This report analyses the social media trends from the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas, which is one of the biggest technology events of the year.

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

2. Contents
Introduction
2
Talking Points
3
Daily Trends
4
Channels
5
Products
6
Emerging Trends
9
Keynote Speakers
10
Influencers
11
Wrap Up
12
Glossary
13
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
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1

3. Introduction
Top Organisations
Rank
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
sidharth.gopakumar@gorkana.com
For Enquiries: Sarah Kemp
PR & Social Engagement Manager
sarah.kemp@gorkana.com
Organisation
Volume
Rank in 2013
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Samsung
Google*
Sony
Intel
Apple
Microsoft
LG
Logitech
Audi
T-Mobile
Panasonic
AT&T
Lenovo
Valve
Asus
Ford
Qualcomm
BMW
Toyota
Amazon
AMD
Blackberry
Huawei
Toshiba
Vizio
88,981
48,046
40,783
32,213
31,032
29,395
18,192
13,901
12,738
10,886
10,813
9451
9225
8095
8063
6670
6520
5954
5084
5083
4382
4177
3884
3751
3677
1
4
5
6
2
3
8
16
11
20
10
18
19
22
9
25
17
14
23
-
*Google includes Andriod mentions
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
2

4. Talking Points
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.
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.
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
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.
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.
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.
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),
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.
3

5. Daily Trends
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
180,000
156,739
160,000
135,190
140,000
123,555
120,000
100,000
84,227
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.
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.”
91,221
80,000
57,082
60,000
40,441
40,000
34,197
26,239
20,000
0
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
CES takes place
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
4

6. Channels
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.”
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.
5%
3%
6%
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.
2%
1%
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.
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.
83%
Blog
News
Forum
Video
Twitter
Facebook
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.
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
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.
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.
5

7. Products
Mentions
80,000
72,383
69,935
68,456
63,019
60,026
60,000
45,020
35,742
40,000
34,047
30,470
17,949
20,000
0
Phones
Hardware &
Peripherals
TVs
Automobiles
Laptops &
Tablets
Gaming
Audio
Cameras &
Imaging
Health &
Fitness
Home &
Lifestyle Tech
Phones
Hardware
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.
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
6

8. Products
TVs
Automobiles
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).
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).
Laptops & Tablets
Gaming
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.
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.
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
7

9. Products
Audio
Cameras & Imaging
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.
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.
Health & Fitness
Home & Lifestyle
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.
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.
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
8

10. Emerging Trends
Wearable Tech
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).
12%
28%
Robotics
8%
Bendable/Curved Screens
Cloud Computing
6%
High Definition Displays
Internet of Things
7%
Start Ups
15%
24%
Wearable Tech
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.
High Definition Displays
Internet of Things
Volume
High Definition Displays accounted for 52K mentions, driven by TVs
and computing devices that came with high definition displays.
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.
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.
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
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.
9

11. Keynote Speakers
Marissa Meyer: 5.2K mentions
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."
Brian Krzanich: 2.1K mentions
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.”
Marissa Meyer
Kazuo Hirai: 1.4K mentions
Brian Krzanich
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.“
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
1
2
Kazuo Hirai
3
10

12. Influencers
Marc Perton
Executive Editor, Engadget
Roger Cheng
Executive Editor, CNET
Lance Ulanoff
Editor-in-Chief, Mashable
Reach Score: 97
Relevance Score: 92
Resonance Score: 99
Reach Score: 99
Relevance Score: 99
Resonance Score: 96
Reach Score: 99
Relevance Score: 99
Resonance Score: 96
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.
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.
A 25-year industry veteran and award-winning
journalist, Lance Ulanoff is an American tech and
social media commentator. He is a former Editor-inChief of PCMag.com and PC Magazine and SVP of
Content for PCMag Digital Network, and is now editorin-chief at Mashable.com.
•
(Mashable.com)
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
11

13. Wrap Up
750K
mentions
617K
Tweets
Top Hashtag: #ces2014
Top Trend:
Top Keynote Speaker:
Marissa Meyer, Yahoo
Wearable
Tech
Top Influencer:
Marc Perton,
Engadget
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
12

14. Glossary
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).
CES 2014 : 4th January – 12th January
13