React: The Biggest Announcements From Mobile World Congress 2016

All this tech seems to have got social very excited.

This week the mobile technology elite gathered to share and speculate about the next big thing in Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress.

VR, home electronics and wearables all featured massively in conversation alongside huge smartphone announcements, and the companies showcasing their products got thousands of people’s attention not only at the conference but around the world online.

#MWC16 and #MWC2016 got a combined mention count of nearly 115k in the last seven days alone, while @Lenovo led the way as the most retweeted account.

It’s fair to say this year’s MWC got people talking.

The biggest announcements

We tracked some of the biggest brands expected to make announcements during MWC and their social reception.

While Lenovo may have been the most tweeted account on Twitter, it was Samsung that dominated across social media.

Samsung’s predictably big announcements got them predictably huge attention on social. Before the conference even began they were generating hype and their VR heavy Samsung Galaxy Unpacked reveal, featuring none other than Mark Zuckerberg, has been watched 12 million times on Youtube.

Sony received the second biggest spike after they announced three new Xperia smartphones, a new earpiece and various concept home products at their event.

Generating a solid 19k mention count over the last seven days, Samsung got the most mentions overall followed by HTC and Lenovo.

HTC Vive, the company’s virtual reality headset, definitely gave their mention count a boost as their smartphones were given a backseat during MWC. Meanwhile, Lenovo’s fairly extensive range of new products on show also gave them the upper hand on mentions.

Predicting the future

Mark Zuckerberg declared on stage that virtual reality is the next platform, going on to talk about how Facebook, Oculus and Samsung were working closely together to create the best possible VR experience you can get your hands on (in the form of the Samsung Gear VR).

Virtual reality headsets were showcased by various big brands and the term became the word of the moment not just on the show floor but on social, raking in nearly 16k mentions online.

The impact was dizzying.

After 3 days in a row at the #MWC16 this is my overall conclusion: VR headsets makes me dizzy #MWC #VirtualReality #tech #ThursdayThoughts

— Jordi Torrent (@JorTorrent) February 25, 2016

A worldwide audience

The Mobile World Congress’ interconnectivity couldn’t be illustrated much clearer than the global conversation it sparks.

The male audience definitely out-mentioned female (the 2% missing accounts for mentions without gender categorization).

Meanwhile, perhaps unsurprisingly, tech and business lovers were the most prolific commenters.

Are you a journalist looking to cover our data? Email react@brandwatch.com for more information.