Thursday Buzz: Twitter’s Influence Isn’t Enough for Web Traction

Twitter is easy, fun, and social, but does it hit your organization’s business goals?

Research by the digital analytics firm Parse.ly shows that Twitter has an “outsized influence” on the overall discussion but drives limited web traffic to media websites, Nieman Lab reports  (opens in a new tab).

An average post from the typical content publisher online gets about eight tweets, three clicks per tweet, and less than one retweet per original tweet.

If an organization wants to aim high, take a look at publishers who have the best luck with Twitter. They garner higher traction, with 11 percent traffic from Twitter, 180 tweets per post, 18 clicks per tweet, and about four retweets per original tweet.

“There is no ‘secret sauce’ for digital publishers looking to improve their success on Twitter,” the Parse.ly report states  (opens in a new tab). “Sites that are doing well on the platform—achieving high levels of engagement—are not necessarily the most active; rather, they are sites that are producing interesting and shareable content that appeals to a large number of people.”

What’s the advice for the best success on Twitter? Focus on content your audience will most enjoy or share. This works really well for niche groups and hyperfocused associations with strong missions.

Check out the full report here  (opens in a new tab) [PDF].

Topic of the Week

Here is Facebook’s goal. #F8  (opens in a new tab) pic.twitter.com/HdrtMKcQvf  (opens in a new tab)

— Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) April 12, 2016  (opens in a new tab)

Facebook had their annual  (opens in a new tab) developers event  (opens in a new tab) this week, unleashing info on many new features for the global social network. And it is still the talk of the town online.

Some key points: Facebook-owned chat messaging apps Messenger and WhatsApp host 60 billion messages  (opens in a new tab) a day—and for publishers, Facebook released a chat bot feature  (opens in a new tab). Also geared toward publishers, a lesser-known “Save” option was used by 250 million people, and a “Save to Facebook” button is coming soon  (opens in a new tab).

Head over to The Verge  (opens in a new tab) and take a look at all the other things that were showcased.

Links For Your Day

Thanks to financial tools like 401(k)s and pensions, we often plan our careers in terms of retirement. But should we? Author Neil Pasricha, writing for Harvard Business Review, suggests  (opens in a new tab) a different path for scoping out our lives.

Need help managing a busy schedule and loads of tasks? Google Calendar now has an automatic feature  (opens in a new tab) that fits goals under any time constraint into your free time slots.

Business travel can be entertaining, exhausting, and distracting. So how do you get work done? Robin Camarote at Inc. shares eight tips  (opens in a new tab) to grow as a professional and be productive while traveling.

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