Social Media Trends From The Consumer Electronics Show 2014

CES 2014 Social Insight 4th January – 12th January 2014

CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January

Contents

Introduction

Talking Points

Daily Trends

Channels

Products

Emerging Trends

Keynote Speakers

Influencers

Wrap Up

Glossary

2

3

4

5

6

9

10

11

12

13

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1


Introduction

Top Organisations

Rank Organisation Volume Rank in 2013

1 Samsung 88,981 1

2 Google* 48,046 4

3 Sony 40,783 5

4 Intel 32,213 6

5 Apple 31,032 2

6 Microsoft 29,395 3

7 LG 18,192 8

8 Logitech 13,901 -

9 Audi 12,738 16

10 T-Mobile 10,886 -

11 Panasonic 10,813 11

12 AT&T 9451 20

13 Lenovo 9225 10

14 Valve 8095 18

15 Asus 8063 19

16 Ford 6670 22

17 Qualcomm 6520 9

18 BMW 5954 -

19 Toyota 5084 25

20 Amazon 5083 -

21 AMD 4382 -

22 Blackberry 4177 17

23 Huawei 3884 14

24 Toshiba 3751 23

25 Vizio 3677 -

2

*Google includes Andriod mentions

The following study provides an in depth analysis of 750K pieces of social

media content (English language only) related to CES 2014. We used

Gorkana’s social media monitoring tool solution to source and analyze

these mentions and to draw insights from the data.

The time period for the study includes all mentions from 4-12 January 2014

and provides an insight into social conversations occurring in the buildup to

the event, as well as post-event discussions. Content was sourced based

on CES keywords, brand keywords, product keywords, participating

personalities and news organizations.

This report provides insight into social media conversations broken down

by talking points, daily trends, channels, product categories and emerging

trends. Influencers were indentified using Traackr, an influencer

identification tool, based on keywords.

Samsung was the clear winner on social media, followed by Google and

Sony. Wearables emerged as the top trend from the event. The key drivers

of their coverage and the top personalities from the event are detailed in

this report.

Author: Sidharth Gopakumar

Product Manager: Analysis & Insights

[email protected]

For Enquiries: Sarah Kemp

PR & Social Engagement Manager

[email protected]


Talking Points

Michael Bay’s botched announcement of

Samsung’s curved TV resulted in him raking

up 15K mentions during the event. The

announcement did result in increasing

Samsung and its curved TV’s profile in the

non technology community.

During CES, Lenovo took the wraps

off a variety of products, including

tablets, convertibles and notebooks.

Amongst them, the ‘ThinkPad X1

Carbon’ ultrabook generated the

most buzz in social media, raking up

over a thousand mentions.

Techrepublic hailed this product as

embodying the trend of ‘contextual

computing’.

Significant buzz was also created by

VP Dilip Bhatia’s interview with

Engadget about Lenovo’s plans for

2014.

Voice controlled smart beds caught

the attention of talk show host Jimmy

Fallon. His humourous tweet

“A new bed at CES gets firmer by

voice command. So if you come

home & hear spouse saying “Harder!”

Best case, it's a new bed” was

retweeted 1,200 times, raising the

profile of Sleep Number‘s new

feature rich bed range.

T-Mobile had a very successful CES, with its plan

to pay early termination fees to switch over to their

network resulting in nearly 11K mentions. Their

CEO John Legere was a major topic of

conversation for crashing and subsequently

getting kicked out of AT&T’s CES party. CNET’s

tweet “T-Mobile is now the fastest 4G LTE network

in the nation, @JohnLegere” was retweeted 55

times.

Although Apple didn’t officially

participate in the event, that didn’t

stop it being the 5th most talked

about organisation with 31K

mentions. Last year’s trend of the

‘Apple Economy’ continued this year,

with the announcement and releases

of a slew of products linked to the

iPad and the iPhone. The iPhone

stun gun by Yellow Jacket got CES

excited and found its way into

numerous ‘CES takeaways’ articles.

Toyota’s hydrogen fuel cell powered

sedan increased the visibility of

Toyota at CES (over 5K mentions).

Toyota’s other concept cars excited

commentators as well; IGN’s video

called Toyota’ s FV2 ‘Tron-like’

(received nearly 100 comments),

Engadget was one of the most

popular publications reporting at

CES. Its story on Intel’s Edison was

one of the most popular stories on

Twitter, appearing in over 4.5K

tweets. TVs and hardware products

stole the march on the other product

categories in Engadget’s coverage.

