CES 2013: Top of the Twitter pops

A daily study of social engagement at the International CES in Las Vegas shows that, on Day 2 of the show, Sony ousted LG and Samsung as the most talked about brand on Twitter, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK.

The most talked about brand on Twitter on the second day of the International CES (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show) taking place in Las Vegas this week came from nowhere to oust its major rivals.

Real-time data from the show analysed by Salorix, the smart social engagement platform, shows that Sony was the most mentioned brand at CES on Twitter. It had 28% ‚”share of voice‚” (SOV), double Samsung’s 14% and almost three times Panasonic’s 10%. Sony earned bragging rights through the launch of its OLED Ultra HD 4K TV and its Xperia Z and ZL phones. Samsung’s share of voice came largely from its Ultra HD 4K TV and its Android partnership, while Panasonic had a buzz around its own OLED Ultra HD 4K TV as well as its Toughpad tablet and a well-received opening keynote address by its CEO, Kazuhiro Tsuga.

LG, which had dominated Twitter mentions on Day 1 of CES (percentage not supplied), almost vanished on Day 2, with its 3D OLED TV paling in the face of its competitors’ launches as far as Twitter users were concerned. The brand earned only 3% SOV.

Qualcomm led the rest of the social front-runners, generating 9% SOV thanks to the pre-show keynote address by its CEO Paul Jacobs and the buzz around Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors. Jacobs had been joined on stage by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, underlining the close alliance between the chipmaker and software developer. (See article here.)

Intel and Huawei tied at 6% SOV each, with Intel generating strong interest in its prototype smartphone and the Quad-core Atom processor. Huawei created a buzz on the CES floor and on Twitter with the announcement of its Ascend Mate smartphone, a device with a 6.1‚” screen (see article).

Another chipmaker, Nvidia, came next with 4% SOV with its Tegra 4 processors, in a tie with Lenovo and its 27‚” Horizon Surface Windows 8 tablet. (Read more here.)

The Salorix data includes a ‚”world cloud‚” of tweet content that provides a visual picture of the most used terms at CES. Here, Sony and Samsung stand out clearly.

The Twitter data is a powerful representation of the buzz created by brands, and to some extent reflects the foot traffic through the stands at CES for the biggest of the brands. It also highlights which products are creating the biggest buzz, and gives a hint of where the consumer focus may be in the coming year.

It can be expected, however, that the SOV of the major brands will shift again on Day 3, as the initial buzz around product launches subsides.

* Follow Arthur Goldstuck on Twitter on @art2gee