Space and Time Models for Social and Mobile PR
In physics, the space–time continuum is a mathematical model that combines space and time into a single interwoven continuum. In public relations, there is a direct correlation in social and mobile media. It’s much the same science that surfers use to catch the best waves.
To communicate with the right target audience, you have to choose the right time and the right space.
I recently saw a presentation from Jenny-Rebecca Schmitt of CloudSpark in Atlanta that inspired some thinking on this subject.
For instance, everyone is on Facebook, with one billion members worldwide and 618 million who are active. One out of every seven minutes spent online is spent within the confines of Facebook. But if you were targeting Facebook users, did you know the heaviest traffic is from 1:00-4:00 pm on Wednesdays?
LinkedIn is more obvious, Tuesday-Thursday from 7:00 – 9:00 a.m.—just before people get to work, probably thinking about updating their resumés before the work day begins.
For Twitter, its 9.6 million active users Tweet the most Monday-Thursday between 1:00 and 4:00 pm. That means for your Tweet to stand out, you might try weekday morning hours before the tidal wave of traffic swallows your messaging. Or perhaps you swim against the tide and try to capitolize on what’s trending in the mid-afternoon?
If you’re targeting men in technology, you might try Google + during the business morning, that’s when the majority 11.9 million male audience is active.
Pinterest skews much more heavily towards women, who tend to do the most pinning after work time hours. The busiest time is Saturday mornings, but weekday evenings are also pin-tastic.
People who use Tumblr are more likely to have tablets, and are more likely to be found active on Sundays, as well as Monday-Thursday evenings. Don’t try Friday or Saturday nights, comparatively, there’s nobody home.
Just as you never step into the same river twice, the flow of social media is constantly changing. Mashable, Pew Internet, Global Web Index and PR Daily are just a few of the resources to keep you in the know when surf’s up.
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