It's Valentine's Day, folks. Love is wafting through the air, the capitalist spirit is taking over, people are writing thinkpieces about "why this holiday is bad actually"— all in the name of Saint Valentine himself. It's a scam, but with flowers and candy! Yesterday, we reported that Facebook likes for the drugstore chocolate stalwart Russell Stover ($SWX:LISNhave been tanking leading up to the big day. Facebook likes for 1-800-Flowers ($FLWS), however, have been blooming since January.

The 'Talking About' count for the company's Facebook went up from 10,100 at the beginning of last month to 34,700 on February 12. That's a 244% increase. But, now that the orders have been placed and the innocent deliverymen have been accused of writing the wrong name on someone's fiancé's card (probably), the number has gone down by 29,100 over just two days.


Big Candy is facing a less dramatic slump. The 'Talking About' count for Reeses ($NYSE:HSY) went from its 22,800 peak last week down to 17,800. Kit Kat's count is down 16% from 3,520 to 2,940. But Twizzlers fans seem to be coming out of the woodwork for the holiday. The liquorice's 'Talking About' count has gone up from a small but mighty 115 at the beginning of the month to an admirable 457. Clearly, candy is always in season.

 

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

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