Oil giant BP has reached a legal milestone in its attempt to limit the amount of compensation it has to pay over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill – widely regarded as the biggest spill in US history.
The court approved an order to stop payments to businesses that had not “experienced actual injury traceable to loss”.
The injunction supported BP’s claim that the compensation formula was too generous, and is significant as BP has already failed to halt compensation payments on two previous occasions.
Using YouGov’s social media analysis tool, SoMA, we can measure the impact of this ruling on social media in real-time. So far today we can see that 16.6% of UK Twitter users have seen a mention of BP on their newsfeeds, up from 5.2% yesterday.
As well as measuring what is heard, rather than what is said, SoMA is also unique in its ability to offer insight into exactly what demographic groups are exposed to a particular brand.
Of those that have heard a mention of BP so far today, we know that 65% are male, 18% are from the Midlands and 27% are aged 35-44.
This insight could be used by BP to effectively manage their Twitter PR by understanding in real-time exactly who is hearing about their brand.
Image courtesy of Getty
