The best and worst times (and days) to update Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and more

From Social Marketing Writing:

The power of Like: Is a blog post popular just because it's popular?

To help answer that question, researchers led by MIT came up with an experiment to manipulate reader comments, The New York Times reports:

“The experiment performed a subtle, random change on the ratings of comments submitted on the site over five months: right after each comment was made, it was given an arbitrary up or down vote, or — for a control group — left alone. 

“The first person reading the comment was 32 percent more likely to give it an up vote if it had been already given a fake positive score. There was no change in the likelihood of subsequent negative votes. Over time, the comments with the artificial initial up vote ended with scores 25 percent higher than those in the control group.” 

One researcher said the test shows how "very small signals of social influence snowballed into behaviors like herding.”  

You can read the entire story here.

Why Vine is like Twitter is like Facebook is like Instagram

Ron Faris of Virgin Mobile on NPR's All Things Considered:

"Vine is no different than Twitter, is no different from Facebook, is no different from Instagram. They're all water coolers. The more you're able to contribute to that community, the more that community will learn to consider your products and services especially if they've never heard of you before."

KitCam: It's a lot of camera for just $1.99

Here's a new camera app I'm playing with. It's called KitCam, and it offers some interesting advantages over Hipstamatic, Instragram, Magic Hour and other such apps. The app comes with a wide range of lens and film choices. It handles video and time-lapse and tilt shift and even multi-exposure. It connects you to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Dropbox, Instagram and more. And almost all of it comes with the basic $1.99 package.

Here's a video introduction:



Give it a try and let me know what you think.

4 things that decide if your Facebook post shows up in a news feed

Josh Constine at TechCrunch says Facebook now looks at four factors to determine if any given post will show up in any given news feed:

1. If you interacted with an author’s posts before: If you Like every post by a Page that Facebook shows you, it will show you more from that Page.
2. Other people’s reactions to a specific post: If everyone else on Facebook shown a post ignores it or complains, it’s less likely to show you that post.
3. Your interaction with posts of the same type in the past: If you always Like photos, there’s a better chance you’ll see a photo posted by a Page.
4. If that specific post has received complaints by other users who have seen it, or the Page who posted it has received lots complaints in the past, you’ll be less likely to see that post. This factor became a lot more prevalent starting in September 2012,

Stop talking about 'social media' and start talking about 'real-time media'

David Meerman Scott says:

When I speak with executives around the world about social media and business, many think of their kids' (or grandkids') Facebook or the Twitter silliness they hear about on television. ... When I ask the same executives about "real-time communications with customers" they lean forward and want to know more. These are the same people who dismiss Twitter. When I talk about "real-time media" they understand that it is important for their business.

Makes sense to me.

Journalists are using Instagram; so can publicists

From John Paul Titlow at Read Write Web:

Instagram is more about branding and engagement than eyeballs and dollars. After some campaign trail experimentation, the Associated Press is encouraging its staff photographers to use their personal Instagram feeds in a professional capacity. Meanwhile, well known media outlets like NPR and the Wall Street Journal maintain official accounts that share photos highlighting major news events.

The better choice for driving video? Facebook or Twitter?

Chris Johnson at Brightcove has a strong opinion. He says the winner is Facebook, largely due to its built-in video player and its ability to embed the video into a newsfeed when shared. See what you think. Does his argument hold water? Is there a choice better than Facebook ... perhaps YouTube, Google+ or Vimeo?

• Beet.TV: Facebook Beats Twitter in Driving Video Views, Brightcove's Chris Johnston

A new approach to the online broadcast

A new mobile app from Ustream called BFF (which stands for Broadcast for Friends) lets you broadcast live straight into your friends' Facebook news feeds: www.creativeplanetnetwork.com\

How to build a perfect Facebook post

Katy Ryan Schamberger at Ragan's writes:

If you manage a Facebook page (or several), experimentation is fun—but you need a more consistent content strategy. The perfect Facebook post includes a number of elements, including:

• A call to action that points to another Facebook element, a website, or a blog.
• Targeting to a specific country, language, or other parameters.
• An image.
• Mobile-friendly language and visuals (photos or video).

Be sure to check out her cheat sheet: The perfect Facebook post: A blueprint.