We Are Social Asia Tuesday TuneUp #105
News
News
New Twitter stats to help you improve your reach
Social Media statistics and trends change so quickly that affect how we keep up in using it. If you’re managing social media for business, it’s good to note that some of the latest social media statistics published mentioned that the fastest growing demographic on Twitter is the 55–64 year age bracket. So if your focused is on a younger demographic, you could be missing this chunk.
TheNextWeb published recently a list of surprising new statistics for Twitter to help you reach more followers. Knowing the latest stats is more valuable especially in outlining the new social media strategy for your business. Here’s the list:
1. Twitter engagement for brands is 17 percent higher on weekends according to Buffer.
2. Tweets with image links get 2x the engagement rate of those without
3. Tweets with less than 100 characters get 17 percent more engagement (Dan Zarrella’s research shows that more effective tweets have 120–130 characters)
4. Twitter’s fastest growing demographic is 55–64 year-olds
5. Tweets with hashtags get 2x more engagement
6. 66 percent of user-generated tweets that mention brands come from mobile users
7. Twitter users who mostly use a mobile device are 181 percent more likely to be on Twitter during their commute
8. Amplifiers are 122 percent more likely to send direct messages
9. Your tweets have a 12x higher chance of being retweeted if you ask, and 23x higher if you actually spell out the word “retweet”
10. Tweets that include links are 86 percent more likely to be retweeted
What lies ahead for Twitter’s future? Let’s see. But the latest changes to its statistics suggest a clear change.
WhatsApp has now 30 million active users in India
WhatsApp is growing faster in India. According to the article in TechInAsia, from 25 million active monthly users last month, it has grown to 30 million users. To help the messaging app grow even more in India, WhatsApp partnered with telco Tata Docmomo to offer unlimited usage to its subscribers. It’s WhatsApp’s second such deal in India, coming a year after a similar package was offered by rival network Reliance. Like in other Asian markets, WhatsApp has strong competition in India from both WeChat and Line. Both have been actively picking up new users by rolling out TV commercials and social media marketing.
WeChat is used to spot tornado by US College students
As reported by TechInAsia, WeChat is used by MSU to warn overseas Chinese students about the possibility of tornadoes and severe winds near Michigan University’s campus in East Lansing. Earlier this year, the same WeChat account MSU伴侣 (literally “MSU Companion”), used the messaging app to calm students’ nerves about a reported shooter on university grounds. While there were fortunately neither tornadoes nor gunmen, WeChat was able to facilitate timely Chinese-language emergency communications in a Midwestern American college town. Besides urgent notifications, students subscribe to this particular account for more information on cultural events, group outings, parties, and the occasional post about local car insurance rates.
Twitter’s user base skewing younger
Even though the fastest growing demographic on Twitter is the 55–64 year age bracket, it has come out as skewing younger than both Facebook and LinkedIn, according to a new piece of research by comScore. Globally, 32.3% of Twitter’s desktop users are aged 15-24, compared with 28.9% on Facebook and 21.4% on LinkedIn.
The difference on mobile is even bigger; US data shows that 24.8% of Twitter’s mobile users are in the youngest 18-24 age group, compared with 19.4% on Facebook and 14.7% on LinkedIn.
Facebook decreases organic reach
After months of speculation, Facebook has finally admitted to decreasing organic reach for page posts. The network explained the move as follows:
We expect organic distribution of an individual page’s posts to gradually decline over time as we continually work to make sure people have a meaningful experience on the site.
However, it’s also likely to have been fuelled by a desire for brands to spend more on paid media. Our blog post on the subject highlights the changes and discusses how best for brands to proceed – from investing in promotion to ensuring the presence of strong, creative content.
Facebook updates News Feed to highlight articles
Facebook has announced updates to the way articles are treated in the News Feed, all of which aim to increase the importance of news articles on the network. Firstly, there has been an edit to Facebook’s algorithm to allow for what they call “high quality” articles to appear higher than, say, the latest meme. Then, once a link to an article has been clicked, similar related news will appear at the bottom, as shown below. Finally, articles on which your friends comment will now occasionally be selected for ‘bumping’ back up the News Feed.
The value of a Facebook log-in
Facebook has published a blog post this week, looking at the value of a ‘Facebook log-in’, rather than any other way of accessing an app. The piece looks at four different apps, with results including: Facebook log-in users are 27% more likely to be repeat ticket buyers with Applauze, have a 30% higher average lifetime value for Threadflip and listen 8% longer to Swell Radio. These are nice examples, but it’s worth noting that this correlation doesn’t necessarily mean that this effect has been brought about by the Facebook log-in system.
Twitter reveals ‘tailored audiences’
Twitter has announced the launch of ‘tailored audiences’, an ad product that will allow retargeting of mobile users. It will allow advertisers to serve promoted tweets on Twitter’s mobile apps to those who have visited a website elsewhere on the internet. The network explained in a blog post how it works:
Twitter was also keen to point out the importance of privacy: users can simply uncheck ‘promoted content’ in their privacy setting to prevent their data being used for retargeting purposes.
Tumblr introduces sponsored trending blogs
Tumblr is testing ‘sponsored trending blogs’ for mobile, allowing advertisers to pay for a blog to appear alongside other trending blogs on the network’s mobile apps, differentiated only by a dollar sign. The product is being soft launched at the moment and will go fully live in January.
Foursquare for iPhone
Foursquare has launched its new iPhone app, with a few interesting new features. First of all, it’s had a fairly vast design overhaul, aimed at making a ‘sleeker’ experience. To support this, the app will also ‘shuffle’ content each time you open it, allowing you to get a greater idea of what’s going on where you are. Finally, push notifications will tell you what is happening when you arrive in a new place, without the app even being open. You can see a couple of examples of this below.
Pinterest’s increased traffic on Black Friday/Cyber Monday
On Black Friday and Cyber Monday, two days known for hugely increased volumes of shopping in the US, Pinterest greatly increased the revenue sent to retailers. Doubling on Black Friday and up 3.6 times on Cyber Monday, the increase is being used as evidence for Pinterest’s monetary value in the retail market.
Asos is top UK retailer on Pinterest for Christmas
Asos is proving the top UK retailer on Pinterest for Christmas shopping, according to research by Searchmetrics. With a total of 160,958 pins related to Asos content at the time of the survey, the online fashion retailer averaged 1,728 pins per week, easily beating its nearest rivals Amazon (1,233) and John Lewis (791).
Star Wars launches on Instagram
With its next instalment in the pipeline, if still two years away, Star Wars has begun a promotion drive on Instagram, starting with the below Darth Vader selfie.
Sprint’s ad launched on individual’s Twitter feed
Sprint has launched its latest video ad, starring James Earl Jones and Malcolm McDowell, on a single individual’s Twitter profile. The surreal series of adverts sees the two actors read out everyday text messages and conversations, so the latest iteration is a logical move in the comedic saga.
Eurostar creates video from blogger trips to Paris
Eurostar has sent a group of London-based bloggers to Paris, creating video content from their photos and stories, along with the images of competition winners. The resulting video has received around 300,000 views on YouTube.
Insurance company uses tragedies to promote its product
After the news of Nelson Mandela’s death last week, Twitter was largely populated by individuals wishing to express sadness, or condolences to his family. However, one American insurance brand decided to try to use is as an opportunity to promote their product:
It turns out this isn’t the only time they’ve done this, either. When Hollywood actor Paul Walker died, they tweeted the following:
It’s no surprise to see brands hijacking certain Twitter trends; however, this is a particularly unpleasant example, which naturally saw a fair deal of backlash from the general public.