3


26,239

40,441

84,22791,221

135,190

156,739

123,555

57,082

34,197

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

180,000

04-Jan-14 05-Jan-14 06-Jan-14 07-Jan-14 08-Jan-14 09-Jan-14 10-Jan-14 11-Jan-14 12-Jan-14

Daily Trends

6 Jan: Pre-show press events draws all the attention as

brands preview some of their major products early. The launch

of Samsung’s UHD curved TV inadvertently overshadowed all

other launches, due to Michael Bay walking off stage during

the event. Accenture reveals results of the Digital Consumer

Tech Survey, predicts trends for the next 12 months.

7 Jan: Coverage increases on the

official first day of CES as

momentum from the big product

announcements of the previous day

continues to build. Sony announce

Playstation Now, further enhancing

their cloud based services.

11-12 Jan: Post event coverage

ruminates on the best of CES 2014, with

Samsung, Lenovo, Sony and Pebble

regularly topping ‘CES highlights’ lists.

Consideration was also given to CES’s

continuing relevance, with CNET

commenting: “Big companies choose to

launch their big products at smaller

events; places where they can control the

tone, control the tempo, and control the

access.”

4 Jan: Pre-show buzz begins to build, focusing

on wearable tech, the ‘internet of things’ and

4K streaming. Acer and Pebble grab attention

with their computing range and smartwatch

respectively, but rumours of the new Google

Nexus 10 tablet by Samsung at CES result in

nearly 3K mentions of Google and 2.2K

mentions of Samsung.

CES takes place

10 Jan: Awards elevate specific products

above the crowd in their respective

categories. Oculus Rift’s 'Crystal Cove'

prototype wins the 2014's Best of CES

award.

5 Jan: Samsung continues to set the

agenda on social media; reports of their

‘smart home’ product launches captured

the imagination of tech enthusiasts.

Nvidia‘s computer chip ‘crop circle’

publicity campaign help drum up

interest in its Tegra 4 processor.

9 Jan: The penultimate day of CES sees

the highest amount of coverage, with

most big brands having decided to ramp

up their presence. The WWE Network

announce a digital streaming service,

hoping to reinvent live content and 24/7

programming.

4

8 Jan: Day two brings the launch of the

much-discussed Project Christine by Razer,

while T-Mobile held the biggest press

conference of the day. Logitech’s

computing peripherals trend on social

media, making it one of the most mentioned

companies on the day.


3% 6%2%

1%

83%

5%

Blog News Forum Video Twitter Facebook

Channels

In the midst of ‘socialization of the internet’

News sites still held their authority (6% of

CES content) due to their brand reputation

and their ability to separate the wheat from

the chaff, aided by a line up of star

columnists and influencers who offered their

expert opinion on all the developments.

A combination of the brand value of Google

and its aggregation capabilities made

Google News the top news site to follow CES

during the event (over 400 mentions). The

other influential sites were Engadget, CNET,

Mashable and Techcrunch.

Forum discussions of CES was predominantly focused on

chatter around the announced hardware and gaming products.

This channel‘s importance to smaller product categories cannot

be underestimated, as the highly engaged audiences using

these forums are usually early adopters of new technologies.

The gaming forum Neogaf.net was one the top forums during

CES with 300 separate posts and umpteen forum replies for

each post.

Compared to last year, Twitter increased its dominance

as the de facto news resource for the event. The

platform accounted for 83% of all CES related content.

A majority of tweets were retweets that included a link to

news, blogs, photos and videos from the show, as the

likes of Mashable and CNET offered live updates. Other

popular tweeters during the event included the official

Twitter handle of the event @intlces, @intel and

@Samsungtweets. The official hashtag #ces2014

trended strongly, appearing in over 250K tweets. #ces

was used in around 38K tweets.

Logitech‘s Twitter strategy for the event was

instrumental in increasing the organisation’s media

footprint. Hourly prizes for reweets and product reviews

resulted in their hashtag #logitechlive topping the brand

hashtag charts (13K tweets), despite facing stiff

competition from heavyweights like Samsung and Sony.

Video Posts largely featured keynotes, press conferences and

hands on reviews of the latest products demoed at CES.

CNET was among the most prolific posters to YouTube and

Metacafe, uploading 265 videos during CES. Although Youtube was

the most popular site for videos with nearly 3.5K uploads, a notable

difference from last year was the advance of Metacafe as a viable

alternative.

Facebook updates were utilised by organisations to

spread the latest news, blogs and images (5% of overall

content). Offering a more flexible content platform than

Twitter, it was noticeable that there were more links and

visual content on Facebook than the previous year. Day

1 saw the highest volume of coverage on this platform.

