Unraveling the Mystery of Edgerank on Facebook

 

via Wildfire’s Edgerank and Your Brand

 

Just as PageRank was used by Google to help people find the most relevant search, Facebook developed Edgerank to surface the most interesting content.

 

Late last year, Facebook made a number of changes to Edgerank that made it more difficult to get in the newsfeeds of your fans. Brian Carter, author of the Like Economy, outlines a number of them here, including the now often-quoted finding that only 17% of your fans are likely to get your posts in their newsfeed. And earlier this year Buddy Media did a study that shows people spend 27% of their time in the newsfeed.

 

Facebook released the following algorithm that they used to calculate Edgerank.

 

The likelihood of someone seeing a fan page status update depends on a combination of these three factors: Affinity is the measurement of the strength of the relationship between the content page and the fan; weight is the type of interaction (tag. comment and likes); and finally the amount of time that has passed since the update. You can read more about how the Facebook algorithm works.

 

New Facebook Research

 

In a new study, to be released by Edgerank Checker, an analytics tool, and Wildfire, a tool to offer content on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, did another analysis recently looking at 50K pages and 1MM status updates, along with six macro categories and how different kinds of content that performed best in Edgerank. Overall, photos were clearly preferred in most categories. Below is a quick overview of what did best in each category.

• Local business: Photos are most popular, leading video by 33%. The least engaging type was links.
• Company/organization: Photos led as the most engaging posts (by 33%), with video as the second most engaging. Links were the least engaging type of content.
• Brand or product: Photos were 7x more engaging than status updates, all other content types averaged less than 1% engagement
• Artist, band or public figure: Photos most popular, leading status updates by two times. Links were the least engaging content type
• Entertainment: Status updates (.9%) are most engaging, followed by photos (.75). Videos are third most engaging.
• Cause or community: Photos were 4x more engaging than status update. Video was just behind status updates.

How Long Should Your Updates Be?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The study also looked at the length of the text that garnered the most engagement on Facebook.  They found that text in combination with multimedia always drove more engagement. And text with more than 141 characters did better than less.

 

The bottom line is that Facebook and Twitter content should be prepared differently and Facebook fans are more attracted by longer updates. So if you are still cross posting on Twitter and Facebook, stop doing it and make each update is tailored to the platform.

 

6 Takeaway Tips for Content That Performs

 

As part of the release of the study, Edgerank Checker and Wildfire held a webinar, "Demystifying Facebook's EdgeRank Algorithm," which I heard about from Shelly Kramer, to unpack the results and they left us with these six tips:

1. Plan messaging around popular posts, the high Edgerank of particular posts will carry over to the messaging posts.
2. Quality over quantity wins since poorly engaging content decreases your Edgerank and opportunity to be seen.
3. Always pair a written description with each post and make sure its over 141 characters.
4. Use a call to action in your posts, ask people to like your post, or to take other actions.
5. Pair your links with an engaging photo.
6. Link your content to current and relevant events

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike license.

Have Video, Will Enter: Win Prizes for Your Cause

 

 

 

Visual storytelling is one of the most poignant ways to reach people with your cause by pulling at the heartstrings, shocking, through humor, or otherwise playing on emotional appeal. 

 

If you are a part of a nonprofit, this is your chance to showcase one of your most compelling videos. If you are someone who works, volunteers or has seen an amazing video from a favorite cause, this is your chance to get that nonprofit involved in this great opportunity.

 

I rarely promote contests on this blog, but this one is worthy, Moreover, you should take the time to look at the contest design and some of the videos, there is a lot to be learned by checking out what others have done.

 

See3 Communications and YouTube Nonprofits have done a great job with the DoGooder NonProfit Video Awards, This year they are sponsored by Cisco, NTEN and the Case Foundation, all forward-thinking organizations that have earned their stripes as community builders.

 

Winners receive prizes provided by Cisco, grants by the Case Foundation and free registration to next year's Nonprofit Technology Conference. The top winner will have their video featured on the homepage of YouTube on April 5th! YouTube.com/Nonprofit Winners will be announced at NTC in San Francisco, a massive conference where nonprofits converge each year to learn about new technologies and ways to reach nut to their core constituencies.

 

I will be attending, so I am really looking forward to seeing the winners first hand.

 

The deadline to submit is February 29, 2012, so don’t procrastinate on this one. See the categories and prizes below.

