Tag Archives: Vadim Lavrusik

Adding analysis increases referrals from a journalist’s Facebook page

Facebook has published a study on how users interact with journalists’ pages on the social networking site.

The research also analysed how users use news organisations’ Facebook pages. Those results will be published shortly.

The main highlights from the study, published on the Facebook for Journalists page, suggest journalists with Facebook pages should take note of the following facts:

  • Starting the conversation: Posts that include a question or call to action from the journalist received the highest amount of feedback;
  • Personal analysis is effective: Posts that included the journalist’s analysis and personal reflections had 20 per cent more referral clicks than that of an average post;
  • Images work: Photos received 50 per cent more likes than non-photo posts, and journalists who shared links that included a thumbnail image in the link preview received 65 per cent more likes and 50 per cent more comments than posts that did not include images.

Facebook’s report is co-authored by journalist programme manager at Facebook Vadim Lavrusik, who spoke to Journalism.co.uk for this podcast on how journalists can best use Facebook pages and for this guide on how to set up a successful Facebook page as a journalist.

Other findings of the report:

  • Posts that asked questions or sought user input: +64 per cent;
  • Call to read or take a closer look: +37 per cent;
  • Personal reflections or behind-the-scenes posts: +25 per cent;
  • Posts with catchy/clever language or tone: +18 per cent.

What is the most effective post length?

On average, meaty posts from journalists get more feedback via comments and likes. The analysis showed that four-line postings received a 30 per cent increase in feedback over average posts and five-line postings showed a 60 per cent increase in feedback over average posts. However, one-line posts show the greatest fluctuation, receiving the highest maximum feedback observed, at 15 times higher than the average post. Five-line posts were a close second, showing a maximum of around 10 times the average post. For journalists posting teasers for links or status updates on their pages, this means both short and long posts can yield results but meatier posts on average generate more feedback overall.

Is it worth posting photos?

The research also shows it is worth ensuring every news story has an image.

Journalists who shared links that included a thumbnail image in the link preview on their page wall saw a 65 per cent increase in likes and 50 per cent increase in comments on those posts.

What types of story gets the most interaction?

The research on the type of stories that result in the greatest number of click-throughs and the highest reader engagement is revealing.

Engagement by story type: Posts about education, politics and behind-the-scenes insights and analysis from journalists received a higher amount of feedback on average. Education posts got two times more likes, politics received both 1.7 times more likes and 1.6 times more comments, and a journalist sharing their thoughts had 1.4 times more likes.

Referral clicks and story type: International news stories had 70 per cent more referral clicks than that of an average post. For example: “For 60 years, Pakistan’s military has focused obsessively on its rivalry with India. Large elements within that military appear to be switching obsessions…” – Fareed Zakaria, CNN;

Stories about politics received 60 per cent more referral clicks. For example: “I’m sitting down with President Obama tomorrow for an exclusive interview – click below and tell me what you think I should ask.” – George Stephanopoulos, ABC;

Posts that included the journalist’s analysis or personal reflections received 20 per cent more referral clicks than an average post. For example: For all of you high school students  accepted into college – congratulations, but think about deferring for a year and taking a ‘gap year’ – I did…”  – Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times;

Daily feedback and referral clicks: Journalists received the highest amount of feedback later in the week. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday had the highest amount of feedback – with Sunday receiving the highest amount of feedback at 25 per cent more likes and 8 per cent more comments above average. Referral clicks were above average Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday – with links getting 85 per cent more clicks on Saturday and 37 per cent more on Wednesday than an average post;

This part of the study focuses on the US, which spans several time zones, but the following times are worth noting:

Hourly feedback: Readers are active throughout the day. Feedback spikes occurred on journalist pages at the start of the day (7am and 8am showing a 30-40 per cent increase); late in the morning (10am received 40 per cent increase in feedback); later in the workday (4 and 5pm showing 40 per cent and 100 per cent increases); and on into the evening hours (midnight getting 30 per cent increase and 2am getting 20 per cent increase).

