Have you wondered why some photos go viral on social media while others don't? Why are some photos shared by millions of users, while others do not find a response in the online community?

Let's answer these questions.

According to the latest research into the viral spread of information on Facebook ( "Cascades of shares" ) only 5% of photos on this social network are re-shared. On average, most of them receive 15 shares, and only 0.5% of photos are shared 500 times or more.

Would you say that mass seeding is needed to get reposts? But that's not true.Here is a photo that refuted the sowing rules.

Initially, the photo was sent only to friends on Facebook, but within 24 hours it received 1M likes and more than 150K reposts. What is the secret of such an avalanche-like spread of photos? Magic SMM wand? No in a global mechanism of social solidarity was activated. It was this effect that encouraged people to share information. 1M likes were gained solely due to a large number of reposts.

Here is another example of mass distribution of content.

And the secret lies in human curiosity. This feeling motivates people to take action to spread information on social networks. Probably everyone in childhood stuck scissors into a socket to see what would happen. BANG! But it’s interesting to know this, although it’s dangerous))

What else is needed to make content viral? Some open statistics. Like, share, comment counters help to involve the audience in the process of disseminating information. For a long time known fact is that posts with a large number of likes and reposts gain an even greater number of user actions. Everyone likes it - and I won’t pass by.

Using motivators to share information;

Open statistics of actions (like, repost).

Is there something else? Yes, I have. This is a reflection of the contribution of each user to the process of disseminating information, or in other words - the social significance of the user. But unfortunately, such information is not available to the user on the social network. The exception is Google+ Echo. Has anyone heard of this service? Echo reveals information about content distribution chains - its transfer from person to person on the G+ and YouTube services. Example Google+ Echo

In general, the technology for tracking relationships and ways of distributing content on the Internet is a new phenomenon. It allows you to dynamically see the spread of content on the network and its distribution from person to person. The Grow.me service is designed specifically for these purposes.

We will discuss below how to use Grow to virally distribute content online.

After analyzing more than 50 successful examples of viral distribution of content on the Internet, we discovered some patterns and rules. Based on this and having the technology to track the paths of content distribution, we created Grrow Graph, a tool for viral dissemination of information.
Here are some examples of using Grow Graph.

Sharing photography online based on curiosity

This is a promotional page for distributing a new product photo based on the repost effect. The product photo is divided into n-elements in the form of puzzles and initially hidden. To open a separate puzzle - part of a photograph, a repost on social networks is required with a call to join in the discovery of the entire photograph.

When contacting journalists, use e-mail. How to use this tool in such cases is described in detail in Chapter 6. The optimal form is an individual letter for each publication, preferably with personal address by name to the person responsible for the publication.

Of course, if you do not send out press releases every day, you should not make and maintain personal acquaintances with journalists and website editors, as professional advertising and PR agencies do this, achieving more high level and the number of publications in the press. Perhaps it will be enough for you to simply have a list e-mail addresses journalists and websites interested in receiving and publishing materials of this kind.

Second, more effective way such activities will be entrusted to professionals.

In the West, a number of online services for distributing press releases among journalists successfully operate. Such as, say, Business Wire (www.bizwire.com) or PR Newswire (www.prnewswire.com). The cost of such mailings ranges from 150 to 1000 dollars. There are also a number free services eg www.e-tradingpost.com/publicity.html

There are no specialized online PR agencies on the RuNet yet, but some online advertising agencies have already begun to provide similar services (Chapter 13).

The recipients of your press releases may be:

• news sites (list of key resources below)
• off-line journalists - currently many of them use the network as the main source of news and references (try to find out the contact e-mail through the editorial office or directly find it on the pages of the publication)
• specialized sites and news resources in your industry (you simply must know them)

Leading on-line periodicals:

Socio-political newspaper "Gazeta.Ru"(www.gazeta.ru)
Publishes an overview of political, economic and sporting events.

Project "Media on the Internet"(www.smi.ru) Contains various analytical materials, as well as the latest issues of all online media.

Daily online newspaper "Morning.Ru"(www.utro.ru) Covers news of politics, economics, culture and sports.

