Download Is There An Afterlife?

Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Is There An Afterlife?
According to Bitly research studies and analysis, different social networks have their own distinct personalities.
The report shows how content propagates (or “goes viral”) through social networks, particularly how the day and
time posted affects the eventual amount of attention it will receive. The study evaluates the persistence of a link
by calculating the half life: the amount of time at which a link will receive half of the clicks it will ever receive
after it’s reached its peak.
For a particular story analyzed, says the report, (Baby otter befriended by orphaned kittens) the half life was 70
minutes, the time at which this link will receive half of the clicks it will ever receive
Looking at a second link (East Coast earthquake: 5.8 magnitude epicenter hits Virginia), shared by the
Washington Post on Twitter, though the details of the traffic are different, and the scale of the traffic much
larger, it demonstrated essentially the same pattern: a fast rise, and a more relaxed drop-off. Noticeably, this
link had a half life of only 5 minutes, beyond which this link had seen half of the clicks it would ever see.
This link is associated with a very timely event, notes the report, as opposed to the previous link (pictures clearly
interesting all the time). The study concludes that the difference in content drives the difference in dynamics of
these two types of links.
An alternative theory, however, that comes up frequently says the report, is that the dynamics of the link traffic
depend on where the link is posted: do links posted on facebook last longer than they do on twitter?
Studying the half life of 1,000 popular bitly links, the results were surprisingly similar, says the report. The mean
half life of a link on Twitter is 2.8 hours, on Facebook it’s 3.2 hours. And via ‘direct’ sources (like email or IM
clients) it’s 3.4 hours. So one can expect, on average, an extra 24 minutes of attention if posted on Facebook
rather than Twitter, observes the report.
In general, the half life of a link studied is about 3 hours, unless published on Youtube, where one can expect
about 7 hours worth of attention. Many links last a lot less than 2 hours; other more sticky links last longer than
11 hours over all the referrers. The conclusion of the report is that the lifespan of the link is connected more to
what content it points to than on where it is posted. On the social web it’s all about what is shared, not where
it’s shared
Finally, there are some significant observations regarding the importance of the timing of the posting.
For Twitter, posting in the afternoon earlier in the week is your best chance at achieving a high click count (13pm Monday through Thursday). Posting after 8pm should be avoided. Posting on Twitter when there are many
people clicking does help raise the average number of clicks, but it in no way guarantees an optimal amount of
attention, since there is more competition for any individual’s attention.
For Facebook, links posted from 1pm to 4pm result in the highest average click throughs. Links posted after 8pm
and before 8am will have more difficulty achieving high amounts of attention. Facebook traffic peeks mid-week,
1 to 3pm, and fades after 4pm. Despite similar traffic counts, posting at 7pm will result in more clicks on average
than posting at 8pm.
The Tumblr network shows a drastically different pattern of usage from Facebook and Twitter. One should wait
until at least 4pm to post. Also postings after 7pm on average receive more clicks over 24 hours than content
posted mid-day during the week. Friday evening, a no-man’s land on other platforms, is an optimal time to post
on Tumblr.
Optimal Link Posting Times
Times
Optimal Time (High Click
Count)
Peak of Activity
Times to Avoid
Twitter
1-3 pm, Mon thru
Thursday
9 am -3 pm Mon thru
Thurs
After 8 pm; After 3 pm
Fri
Facebook
1-4 pm, peaking Wed @ 3
pm
Mid-week, 1-3 pm
Tumblr
After 7 pm; Friday
evenings
7-10 pm Mon & Tue
Weekends
Earlier than 4 pm
Source: Bitly, May 2012
The report concludes that, “... just like your neighborhood restaurants, each social network has its own culture
and behavior patterns. By understanding the simple characteristics of each social network, you can publish your
content at exactly the right time for it to reach the maximum number of people... “
For more information from bitly on half life, please visit here; and to read more about timing as reported by
Marketing Charts, please go here.