Running on plenty

Since lockdowns were implemented in March, 34m of us have been talking about running on social media – that’s more than in January and February combined.

Much of this conversation was driven by running challenges. Sparked by quarantine measures throughout the world, people have been calling on friends and family to join them in doing some exercise from afar.

The 5k challenge, for example, asks social users to complete a 5k run, donate to a chosen charity, and then nominate five others to do the same. It’s been a runaway success – 2m people have mentioned the challenge online.

The chart below looks at the spread of these challenges, including the 5k one. It’s clear they’re having a big impact.

More people have been sharing their runs on social media using apps, too. 207k people shared their run stats through exercise apps in March – more, again, than in January and February combined.

These tools give runners a chance to participate in their communities. People can follow a circuit, challenge each other’s times, and use a solo activity as a way to socialize with others.

There are commercial implications for this trend. We found 456k people online talking about wanting or buying new footwear, and another 60k on the hunt for headphones, for use on their runs.

Running has become a real quarantine hero – it’s keeping people healthy physically and mentally, and also creating and strengthening social ties. Through challenges and apps, it’s another way for us to keep in touch with the people we care about, and to add in a bit of friendly rivalry.

Publishers continue to lose momentum

Another week, another look at how Covid-19 discussions are evolving, and how content is faring.

The chart below tracks the number of people talking about Covid-19 (online commenters), the number of articles published about the virus, and the average engagement the articles are getting. We’ve then indexed these against March 2 to make trends easier to compare.

The trend we first noticed in the week commencing March 30, that less people were talking about Covid-19 online, has continued. But there are early indications that it’s levelling out. Last week saw an 11% fall in online commenters, compared to the 18% drop the week before that.

It’s a mixed bag for publishers, though. While they’ve kept their engagement rates steady, there have been fewer articles, meaning the raw number of social engagements is down. There was also a significant drop over the weekend, when in previous weeks Sunday sees a spike.

It’s too early to say if this is blip or the beginning of a new trend towards people engaging less with Covid-19 articles, but it’s clear publishers are still finding their feet during the pandemic.

A fantastic escape

As we just noted, less and less people are talking about Covid-19 online. One reason could be that they need to get away from the topic (and for good reason). And what better way to escape than with some science fiction and fantasy books?

We took 16 books from this list of top sci fi and fantasy titles, and looked at mentions around them to see how many people are heading off to gigantic castles and faraway planets to take their minds off the virus. Here’s what we found.

Since the beginning of March, when many countries went into lockdown, there has been a steady increase in mentions of sci fi books, peaking last week. It’s clear that Covid-19 and being in quarantine has got people thinking about science fiction and fantasy, with 12k directly mentioning the two alongside each other.

This could be a glimmer of good news for the book industry. There have been major concerns that disruption to events and releases, coupled with consumers having less money in their pocket for novels, could spell disaster for the industry and bookstores. But, evidently, books are a great outlet for many people looking to escape reality.

Wondering who everyone is reading? We also looked at some major science fiction and fantasy authors. Here are the top ten most mentioned since March – and this is an excellent place to start if you’re looking for a new read yourself.

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Stay safe,

Brandwatch Response Team