Tiger Woods's Online Rep Takes a Hit
The ongoing coverage of Tiger Woods after his car accident last week has taken a toll on his online reputation, digital-marketing firm Zeta Interactive said.
The New York agency monitors blogs, tweets and other online posts to gauge positive and negative “buzz” about celebrities, companies and other topics.
Mr. Woods’s buzz rating was overwhelmingly (91 percent) positive prior to the accident but has since dipped to 74 percent positive, 26 percent negative.
In contrast, David Letterman’s positive buzz rose to 79 percent positive, 21 percent negative, five days after his infidelity scandal broke, up from 76 percent/24 percent. Other celebrities, including Alex Rodriguez, Rihanna and Robert Pattinson, have also seen their ratings hold steady or even rise amid unflattering news reports. Prior to the accident, Mr. Woods had a higher positive-buzz rating than all of them, according to Zeta.
Mr. Woods was injured around 2:25 a.m. Friday after crashing his SUV into a fire hydrant and tree. Although tabloids have speculated that he and his wife, Elin Nordegren, were fighting, the police said that neither alcohol nor domestic-violence claims were involved.