Samsung was the most discussed brand on Facebook

during the event and successfully used its corporate

pages, including SamsungUSA and SamsungNotebook,

to engage social media users. Liked by 1.2m people, the

SamsungUSA page (and other selected brand pages)

had a separate ‘Social Station’ brand tab to centralise all

its blog, video and images content during CES. All

content was embedded, reducing friction for engaging

with the content and improving the overall experience for

followers. LG also hosted a live blog brand tab on their

pages.

Blogs (3% of CES content) were very much the follow

up channel for the more real time focussed Twitter,

allowing for in-depth analysis and discussions (in the

comments section). Posts focused around live blogging

of press conferences and keynotes, the merits of new

launches, hands on reviews of the hot or unusual

products and discussion of the event itself.

Techbuzzblog was one of the top bloggers, with 177

posts during CES. Other prominent blogs included

zennie62blog and Spartanpixel. On wearable tech,

Techzuzzblog warned that “Wearable tech is so

fragmented, with so many ideas and separate apps

and services, that there’s no way every part can

survive unless some standards and synchronicity are

upheld.”

5


Many phone companies withholding major

announcements until the Mobile World Congress

resulted in Sony's Xperia Z1 range (4.6K

mentions) stealing the headlines in this sector.

T-Mobile's (10.8K mentions) announcements

had a significant impact on social discussions,

with many users declaring their intention of switching to the network. Unique

features like curved screens (LG Flex: 1750 mentions) and phone-cum-tablets

(Asus Padfone: 1321 mentions) were also popular on video sites and video

reviews hosted on tech websites. #android was one of the most popular hashtags

for the sector (565 tweets), indicating the depth of Google's influence on the

industry.

Nvidia (9.5K mentions) created waves with their

demo of the Tegra K1 chip processor. This

product won awards in multiple categories at CES,

helping Nvidia beat direct competitor Qualcomm

by 3K mentions. Intel (32K mentions) won

plaudits from most tech publications for

championing the 'Internet of Things' and the ‘wearables’ movement. Social media

users were enamoured with 'Project Christine' (4.2K mentions) by Razer, asking the

opinion of influencers like Tom's Hardware and Anandtech about what the product

meant for the future of modular computing. On Twitter, a user generated video

review tweeted by @Logitech had the highest reach for the sector.

Phones

Products

72,383 69,935 68,45663,019 60,026

45,02035,742 34,047 30,470

17,949

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

Phones Hardware & Peripherals

TVs Automobiles Laptops & Tablets

Gaming Audio Cameras & Imaging

Health & Fitness

Home & Lifestyle Tech

Hardware

6

Men

tio

ns


More than half of all gaming conversations

took place on Twitter, as gamers discussed

announcements and launches in detail,

especially the Crystal Cove by Oculus Rift

(6.3K mentions). Mashable pointed out that

it "will change the way we engage with stories,

play games and even approached medicine.”

Also, Valve's Steam Machine and Sony's PlayStation Now were a hot topic of

discussion on forums like Overclockers and Gamersintuition. Xbox’s director of

product planning made statement ("the console as a single-purpose device is the

past”) that sparked off a wider internet analysis on the state of the gaming industry.

The progression towards unique and

differentiated form factors for computing devices

accelerated with the release of various products

from multinationals and niche players.

Samsung's Galaxy Pro series was one of the

most popular product ranges (6K mentions) and

although reviews were detailed, reviewers refrained from giving a final verdict until

price details were available. Regarding companies, Microsoft and the Windows

operating system ruled the social airwaves with respect to computing devices, with

its owned media blog on Panasonic’s Toughpad being one of the most popular

stories on Twitter (1.2K tweets). Microsoft actively ran social campaigns for

products running on Windows.

Ford, Audi, BMW and Toyota showcased

their vision for the future of automobile

transport and received high praise from

publications and car enthusiasts alike.

The Guardian stated: “If you were a fan of

Knight Rider and dreamed of a car that could

talk, drive itself and save you from peril, hold tight: it's coming" about BMW’s

driverless functionality. Surprisingly, it was Intel which set the agenda with its

thought leadership on the ‘connected car' and its partnerships with

auto companies (@Intel was the most mentioned brand handle with respect to

automobiles, present in 3K tweets).

Predictably, @samsungtweets was the most

mentioned tweeter, regularly updating followers

on Samsung's TV launches like its curved

UHD range. Forums and blogs deconstructed the

various announcements in detail, with users

comparing Samsung's TVs to TVs from LG,

Sony and Panasonic. Wired declared: "Giant, bendable 4K TVs" as the key trend

within the industry. Mutually beneficial partnerships between TV manufacturers

and Netflix for 4K streaming aided Netflix to achieve a combined total of 5.6K

mentions. The Verge published an in depth piece on how Netflix ‘won CES’ and

remarked: “4K may be the disruptive masterstroke that turns Netflix from a

company that changes the way we watch TV” (294 comments).

