Thunder Booms! Search and Social Favorites for September 30, 2011
Just when you think Facebook is out, they get PULLED back into another lawsuit.
Want more people to interact with your Facebook page? Learn how to leverage content & editorial strategies for more Likes!
Still screaming to get your visitors to convert? Create value instead, and they'll have to share your product or website.
Do your tweets tell all about your mood? According to researchers at Cornell University, the answer is "yes".
Before Facebook can have a chance to take its new "timeline" profile feature public, they must first deal with yet another lawsuit. Mashable's Ben Parr explains that "Timelines.com is a website that lets users view and create multimedia timelines for historical events such as the American Civil War or the rise of Apple, Inc." Apparently they feel that Facebook has infringed on their trademarks, and they also allege that Facebook redirected Timeline's Facebook page to a page that explains the features of the new Timeline profile for Facebook. Talk about a tongue twister. Sometimes I wonder which Facebook office logs more time. The one in Palo Alto, or the one in District Court. At least it's not the Winklevoss Twins again. By the way, have you seen this new pistachios commercial they are in? I mean come on, let it go. Just let it go.
This presentation by Arnie Kuenn of Vertical Measures is a great overview on the best way to build a business' Facebook following using content strategy. It's not as easy to follow as a blog post, but he includes some great points, such as:
- Setting goals
- Creating consistency
- Where to find content ideas
- Posting strategies
- How to promote your page
- Overall best practices
Overall, this presentation is a great resource, and even if you consider yourself a Facebook master, you might pick up a thing or two in here.
This is a bit of a stretch from my typical Thunder Boom topics, but thought I would share this thoughtful piece from Leo Babauta. As marketers, we're consistently focused on metrics that drive the bottom line; I'm talking about conversions, # of fans and followers, pageviews and sales. But what about creating something of value, and letting the users find you? Yes, my job relies heavily on the above metrics, but I think this post speaks to creating or promoting something valuable that people HAVE to share. That's been our focus here at Thunder for the last year or so, and this post puts that into perspective. If you create something - whether that be an awesome product, piece of content, amazing Facebook page or intuitive website - people will find it and spread the good word. If only it were always that easy!
Researchers at Cornell University released the first cross-cultural study of daily mood rhythms in the average person using text analysis of updates (or "Tweets") on Twitter. The summary: people wake up grumpy, brighten by breakfast, feel their moods taper to a low in the afternoon, then rally again near bedtime. The researchers drew on messages from more than 2 million people in 84 countries. While Twitter activity appears to confirm other psychological findings, not every is convinced Twitter is an accurate reflection of people's moods. “Tweets may tell us more about what the tweeter thinks the follower wants to hear than about what the tweeter is actually feeling,” said Dan Gilbert, a Harvard psychologist. “In short, tweets are not a simple reflection of a person’s current affective state and should not be taken at face value.” Even so, the use of social media data in a major psychological study is just another indication of how social media is becoming a pillar of daily life.
