pretty cool, huh? Who else is helping to shape thinking about the Internet of Things? With this question in mind, Neustar has collaborated with Leadtail to look at how IoT experts, executives, and practitioners are using social media to connect with their peers and discuss the full potential of an interconnected future. What can you learn from the social insights we’ve discovered about these IoT thought leaders? Read on to find out...

Lisa Joy Rosner CMO, Neustar

@LisaJoyRosner

Why Social Insights?

Whether you’re embracing the hype or eagerly waiting to see how things evolve, there’s no question the “Internet of Things” is creating excitement from living room to C-Suite Of course, as with every new technology wave, there are those on the front lines shaping the discussion, influencing decision making, and charting the course for what the Internet of Things will mean to each of us in the not-too-distant future. And these IoT thought leaders come from diverse industries and disciplines. There are the analysts, authors, and speakers who help us understand the opportunities and implications, senior executives that champion enterprise and startup initiatives, and those responsible for turning the Internet of Things into a daily reality.

But who are these people and what’s influencing their own perspective on IoT? This is where social insights come in… as social media activity can give us a truly unique lens through which to gain insights into the people leading the conversation about the Internet of Things. That’s why we’re excited to collaborate with Neustar to develop a social insights report analyzing these IoT thought leaders. What did we discover in researching and preparing this report? Here’s what we learned.

Carter Hostelley CEO, Leadtail

@CarterHostelley

21,308 retweets

and

61,695 mentions/

replies

10,007 unique

hashtags

Including

links shared in those tweets…

49,748

Leadtail identified

Internet of Things executives,

practitioners, and thought leaders that are active on Twitter

300 We then analyzed

public tweets published by these IoT Leaders between

April 1– June 30, 2015

73,112

IoT Leaders Report - Data Set at a Glance

Social Insights for Decision Makers | Internet of Things Leaders 2015 | Leadtail 4

Social Insights About IoT Leaders

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2. Share on social media in ways that reveal three key insights: the rise of rich visual content, the resurgence of real-world events and meet-ups, and strong support for crowdfunding campaigns.

4. Read an unlikely combination of publications: both venerable trade journals, like IEEE Spectrum, and modern digital magazines like WT Vox. IoT is bringing hardware and software makers together in ways we’ve not seen since the Internet Revolution of the ‘90s.

3.Source information from their own community via social networks and collaborative publications like Medium, in addition to publication staples in business and technology like TechCrunch, Forbes, and WIRED.

5. Take cues from the startup world, engaging with social business experts and creating companies where products and business leaders are social from day one.

The Internet of Things is a vast umbrella of devices encompassing everything from wearables and connected cars, to robotics and industrial machines, and everything in between. Based on insights gleaned from their social media chatter, we learned that IoT leaders…

6. Engage with dedicated IoT publications and Twitter accounts to specifically address the IoT audience. These resources have emerged as a result of large enterprise technology vendors playing a major role in defining the IoT landscape.

1. Cluster around US metros with established innovation firms, prestigious research universities, access to capital, and thriving startup communities.

Social Insights for Decision Makers | Internet of Things Leaders 2015 | Leadtail

Report Methodology

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The methodology the Leadtail team used to create this report:

1.  Identify IoT Executives, Practitioners, and Thought Leaders active on social media based on criteria such as job title, role, type of company, and geographic location to create the target audience panel.

2.  Use the Leadtail Social Media Insights technology to extract insights around key social

media activities, such as what links are shared, who is mentioned and retweeted, popular hashtags, popular platforms used to share content, etc.

3.  Review, analyze, and package these insights into this report.

The specific data set analyzed for this report is comprised of:

}  300 IoT Leaders primarily based in the U.S. and Canada

}  Distributed into three categories: 33% Executives, 35% Practitioners, 32% Thought Leaders

}  Titles and responsibilities including: CEO, CMO, CIO, CTO, VP, Chief Architect, Strategist,

Founder, Analyst, Author, Consultant, Researcher, Speaker, Technologist, Writer

}  Total potential follower reach: 1,676,463; median # of followers per panelist: 899

}  Tweets published between April 1, 2015 – June 30, 2015


How This Report is Organized

7 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Internet of Things Leaders 2015 | Leadtail

This report is organized into four sections designed to provide social insights about Internet of Things Leaders from different vantage points. 1.  Social Insights – Internet of Things Leaders: This section includes social insights

benchmark data based on our full panel of IoT Leaders. Our panel is made up of approximately equal parts Executives, Practitioners, and Thought Leaders as described below.

