We’ve slightly changed our approach for reporting on the Tyto Relevance Index™ and from today are switching from an in-depth analysis every quarter to every six months. This allows us to take a wider view of the European landscape and identify the more long-term technology and socioeconomic trends emerging across the UK, France, and Germany, sharing our findings at the start and mid-point of each year. For those wanting more regular updates, the Tyto Relevance Index newsletter will still be hitting your inboxes every month. If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so here.
As a reminder, the Tyto Relevance Index™ is a data-powered insights service which uses social media data to reveal the technology and socioeconomic topics that dominate the public discourse of Europe’s technology community. It provides a multidimensional view of how the European technology community is engaging with and responding to the greatest challenges facing the world.
Unsurprisingly, AI & ML and Geopolitical Conflict & Instability Dominate Conversations
Looking at the technology topics we monitor in the last six months, AI & ML was the most discussed technology topic across the three regions we track. It holds a commanding 39.6% overall share of voice (SoV) and saw an increase of 3 percentage points (p.p) over the last six months. This continues the trend we’ve seen over the last year since it first emerged as a top topic. Even if many expect the hype cycle to slow, its continued dominance as a tech topic is no surprise given the significant global interest, adoption, and investment we have seen.
The Data Economy was the second most trending topic, with a 15.7% SoV and a 0.6 p.p increase, highlighting the emphasis on data-driven decision-making and the value of data as a strategic asset. Cybersecurity, despite being the third most relevant topic with a 10.56% SoV, has however experienced a decline of 1.6 p.p. DLT & Blockchain also experienced a 1.4 p.p. decrease.
Considering the socioeconomic topics across all three countries, Geopolitical Conflict and Instability had a SoV of 22.6%, making it the most relevant topic we track and increasing its SoV by 4 p.p in the first half of 2024. This was the biggest gain in SoV across all socioeconomic topics in this period and is understandable for a few factors: domestic political instability and elections, the ongoing conflict in Gaza and Ukraine, and ongoing economic pressures. In light of these conversation-dominating topics, it is perhaps unsurprising that Climate Change, despite still being the second most prominent topic with a SoV of 14.3%, experienced a considerable decrease over the same period, dropping by 5.5 p.p – the biggest loss in SoV we saw.
Blockchain enthusiasm wanes in Germany, while Data Economy captures interest
The biggest declining technology topic over the last six months was DLT & Blockchain in Germany, with a significant 6.2 p.p decrease. While the UK (-0.1 p.p) and France (-0.2 p.p) follow this trend, it is a to a far lesser extent, indicating a changing perception and importance of the technology in Germany.
Data Economy grew in relevancy in Germany and France but declined in the UK. The biggest gains were in France where a 2.4 p.p increase took its SoV to 15.8%, while in Germany it grew by 1.5 p.p to 12.9%. These reasonably large increases make the 1.1 p.p drop in relevancy in the UK much starker, yet the country’s share of the conversation remains the highest of the three at 16.7%.
We also see differences in the most dominant tech topic we track, as AI & ML now holds 33.4% SoV in the UK and saw a significant increase of 3.9 p.p over the last six months. In Germany the topic has a higher SoV at 39.7% and a lower increase of 1.5 p.p over the same period. In France, the topic shows even greater overall dominance with 46.9% SoV but only saw a marginal increase of 0.35 p.p. The data tells us that where SoV is comparatively lower, the topic saw greater gains in relevancy in the first half of 2024, and where it is comparatively higher, the topic had much less room to grow.
Big socioeconomic conversation swings in France and Germany
Germany and France have seen the most pronounced shifts in SoV of socioeconomic trends. As mentioned earlier, the political activity in both countries – including surprising results in the European elections and macrosocioeconomic trends – are major drivers of much of this change. Germany’s SoV for Geopolitical Conflict & Instability increased by 2.6 p.p and Health risks by 1.2 p.p, while Climate Change and Transportation decreased significantly by 2.2 p.p and 1.4 p.p. In France, Geopolitical Conflict & Instability rose by 2.8 p.p, and Social Inequality by 1.9 p.p. Climate change and Transportation saw notable decreases in France of 2.2 p.p and 0.9 p.p respectively.
Looking at the biggest socioeconomic topics, Geopolitical Conflict & Instability is a major concern across France, Germany and the UK – although the degree of emphasis varies. The topic has the highest SoV in France, where it is the number one socioeconomic issue at a substantial 39.3% SoV, and experienced a large increase of 2.8 p.p during the last six months. The UK and France have both just come out of major historic domestic elections, which you can get a deeper dive on the outcomes and the role of algorithms here.
In Germany, it also holds the highest SoV of all socioeconomic topics at 23.3%, although much less dominant compared to France. However, the topic did see a comparable increase over the last six months at 2.6 p.p. It is not the top topic in the UK, but it is still highly relevant as the second most prominent topic, claiming a SoV of 12.95% and a more modest increase of 0.9%.
Climate Change is another highly relevant issue across the three countries where again the UK diverges. Despite it being the top socioeconomic topic with a SoV of 17.2%, it slightly decreased by 0.3 p.p in the UK. Germany and France, on the other hand, saw much more significant decreases over the last six months. In Germany, it holds a similar SoV to the UK at 17.1% but dropped by 2.2 p.p, while in France the topic claims a much lower SoV at 6.6% and yet also decreased by 2.2 .p.p.
Local conversation variation requires local expertise
The data shows us that despite broad trends existing between the UK, France, and Germany there are plenty of differences too. The overall SoV for a given topic tells us how relevant it may be in each country, but the degree to which they have increased or decreased can indicate underlying issues and preferences unique to those countries over a specific period. Understanding those nuances is critical to brands wanting to reach audiences across multiple markets. This is where a team of local experts is critical to achieve cut through.