24/7 news service "Lenta.Ru"(www.lenta.ru) Provides a continuous flow of news about all significant events in Russia and abroad.

• Translation

From the translator. The widespread use of social networking opportunities is one of the characteristic trends in the development of the Internet these days. Social networks have long ceased to be a simple tribute to fashion and are used as effective remedy communications in a variety of areas: journalism, politics, trade, show business... A modern website not only provides some information, but also creates a space for communication. Website developers face important task: make working with social communication tools truly convenient and enjoyable. By publishing in this post a translation of an article from the French blog Usaddict, we would like to start a discussion about the ergonomic aspects of various social tools. We hope that it will be attended not only by experts in the field of usability and website design, but also by those who use social networks as a tool in their daily work: journalists, marketers, social media specialists.

Website owners are increasingly resorting to integrating them with social networks. This practice poses new challenges for web developers and designers. the main task is to, with the help of additional tools, ensure the fame and recognition of the site owner in the information field. Ease of use, integration and adaptation - these are the three pillars on which all work with social media stands. In this article, the problem of integrating a website with social networks will be considered from the point of view of ergonomics and design.

On the GDF Suez website, access to the social media integration feature is virtually invisible. A discreet icon is used to indicate this function. However, this icon is located next to the title of the publication, as is usually done on the websites of press publications. But in order to be used for its intended purpose, the element must be noticeable and recognizable.

The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline uses a module on its website based on a set of AddThis social buttons:

A similar model is used on the website of the German concern BASF, but the set of social buttons is located not at the top, but at the bottom of the screen (below the text of the article).

The Crédit Agricole bank website uses a set of ShareThis social buttons:

The design of the website of the Zara retail chain is made in a minimalist style. There is only one social button (Facebook), but the site is not overloaded with unnecessary visual elements:

Recommendations:

• Social buttons should be visible and attract the user's attention;
• It is better to place icons at the top of the page, under the text title;
• When using third-party components, you must translate them into your native language/

Attracting users to corporate events Facebook accounts, Twitter, Youtube

Today, many official websites contain links to accounts on Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Flickr, etc. Using these links, you can quickly post information on social media, but it can also confuse the user.

Ford on its American website gives more detailed information, explaining that he also has accounts on various social services, including on Scribd (Internet service for posting documents) and Delicious (service for publishing bookmarks on web pages):

DoMyJeans posted on home page website tools for accessing accounts on Facebook, Twitter and the corporate blog:

Provide social communication

Some companies place so-called social plugins on their websites. Thanks to them, site visitors can see what is published on the company’s accounts on social services and add the company to their list of friends on social networks.
The WholeFood website has special pages, which displays all messages on Facebook and Twitter accounts:

Like button (Facebook)

Many website owners use the social “Like” button. By clicking on this button, visitors can go to the site's Facebook page and see how many people have used this feature previously.
The American cafe chain Outback Steakhouse placed a counter at the bottom of the main page of its official website indicating that its products are liked by 700,000 Facebook users:

• Use the “Like” button if the site is designed for a wide user audience.
• It is advisable to install a counter on the site that records the number of clicks on the “Like” button.

Today, to access many sites, registration and login procedures in the traditional sense are not required (especially since many users consider them labor-intensive and time-consuming): login is carried out through existing accounts on popular social networks.

Diigo (a web bookmarking service) allows users to log in via Facebook, Twitter, and Google accounts and Yahoo. Just click on the corresponding icon - and a form for entering your login and password will appear on the screen.

• Logging in through social network accounts should serve to speed up access to site services. It is necessary to ensure that such entry is carried out as quickly as possible.
• It is preferable to place social login tools at the top of the home page

The openness of the site to the general public these days implies the possibility of commenting on materials. Organizing commenting is quite a serious matter; Often it involves the participation of a person professionally involved in communication with the user community (English Community manager).

BNP Paribas was one of the first French companies to establish communication with customers through comments:

The chain of perfumery and cosmetics stores Sephora invites visitors to its website to express their opinions about the products they purchase:

• If the services (products) offered on the website are aimed at a wide user audience, it seems quite appropriate to provide the opportunity feedback via comments.
• It is advisable that a social media specialist handle the organization of communication with users.
• Freedom of expression must be limited within certain limits: an excess of spam and “off-topic” comments can significantly worsen the image of the site.