 

You can check out the contest here:

http://www.youtube.com/nonprofitvideoawards

 

Entry Video

 

 

Entry Categories

• BEST Small Organization Video: Awarded to best video made my an organization with an annual budget of $1,000,000 or less.
• BEST Medium Organization Video: Awarded to best video made by an organization with an annual budget between $1,000,000 to $5, 000,000.
• BEST Large Organization Video: Awarded to best video made by an organization with an annual budget of $5,000,000 or more.
• BEST Storytelling Video: Awarded for the best use of video to tell compelling, moving stories.

Prizes

• Your Video on the YouTube Homepage
• Winning videos will be featured on the YouTube homepage on April 5th
• Each winner will receive $3,500 in donations and a suite of great products provided by Cisco
• Winners will receive free registrations to the Nonprofit Technology Conference from NTEN
• Special Prize Grants from the Case Foundation

One of the causes that really pulls at my heartstrings is poverty and homelessness. These two videos, already entered in the competition, addressed that issue is very different ways. Both interesting. I thought I would add them as examples,

United Way of Edmonton

Rebellious Truths

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike license.

Commonsense Social Media Measurement as a Diagnostic Tool

I am willing to bet that a very small fraction of online outreach has a measurement component baked in. I think there are a lot of people moving in that direction, but even if they do measure, it is usually something fairly meaningless to business objectives, like fan follows and web traffic. Or on the other side, they over measure and it leads to paralysis.

Both of these kinds of measurement aren’t helpful. What is helpful is measurement that acts as a decision-making tool. A good measurement program can help to:

•Diagnose: Adjust communications, get better

•Prioritize: Build into planning, make decisions

•Evaluate: Demonstrate ROI, Value

Zoetica Media published a whitepaper late last year on social media measurement that came from a chapter I wrote in Geoff Livingston’s book, “Welcome to the Fifth Estate.”

In this post I am sharing the AAA Framework for measurement developed in that whitepaper. The frameworks is pretty simple, it encompasses looking at a combination of Actions, Attitudes and Actions that people make in response to online engagement.

The AAA Social Media Measurement Framework

Attention: The overall volume of interest, these include fans, traffic and other analytics. Can also include measuring clips.

Attitude: Overall sentiment and relationship to the brand.

Action: Business results of online outreach and what actions people take as a results of a campaign, outreach effort, or sustained online presencds in social networks online.

The issue isn’t the availability of the data, but instead is how to narrow down the data you do use, and determining which are most important. Some of the most common reasons people aren’t measuring include feelings that is is too hard or time consuming, that it costs too much, that they don't really know how, and the most insidious, they are afraid that measurement will provide proof that what they are doing isn’t working and they might get fired.

The truth is that if you use measurement for what it was intended, a way to improve performance and prove value, it can be your ally. Below is a PowerPoint presentation with more information and the copy of the whitepaper is below that. Happy measuring!

PowerPoint Presentation

Commonsense Social Media Measurement

View more presentations from Kami Huyse.

Whitepaper

Commonsense Framework to Measure Social Media

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike license.

How to Call With a Cellular Phone Over the Internet

I have not used traditional phone lines anymore for some years; I use the Internet to call my friends. It's easy and the sound quality is really good.

The VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service is offered by many providers around the globe and is easy to install on each PC.

Now VoIP also works with cellular phones. A free software tool makes it possible. To call over the Internet is as easy as sending an instant message.

To use this service simply download a plug-in and install it.


The plug-in works on
N95
N80
E61i
E65

The phone calls will be routed over the Internet, and this will save you much money not only on your international calls but also on roaming fees.

These are the features:
Web based account management
Call forwarding
Free voice mail
Unlimited free calls
Yahoo! Messenger, AIM, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk.
Free calls to land lines and cellular phones using a All Calls Free Plan.
Unlimited free calls to users in the same network

An additional service (for a small fee) lets you receive unlimited incoming calls (Call Ins) and you never miss an incoming Internet call; you can set up call forwarding and you can have those calls forwarded to your mobile phone.

The service lets you call any user or SIP telephone number on the providers network for free. Since anyone can join it using their PC or phone, simply invite your friends to call them for free over the Internet via VoIP!

The small software tool is easy to install and to configure and offers a fully integrated VoIP solution.

In depth, step-by-step instructions with screen shots are available for this small applet.