2.  Social Insights – IoT Executives: Select benchmark data drawn from the Founders, CEOs, CMOs, CIOs, CTOs, GMs and Chief Architects of companies (or divisions of enterprises) focused on IoT products and services.

3.  Social Insights – IoT Practitioners: Select benchmark data drawn from the senior individual contributors and team leaders who fill the functional roles required to design, develop, market, sell, secure and deliver the Internet of Things.

4.  Social Insights – IoT Thought Leaders: Select benchmark data drawn from writers, publishers, consultants, speakers, analysts, and investors with a specific area of expertise or practice around the Internet of Things.

Social Insights: Internet of Things Leaders


Where Are IoT Leaders Located?

Internet of Things leaders are concentrated in US metros with strong innovation credentials, research universities, access to capital, and startup communities.

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Based on the location provided in the Twitter profile.


How Do IoT Leaders Describe Themselves?

IoT Leaders can emerge from any industry or discipline. The world cloud below shows the variety of ways IoT Leaders describe themselves on the social web.

10 Social Insights for Decision Makers | Internet of Things Leaders 2015 | Leadtail Based on keywords used in the Twitter profile.

What Do IoT Leaders Talk About?

Hashtags reveal the topics and events that captured the attention of IoT Leaders during the report period.


% of IoT Leaders that shared content originating from this network to Twitter during the report period.

100%

54%

36%

26%

22%

15%

14%

13%

12%

12%

11%

9%

9%

7%

7%

6%

Twitter

YouTube

LinkedIn

Instagram

SlideShare

EventBrite

Paper.li

Meetup

Facebook

Vine

Kickstarter

Github

Swarm App

Vimeo

IndieGoGo

Periscope

Insight #3: “Fund Me” Call it the “Internet of Getting Things Done”! IoT Leaders are actively promoting crowdfunded projects on Kickstarter and IndieGoGo.

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Which Social Networks Drive Sharing to Twitter?


Insight #2: “Meet Me” IoT Leaders share events and meetups at a rate much higher than that of other senior executives. Maybe it’s simply a case where everyone wants to play with cool hardware?

Insight #1: “Show Me” IoT Leaders favor sharing content from networks that focus on visual content, like YouTube and Instagram.

11.  Mashable 12.  Bloomberg 13.  Re/code 14.  The Huffington Post 15.  Engadget 16.  Fast Company 17.  WSJ Blogs 18.  CNET 19.  The Guardian 20.  Google 21.  Harvard Business Review 22.  ZDnet 23.  The Washington Post 24.  The Next Web 25.  The Economist

Following are the Top 25 Mainstream Media Content Sources shared by IoT Leaders during the report period, based on the number of unique people who that shared each source.

What Are the Most Shared Mainstream Sources?

1.  TechCrunch

2.  Forbes

3.  WIRED

4.  The New York Times

5.  Business Insider

6.  Fortune

7.  VentureBeat

8.  Medium

9.  The Verge

10.  The Wall Street Journal


11.  IEEE Spectrum 12.  TechRepublic 13.  Thoughts on Cloud 14.  EE Times 15.  The Big Data Hub 16.  Silicon Angle 17.  Computer Business Review 18.  eWeek 19.  SlashGear 20.  Phys.org 21.  InfoWorld 22.  InformationAge 23.  All The Internet of Things 24.  PCWorld 25.  Gartner

Following are the Top 25 Industry Media Content Sources shared by IoT Leaders during the report period, based on the number of unique people who shared each source.

What Are the Most Shared Industry Sources?

1.  CIO.com

2.  MIT Technology Review

3.  Gizmodo

4.  Computer World

5.  WT Vox

6.  Ars Technica

7.  InformationWeek

8.  O'Reilly Radar

9.  Network World

10.  Digital Trends


Which Topics Are Most Popular with IoT Leaders?

Which topics grab the attention of IoT leaders? Our analysis of headlines shared by this audience provides insights into the topics and keywords that engage IoT Leaders most.