  At first, many website owners feared that the influx of users from social networks was a negative rather than a positive trend, and did not use the tools social integration. However, it later became clear that social networks have a number of undeniable advantages - if, of course, they are used correctly.
  From practical recommendations The following can be given. So called social buttons should be located on the main page of the site. In addition, an important tool is the ability to log into the site through Facebook and Twitter accounts. Finally, rated and voted comments, if well managed and moderated, can be a great way to build trust between site owners and their audience.

Any computer connected to the Internet can, in principle, access a site located physically as far away as desired. In terms of speed, there is no difference whether the site is located on the next table or on the next continent.

If information gets onto the Internet and seems interesting to one of the users, it can be instantly distributed by any interested party to a theoretically unlimited number of Internet sites of various kinds (such as websites, blogs, forums and a number of others, which we will discuss in detail below). On websites and forums, this is facilitated by mechanisms for tracking changes using RSS feeds, and on blogs - a system of friends subscribed to new messages. As soon as information appears on the blog, it becomes automatically available to everyone who is subscribed to read the messages posted on it. Each blogger usually has his own subscribers, the number of which ranges from a few people to several hundred. Thanks to this structure, news that interests a large number of people can spread almost instantly. If this happens, then such messages come to the attention of special sites that monitor the most popular news (they track the information that users paid attention to, the number of which exceeds a certain threshold). From there, the message is automatically included in specialized mailings and ends up in mailboxes, whose owners may not be keen on Internet surfing, but are subscribed to newsletters. Electronic mailings form a second, no less large-scale, wave in the dissemination of information. Online news agencies are able to additionally join in the dissemination of information at any stage if they consider it an interesting news opportunity.

Whether we like it or not, anonymous sharing of information on the Internet is indeed possible. Some consider it evil, others consider it good. As a rule, the victims of such distribution are dissatisfied, and the preservation of anonymity on the Internet is positively assessed by those who want to bring to the attention of the public their hostile attitude towards a person or enterprise.

When you exit the terminal (computer or mobile phone) on the Internet it always receives a so-called IP address. According to the definition of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia compiled by the entire Internet community, “IP address (IP address, abbreviated from English. Internet Protocol Address) - a unique identifier (address) of a device (usually a computer) connected to local network or the Internet." This address is truly unique. On the Internet, no two computers have the same IP addresses. It is through IP addresses that computers transmit information to each other, so if two computers have the same IP address, it will become unclear which of them is intended for it. Distribution of IP addresses is carried out by authorized organizations. A pool of addresses in a certain range is assigned to a specific Internet provider, so the provider and the city from which the computer accessed the Internet can always be determined by its IP address. An IP address can be permanent or dynamic. Permanent assigned to specific user, dynamic – one of the free ones in this moment– issued by the provider to its clients in response to a specific request to access the Internet. If you use a permanent IP address, information about who it is assigned to can often be available to anyone. If used dynamic IP address, this information will only be known to the provider, and even then not always: although the provider knows from which terminal the exit was made, this does not guarantee the identification of the user. So, when accessing the Internet from a landline phone, it is known subscriber number and the address where it is installed. When exiting from a mobile phone - subscriber number and personal number telephone set (the so-called IMEI), and when accessing the Internet from a dedicated line, the provider knows at what address the terminal connected through this line is located. However, if you accessed the Internet from an Internet cafe or through a public point Wi-Fi access(in a cafe, at a train station, or even from a car parked near them), or from a mobile phone registered to a dummy person, search specific person becomes very difficult or even impossible.

An Internet provider can legally disclose subscriber information only to law enforcement agencies upon their request. Otherwise, it violates both the Federal Law “On Personal Data” and a number of departmental regulations.

The problem of finding a person who has accessed the Internet is aggravated by the fact that IP addresses are not always translated directly. For example, when using GPRS from a mobile phone, generally everyone using this service at the cellular company has the same IP address. In the same way, everyone who accesses the Internet through a so-called proxy server has the same IP address (this is often found in Internet cafes, educational institutions and large office buildings).