Poynter’s report on the Facebook study – Facebook data show 7 keys to maximum engagement for journalists – explains the scope of the research:

For those curious about the methodology, Facebook’s Vadim Lavrusik tells me they sampled 25 pages of local, national and international journalists, across various types of media. Data was collected over a two-week period.

Facebook appoints Mashable community manager in new journalism role

Mashable’s community manager and social media strategist Vadim Lavrusik is to take up Facebook’s new role of journalist program manager.

Journalism.co.uk reported in February that Facebook had created the role in its marketing team in order to bring in an experienced journalist to help news organisations understand how the social network can be used as a reporting and distribution tool.

Announcing his new role on his Facebook page Lavrusik said he will be “leading the charge” to build programs that help journalists utilise Facebook in their reporting.

This includes the likes of the recently launched Journalists on Facebook Page and Facebook Journalism Meetups program, as well as resources for journalism educators, but also taking insightful feedback to product on how Facebook can be improved for journalism.

Mashable: Are social networks becoming personal news wires?

To celebrate its five-year anniversary, Mashable is producing a series of posts on developments in social media. The latest looks at the impact of social networking on news consumption and the idea that social networks have become personal news wires.

Following a discussion of online “friends” evolving into our news editors, writer Vadim Lavrusik rounds-up some interesting ideas about ways to measure source credibility in the future for greater transparency online.

Though news is increasingly social and user-generated, the persistent fear is one of credibility and a flaw in measuring a curator’s knowledge on or interest in a topic. This problem could be improved by enabling users to develop more targeted news feeds on personalized topics of interest, but also by identifying specific sources and curators of information as more or less credible than others.

One idea he discusses, put forward by Andy Carvin a senior strategist at NPR,  would be to measure “who is knowledgeable” about a topic being shared.

This could also include sifting sources based on whether they are eye-witness to an event or are experts on the topic, both of which add value in their own way, he said. Such a model could then help establish a credibility index among users as sources, helping consumers better decide what information is credible.

See the full post here…

NYC 3.0: Kommons – creating a real-time news platform for specific communities

Vadim Lavrusik takes a look at Kommons, a new project from New York University senior and founder of local news blog NYU Local, Cody Brown.

Brown is developing a platform for local news communities, combining the strengths of Twitter and Wikipedia, to create a flow of real-time news and updates in response to specific questions and queries from users. Kommons will focus on issues of trustworthiness and identity of contributors and be tested on a version for New York University:

A profile page has a stream of status updates, but anything that is @tagged by a user in a status message becomes its own wiki-like page that users can edit and add information to in real-time. This means anything can be tagged and have user-created information attached to it. The function applies to users that are tagged. A user has a short background profile, but other users can attach information about that person. In a lot ways, the identity is determined by the community of users similar to how a bio page functions on Wikipedia.

Full story at this link…

Mashable: Slideshow on ‘the future journalist’ – what will they need?

Great presentation from Mashable on ‘The future journalist: thoughts from two generations‘.

Created for Mashable’s NextUpNYC event the presentation was part of an on-stage discussion between Sree Sreenivasan, a professor and dean of student affairs at Columbia Journalism School, and his former student and Mashable contributor Vadim Lavrusik, which looked at the skills need by the journalist of the future, their approach to the business side of journalism and their use of social and multimedia:

Mashable: 12 survival tips for newspapers

While a lot of the points on this list are things Journalism.co.uk has been reporting on for a while now, Vadim Lavrusik offers a wealth of examples and encourages a discussion around his 12 points for the survival of newspapers.

The 12 points in short:

  • Putting the web first and reporting from multiple platforms
  • Go niche
  • Offer unique content in print
  • Journalists as curators an contextualisers
  • Real-time reporting integration
  • Internal culture – start-up vs corporate
  • Encourage innovation
  • Charging for quotes is not the answer
  • Investing in mobile: e-readers or smartphones
  • Communicating with readers
  • Building community
  • To pay wall or not to pay wall – that is the question

Full list at this link…