Apple has posted impressive quarterly earnings for the 14-week period ending on December 31, 2011. According to a press release, the company reported a quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion, as well as a quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share, the company’s best quarterly results yet. Apple’s 116 percent profit growth helped push its total cash to $97.6 billion — enough to cover Greece’s debt payments due in the next two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones, 15.43 million iPads and 5.3 million Macs during the quarter.

What’s interesting is the continued growth of iPad sales.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around iPad, iPod and iPhone online.

iPhone vs. iPod vs. iPad buzz

iPad mentions topped iPhone mentions for the first time in December 2011.

Apple buzz

Overall Apple mentions have been in slight decline since 2008. Although Apple passed Exxon as the most valuable company based on market cap.

Opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) continues to build. In protest to the bills set to land in the U.S. Senate next week, Wikipedia and a number of major sites including Reddit, Mozilla and TwitPic went offline to protest Wednesday, January 18.

Wikipedia.com

Wikipedia is among hundreds of websites showing how they feel about SOPA by going dark for 24 hours.

Google.com

Google.com joined the protest with a blackout homepage Google doodle. Both Google and Wikipedia encourage users to take action and contact Congress to protest.

The two bills intend to stop online piracy and protect copyright holders, however, critics claim they infringe upon creativity, Internet security and innovation by punishing websites that link to any copyright-infringing sites, even by accident. If passed, the bills would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business.

We posted on December 20, 2011 that conversations around SOPA were 61% negative. We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around SOPA and PIPA online today.

SOPA and PIPA buzz

SOPA and PIPA mentions are up 473% today, and have been mentioned more than 3.5 million times in the Social Radar database within the last 24 hours.

SOPA and PIPA content distribution

Currently 78% of SOPA and PIPA mentions are coming via blogs, and 8% via Twitter. The number of mentions via blogs increased slightly today.

Approximately 56% of SOPA and PIPA mentions came via males, and 44% via females.

SOPA and PIPA conversation sentiment

Wikipedia has led the way generating awareness, currently being mentioned in 34% of all SOPA and PIPA conversations online.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24. Will you be contacting your Congressman to protest SOPA and PIPA?

Want to increase buzz? Just ask Justin Bieber to launch your product.

Justin Bieber unveiled the TOSY mRobo dancing robot at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas Wednesday. mRobo is a speaker dock that snaps up into a dancing robot when it begins to hear music.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

TOSY mRobo buzz

Both ‘TOSY’ and ‘mRobo’ mentions increased several hundred percent following the CES launch.

TOSY sentiment

Conversations around TOSY are currently only 55% positive. The robot had trouble showing off his moves in the demo. ‘Justin Bieber’ is currently being mentioned in 38% of TOSY conversations online.

If 2011 was the year of the tablet the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), 2012 seems to be the year of the ultrabook. With sales of budget laptops plummeting, computer makers are swinging the pendulum toward sleeker, metallic and pricier portable PCs that they’re calling Ultrabooks. That’s the term coined by chip-maker Intel for a new class of laptops that, similar to the MacBook Air, are ultra-thin yet with internal processing on par with other laptops. The ultrabooks — manufactured by Toshiba, Samsung, Lenovo, HP, LG and others — are designed to start up as quickly as possible when turned on.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around Ultrabooks online.

Ultrabook buzz

The term ‘ultrabook’ wasn’t mentioned at all before May 2011. The term gained traction in late 2011, and now thanks to CES 2012 the term is skyrocketing.

Ultrabook sentiment

Conversations around Ultrabooks are currently 84% positive.

• Acer appears in 23% of Ultrabook conversations and is 87% positive.
• HP appears in 18% of Ultrabook conversations and is 88% positive.
• Levono appears in 16% of Ultrabook conversations and is 96% positive.
• MacBook appears in 17% of Ultrabook conversations and is 61% positive.
• Samsung appears in 12% of Ultrabook conversations and is 80% positive.

Will you considering purchasing an Ultrabook?