Products

Gaming Laptops & Tablets

Automobiles TVs

7


This category (along with Audio) saw a high

proportion of female tweeters, compared to

other categories. Another standout trend was the

comparitively high volume of tweets from

South America for this category. Yet again,

Samsung emerged as a clear winner,

leading the mentions chart as well as trending on Twitter. Whirpool's (1.5K

mentions) suite of products received kudos from publications aimed at mothers

and families (Coolmomtech hailed the arrival of the 'Jetsons Era'). 'Home

automation' was a key message that propagated though social media, with users

predicting the trend to consolidate over the next few years.

A slew of fitness trackers and smartbands aided

in drumming up interest in the event with the non

technology media. The Razor Nabu emerged as

the clear winner in social media conversations

with nearly 3.5K mentions. DigitalTrends wrote:

“Most impressive though, it’s an open platform

that allows third-party apps. Whether you’re a gamer or not, the Nabu has earned

a spot on your wrist.” Razor used their Twitter account to campaign for the “Best of

CES" award and their followers responded by helping in maximising the reach of

the campaign and ultimately voting for the product. This product category was a

dominant influence on wearable tech becoming the top trend from the event.

Although there was a great deal of interest in

the sector (#photography was one of the

top product hashtags), Nikon (2.2K

mentions) was the only major organisation to

launch a flagship still camera, although Sony

and Canon did launch consumer models like

Alpha 5000 and Powershot respectively. Regarding camcorders, 4K was the key

theme to emerge from the show. Sony's 4K Handycam (700 mentions) stood head

and shoulders above other products, with photography influencers highlighting its

plans to start shipping in March, compared to other prototypes, as a key reason

for its popularity.

Social media was abuzz with audio technology

developments (36K mentions), as both specialist

audio companies and larger technology

conglomerates released multiple audio products.

On Twitter, competitions for free products helped

audio firms like Phillips (Phillips Dot Bluetooth

speaker appeared in nearly 500 tweets) and DTS (#dtsplayfi was used in around

1.5K tweets) gain prominence. After the event, the tech press identified prominent

trends within the industry. The Verge commented on sound bars (driven by Vizio

and LG) and wireless speakers (Samsung's products stood out) being the

highlights of the event.

Health & Fitness Home & Lifestyle

Cameras & Imaging Audio

Products

8


Volume

Wearable Technology (61.5K mentions) was the most prominent trend to emerge

from CES 2014. Pre event buzz about the topic was fuelled by health and fitness

devices, and formed an important part of Intel's keynote speech during the event.

The release of a range of smartwatches and gaming devices added to the buzz.

Google Glass

Whether planned or not, Google Glass (4.5K mentions) did make waves at the

event, partially because of the high volume of attendees wearing the product

during the event (occasionally to the mild annoyance of others: “no one should

have to be in a room with this many Google Glass wearers #ces2014“ tweeted

@erfon). Many new wearable tech products were compared to the Glass in their

reviews, although rapper 50 Cent warned that the product “takes away all the

privacy” (7.3m followers on Twitter).

Twitter

Engadget's story on Intel's Edison was the most shared story on Twitter;

#wearabletech formed a part of 3387 tweets. Not surprisingly, Intel, Razer and

Pebble were the top brand handles to be associated with this trend.

Volume

High Definition Displays accounted for 52K mentions, driven by TVs

and computing devices that came with high definition displays.

Twitter

A story introducing Panasonic's 4K Tablet was the most shared story on Twitter.

Samsung, Panasonic and Microsoft were the most mentioned tweeters.

#samsungces was the top brand hashtag, mentioned in over 200 tweets.

4K

Mashable pointed out: “4K Reaches Critical Mass at CES 2014", and predicted

that “it will become the new standard in high-res video, what 1080p is today”. A

key development highlighted by forums and blogs was

the increasing affordability of this technology.

Volume

The Internet of Things raked up 3.3K mentions during the event, making 2014 the

year when it went from buzzword to market reality. Many new connected devices

were on display throughout the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center

including various smart appliances, remote monitoring services and autonomous

vehicles.

Cisco

Cisco's keynote address highlighted this trend as the 'Internet of Everything'. This

message quickly permeated into social conversations, with 1.2 K mentions. CEO

John Chambers was the 4th most popular keynote speaker, with the tech press

buzzing about his prediction of the size of the IoT industry, while social media

were more impressed with the appearance and contribution of actress Sarah

Silverman.