Popular Stories with IoT Leaders

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The Internet of Things Landscape 2015: Top 100 Individuals and Brands Arthur Hilhorst (@arthurhilhorst), Onalytica

1

2

3

4

5


We Need To Get The Internet Of Things Right Dave Evans (@DaveTheFuturist), TechCrunch

7 Ways the Internet of Things Could Dramatically Change the Workplace as We Know It Jacquelyn Smith (@JacquelynVSmith), Business Insider

How Internet Of Things Data Improves Product Development Dan Woods (@danwoodsearly), Forbes iPhone Killer: The Secret History of the Apple Watch David Pierce (@pierce), WIRED.com

The stories popular with IoT Leaders reflect thought leadership pieces, practical stats, and a desire to learn who else may have interesting ideas and expertise around the Internet of Things.

Which Publications, Vendors and People Do IoT Leaders Mention Most?

Mentioning an entity by name can mean a few different things in social media: giving credit for an idea or piece of content being shared, engaging someone directly in conversation, or giving a shout-out to a person you’ve recently met. In any context, being mentioned is a sign that you are an active part of the social conversation, and those mentioned most are the people you’ll find at the center of engaging conversations between IoT Leaders. This word cloud shows the publications, vendors and people mentioned most by IoT Leaders during the report period.


Most Mentioned Publications, Vendors and People

* Based on unique # of IoT Leaders in the sample who mentioned the Twitter handle.

11.  @mashable 12.  @intel 13.  @ZDNet 14.  @Cisco 15.  @FastCompany 16.  @IBM 17.  @twitter 18.  @gigastacey 19.  @kickstarter 20.  @Uber 21.  @verge 22.  @CIOonline 23.  @CNET 24.  @engadget 25.  @qz 26.  @nytimes 27.  @PTC 28.  @amazon 29.  @Inteliot 30.  @OReillySolid

31.  @ATT 32.  @Gartner_inc 33.  @USATODAY 34.  @pmarca 35.  @IDC 36.  @Inc 37.  @SAI 38.  @ThingWorx 39.  @WhiteHouse 40.  @ValaAfshar 41.  @business 42.  @Computerworld 43.  @Entrepreneur 44.  @facebook 45.  @Cisco_IoT 46.  @elonmusk 47.  @HarvardBiz 48.  @IIConsortium 49.  @techstars 50.  @ThingsExpo

1.  @TechCrunch

2.  @Forbes

3.  @WSJ

4.  @WIRED

5.  @FortuneMagazine

6.  @YouTube

7.  @google

8.  @LinkedIn

9.  @VentureBeat

10.  @Microsoft


Whether tweets are timely, topical, provocative, or data-driven, the brands, people and publications IoT Leaders retweet the most are not only an indicator of the sources of original and curated content that engages them, but drives them to share it with their networks. And while it helps to be a rocket scientist, or a successful venture capitalist, we mere mortals can take a page from the playbooks of these influencers. Each has built a personal brand based, in large part, on the type and quality of content they create, curate, and share.


Which Publications, Vendors and People Do IoT Leaders Retweet Most?

•  Based on unique # of IoT Leaders in the sample who retweeted the Twitter handle.

11.  @BenedictEvans 12.  @HarvardBiz 13.  @FastCompany 14.  @WSJ 15.  @iotattack 16.  @TheIoT 17.  @TheEconomist 18.  @gigastacey 19.  @Forbes 20.  @TheNextWeb 21.  @FortuneMagazine 22.  @Recode 23.  @Atmel 24.  @businessinsider 25.  @Inc 26.  @KirkDBorne 27.  @ThingWorx 28.  @mashable 29.  @nytimes 30.  @CNET

31.  @NetOfEverything 32.  @alexanderwear 33.  @WSJD 34.  @evankirstel 35.  @pmarca 36.  @simonlporter 37.  @EconBizFin 38.  @Entrepreneur 39.  @Onalytica 40.  @IBMcloud 41.  @cdixon 42.  @OReillySolid 43.  @CNBC 44.  @wef 45.  @IBM 46.  @SAI 47.  @Timothy_Hughes 48.  @SuB8u 49.  @CiscoIoE 50.  @ITredux

1.  @ValaAfshar

2.  @TechCrunch

3.  @ForbesTech

4.  @VentureBeat

5.  @wtvox

6.  @Things_Internet

7.  @engadget

8.  @WIRED

9.  @PTC

10.  @verge


Most Retweeted Publications, Vendors and People

Social Insights: IoT Executives


Internet of Things Executives


Founders, CEOs, and other executive champions of IoT programs are charged with turning vision into strategy, and marshaling the best resources available to execute. They’re also responsible for making sure that the products and services they deliver can sustain or transform a business plan or corporate strategy.

