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Twitter tops in Super Bowl commercial mentions

Twitter was mentioned in about half of the national television commercials that aired during last night's Super Bowl, according to one report.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger

Twitter is tops when it comes to social network mentions in Super Bowl commercials.

The social network was mentioned in 26 of 52 national television commercials at the Super Bowl last night, according to a tally from Marketing Land's Matt McGee. Facebook mustered four mentions in the commercials, followed by one each for Instagram and YouTube. Google+ got no mentions.

In order to arrive at his tally, McGee started counting only after the opening kickoff. He stopped counting when the clock reached 0:00. Only national commercials were included, and anything from the NFL or CBS promoting their own properties was left out of the tally.

McGee's findings might give some hints toward the attitudes that brands have about the respective social networks. For years, Facebook and Twitter have been trying to attract more businesses to their networks. McGee argues that the Super Bowl's mentions might indicate that Twitter is winning the battle.

However, debate has raged for years over which social networks can deliver the best overall value to companies. In 2011, then-CNET editor Rafe Needleman compared the companies' efforts in helping vendors deliver a top-notch social experience. He believed that five metrics -- reach, flexibility, design, interaction, and mobile -- would ultimately determine value to companies. Although Twitter was able to win one of those categories -- design -- Needleman argued that Facebook was delivering the best brand experience of any social network.