Emerging Trends

Wearable Tech

High Definition Displays Internet of Things

12%

8%

6%

24%15%

7%

28%

Robotics

Bendable/Curved Screens

Cloud Computing

High Definition Displays

Internet of Things

Start Ups

Wearable Tech

9


Marissa Meyer's keynote address was live blogged by numerous tech and

mainstream publications. The mainstream press published articles on Yahoo’s

refocus as a media company and her acquisitions plans whereas tech bloggers

and social media users were more concerned about her plans for Tumblr and

the new Yahoo News Digest. Forbes, clearly impressed, wrote an article about

public speaking lessons that can be learnt from her keynote style. The Next

Web remarked that the partnership with Saturday Night Live and the

appearance of John Legend "reminded the audience members that Yahoo is

still very much about entertainment."

Intel positioned itself at the forefront of the internet of things, and Brian

Krzanich's address went a long way in re-emphasizing that message. His

preview of wearable devices during the key note on the opening night, set the

ball rolling on ‘wearables’ establishing itself as one of the top tech trends of the

year. Influencers pointed out that Intel has shifted to tablets and wearables from

phones and opined on what that meant for the overall direction of the

industry. According to International Business Times: “Intel (is) Betting Big on

Wearables in 2014 to Avoid Repeating Mobile Mistake.”

Sony CEO's cult following amongst PlayStation fans assisted him in gaining

third spot in the keynote speak rankings. The unique feature of the

media reaction to his keynote was the focus on his vision and plans, rather than

the products being released or prototypes showcased. Sony ensured the

keynote got sufficient coverage by live steaming the keynote and publishing a

behind the scenes video on Youtube and on their owned media assets after the

event. One of the headlines on The Verge proclaimed: "Sony returns to the

swagger of its glory days.“

Keynote Speakers

1

2 3

Marissa Meyer

Brian Krzanich

Kazuo Hirai

Marissa Meyer: 5.2K mentions

Brian Krzanich: 2.1K mentions

Kazuo Hirai: 1.4K mentions

10


Reach Score: 97

Relevance Score: 92

Resonance Score: 99

Influencers

Marc Perton

Executive Editor, Engadget

Lance Ulanoff

Editor-in-Chief, Mashable

Roger Cheng

Executive Editor, CNET

Marc Perton is the Executive Editor of Engadget. He

has donned many hats in his tech news career, from

Senior Editor at Engadget to Executive Editor for

Consumer Reports, and then Director of Content for

Gdgt.

A 25-year industry veteran and award-winning

journalist, Lance Ulanoff is an American tech and

social media commentator. He is a former Editor-in-

Chief of PCMag.com and PC Magazine and SVP of

Content for PCMag Digital Network, and is now editor-

in-chief at Mashable.com.

•

Roger Cheng is the Executive editor at CNET in charge

of East Coast coverage and breaking news. He also

covers mobile and prior to CNET, he spent nearly ten

years covering technology at the Dow Jones Newswires

and WSJ.

Reach Score: 99

Relevance Score: 99

Resonance Score: 96

Reach Score: 99

Relevance Score: 99

Resonance Score: 96

11

(Mashable.com)


Top Hashtag: #ces2014

617K Tweets

Top Influencer:

Marc Perton,

Engadget

750K

mentions

Top Keynote Speaker:

Marissa Meyer, Yahoo

Top Trend:

Wearable

Tech

Wrap Up

12


Top organisations – rankings based on organisation mentions, product mentions and major

brands (of each organisation).

Content – Articles, blog/micro blog posts etc containing mention of a search term or phrase.

Follower – An individual or organisation engaging in social media, who regularly attends to the

statements made, or opinions expressed by another individual or organisation through a social

media platform.

Influencer - An individual or organisation with an established presence in social media, who’s

opinions and posts are regularly read by a large number of people.

Traackr - Traackr is a technology company dedicated to locating, scoring and ranking the top

online influencers for any topic or market, based on reach, resonance and relevance. For more

information, please visit www.traackr.com.

Reach Score - This is a measure of total audience size. Blog visitors, Twitter followers,

YouTube subscribers, etc. go into scoring.

Resonance Score - This is a measure of how much activity someone creates when they

publish. Twitter retweets, linkbacks, comments etc. are factors of someone's Resonance.

Relevance Score - This is a measure of how relevant someone is to a topic. Relevance is a

factor of how often someone uses the keywords that drove the search; the timing of the

keyword usage (more recent posts are weighted more heavily); the diversity of the keywords

used by an influencer; and the placement of keywords (title vs. body).

Glossary

13

Social Media Trends From The Consumer Electronics Show 2014

Social Media

Transcript of Social Media Trends From The Consumer Electronics Show 2014