Ray Potter CEO,

SafeLogic @SafeLogic_Ray

Andy Rhodes CIO, United States Golf Association @arhodesCIO

Sce Pike Founder / CEO, IOTAS @spike75

Tristan Barnum Founder, Tellient @super_luminal

Stephanie Atkinson CEO,

Compass Intelligence @StephanieAtkinson

Adam Justice Vice President,

Grid Connect @AdamJustice

Some Examples of IoT Executives from Our Panel

IoT Executives - Social Insights

1.  #IoT 2.  #tech 3.  #Wearables 4.  #BigData 5.  #security 6.  #cloud 7.  #Startup(s)

8.  #InternetofThings 9.  #analytics 10. #smarthome 11. #innovation 12. #M2M 13. #AppleWatch

14. #mobile 15. #data

1.  @ValaAfshar 2.  @BenedictEvans 3.  @gigastacey 4.  @pmarca 5.  @levie 6.  @timoreilly 7.  @michaelwolf

8.  @bfeld 9.  @elonmusk 10. @mkrigsman 11. @inafried 12. @MaribelLopez 13. @chris_rezendes

14. @dhinchcliffe 15. @evankirstel

1.  YouTube 2.  TechCrunch 3.  Forbes 4.  WIRED 5.  LinkedIn 6.  VentureBeat 7.  The New York Times

8.  Fortune 9.  Business Insider 10. Medium 11. Mashable 12. Instagram 13. The Verge

14. Re/code 15. The Wall Street Journal

Top Hashtags Top Influencers Top Content Sources


Social Insights: IoT Practitioners


Internet of Things Practitioners


The senior contributors and team leaders of IoT companies and business units perform the wide range of functions required to design, develop, market, sell, secure and deliver IoT solutions to industry and consumers.

Tamara Dull Director of Emerging Technology

SAS Best Practices Institute @tamaradull

Kirsten Billhardt Global Marketing Lead, IOT Dell @kirstenatdell

Michael Cavaretta, Ph.D. Manager, Connected Vehicle Analytics Ford Motor Company @mjcavaretta

Jay Sales Innovation Strategist The Shop @ VSP Global @soupsales

Daniel Holmlund IOT Community Evangelist

Intel Developer Relations @agnathan

Susan Politzzotto Sr. Manager, Product Marketing, IoT

Qualcomm @Susan_P

Some Examples of IoT Practitioners from Our Panel

1.  #IoT 2.  #BigData 3.  #tech 4.  #InternetofThings 5.  #cloud 6.  #Wearables 7.  #security

8.  #analytics 9.  #mobile 10. #M2M 11. #innovation 12. #Startup 13. #data

14. #Apple 15. #IoE

1.  @ValaAfshar 2.  @gigastacey 3.  @chrismatthieu 4.  @KirkDBorne 5.  @danablouin 6.  @rexstjohn 7.  @chris_rezendes

8.  @elonmusk 9.  @evankirstel 10. @alexanderwear 11. @ITredux 12. @MichaelEPorter 13. @timoreilly

14. @ArjenSAP 15. @ashishbdatta

1.  YouTube 2.  Forbes 3.  TechCrunch 4.  WIRED 5.  Fortune 6.  Business Insider 7.  The New York Times

8.  LinkedIn 9.  VentureBeat 10. The Verge 11. Instagram 12. Medium 13. The Wall Street Journal

14. The Huffington Post 15. ZDnet

Hashtags Influencers Content Sources


IoT Practitioners - Social Insights

Social Insights: IoT Thought Leaders


Internet of Things Thought Leaders


We rely on Thought Leaders to put the present and future of the Internet of Things into personal, business, and cultural context. In their roles as consultants, evangelists, journalists, and analysts, they are often able to attain a “20,000 foot view” of what’s happening across corporate boundaries and entire industries.