In addition, there are programs specifically designed to cover IP addresses - anonymizers. At their core, these are proxy servers created specifically to provide anonymity on the Internet. Some of them (for example, Steganos Internet Anonym VPN) even provide encryption transmitted information, which does not allow it to be intercepted on communication channels. When trying to identify a person who has posted text or other information on the Internet using an anonymizer, a number of steps must be taken. First contact law enforcement. They must initiate a criminal case (if there are signs of a crime) and convince the Prosecutor General’s Office to write a reasoned request to law enforcement agencies of the foreign state that owns the anonymizer’s IP address. This request must be completed in compliance with all necessary formalities, otherwise it will not be accepted for consideration abroad at all. It must be clear from the request that it is not politically motivated, otherwise, according to established practice, many countries will also not accept it for consideration, regardless of the correctness of its execution. After this, law enforcement agencies of a foreign country will contact the company providing anonymizer services and demand information about which IP address they connected to it from. During this entire set of events, which will take a lot of time to carry out, only the address from which the enemies connected to the anonymizer will be revealed. But anonymizers can also be lined up in a chain, when the connection to one of them is made through another...

In addition to what has already been said, it should be noted that there is a distributed anonymous network Tor, which is created and maintained by privacy advocates. This computer network on the Internet is organized in such a way that it is almost impossible to track the movement of a data packet from the starting point to the ending point.

That is why for most cases, if they do not concern international terrorism, when all the forces of the intelligence services of large countries will be sent in a coordinated manner to capture the villain, we can say that it is technically possible to ensure anonymity on the Internet.

Although we have given an overview of the main methods for ensuring anonymity on the Internet here, for the convenience of readers we will cover them in more detail in a separate section.

Creating a blog takes 15 minutes. Creating a functional website that does not qualify for a nomination in a web design competition - from 40. Transferring a site to a new hosting - from a few seconds to a few minutes.

Offline during this time it is impossible to even write a statement of claim. Moreover, at the time of writing the book, it was possible to open hosting (that is, buy space on the server where the site will be located) anonymously, using transfers through payment systems that do not provide identification as payment. And if hosting is ordered in another country, then off-line procedures for influencing it become no less labor-intensive than those described by us in the previous section devoted to establishing the enemy’s real IP address. These are very lengthy and sometimes expensive procedures, the result of which can be a court decision to close the hosting, after which, as we have already said, nothing prevents it from being reopened in another country, and within a few minutes the site with which there was a struggle will again be on the air. In addition, it is absolutely not a fact that a lawsuit against a site with black PR will be won. After all, if negative information does not constitute slander or insult, but a personal opinion, and if no laws are violated (for example, on the inadmissibility of publishing personal data without the direct consent of the person to whom it belongs), then the court may not make a decision on it at all removal.

If a media outlet publishes false information that defames someone, the victim can go to court and have a chance to receive compensation and also force the media to publish a retraction. And although the system that exists today, even in respected publications, is not perfect in everything (for example, in practice, a journalist who considers himself a “shark of the pen” can publish unverified information - and no one will control his actions), you can still try to hold the media accountable. It is difficult, long, but possible. But when the Internet is flooded with information of this kind, after which the media begin to write about this fact (“information has appeared on the Internet that ...”), there is usually no one to hold accountable.

Gleb Pavlovsky was one of the first to note this feature of the Internet almost ten years ago: “The Internet is an ideal tool for launching necessary stories into the mass consciousness. In addition, traditional media are responsible for the information they disseminate. Rumors transmitted via the Internet are anonymous. But newspapers and television get the opportunity to link to the Internet. That is, there is a real laundering of the so-called black information.”

Until recently, even online media could not be held accountable. When applying to the court, they were required to send a copy of the statement of claim to their address, and by the time of the court hearing, the information from the site had disappeared. True, in Lately it became possible to notarize a copy of the image of the information posted on the site. As a result, even if a particular text is removed from the site by the time of the trial, this does not save the electronic media from liability. This is probably a victory. However, it is so small that it does not solve the problem as a whole.

