Speed up your sites, or else, Facebook tells publishers

Facebook is telling publishers that if their sites aren't zippy enough, it won't serve ads to them.

http://www.pubexec.com/aggregatedcontent/facebook-pushes-advertisers-speed-mobile-sites/#utm_source=publishing-executive-insight&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=2016-09-02&utm_content=facebook+pushes+advertisers+to+speed+up+their+mobile+sites-3

The Hockey News beefs up website with new blog and live commentary

The Hockey News is refreshing its website, doubling its online content and expanding its social media presence to coincide with the start of the new hockey season. 

Post-to-Post is a new blog on the main site which will provide readers with more original editorial content and more immediate reactions to hockey news and events. 

“We are giving hockey fans all the news they have come to expect - columns, prospect rankings and rumor roundups that have always been the main pillars of our brand," said Jason Kay, editor-in-chief. "But, we now have expanded coverage with more impromptu analysis, game previews, slide shows and video highlights."

The editors will frequently take over the Twitter account @TheHockeyNews to provide live commentary on games with the #THNLive hashtag.  Advertisers are being told that placement with the new Post-to-Post package is expected to generate 300,000 impressions a week on the website. 

Tweeting on the toilet -- how social media preoccupies its users

I'm not sure which is more alarming; that so many people seem unable to get through normal daily activities without accessing social media; that 50% of Facebook users do so while drunk; or that 19% do so while driving. 

According to a posting on emarketer, women were slightly more likely than men to turn to social media while watching TV, traveling and exercising, and significantly more likely to do so while shopping. Men, meanwhile, were less hesitant to check in with their networks while at work. They also admitted to a much greater propensity to use social media while drunk or on the toilet than women.

For Millenials, social media enhances magazine reading, says study

Social media have enhanced the experience of reading magazines, even among those who do not consider themselves avid magazine readers, according to a study conducted for the MPA, the [U.S.]Association of Magazine Media. The research, reported by Folio:, was conducted by GfK MRI and was done among millenial magazine readers -- agend 18 to 34.

What it found was that, while only 40% of the 1,019 respondents self-identified as "avid magazine readers", 95% of those read printed titles and 43% digital editions.

“The results of MPA’s new study clearly demonstrate that social media enriches the magazine reading experience, and that magazine media readers—on all platforms—are creating communities around and engaging with the magazines and editors they know and love,” Chris Kevorkian, MPA’s chief marketing and digital officer, says in a news release.

About 69% of respondents owned a smartphone, 41% a tablet device and 26% an e-reader.

It seems that magazine interaction through social media is a common practice among Millennials. About 56 percent of respondents say they follow a magazine on Twitter, and the same percentage say they follow a magazine on Pinterest, or re-pin content from a magazine. About 52 percent of total respondents have liked a magazine on Facebook, and 51 percent have re-tweeted an article from a magazine’s Twitter feed. A magazine’s editorial staff does also have some influence with Millennials, with 49 percent of all respondents saying they follow a magazine editor or columnist on Twitter.

Facebook owns 95% of social media time, data shows

Magazines which have been paying close attention to their Facebook presence are backing the right horse according to comScore data, reported by Business Insider. It shows that, in the U.S. market at least, 95% of the time spent on social networking is done on Facebook. Web publisher Ben Elowitz of Wetpaint, who provided the data, says:

"There’s now no question that 'social' means 'Facebook.'" And if you want to be in front of consumers, you have to figure out a way to be in their Facebook news feed."

Alberta Oil magazine goes after mobile with special oil sands report

Alberta Oil magazine has gone for QR coding in a big way, with the cover of its special report on Alberta's oil sands featuring a QR background and a smaller code in one corner that is actually scannable.The magazine said in a release

The inclusion of the QR code is part of a larger strategy to extend Alberta Oil content to mobile readers. The code leads readers to an exclusive video tour of Syncrude Canada’s research centre in Edmonton, filmed by Alberta-based web video agency Zoom. With a budget of approximately $60 million, this centre serves as a testing ground for ideas that aim to improve production and environmental performance for this oil sands pioneer.

 Editor Darren Campbell said of the special issue:

“The oil sands hold much promise for Alberta and for Canada, but the challenges facing the sector are also immense,” says Alberta Oil editor Darren Campbell. “In our annual oil sands report we wanted to dig deeper and tell our readers how the industry is facing up to those challenges so that that promise can be achieved.”

Treating social networking like it's done on office time

If you want to corral and tame voracious social networking, the best thing to do is to treat time online the same way as if you were in a virtual office, say UK writers Kate Marillat and Ros Barber who write on their blog that they say they share with many freelancers (and many salaried people, too) the problem of being distracted for much longer than they intend or can afford; one interesting link leads to another, a half-hour evaporates and they "freefall into fanciful social networking".

You wouldn’t spend all day chatting to a work colleague in the same way you talk to a friend over a glass of wine. The conversation does not need to be constant and should be entered in when you:

1. have something meaningful (or funny) to say
2. it’s work related and
3. it will help the other person in some way with their own tasks.

This simple tip has helped me manoeuver away from spending hours on Twitter, following links and running out of time for my other projects.

 [H/T to Suzanne Boles via TFEW]

Top 50 U.S. magazines most followed on Twitter

Folio: magazine has published a list of the top 50 (U.S.) magazines most followed on Twitter.

The following list of most followed magazines was culled at the end of January (follower counts were taken on Jan. 31). For about 50 titles, the follower counts were compared to a similar count conducted in October, to see how their counts grew over the last three months.

Older adults taking to social media in a big, and growing, way says study

Magazine editors and publishers will be interested to learn of recent research on how the older generation (often dismissed as slow to adopt and resistant to change) is glomming onto social media. It could have significant implications for publishing decisions about magazine related websites, Twitter and other services. 

The study for the Pew Research Center (reported by MediaPost) shows that the number of adults 50-64 using social networking sites has doubled in one year, from 10% to 20%. And 13% of adults 65 and older log onto a social networking sites on a typical day, whereas only 4% did a year ago. 

Mary Madden, senior research specialist and author of the report, says 

"Young adults continue to be the heaviest users of social media, but their growth pales in comparison with recent gains made by older users... Email is still the primary way that older users maintain contact with friends, families and colleagues, but many older users now rely on social network platforms to help manage their daily communications."

The summary of the research, by the Pew Research Center, is available for download as a pdf.

A Typical Day: Where Social Media Use Fits In (% of Age Group)
Activity	18-29	30-49	50-64	65+
Send or read email	62%	67%	60%	55%
Get news	44	45	42	34
Do any banking online	27	30	22	19
Social networking site	60	39	20	13
Use online classifieds	14	13	6	5
Twitter or status update service	18	9	6	3
Source: Pew Research Center's 2010 Tracking Survey, August 2010