Instagram Rules

Instagram usage has doubled in the last two years, and it now reaches an average audience of 500 million people on a daily basis, more than double that of Snapchat or Twitter.  75% of users are outside the U.S.  90% of users are under 35.

So what accounts for its growing popularity?  It's nice.  According to the company, "they are striving to create a safe, happy environment.  One that people say is super positive and optimistic." (Rosenbaum, 2017)

Works for me.  Although I suspect not having to read has something to do with it as well.

In her "Tips for Taming Your Wild Facebook Feed," Katherine Bindley points out that if prioritization, hiding posts, and updating your likes, doesn't create an environment where you can go back to just the happy stuff - i.e. birthdays, brides, and babies (she forgot cats) then you can always switch to Instagram.  (Bindley, 2017)

Apparently more and more people are doing just that.

Rosenbaum, S. (2017, December 4)  Instagram's Dreamscape Winning Fans. mediapost.com.  Retrieved December 5, 2017, from

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/311055/instagrams-dreamscape-winning-fans.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline&utm_campaign=106413&hashid=c4hmrOYncfZiBl7GlC72xy3E6dw

Bindley, K. (2017, November 8)  Tips for Taming Your Wild Facebook Feed. wsj.com.  Retrieved December 5, 2017, from

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-live-with-facebook-and-still-live-with-yourself-1510160931

Who will respond to NASA's Instagram campaign?

Yesterday was National Techies Day.  The reason I know that is because NASA told me. 

I am one of the 37.7 million people who follow NASA on Instagram.  Typically they post one or two beautiful photos from space per day.  They also include a short paragraph about the pic, which fulfills my need for more information.

But apparently they viewed yesterday as a recruitment opportunity, so they took a different approach.  Here are their posts in the order that they appeared.

Clearly they are targeting the techie sub-culture.  So what do you think?   

What messages have they shared?  Which core values will these messages appeal to?  What about motivations?  Do these posts tap into some of the findings from the happiness studies?  Which ones?  How? 

What about Cialdini?  Which principles of persuasion do you see at work here?  Finally, will this campaign be a successful recruitment tool for NASA?  Why or why not? 

 

Combating fake news in social media means rethinking algorithms.

Yesterday Facebook announced that they will no longer accept ads from fake news sources.  (O’Malley, 2017)

Seems like the least that they can do since as the New York Times pointed out last week, we are entrusting increasingly large portions of our private and public life to advertising/data-mining companies. (Herrman, 2017)

But from what I have observed, social media is more about content than ads, and the algorithms that social media companies are using favor the popular.  

I’m trending on Instagram this week.  I’d like to think it’s because people appreciate my photos.  But why now?  I’ve been posting a pic a day for the past 2 ½ years, and have a small but loyal following.  Until this week.  This week my followers increased by 30% in three days.  And the numbers are still going up. 

The same thing happened with this blog last winter, although in that case, my page views increased tenfold over a period of about three months.  

So if fake news still appears to be popular, based on likes from fake followers, then it will trend.  Therefore companies need to deal with the issue of fake followers and adapt their algorithms if they really intend to combat fake news.  It will be interesting to see if they do.

O’Malley, G. (2017, August 29) Facebook Refuses To Carry Ads From Fake News Sources. mediapost.com.  Retrieved August 30, 2017, from https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/306494/facebook-refuses-to-carry-ads-from-fake-news-sourc.html

Herrman, J. (2017, August 21) How Hate Groups Forced Online Platforms to Reveal Their True Nature.  nytimes.com. Retrieved August 30, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/21/magazine/how-hate-groups-forced-online-platforms-to-reveal-their-true-nature.html?mcubz=0&_r=0&auth=login-email

The “Weinermobile” stops on 5th Avenue for a close-up.

I was walking down the street in Manhattan the other day when I spotted the Weinermobile and some companion vehicles.  

It just so happened that I had my camera with me, so I decided to take a few shots and post them on my Instagram feed.  

It was exactly the reaction they were hoping for no doubt.  While I was shooting a helpful young “Hot Dogger” approached me and asked if I would like to be in the shot.  I declined.  But others were taking lots of selfies.

Social media has had a huge effect on event marketing and undoubtedly magnified its effect.  The Weinermobile has 16.5K followers on Twitter and 7176 tweets.  Pretty sweet for a hot dog.

http://www.oscarmayer.com/wienermobile