When a user posts information online, they often lose control over it without even realizing it. The phrases “The word is not a sparrow, if it flies out you won’t catch it” and “What is written with a pen cannot be cut out with an axe” are intricately combined here and have acquired a new meaning today. Indeed, by writing something on someone else's Internet forum or commenting on someone else's online journal, the user can completely lose power over his words. Even if someone believes that if necessary, they can remove the information they posted, it is not a fact that this is actually possible. It is enough for any person to simply copy the words given in the message so that the author’s power over this message is lost. Perhaps forever.

But even if the information is posted on the user's own website, he may sooner or later find that he is unable to remove it from the Internet. This most often happens for four reasons.

1. Information ends up in the Internet archive. Indeed, on the Internet at the address: www.archive.org/ there is a resource that copies website pages and stores them on its servers. Since it is located in San Francisco and is owned (at least officially) by a private individual, it is unlikely that it is possible to easily “clean up” information there at the request of organizations or individuals without a decision from a US court. Here is an excerpt from the Internet Archive article from Wikipedia:

The Internet Archive is located in San Francisco, founded in 1996, and has several projects. The archive provides free access for researchers, historians and schoolchildren. The declared purpose of the archive is to preserve the cultural and historical values ​​of civilization in the era of Internet technologies and to create an Internet library.

The Wayback Machine - the content of web pages is stored in the database, and you can see what a particular page looked like before, even if the site no longer exists. In October 2004, The Wayback Machine was first recorded as evidence in an American court. Censorship was also observed when part archival copies web pages containing criticism of Scientology were removed from the archive at the request of lawyers from the Church of Scientology.

In order to see the capabilities of the Internet archive, we present the images of the sites of RosBusinessConsulting (www. rbc.ru) dated December 10, 1997 and Most Bank (www.most.ru) dated January 16, 1997 stored there (Fig. 2, 3 ).

Later we will tell you in more detail about how to use this service.

2. Information is reprinted by another user.

Any person, company or news agency can reprint the user's words with a link to the source and comment on them.

The words of a user of an Internet forum can be quoted by another participant in the same forum and, as a result, go beyond the control of the author. The author can ask them to remove the person who quoted or the forum moderator, but he cannot force anyone to comply with this request.

Rice. 2. RosBusinessConsulting website dated December 10, 1997 in the Internet archive.

Rice. 3. Most Bank website dated January 16, 1997 in the Internet archive

3. The user's message gets into the so-called tops of various resources and remains there. This phenomenon is typical mainly for blogs. As soon as a topic begins to be discussed quite actively, it is recorded on special sites and a copy of it is posted there in sections like TOP-30 of LiveJournal for such and such a date. Often, news from these sites ends up in thematic mailings and is distributed to all subscribers in different cities and even countries.

Many resources on the Internet have become interactive. Indeed, ten years ago, an ordinary person or a poor enterprise could not get the opportunity to express their point of view on certain events or problems. Today, examples appear on the Internet showing that anyone can do this so “loudly” that they will be heard throughout the world and, if necessary, receive help. People who did not know each other just yesterday are instantly united by a common idea or attitude to some problem and begin to act together.

If the topic is interesting, users can independently join its discussion or even take part in solving it offline. The potential influence of the interactive Internet on real life is clearly visible in the example of such harmless resources as the “Darom” community in Live Journal (LJ, or Livejournal), www.community.livejournal.com/darom/ and the Live Journal community “Flashmob” (www. community.livejournal.com/fmob/).

Here is a description of the “Darom” community as given in its Journal:

If you find a good, but unnecessary thing in your house that you feel sorry for throwing out and have nowhere to put it, and also if you need something, you can leave a message in this community. Surely there will be a person who will be ready to give you the necessary thing.

Here you can leave advertisements: “I will give for free”, “I will accept as a gift”, “I will exchange” or “service for service”. None strict restrictions no, except for “buy/sell” ads.

Be sure to indicate the city you are located in or whether you can send by mail. If you do not indicate the city, it will be equivalent to the signature “Mr. Moscow".

If the item has already found its new owner or the need for the item has ceased, then do not forget to indicate this in your ad.

Attention!

