One thing this doesn't measure is quality. Only quantity. Don't quite know how you can measure that though.
I'd like to see how many of these visitors who clicked through each link actually converted (as in, signed up as a follower).
You should follow me on Twitter
41–50 of 75 posts
Re: You should follow me on Twitter
#42I've read in the past that telling people to do something isn't as effective as telling them that everyone else is doing it. I wonder how a phrase like "most people who like my blog follow me on twitter" would fare?
how about "Follow me on twitter here. I have x followers."?
Number of followers is great for determining spamminess of an account, but mentioning the number of followers makes the message seem less personal. I would guess this would reduce its effectiveness, but I'm sure a quick test would provide harder evidence :)
Re: You should follow me on Twitter
#43I like his articles, but this one is silly. 4 Messages on 4 blogposts and he's drawing conclusions? That little data doesn't warrant any conclusions: too many uncontrolled variables. Results might as well be random. Audience, and expected clickthrough rate, per post topic may differ, the effect of repeating the implorement several times kicks in and if I bothered to give it some more thought, I could probably come up with ten other reasons that could explain the results. That was even possible after the first set of measurements in my physics graduation experiment; let alone in sociology/psychology.
Re: You should follow me on Twitter
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Similarly, I wonder how some automated text like "11,399 people follow me on Twitter, you should too" would work.
I'd word it like: "Join the 4,615 people following me on twitter _here_."
Maybe... "You should join my 4,615 followers on Twitter _here_."
Re: You should follow me on Twitter
#45I've read in the past that telling people to do something isn't as effective as telling them that everyone else is doing it. I wonder how a phrase like "most people who like my blog follow me on twitter" would fare?
how about "Follow me on twitter here. I have x followers."?
Or the Cialdini route: "Can you follow me on twitter because I have X followers?"
Re: You should follow me on Twitter
#46I've read in the past that telling people to do something isn't as effective as telling them that everyone else is doing it. I wonder how a phrase like "most people who like my blog follow me on twitter" would fare?
Here are the other 49 tricks, briefly summarized: http://www.moskalyuk.com/blog/yes-50-scientifically-proven-w... (This link is via HN, naturally: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=613402 )
With the one about towels (number 2), I wonder if people behaved better because they thought they were being monitored; and, if so, whether some of them decided not to stay in that hotel again.
Re: You should follow me on Twitter
#47He opens with "I spend a lot of time thinking about how to improve user experiences", so where in this are you thinking about the user experience? Why do I want to be influenced to follow you on Twitter?
If I can phrase things to drive people more efficiently through interfaces, it will help them have a better experience.
Re: You should follow me on Twitter
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I tried other longer but dulled phrases: "Please follow me on twitter here." "I have an account on twitter." "I'm @dcurtis on twitter." "Follow me at http://twitter.com/dcurtis They performed poorly.
You ought to include those in the data set.
You should include those in the data set.
Re: You should follow me on Twitter
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't the link's particular destination here matters too much. His main point pertains to the increase of clickthrough rates of (any) link by changing the language of and around its text.
I guess my point would be why, as a reader, would I want to follow anybody? Sorry for changing the point of view to the seller, but I'm wondering what's in it for the buyer? What's the transaction that's taking place here? Given that piece of information, applying some of the practices of persuasion mentioned in other posts starts to make sense, but without understanding the transaction, I'm not sure what his point i…
Dustin's research has applications in areas where every word makes a difference in your marketing efforts, or in guiding users more effortlessly through a process. That's why it's important.
Re: You should follow me on Twitter
#50Ok. I posted an article with questions about Twitter earlier today. So now I have ten or twenty followers. I mean this in a nice way, but -- so what? What do you do when you get followers? Sell them stuff? Seems like twitter followers are like blog readers. It's great to have them, but you have to act like they're not there and concentrate on content quality. Or maybe I missed something.
Ask them questions. I've used Twitter for everything from finding good bars in Bristol to getting someone to take a photo of the front door to a cold war bunker (twitpicced to me within 20 mins of the request for a picture).