FREE PHONE

FREE phone is a SIP based VoIP soft phone, which integrates robust technologies such as SIP stack by NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology) & Java, JMF from Sun Microsystems. FREE phone is a free downloadable soft phone which enables you to make calls from computer to computer, computer to mobile & computer to landline. FREE phone offers you a free phone number to make free computer to computer calls & receive free incoming calls from any phone. You can make international calls to any PSTN or mobile phone thus converting your laptop or desktop into a second telephone. FREE phone also offers outstanding features such as Video Call, Follow Me Service, Voice Mail, Video Chat, MP3 Player, Video Streaming, Fax & Online Search. The peer to peer Video Call facility enables you to call your FREE phone buddy with live video action in progress.FREE phone Follow Me Service enables you to get calls redirected to your landline or mobile phone when you are not online. You can also receive voice mails to your e mail When you are offline & unable to answer your calls. Through FREE phone, you can have a live video chat with your FREE phone buddy. over that, you can call your buddy?s FREE phone, mobile, home or office number with a single click even while chatting. You can also listen to your favorite music through an MP3 player embedded in FREE phone. You can add your favorite songs to your Play List & listen to them even while you chat with your buddies. FREE phone fulfils your entertainment needs by offering you video streaming. select your realm of interest - whether sports, music or whatever - you can watch your favorite videos instantly. Through FREE phone, you can also receive fax directly to your e mail when you are offline. Apart from the outstanding features, you can also search online while chatting or making calls to your buddies. With all these remarkable features & lots of more to be added, FREE phone marks a new era in web telephony

PC to Phone Calls - An Innovative Way of Low Cost Calling

The PC to phone is an innovative method, whereby callers can make phone calls from any PC. The user can dial calls from the computer to a mobile phone or a landline phone. This method involves the user to access internet connection. By this system the user can make calls at the lowest possible call rates. The call quality remains excellent in VoIP based IP telephony. The billing method though is based on per second count but yet the rate is reasonably less.

In the telephony involving PC to phones, the user gets to utilise 'calling card' and 'virtual numbers' to dial a call to a specified destination. In case of calling cards, the users make use of a local access number at the lowest possible rates. These numbers help them to access the services of VoIP service providers. The virtual numbers are a direct calling facility provided to VoIP users. It helps users to access instant connectivity and market reach.

The best part about PC to phone solutions is that the user can make free calls from the computer while simultaneously accessing information and chatting with people. The users can also make conference calls to a number of people from the computer. The user of these sort of VoIP calls is also entitled to Fax calling.

The PC to phone solutions is available with no connection charges or monthly fees. The users can make use of the mobile for a longer period of time. There is no expiration date or time. The user can track calls and the account balance once a call is being terminated to the end user. The users avail these the services in order to make the best use of VoIP based IP telephony. The tracker of this system is used to keep one updated about expenditures incurred while making VoIP based PC to phone calls.

This system of calling is easy to access for its easy activation and online customer billing panel. The customer billing panel is the authority that takes care of billing provision provided to the customers online. The users of VoIP phone are varied and access the voice over service from any part of the world. This is the reason why it is necessary for users to make bill payments online. The online billing panel is how it becomes possible for users to make payment of bills from any part of the world. Thus, the user remains gratified to access the services from any region of the world.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nisha_M_Garg

Your Internet Phone Options

First off, what is an internet phone? To put it as simply as possible, internet phone is a technology that lets us send phone signals through our broadband internet lines and the range of internet phone options available to consumers is expanding rapidly. Formerly a high-tech mess of headphones, microphones, and noisy tech, internet telephone technology is now fully developed and here to stay. Keep reading to learn about the different options that are available - including computer to phone and phone to phone services.

Computer To Phone Services: These services allow you to call any phone line from your computer. To set this up, you'll need a computer connected to the internet and a headset with headphones and a microphone. These services are generally cheaper, but most people use them for outgoing long distance calls only. Because your phone is linked to your internet and your computer, both need to be up and running for it to work. Some of the larger Computer to Phone providers do sell phone equipment that lets you make and receive calls without being tethered to your computer. These phones, which cost around $100-$300 still require a subscription and internet access, but give you greater mobility and a more "phone-like" experience.

Phone To Phone Services: These phone services use your existing internet service to give you a digital telephone that operates like a regular telephone. Essentially, a small adapter connects your cable internet line to your telephone line, connecting the two. From there, you receive a regular phone number, a digital telephone, and the ability to make unlimited long distance calls for a small subscription fee. Again, your phone is connected to your Internet, so it's always a good idea to have a backup telephone, like a cell phone, on hand in case of emergencies or black-outs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gabriel_J._Adams