Google announced that it was going to start mixing its Google+ results into normal search results. Twitter wasn’t happy (because Google+ results will drive traffic back to Google’s own properties), saying that Google’s changes were “bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.”

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Google sentiment

Conversations around Google went from 73% to 64% positive overnight. Twitter is currently being mentioned in 12% of all Google conversations.

Google is appearing in 9% of Twitter conversations.

As Blake Ross, director of product at Facebook, mentioned in a comment to this TechCrunch article:

“When you search Google for ‘basketball’ now, you get a link to Dwyane Wade’s Google+ profile in the right column. Why isn’t Google also linking to Dwyane’s Twitter profile, which has been around for much longer, has far more content, and is fully public?”

Did Google just make it more difficult to find relevant information online?

Justin Timberlake just took the next step in his campaign to bring MySpace back. Timberlake joined Panasonic on stage at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show to announce the MySpace app for TV, which aims to make TV more social.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around MySpace online.

MySpace buzz

MySpace buzz has been on the steady decline for years, hitting a low point in September 2011. But since then, mentions have been on the rise.

MySpace sentiment

Conversations around MySpace are currently 74% positive. ‘TV’ currently appears in 12% of MySpace conversations. ‘Justin’ and ‘Panasonic’ each appear in 6% of MySpace conversations.

Can Justin Timberlake really bring MySpace back?

Kanye West generated headlines in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, NY Mag, and even drew praise from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey after his late night / early morning tweets.

West talked candidly about his life and design career until 6 a.m. over a series of tweets, then announced the creation of a design company called DONDA, named after his late mother, that would comprise 22 divisions and make “products and experiences that people want and can afford.” West invited graphic designers, app makers, social media experts, doctors and scientists, among others, to reach out to contact [email protected]

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around Kanye West and DONDA online.

Kanye West buzz

Kanye West mentions tripled following the Twitter rant and reached the highest point of the month by far.

DONDA buzz

DONDA has been mentioned more than 500,000 times online since last night.

DONDA sentiment

Conversations around DONDA are 85% positive. The word ‘amazing’ is appearing in 11% of DONDA conversations.

What are your thoughts on West’s use of social media to share personal thoughts and make announcements?

Skype is setting out to “make travel a little more pleasant this holiday season” by offering a free hour of Internet access to third-party wireless hotspots in select airports across the U.S. December 21 thru December 27.

How does the gesture of goodwill affect public opinion toward Skype? We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Skype conversation sentiment

The terms “free,” “wi-fi,” “50,” “airports,” and “holiday” are appearing in more than 26% of all Skype conversations online currently. Conversations around Skype are 71% positive.

Content distribution

Approximately 66% of Skype mentions are currently being made via Twitter, 28% via blogs.

Do you think Skype generated more positive buzz and goodwill by making this investment rather than traditional advertising?

The debate is heating up online around the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill, which some call “piracy protection” and others say threatens the Internet as we know it. If passed, SOPA would lead to the creation of a “blacklist” of websites that infringe on copyrights.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations around SOPA online.

SOPA buzz

Conversations around SOPA reached their highest point on December 15 following the House Judiciary Committee debate.

SOPA conversation sentiment

Conversations around SOPA are currently 61% negative. Most major topics within the conversation topic cloud are negative.

Content distribution

Approximately 48% of SOPA mentions came via blogs, and 45% via Twitter.

Do you think SOPA is infringing on our rights as Americans?

News broke this week that Verizon would be blocking Google’s flagship Galaxy Nexus phone from including Google Wallet, the NFC-based system that will let you tap your phone against special sensors to pay for goods and services. Speculation was that the decision was spurred by Verizon’s support of a rival NFC-based payment solution ISIS. The decision sparked a battle between Google and Verizon.

We used Social Radar to analyze conversations online.

Verizon conversation sentiment

Conversations around Verizon averaged more than 75% positive throughout the past month but spiked to nearly 50% negative this week. The phrases ‘blocking Google Wallet’ and ‘Galaxy Nexus’ are appearing in nearly 20% of all Verizon conversations online.

Do you think Verizon is making a bad decision?