26 March 2013

9 Ways To Become More Popular On Facebook [Weekly Facebook Tips]



Facebook is different things to different people. It’s used to stay in touch, play games, share news and stories, or promote brands. What unites almost everyone who regularly uses Facebook is the desire to be popular and Liked.


The problem is that Facebook guards updates and doesn’t automatically show everything to everyone. The algorithm that determines how many people get to see a post is called EdgeRank and it pretty much is a black box. Nobody knows exactly what will make something go viral on Facebook. However, there are a few things you can put on your checklist to significantly improve your chances to become popular.


This article provides a summary of the wisdom from science and social media experts.


Be Upbeat & Positive


Good news spread faster and farther than anything else on social media, which is in contrast to traditional mass media. Psychologists explain that we care how our friends and peers react to what we share. Since we generally want our friends to be happy, we prefer to share something that makes them feel good. Consequently, you will literally be liked a lot more if your updates are upbeat and positive. Frankly, this one shouldn’t come as a surprise as the same is true for how you behave in ‘real life’.



There are some things, however, you should not share on Facebook, regardless of how positive or exciting they are.


Impress!


Studies show that people are much more likely to share or Like content that arouses a strong emotional reaction in them. This includes science articles that leave them in awe, as well as posts that excite them or make them laugh. Although content that triggers strong emotions like anger or anxiety tends to do well, the more positive a story is, the more likely it is to be shared.



See Upworthy’s entire How To Make That One Thing Go Virual slide show.


Appeal To Your Friends & Followers


Being positive and having the potential to trigger strong emotions is worthless, if you fail to capture the interest of your friends and followers. Know what they care about and feed their interests. Or build the audience that genuinely cares for what you have to share. Consider targeting different types of updates to different groups of friends.



There are a few things that really annoy people on Facebook; avoid them like the plaque.


Know Who Your Friends Or Followers Want To Appeal To


Now this one is a little complicated, so bear with me. People won’t just share something because it impressed them, they also want to impress others with what they share. In other words, if they think a person they really care about will Like what they are reading right now, they are much more likely to share it. So try to craft your Facebook updates in a way that make the social cognition regions in your readers’ brains fire! Or in simple terms: appeal to the friends of your friends!


Be Fresh!


Always strive to post about current and exciting things! We all love to be entertained and learn something new. And don’t forget to add your own unique twist; it will make you memorable.



Use Visuals


People don’t read, unless a great headline or a visual catches their attention. Pictures have been found to work best, better even than videos. So put an effort into finding or creating great images for your Facebook updates. Note that with the News Feed changing, pictures will be granted more space; you can now use up to 600 x 600 pixels.



If you decide to use visuals, be very careful not to breach copyright laws. Here is a list of things that might get you banned from Facebook.


Be Brief!


While you’re putting more effort into adding good images, cut down on the amount of words you are using. Although Facebook doesn’t have a character limit, it appears that even 140 characters are too much. Also note that text describing a picture won’t show as caption, instead it will be overlaid at the bottom of the image. Around 80 characters are said to work best.


Interact With Your Friends & Followers


Essentially a no-brainer, but communicating with someone is more engaging for them than being talked at. Involve people in your updates, ask a question, let them fill in a blank, have them write a caption for a funny photo, or challenge them to another activity. Telling people something you would like them to do will significantly increase their interaction. Sometimes life is simple.


Timing


Everyone is busy and all our Facebook News Feeds are flooded with updates. The best time for your posts depend on where your audience is located and what their Facebook habits are. Generally, weekend mornings tend to work best.



See the entire Your Way to Facebook Success Infographic.


Conclusion


Being popular on Facebook or making something go viral is hard work. Moreover, it requires quite a bit of skill and a lot of luck. However, if you follow a basic and smart recipe, practice a lot, and continuously learn from your own experience and that of others, you will eventually have a breakthrough. Never give up!


What is the Facebook success you are dreaming of?


Image Credits: Like via Shutterstock, Girl in Hammock via Shutterstock, Light Bulbs via Shutterstock, Green Grass via Shutterstock, Ladders and Clouds via Shutterstock. This post was inspired by an article on The New York Times and contains additional ideas from a Pagemodo Infographic, DashBurst, and an Upworthy slide show.


The post 9 Ways To Become More Popular On Facebook [Weekly Facebook Tips] appeared first on MakeUseOf.



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6 Movies You’re Either Going to Love Or Hate [Stuff to Watch]



Cinema can do incredible things to an audience. It can thrill with action, woo with romance and tickle with comedy and also suck pretty hard at times, though popular opinion can really be divided sometimes. It’s like there’s almost a sub-genre of films that have the ability to completely polarise their audiences.


