Quick Study: Looking at the Half-Life of Social Network Links; Execs Sing Sustainability Song, Say It’s Critical to Business

â–¶ The Half-Life of Links: According to a May 2012 Bitly study, different social networks have their own distinct personalities. The study shows how content goes viral through social networks, particularly how the day and time posted affects the amount of attention it will receive. The study evaluates the persistence of a link by calculating the half-life: the amount of time at which a link will receive half of the clicks it will ever receive after it’s reached its peak. Findings include:

• The half-life of a social link is about three hours, unless published on YouTube, where it can receive seven hours’ worth of attention.

• For Twitter, posting in the afternoon earlier in the week is your best chance at achieving a high click count (1-3 p.m. Monday through Thursday). Posting after 8 p.m. should be avoided.

• For Facebook, links posted from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. result in the highest average clickthroughs. Links posted after 8 p.m. and before 8 a.m. achieve lower amounts of attention. Facebook traffic peaks midweek, 1 to 3 p.m. and fades after 4 p.m.

Source: Bitly

â–¶ Sustainability Spreading: Brands around the world are putting an increased emphasis on sustainability, a trend covering areas from corporate strategizing to new product development and marketing. An Accenture study, released in May 2012, polled 250 executives—some 44% of which agree sustainability is “critical” to their business. A further 48% say the issue was “very important.”

Other findings include:

• When considering the factors stimulating sustainability action by brands, 62% point to consumer and customer expectations, and 23% report this constituted the “single most important” prompt.

• Among the sustainability-led investments being made to encourage growth, 60% of firms are entering new markets and 54% are developing products linked to existing sources of revenue.

• For 60% of respondents, it is viable to command a price premium for green goods, a rating peaking at 70% in emerging markets, 67% in the U.S., 56% in Europe and just 36% in Japan. PRN

Source: Accenture