Study looked at Al-Jazeera, BBC News, CNN, The Economist, Fox News and New York Times for metrics of engagement
NEW YORK—August 2, 2011—SocialFlow, a technology company that provides social media optimization services to major publishers and brands, today released an audience analysis of several news media organizations. The study examined Al-Jazeera, BBC News, CNN, The Economist, Fox News and the New York Times’ Twitter audiences. The study sought to understand the makeup, behavior, interests, similarities and differences between these networked audiences and their engagement levels.
Key findings include:
- The Economist has a highly active and engaged audience in terms of both clicks/Tweet and Retweets/Tweet, suggesting a high level of alignment between content posted and attention users are willing to provide.
- Al-Jazeera’s audience is the most active in terms of publishing and Retweeting content on Twitter and the Fox News audience generates substantially more clicks from its audience (even when normalized).
- Despite being the largest account, the New York Times garners the fewest clicks per Tweet when audience size is normalized and earns much fewer Retweets when compared to accounts that are much smaller.
“Our data shows that the larger an audience, the harder it is to maintain high levels of engagement metrics such as clicks and retweets,” said Gilad Lotan, vice president of research and development, SocialFlow. Further, the study illuminates three core components of successful engagement and audience development on Twitter: network connections, topicality, and timing. As in real life, context matters immensely on Twitter and interruptions are ignored. Audiences are very transitory on Twitter. Knowing when an addressable audience is available, what topics they’d like to engage in, and when, is the key earning attention and engagement.
“Trust and engagement are comparative to future investment in a brand; people who think highly of you will actively recommend you to their friends and colleagues,” explains Lotan.
Full text of the study is available at http://blog.socialflow.com
About SocialFlow:
SocialFlow is the world’s first and only social messaging optimization platform that uses data science and analysis to deliver greater engagement on Twitter. SocialFlow AttentionScore™ optimization technology ensures that the Tweets it sends match the topics that an audience is most interested in at any given moment. The result is greater engagement in the form of clicks, Retweets, conversations, shares and likes, and a better audience. More information at www.socialflow.com.
Media contact: pr@socialflow.com
