‘People are losing their enthusiasm’: The evolving consumer sentiment around Apple Card
- Apple Card's social media sentiment has been negative from the beginning.
- That changed in the period leading up to its launch.
Like most Apple products, Apple’s Card saw fanfare build in the face of its public launch in August. Analysts are still debating how big Card has to be to become material to one of the largest companies in the world. It’s worth looking at what’s happening in the lull between the first cards shipping and the next quarterly earnings report where hopefully Apple will shine some light on Card’s performance.
Since Apple Card was announced on March 25, there have been 368,000 mentions in social media, generating 2.1 million engagements, according to social media analytics firm, Talkwalker. Pretty impressive, but looking at how those mentions and engagements are trending tells a more complete story.
Sentiment for the card has been relatively negative (11 percent positive and 20 percent negative) leading up to and just after the launch. Sentiment actually spiked at 51 percent positive right after the announcement, but as more details have been revealed, sentiment appears to have dropped off.
Apple’s statement that the card should not come in contact with denim or leather also contributed to the drop in sentiment. Comedian Chris D’elia’s two tweets about the Card’s potential for discoloration were two of the most popular tweets during the period, generating 22,800 engagements and reaching 1.8 million accounts.
In terms of emojis used in connection to discussions about Card, people are turning to Twitter to share whether their applications were approved or not. Many used imagery around those themes. There is a trend of people discouraging applying for Card — these people use the emoji of money flying away to tell people that Apple Card will just get them further in debt.