1. Advertisements for the distribution of kittens and puppies are strictly prohibited. For this purpose, there are more than 90 communities where people are interested in kittens, more than 400 in cats, more than 40 in puppies and almost 300 in dogs. This prohibition does not apply to other animals.

2. It is prohibited to post messages like “tell me, please,” “tell me for nothing,” opinion polls, etc. There is a special community for this podskajite_plz, I have no doubt that those who want to give good advice there will always be more people asking for it.

Description from the Flash Mob Community Journal:

Briefly about Flashmob

A flash mob is a mechanism... a mechanism that allows, at the expense of tens, hundreds of strangers, to simulate a situation that simply cannot happen in reality. This is an opportunity not just to create an unusual situation, it is an opportunity to CHANGE REALITY! Having agreed on this site, we suddenly appear in crowded places and carry out our scenarios. We surprise, puzzle, frighten, delight and disappear - until we meet again

Flash Mob Rules

1. Do not talk about the flash mob either before, during, or after the event.

2. Study the script carefully in advance so as not to get confused or mix up anything on the spot.

3. DON'T LAUGH DURING THE FLASHMOB PROMOTION

4. Don't come with friends; Don't say hello if you meet someone you know.

5. Follow the instructions in the script strictly. Never try to stand out.

6. Set your watch as accurately as possible. Be there 10 seconds before the start of the flashmob event.

7. Do not stay at the event site after the flash mob is over.

8. To the question: “What’s going on here?” answer: “I accidentally... saw it here and joined.”

9. Photography and video shooting must be done extremely secretly, and it is better to abandon it altogether.

The example of these two communities shows that on any issue interesting to people, a team of like-minded people can quickly be created. Such a team can act in a coordinated manner, and its members are not hampered by the fact that they may not know each other. If the solution common problem requires the physical presence of participants, geographical remoteness still limits the capabilities of the team, but when we're talking about There are no obstacles at all regarding the dissemination of information on the Internet. A social network represented by members of an informal team disseminates information quickly and widely. But counteracting such lightning-fast dissemination of information throughout the world is extremely difficult, and most often completely impossible.

4. State borders are preserved in real life, but are practically erased in virtual life. We have already touched on this issue, talking about what efforts are required to legally obtain information about a user’s IP address in another country or to influence a company that provides its server for an enemy’s website. In addition, in some cases, there may be no agreement with this country on the interaction of law enforcement agencies, or according to its laws, the act of your enemy is not something reprehensible. Maybe she's on the other end globe or it is unsettled, so that for reasons of financial or personal safety, you find it inadvisable to fly there to establish contacts on the spot. Finally, it may be that this country has a difficult political relationship with Russia, and therefore will enthusiastically throw a spoke in the wheels of any issues that involve assistance to Russian businesses, citizens, government or law enforcement agencies.

Thus, an attempt to prevent the spread of information on the Internet may very well encounter serious barriers in the form of state sovereignty and differences in laws, while the one who disseminates this information similar problems Usually they don't threaten.

This has both significant advantages and significant disadvantages. Real life forces a person in any country to behave with an eye on the possible consequences of his behavior. Even in countries with developed democratic institutions, a person is forced to think about how his actions or statements will be perceived by others.

On the Internet, these restrictions are often not present at all, or they exist, but there are much fewer of them than in “real life.” As a result, any person can express his point of view to the whole world (no matter whether it is correct or not), and under certain circumstances he has no less chance of being heard than a serious news agency. It is not without reason that today news agencies have appeared and are actively operating on the Internet, in which the news rating is determined by the readers themselves, and not by the editor. This is the so-called social news (social not by topic, but by an algorithm for determining news ratings by the entire community). An example of such resources on the RuNet are news2.ru (www.news2.ru/) or smi2.ru (www.smi2.ru/), the popularity of which, according to researchers, is constantly growing. True, similar resources, like any open system, are constantly exposed to the danger of cheating results for advertising purposes, so some of them are again beginning to be strictly moderated when posting news, such as weblinks.ru (www.weblinks.ru/). In our opinion, the trend in the development of social news services is obvious, and as such services become known among the general public, the likelihood of distortion of the results by interested parties will significantly decrease. This can be seen in the example of foreign analogues. It has already been verified in practice that events that excite a large number of people are widely commented on by ordinary Internet users in real time. At the same time, the degree of confidence in what was said is incredibly high. An example is the situation with Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. To illustrate, here is a fragment of the article “New Orleans bloggers accomplished a journalistic feat,” posted on the well-known Russian resource CNews.

