Twitter used to track moods Goodbye mood rings and hello Twitter. A recent study by sociologists at Cornell University shows posts on social media websites can actually predict moods. The study collected Twitter messages from more than 2 million people in 84 countries. Using a technique called “sentiment analysis,” the sociologists found messages seemed to follow a consistent pattern. The analysis said moods are affected by a greater biological rhythm across the globe. [media-credit name="Chris Bunker" align="alignleft" width="300"] [/media-credit] A recent study shows that subject of tweets and mood correlate. In a typical day, one might remember waking up grumpy, getting happier as lunch break approaches, feeling like the day dragged on in the afternoon, and then picking up speed near bedtime. But what is the value of such a study? Dr. Social media trends has even prompted the Information Technology program at BYU to create a whole new emphasis to study social computing.
Social Media Analytics: The Small Business Guide to Metrics and Tools Social media marketing can help to increase brand awareness, allow you to reach out and engage with people who are interested in your products or services and act as a customer care channel and much more. However it can be difficult to measure exactly what social media is doing for your business. Like other more established channels social media teams need to prove their usefulness to a business, but where to begin? What you should be monitoring When you look at any kind of metrics or KPIs, you have to know which questions you want answered. Charlie Osmond (read the full interview) "the most effective way to measure the impact and value of social media is to create metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators) that align with your key business goals" 1. 2. 3. 4. What does success look like? A lot of companies don’t set the right kind of targets for their social media activity, which makes it really difficult for them to measure success or spot opportunities for improvement. 1. 2. 3.
What is Social Media Research? You know, this seems to be a simple question that ought to have a simple answer. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. I’ve been to a number of conferences and conference sessions which have focused solely on social media research and every time, I am taken by surprise when few of the talks are actually about social media research. That is, social media research as I’ve come to understand it. Some of the talks have been about: Focus groups that take place in the online space Surveys that are conducted on the internet Sampling techniques that collect responders from the online space Qualitative groups that incorporate digital photos and videos uploaded into online research communities Perhaps I’m a little biased since I’ve been so heavily focused in my little corner of the research space but I don’t think any of those are social media research. These are all traditional research methods that take place online instead of offline. On the other hand, at the heart of social media research is social media.
Do Social Signals Drive Traffic? As a regular blogger on SEOmoz, I’m very interested in what drives traffic to our posts. Of course, there’s the usual realm of referrers and keywords, but lately I’ve been curious about how social signals (including Google’s new +1) correlate with traffic. In other words, how much more traffic will a post get because it gets more Tweets, Likes, or +1s? So, I set out to do an informal correlation study, looking at how Tweets, Likes, +1, and our own internal social metrics – Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down – impact Unique Pageviews (UPVs) over two sets of data. The first set is the Top 50 posts (by UPVs) for the first half of 2011. (1) Top 50 Posts of 2011 The first study was pretty straightforward. Just a quick refresher – the correlation coefficient (r) varies from -1 to 1, with 0 indicating no relationship and 1 being a perfect positive correlation (when one variable goes up, the other variable goes up). (2) All Posts Since Google+ Here are the Spearman correlations for the second study:
Klout to update algorithm, launch score insights tomorrow Like them or not, Klout has been around for three years and is continuing its quest to become the standard of influence online. Competitors have been announced, but have not yet launched. Today I sat down with Klout CEO Joe Fernandez to discuss the future of Klout, and what the company has learned along the way. Fernandez would love to see Klout scores rolling along the screen with Tweets on networks like CNN one day. But why? What is it that makes us want some sort of validation before we see someone or something as being credible? Fernandez simply told me: TV, Radio, and News are measured. Since sites like Twitter, Facebook, WordPress, Tumblr, and YouTube let us become “broadcasters”, Fernandez feels that people should be measured as well. Do we really need a score to validate ourselves? The problem that I’ve had with Klout is how the loudest users have talked it up and beat it down. That’s the mystery though, nobody knows exactly what goes into the Klout score. He shared:
How Businesses Use Social Media for Recruiting [INFOGRAPHIC] Savvy job seekers have turned to digital and social media tools to help them in their job searches, and now recruiters are on board with the power of social media as a recruiting tool. LinkedIn isn't the only social network that helps in the job search process — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ have all been used by people to land jobs in innovative ways. And interesting takes on the digital resume are increasingly popular, with job seekers creating infographic resumes, video resumes and other visual resumes that set them apart from other job applicants. Employers are taking note of the importance of social media in the recruiting process, and the majority of businesses are turning to social media to find and evaluate job candidates, according to this infographic compiled by Career Enlightenment, a resource for online job seekers. Take a look and let us know what you think of using social media to find a job. Social Media Job Listings More Job Search Resources From Mashable
Why Groupon Must Change Its Business Model for Long-Term Success I needed sunglasses, the prescription kind. I hadn't owned a pair in years, but this past summer I finally became fed up with squinting and wincing while daytime driving. Lo and behold, a few days after I decided to invest in some new shades, a Groupon for a local optical shop appeared. Pay $75 now for $175 off frames and lenses later. Serendipity. That was in July, and a couple of weeks ago, I finally found some free time to head downtown and cash in my coupon. It turned out that the Groupon promotion had been much more popular than the tiny shop had anticipated. Sometimes Good, Sometimes Bad That's long been a popular refrain from small businesses who have tried Groupon. Yet, Groupon reports in its IPO prospectus that it featured on its site over 45,000 merchants in North America in the first two quarters of 2011 compared to just over 27,000 in 2010 — small businesses keep signing up. For some businesses, Groupon makes sense. But why did a boutique optical shop run a promotion?
How to Recruit with Facebook So you've got a great job that's waiting to be filled at your company, and you decide you want to tap into the already measured power of social media recruiting. You start to wrestle with the big kahuna, LinkedIn, and you're also covering niche social media sites for your industry. But you may be ignoring an intensely powerful tool hiding right under your nose — Facebook. The social media mega-site has proven successful for snapping up young professionals, but it can be a great resource for finding talent at any level. According to this infographic by HireRabbit, 48% of all job seekers (and 63% of those with a profile) did social media job hunting on Facebook in the past year. That's a lot of eyes searching for opportunities, and if your brand is already active on the network, it could be worth engaging power users to recommend applicable candidates.