How Many Hashtags?

Hashtags are such a successful feature with Twitter that other social networks have adopted them. They're great as a resource for finding topical posts fast, at least on Twitter. On other networks, not so much. This was the case with Linkedin, who experimented with them for a while before giving up.

There's been a lot of study on effective hashtag use in terms of the number that can be effectively used. Here's the latest.

Twitter - 2 hashtags work best, with the amount of engagement decreasing with the more you add. That said, there's 100 % more engagement if you use them, and tweets with them are more likely to be retweeted as well. Remember not to trivialize your hashtag, since they're best used to categorize a tweet. 

Facebook - It's been found that hashtags actually decrease engagement. Don't use them. 

Instagram - Contrary to all other networks, the more you use, the better since on Instagram, hashtags are used primarily to build community. 11 hashtags or more get the most engagement. 

Pinterest - Once again, it's been found that hashtags actually decrease engagement. Stay away from them here.

One thing to remember is that they now turn up in a Google search and many people do search for them, so they're worth using.

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You should follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business, Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

9 Amazing Social Media Facts

Social media is a huge part of our lives, but sometimes we underestimate just how big it really is. Here are some truly astounding social media facts, courtesy of socialnomics, that provide some perspective on the biggest part of our online lives.

1. Facebook's 1 billion members makes it the world's third largest country behind China and India.

2. Every day 20% of Google searches have never been searched before.

3. Two new members join LinkedIn every second. This is about the same as the entire enrollment of the Ivy League colleges every day.

4. By the end of 2013, social gamers will purchase $6 billion in virtual goods, but moviegoers will only purchase $2.5 billion in real goods.

5. 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute.

6. YouTube is the world's second largest search engine (of course, it is owned by Google).

7. 53% of people on Twitter recommend products in their tweets.

8. 92% of people trust reviews and recommendations compared with only 14% who trust traditional advertising.

9. Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry have more Twitter followers than the populations of Germany, Turkey, South Africa, Canada, Argentina and Egypt.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Who Uses Social Networks?

A few days ago I quoted some stats from the Pew Internet & American Life Project regarding Facebook use. Today we'll look at some of the other interesting tidbits that came from the studio regarding social networking. It really gives you a good idea of exactly who is using the most popular social networks.

• 92% of those that use social networking use Facebook, 29% participate on MySpace, 18% are on LinkedIn and 13% use Twitter.

• Overall social networking usage has nearly doubled from 2008  to 2010.  Back in 2008 26% of adults were utilizing a social networking service (SNS) whereas 47% of adults were using a SNS in 2010.

• Only 18% of Internet users over the age of 35 used a social networking service in 2008, but by 2010 that number was up to 48%.  

• The average age of an adult SNS user jumped from 33 years old in 2008 to 38 years old in 2010

• Social networking users skew female. A notable change showed the discrepancy actually grew from 6% more females in 2008 to 12% more female social networking users in 2010.

• The average MySpace user (32 years old)  is younger than both the average Facebook user (38) or Twitter (33) user.  LinkedIn skews the highest out of all the networks with users having an average age of 40.

• LinkedIn is the only social network that has more men than women and the disparity is rather large, with men nearly doubling the number of women.  Twitter, on the other hand, is almost exactly the opposite of LinkedIn with woman making up 64% of the total users.

• African-American users have the lowest presence on LinkedIn, making up only 2% of the total users. The highest saturation of African Americans is on MySpace with 16% of the total users.

• Hispanic users are not prominent on social networking services either. LinkedIn is comprised of only 4% Hispanics, compared to the approximate 14.5% Hispanic makeup of the national population. Hispanics do however make up 12% of both the Twitter and MySpace user base.

• LinkedIn is far and away the most saturated site when it comes to white users, who make up a whopping 85% of the user base.

• While Twitter finished in last place out of the four main sites, the frequency of use of Twitter is quite high. Facebook  leads the pack in frequency of use with 52% of users checking at least once a day, but Twitter is close behind with 33% of users checking in on a daily basis.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for daily discussion of music, recording, and production tips and tricks.

The Linkedin Of Music

I'm sure most of you know about Linkedin. It's basically a Facebook for professionals, aimed primarily at keeping those on the executive level of the business world in touch with one another. What many don't know is that there's a rough musical equivalent called Indaba Music.

Indaba was designed as a place where musicians can network and collaborate, but there's a lot more to it. As the video below shows, the site has a number of opportunities to work with or do remixes for major artists. 26 songs sourced through the site have already been released by major record labels, and a number of acts have used or are currently using remixes that have come directly from some of the contests it runs.

Check out the video, then check out the Indaba Music site for some of their opportunities.

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Follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.