Bloggers wrote about Tropical Storm Katrina first-hand, in real time, and just as vividly as the mainstream media.

Diesel generator, computer and cellular telephone– everything bloggers needed to get online before they went out of business cellular networks. “Trees are falling everywhere. Three trees fell on a neighbor's house. The Southern Yacht Club burned to the ground,” Troy Gilbert wrote on the Gulfsails yachting blog.

Bloggers are increasingly becoming the most important source of information about emergencies around the world. The heyday of the blogosphere in the United States occurred during the presidential elections of last year, when the course of the process was described by authors from different parts of the country. The audience of blogging sites grows during important events - people are more likely to search the Internet for information that goes beyond news sites. Thus, Media Metrix from comScore recorded 1.7 million online searches for the words “hurricane” and/or “Katrina” on August 29—10 times more than in the five days of August 22–26.

"Bloggers outside the disaster area are doing everything they can to increase the dissemination of first-hand information," said New York University professor Mark Crispin Miller. Richard Lucic, a professor at Duke University, believes that blogs, podcasts and other new technologies bring news to a “human level” because anyone can do it with very little investment and no training.

We do not in any way disparage the dedication and resilience of New Orleans bloggers, but we would like to point out that there is almost never even an attempt to verify the veracity of the facts presented in such cases. This is partly due to the fact that there is no possibility of verification in principle, partly due to the fact that people simply do not think about the need to double-check information if it seems exciting and urgent to them. But in any case, for manipulators public opinion This situation opens up dizzying prospects.

To be fair, it should be noted that the first revelations of bloggers publishing “true” fried facts have also already been recorded. Although, of course, it is unknown how many similar facts remain unsolved. Here is an article by the famous blogger and journalist Anton Nosik, who writes on blogs under a nickname (pseudonym).

For those who don’t often look at blogs and online forums, let us remind you that a nickname is a virtual name. It can be, in principle, anything, but within one blog site it must be unique, i.e. if someone chose a nickname before you that you like, then you will have to come up with another one. The nickname you choose, accordingly, cannot be chosen by anyone else on this blog site. Let us also explain some terms found in the article below. “Phototoad” is a well-known Photoshop program that allows you to edit images and make any changes to them. “False user” is a user of LiveJournal, which in English is called LiveJournal, and in Russian transcription - LivJournal, or LZh.

The photoshopper moved to Gaza

Reuters employee in Gaza Fadel Shada and his colleague working for Iranian TV declared themselves victims of Israeli rocket fire.

The Association of Foreign Journalists in Israel hastened to call the shelling “outrageous targeting” and demanded a thorough investigation.

Apparently, in vain. Because an analysis of the evidence provided by the “victims” showed that we are talking about a staging.

This is how the false user akog tells the story.

And here are the English blogs that he used when preparing the material: MyPetJawa, PowerlineBlog (update), Snapped Shot, Confederate Yankee.

A particularly interesting story regarding the issue of staged filming of destruction is the re-enactment of an Israeli strike on Lebanese ambulances.

Hello!
I read here what I wrote about contact. Yes, in general it’s like that.

Promotion techniques are described quite fully in the video http://julia-marketing.livejournal.com/103190.html, which Dasha posted here. All this can be used.

I'll add more.
Everything flows and changes. VKontakte was not originally intended for commercial activities, it is a network for communication between friends. And doing what is said in that video is still spam, and the administration is successfully fighting this. The effectiveness of many of those methods has been reduced to nothing.

Accounts from which such activities are carried out are blocked. Their actions are intercepted and canceled before users see their results.

Therefore, I think using such “hard” marketing is not justified and is fundamentally wrong. Firstly, it simply irritates users and secondly, everyone there has already developed an immunity to it.