Ted Friedman IT Industry Analyst

Gartner @ted_friedman

Setrag Khoshafian Chief Evangelist, VP of BPM Tech Pegasystems @setrag

Tom Rikert Partner Next World Capital @tomrikert

KC Phaneuf Director Client Relations Bill Hill Research @kcphaneuf23

Maxine Bingham Editor-in-Chief and Publisher

IoT Perspectives @MaxineBingham

Michael Chui Partner

McKinsey Global Institute @mchui

Some Examples of IoT Thought Leaders from Our Panel

1.  #IoT 2.  #BigData 3.  #Wearables 4.  #security 5.  #tech 6.  #InternetofThings 7.  #cloud

8.  #analytics 9.  #mobile 10. #M2M 11. #innovation 12. #smarthome 13. #data

14. #cybersecurity 15. #IoTDay

1.  @pmarca 2.  @ValaAfshar 3.  @BenedictEvans 4.  @gigastacey 5.  @evankirstel 6.  @POTUS 7.  @simonlporter

8.  @chris_rezendes 9.  @holgermu 10. @timoreilly 11. @MichaelEPorter 12. @alexanderwear 13. @DaveTheFuturist

14. @JonBruner 15. @mims

1.  YouTube 2.  TechCrunch 3.  LinkedIn 4.  Forbes 5.  Business Insider 6.  WIRED 7.  The New York Times

8.  Medium 9.  VentureBeat 10. The Wall Street Journal 11. Fortune 12. Bloomberg 13. Google

14. WSJ Blogs 15. Slideshare

Hashtags Influencers Content Sources


IoT Thought Leaders - Social Insights

Conclusion


Whether you think the Internet of Things is an exciting wave of new innovation, or the logical evolution of decades of technical progress, one thing is for certain: it’s here, and it’s going to transform our businesses and our lives. Here’s what we’ve learned (so far) by analyzing our panel of IoT Leaders: }  Behind the connected devices that many consumers think about as the Internet of Things,

C-Suite executives are grappling with big questions and challenges around privacy, security, and the right business models to sustain both the consumer and industrial IoT.

}  The Internet may have become a broad consumer medium, but the Internet of Things still (mostly) belongs to the techies and the geeks. It helps to find your niche and your tribe.

}  With exposure to multiple clients, industries, and startup pitches, IoT Thought Leaders gain a unique perspective on how the IoT is evolving, and can help put that vision into context for executives and practitioners.

So whether you’re an executive charged with charting your company’s course in this new connected world, a maker delivering a new class of smart products and services, or an investor on the lookout for that unmet need, the social insights in this report will help you quickly identify the publications, vendors, and people that are driving and shaping the IoT conversations you’ll want to join.

About Neustar

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Neustar, Inc. is the first real-time provider of cloud-based information services and data analytics, enabling marketing and IT security professionals to promote and protect their businesses. With a commitment to privacy and neutrality, we operate complex data registries and use our expertise to deliver actionable, data-driven insights that help our clients to make high-value business decisions in real time, one customer interaction at a time. Marketers rely on Neustar to plan strategies and optimize cross channel campaigns with advanced marketing analytics, custom segmentation, and media optimization. Our real-time data driven intelligence and marketing analytics help drive informed, actionable decisions across the entire marketing lifecycle. To learn more about our marketing services, visit www.neustar.biz/marketing-solutions. IT/Security professionals use Neustar to direct and manage the flow of Internet traffic, resolve Internet queries, and protect against fraud and cyber attacks. To learn more about our IT/security services, visit www.neustar.biz/it-security-services


About Leadtail

Leadtail came about from our desire to help marketing executives tap into the power of social media to get closer to target buyers and radically improve their marketing strategies.

We work with innovative companies to create social media strategies and leverage social insights research. Our team has developed and implemented programs for leading business brands and venture backed startups including: WageWorks, Trend Micro, Zuora, Robert Half, Hoover’s, and NetBase.

We also publish social insights reports about the C-Suite and decision maker groups such as digital marketers, sales leaders, recruiters, and innovation leaders. These reports have been referenced in major publications including: The Wall St. Journal, Business Insider, Forbes, Huffington Post, Adweek, and MarketingProfs.

Interested in collaborating on a future social insights report? Email us: [email protected]

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LinkedIn.com/company/Leadtail

Leadtail.com/blog

@Leadtail
