Intel’s Social Cockpit: A Command Center for CES Buzz

LAS VEGAS — CES 2012 is likely to be remembered as the most social trade show yet. The products themselves have had a huge focus on connectedness while social chatter around the event has increased significantly since last year.

For Intel, a social conversation tracker was a natural fit for the company’s booth this year. Dubbed “the Social Cockpit,” Intel’s tool is an Adobe-Air based desktop application that collects CES buzz on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blogs and forums.

Don’t let the name fool you: There’s no control yoke or headsets. Rather the analytics tool is projected on screens in a small private room above Intel’s main booth area, serving as its team’s social command center.

The Social Cockpit tracks not just hashtags, but specific topics, products and brands being discussed online. The data is updated each hour to give a sense of who’s on top throughout the day as well as a daily report to sum up social conversation, said Aaron Strout of WCG, a communications agency that helped with the project.

While much of the data on Intel’s dashboard suggests widespread interest in ultrabooks, it also showed that Microsoft, Sony and Samsung were on top throughout the week. Mentions of mobile, specifically Android, were significant as well, Strout said.

The Social Cockpit may not be much different from monitoring tools like Radian6 or Chartbeat, but its presence at CES shows tech giants like Intel are committed to social media. These traditionally gadget-focused companies are aiming to gain a deeper understanding of how users engage around not only their brand, but technology in general.

The next step? Allowing products to be driven by this social conversation.

CES 2013: The social media world awaits you.

Source : mashable.com