I think it is effective to promote simply something good and necessary for people :)))) And not very intrusively, then this information will very quickly spread among friends, and this best promotion, and this corresponds to the essence of VKontakte and social networks in general, that is, it is correct and harmonious there.

This, of course, is already clear :))) And it is also clear that there is a lot of good and necessary things, and yes, we need to move forward somehow, but more carefully.

For example, I’m tired of VKontakte, all those who use it only for commercial activities, tag me in their advertising pictures and videos. I delete those immediately. With very rare exceptions.

In general, there is usually a response to such activities only from those who are engaged in it themselves, and there is no benefit from such people.

For example, I have a group http://vkontakte.ru/club9632845
Tourist club "KP" Alloys!!! Water trips!!!

Once upon a time I invited people to it, I did it very selectively, I looked for those who might be interested, studying people’s profiles, and I had about 100 people there. And then another person invited another 800 people there, using conventional promotion methods, and 3 times faster.

Having studied the list of the group, I realized that almost all the people, after those whom I invited there, are either virtual advertising characters and bots (they accept all invitations), or those who themselves are engaged in some kind of promotion, or “dead people” who have been there for a year don’t show up, or children who are just cool to enter everywhere. There was almost no benefit from these people, over 100.

Therefore, you need to move more carefully. A lot of people in a group doesn’t mean anything. Needed necessary people, and not just any.

And I’ll say it again - the best promotion is when people themselves recommend interesting groups to my friends. And here the most important thing is to create such interesting content, an interesting project. This is generally the most important thing. And not just VKontakte. Then he moves forward easily.

But classical marketing doesn’t work very well there, and in general people there are not very inclined to engage in commerce. If we are going to make any kind of promotion there, then we need to do it much more subtly and skillfully.

Hello Klein!

Tell us more about this. I need this for the 2 Happy Geese store. I do not know anything.

Okay, I'll start in order. I will compare it with LiveJournal since you know it.

If you need a photographer, invite me, I’ll photograph you for free :))

Hi all!

I continue the story about the Senoval tavern.

We launched exactly on December 31, 2008. It soon became clear that the high-cheap-tasty approach did not work in its pure form, as it worked in Murmansk. Few people came. It was necessary to somehow increase attendance.

What we did to increase traffic and revenue

Services have been expanded and improved:
— forced the addition of Japanese cuisine to the menu (it was planned from the very beginning)
— added “business lunch”
— expanded the range of beer, because clients often asked for this
— added cheese and sausage slices and assorted pickled vegetables to the dishes

— replaced tea in bags with brewed tea in French press teapots 500 ml and 200 ml
— launched the process of obtaining an alcohol license, and before receiving it, officially allowed clients to bring their own alcoholic drinks
— organized the opportunity to book tables (initially it was not intended)

We made information on the Internet:
— made a page on vkontakte
— actively invited friends through the vkontakte website
- made a website
— made a banner for the virtualspb website (neq4 team project)
— actively involved in all discussions appearing on the forums
— posted invitations on the contact pages of nearby universities
— posted on the website, in the “how to find” section, Additional information
— link to Yandex maps
— text description of the route
— description of which minibuses to get from metro stations

We made flyers (600 pieces) and distributed them through different channels:
- surrounding houses
— trade union committees of nearby universities
- my dancing friends
- acquaintances of acquaintances
- through students visiting our VKontakte page.

Current status

Loading the establishment:
- there is no one until lunch
- increased significantly at lunchtime
— between lunch and dinner there is almost no one.
- increased in the evening, and on Saturday evenings almost full

Revenue:
— on Saturdays already covers rent and salaries
- on other days - does not cover, although there is progress, it is growing
— on weekdays last week for the first time exceeded the level of 2/3 of the amount covering rent and salaries
— at the moment we are still working at a loss. And this is critical, because... there is a serious loan at high interest rates.

Immediate plans
— distribute another edition of flyers
— create a magazine or community on LiveJournal
- get a liquor license
- maybe make Wi-Fi
— it is possible to install a terminal for paying with plastic cards
- go around the surrounding mini-hotels and negotiate with their administration about mutual PR through flyers or business cards or something else