If you’ve ever loved a film that critics have panned or walked out of an Oscar-nominated blockbuster hit in disgust then there’s a chance you might find it on this list. There’s also a good chance you won’t find it on this list, in which case you should probably stick it in the comments at the end of this post so the rest of us can check it out.


There’s no middle ground here – you’re either going to love it or hate it.


Beyond The Black Rainbow (2010)


Brave, belligerent, self-absorbed sci-fi nonsense with stunning cinematography, a convincing cast and watery dialogue, Beyond the Black Rainbow is truly the epitome of a polarising film. It’s one of those movies where half the audience will spend most of the film trying to work out exactly what’s going on while the rest will gawp slack-jawed at the action unfolding on the screen. Maybe only a quarter of the audience will love it, with a good half tempted to give up half-way through.


It’s incredibly difficult to even loosely sum up what is a rather disjointed and perplexing sci-fi thriller from writer and director Panos Cosmatos, but I’ll just say it involves a big bad dystopian future corp, a young girl under heavy sedation and a borderline psychotic “evil genius” character. If you like brooding synth, shallow depth of field and being confused then do all you can to find this film.



A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)


I’ve never walked out of a movie theatre before, instead preferring to stay and endure the steaming pile in front of me and at least “get my money’s worth” before leaving. AI was undoubtedly the closest I have come to walking out of a cinema in my life, as I watched people in the rows in front leave at around the 2-hour mark.


AI is the bastard child of Stanley Kubrick who had been working on the concept since the 70s. The film was in fact handed over to Steven Spielberg in 1995, but remained stagnant until Kubrick sadly passed away in 1999. The film generally received good reviews, but for my money it was way too long and uninteresting.



Wrong (2012)


Wrong is a film that looks like it was created just to be different, to completely break the rules of traditional cinema and instead of building a careful story full of believable characters, interactions and emotion it tries to blow your mind. The film itself tells the tale of a man who wakes up only to find he has lost his dog. The rest of the film is spent following the quest for Paul the dog which plays out like some unending psychedelic experience in which you wonder if you’ll ever feel normal again.


Perhaps Wrong isn’t quite as polarising as some of the other films on this list but there will certainly be a divide in the audience between those who love being thrown into the back of a crazy van and driven around town for a few hours and others who don’t see the need to create such an extremely warped universe that leaves the viewer with such a sense of unease.



Sex Drive (2008)


I almost hate myself for putting this film on the list, but then again I suppose that’s the point. Never before have I taken to such a laddish tale of balls-first masculinity, and never before have I laughed quite so hard at a series of Amish jokes. With a name like Sex Drive I was ready to completely hate this film when it first came out, but there are subtle flashes of brilliance starting with the credits, which to this day stick in my mind for some unknown reason.


The real saviour is Seth Green, so it goes without saying that if you’re not a fan of the actor, Robot Chicken or Chris’ character from Family Guy then you probably won’t feel the same. The jokes are dry, barely conscious quips laced with passive aggression and delivered on a silver plate. At a push I’d still call this a “bad” film, with some incredibly redeeming comedy thrown in.



The Sixth Sense (1999)


As I write this I’m struggling to see how this M. Night Shyamalan film has scored an 8.2 on IMDB, been nominated for 37 awards and walked off with another 32. In my opinion this is a terrible film with a predictable “something will happen at some point!” storyline that on careful repeat watchings barely makes sense in parts. It’s rather hard to talk about this one without a spoiler or two, so give this last paragraph a miss if you’ve not seen it (or better still, don’t watch it).


The symbolism of a certain colour is not so much subtly hinting at a twist rather than jamming it down your throat. Recent productions have clearly demonstrated that subtlety is not M. Night Shyamalan’s forte, and this film should have been a warning shot. You might love it, but I sure know a lot of people who didn’t.



Eraserhead (1977)


A dark and very strange tale of a man struggling with his wife and newly born mutant child… thing. Eraserhead is part horror part psychotic break which will leave you wondering what you’ve just watched. One thing is for sure: you will not forget this film, whether it’s because you loved how disconnected from reality it was or because you quickly grew tired of the increasingly bizarre plot.


Being a David Lynch film it is of course intended to conjure a sense of foreboding, loneliness and misery. At least, thats how I interpreted it, though everyone will take something different from this film; and it won’t all be good things either. The film drags at points, but it also drags you through a filed of emotion and despair and you’re either going to love it or hate it from the outset.


Have I completely missed the mark? Do you love these films? Are they all rubbish? Any others that should be on the list? Tell me how wrong I am in the comments, below!


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