Timing is Everything: Tumblr (Week 12O)

This article explains the best times on Tumblr, along with Facebook and Twitter, to post information that will be seen by followers and commented on. The article states that the best time to post and receive the max amount of responses for Facebook and Twitter is between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday. This is the best time to post for Facebook and Twitter as the majority of people will see the post because the range of people on Facebook and Twitter is greater than that of Tumblr.

For Tumblr, posts should be made between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Tumblr has been researched to contain mostly high school to college students as their members. This is the age range of around 13-24 demographic. The article states that most people who visit Tumblr will also be on the site much longer searching through pages. This is unlike Facebook and Twitter as people just take quick glances to see updates, and then log off. Tumblr provides much more engagement in the social world.

Posting during these times also never means that people will actually view company/individual posts. Posts that have some intrigue and sustenance tend to gain more retention from users. Posts should have some kind of information people need to know or learn about. Otherwise, users will just glance over the information and forget it right when they are done reading. Posting requires both timing and quality posts in order to be successful in the social scene.

Article: http://socialmediatoday.com/brett-williams/1017741/best-times-post-tumblr

-Darrik Marstaller

BoardReader Social Media Tool Presentation (Assignment 2)

Here is a quick look at BoardReader, a social media tool to help brands and consumers keep track of trending topics on thousands of different forums. This tool is great because it also provides an analytic suite allowing the user to see topic popularity over time in forum discussions.

Presentation URL: http://www.slideshare.net/darrikmarstaller/board-reader

-Darrik M

What are key realities of the new social economy? (Week11R)

By just looking back through the last decade, social media has made quite an impact on people and businesses around the world. Social media is still a very new technology that we are learning from. Both people and businesses have grown to depend heavily on social media. Traditional marketing strategies through brands have changed to accommodate social media, and social media allows companies to track the progress of a brand instantly. As technology grows, the new social media economy will grow as well to include these new technologies and what they have to offer.

Social media is everywhere today. Seen on phones, computers, handheld devices, etc. social media is ever growing. Also, almost everything is becoming digital such as music, photos, movies, etc. People can now share their experiences with friends wherever they are through sites such as Facebook and Twitter by posting pictures and statuses. Companies can also take control of social media by making their presence more visible to consumers online. By providing promotions, and allowing consumers to see company news provides a way for consumers to stay in touch with their favorite companies and to see where the company is headed. Social media has great benefits for a company; it’s the ability for the company to use social media correctly that will make them stand apart.

Consumers today also purchase many items online, and the social media economy creates a great way for consumers to purchase items with promotions and discounts. In my opinion, brands providing discounts on social media websites have a huge leg up on the competition. As an avid online consumer, I look for these discounts all the time. I follow my favorite brands just so that I can come across a discount for apparel or an item I have been looking to purchase. This is where I think companies can really succeed, and create more loyal followers. Social media is a tool that will create great companies, while others get left behind.

-Darrik M

 

MIT Can Look Into the Twitter Trending Future (Week11O)

The article MIT Can Look Into the Twitter Trending Future is very interesting because it explains how the trends on Twitter using hashtags (#) can be predicted to a reliable outcome. At MIT, Professor Devarat and a student at MIT have developed an algorithm that can make these predictions. The algorithm will find the trending hashtag about an hour or more before it starts to go viral. These trends can be very important for businesses as they can help to create followers, and connect their brand products and services effectively.

These predictive programs look through Twitter traffic and try to match up hashtags, placing them in a model. Some hashtags may stand out from one another and seen more often, so the program places them at a higher priority. It can make trending topics easier to predict, and can alert companies to what is being said around the social world.

The algorithm was put to work with 200 trends that were on Twitter, and 200 that were not. This was to help test the accuracy of the program. The program produced results with 95 percent accuracy. This is astounding, and if companies can produce an algorithm with this accuracy, it could help to create promotions for brands and products before they hit the social scene. I think this could be an invaluable tool for businesses, and it will be interesting to see if this takes shape in the future.

http://socialmediatoday.com/eric-gruenfelder/998076/mit-can-look-twitter-trending-future

-Darrik M

How should marketers behave in social media environments? (Week10R)

With an online presence, a marketer possesses a lot of responsibility. All the actions that he or she makes will be seen by thousands if not millions of people, and will be criticized heavily based on what reaction to a post is given. By maintaining a good impression and conducting yourself in a professional manner online will lead to consumers respecting your posts and the company/brand.

In the social media environment, marketers need to respond in a professional and correct manner. When a post is made concerning the brand and the company, marketers need to understand that how they respond to the post may reflect positively or poorly to other readers. If there is a negative comment given by a reviewer, the marketer needs to take the comment as constructive criticism and not start making rude comments to the reviewer. All comments should be how the brand determines how well it is doing in the population, so even a poor review should be taken as helpful for creating a better product. If you start writing bad comments about consumers leaving bad comments, it doesn’t only reflect poorly on the marketer, but also on the overall company and brand.

When considering a comment or review on social media, the marketer also needs to realize that any comment left may also affect how people perceive the company. The marketer is the company presence, so it will reflect poorly on the entire company and brand overall. News of poor conduct online can also spread at a very fast rate with the power of the internet. News of the company failing to conduct itself professionally can be instantly seen by thousands of people in seconds. This is the reason many companies have social media guidelines that employees must follow to keep a positive presence on  blogs and forums. The company does not want to risk a negative presence bringing down the company image. By providing guidelines, the marketers can behave professionally.

-Darrik M

What’s the Next Big Social Media Platform? (Week10O)

As technology grows, so does social media and its platforms. Looking into the near future, new and better social networking sites will start to take over the old ones. Even the giants Facebook and Twitter will eventually see a decline, and a different social networking site will take its place. The article below lists three social media sites that may see a rise in users in the near future.

 

Faces.com is a social media site tailored to users 18 and up. There is some adult content on this site where users can send a “wank” to one another. It’s a different take on social media with it being 18 and up, but it seems to be taking hold in the U.K. and U.S. it currently supports 700,000 followers, with the hope of more for the future.

 

Friendica allows users to use open source software to create their own social media websites. It has very basic and easy installation, allowing users to connect contacts from their Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, and Tumblr accounts.

 

Cellufun has been created for the mobile user. It has been created for mobile gaming aspects and communication through those games. Cellufun supports both flash and HTML5, which may lead to a boost of followers.

 

These are just some social media platforms on the rise, but there will be many more to come.

 

Article: http://socialmediatoday.com/drew-hendricks/956216/what-s-next-big-social-media-site

 -Darrik M

 

Social Media’s Role in Crisis and Misinformation (Week9O)

http://socialmediatoday.com/dneisser/965591/social-media-s-role-crisis-and-misinformation

During the devastating Hurricane Sandy, many people turned to social media to rely on information such as open transits and food location. As the storm started, social media sites such as Twitter exploded with details about the storm. The article mentions some tweets posted showing details for subway train closings, and food locations on Coney Island. It is through social media that people could receive real time updates, and not just rely on the news to gather there information. 

Social media provided a vital way for people to receive the information they needed to stay safe during the storm.  Sadly, some people began taking false photos of the storm and uploading them. Also, there was some misinformation on social media sites regarding the hurricane, making some places unreliable to readers. This cannot happen as it can be very dangerous for those in the thick of the storm.

After the storm had past, people were able to post their stories to what they went through during the hurricane. It was pretty amazing to see how social media really affected what people knew about the storm. If may have not hit that bad here in Nashua, New Hampshire but it could be seen through social media that many places were crushed and flooded by Hurricane Sandy.

-Darrik M