Every blog needs to engage its audience if it is to be believable when boasting about its high number of visits.  When a reader visits one page and then leaves without checking other pages, that is not engaging the audience. That is what is termed as a bounce which is not considered positive by search engines.

Bounce Rate

Blogs are and should be concerned about bounce rate.  It is a reflection of how engaging a blog is.  Since a bounce happens when a visitor enters and exits through the same page, there is a conclusion that its contents are not that relevant so as to encourage further reading in other pages. Relevance is usually associated with quality and this is where the problem in categorizing a visit comes in.

It is necessary to have appropriate analytics in place to measure bounce rate.  A low bounce rate can be an indication that targeted users are finding just what they are looking for in a site and that they are finding it in more than one page. Providing related content is a simple way of leading visitors to spend more time in the site and therefore lower the bounce rate.  A high bounce rate on the other hand, indicates that users are not finding anything relevant and are therefore going back to search engine result pages to find other options.

A high bounce rate is not always bad since it is possible that the information required by users has been obtained on the first page visited.  The opportunity to further engage the visitors should not be wasted.  Relevant content has been provided so it makes sense to provide more reasons for return visits.

Engaging the Audience

So we go back to the basic question of how to engage an audience.  Aside from providing relevant and related content, there are a lot of things that site or blog owners can do to engage their audience.  Engaging an audience basically pertained to effective relating to readers and visitors.

Asking questions and running contests are two of the most common strategies of simple audience engagement.  They only require the performance of easy tasks and promise results in terms of the chance to air their views and being responded to as well the chance to win prizes which is always something positive.  Engaging the audience through various social network platforms is another way of going about it. Engaging an audience requires talking and listening.

Teresa is a researcher-writer who covers a wide range of topics in search of useful information.

Image: bloggingexperiment.com

Image: investvine

The Thais are actively participating in social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter like any other nationalities in different parts of the world.  The bulk of the social media participants belong to the 18 to 24 age group with the 25 to 34 age group following not very far behind.  The 35 to 44 age group is a far third placer with the number sharply tapered off from the second place.  The 14 to 17 age group has the lowest numbers in terms of registration.

Thais are moving through the social networks, not very much different from others except for one noticeable thing – the variation of the form of Thai language as used by participants in social media.  The Thai language is probably one of the more difficult language to learn with specific rules in intonation, inflection, and word orders.  With the rise of Thai Internet users, concerns of how the Thai language is being adapted to the online environment likewise rises.

Thai Internet users appear to be developing their own style of communicating and interacting known as the Internet slang with their friends and acquaintances.  Many are seen replacing traditional Thai language with words and spellings that are largely influenced by social media.  These variations are being used in almost all social media applications used by Thais.

To determine just how active Thais have become in social media, it is worth noting that there are at least 5 Thais who are actively involved in social media through their employment with Facebook.  They are working as software engineers and data visualization scientists with Facebook.  This shows that Thais are not merely participants in social media but are actually movers of social media themselves.  Observers have been quick to remind that programming skill has to be accompanied by English language proficiency.

Thailand ranks 14^th when it comes to the number of Facebook users.  Statistics show that the actual number continues to rise supporting the belief that Thais are relying more and more on social media to carry out daily tasks.  There seems to be some question on the matter of allowing government employees to access Facebook during working hours.

Not everyone in the Thai government has fully come to terms with utilizing social media for tasks such as customer service, communication, information dissemination, illegal- activity monitoring, and criminal hunt.  The confusion is being blamed on the lack of clear social media policy from the government.  Although there is much discrepancy of the use of social media between the Thai government and the Thai public at present, this is expected to be eventually straightened out as government entities have a clearer view of the potentials of social media.

About the Guest Blogger

Edna is a social media practitioner currently studying the effects of social media on culture.  She is presently in Thailand to learn Thai language.

A blog cannot and will not achieve its maximum potential without some sort of networking with other blogs.  Networking should not be understood as simply mass linking, mass commenting, and mass posting.  You know exactly what I mean -those perfectly senseless links, comments, and posts that clog the Internet too much that it is impossible to ignore them.

Like in every sensible activity wherein we undertake to achieve an identified goal, there is value in every effort, in every word, and in every interaction.  When it is far too obvious that a site is just fishing for some good back links instead of presenting real value to the target source of important and needed links, the attempt for online interaction tends to backfire.

Expanding a blog’s network is not merely about increasing the number of followers.  It should include facilitating connections between people in your network who will stand to benefit from direct interaction with each other.  Hoarding on network members without allowing them to go their natural path of branching out on their own, defeats the purpose and essence of a blog network.

It always pays to reply to a comment because it represents a more personalized way of interacting.  It shows that you read comments and replying initiates further contact or communication.  Communication can extend beyond emailing.  It can also be done through texting or attending blogging conferences.

A blog requires the involvement of people other than the author.  The blogger alone cannot spread the word about the blog.  He will need friends, followers, fans, and even foes to create awareness for his blog.  Networking between blogs cannot be one way where one always gives and the other always takes.  It is always a reciprocal effort.  Doing any less will not be good for the blog in the long run.

There’s money in micro-blogging. Twitter has made an astounding $25 million (roughly about 15.5 million pounds) just from deals made with Google and Microsoft.

More than half of it is from Google ($15 million), says BusinessWeek, which interviewed two insiders who are familiar with Twitter’s finances — and apparently, the deals made in the boardroom. “The deals were huge,” one says, of the contract signed just two months ago, in October.

And if the numbers are to be believed, he wasn’t exaggerating. With $25 million in just two months it will be interesting how much revenue the company will rake in 2010. Especially since, as Twitter co-founder Biz Stone one said, things are just starting to come together. He’s put a team dedicated to finetuning the site’s “search and discovery perspective.”

The success of Twitter is how it’s turned micro-blogs into an instant feedback system. “Twitter is earning a reputation for delivering real-time results to queries about things that are happening right now.”

Too bad the execs won’t be Twittering if the revenue results are true. The company’s had prior financial struggles, and as recently as November Stone mentioned in his blog that it may use stocks to raise funds.

College Blog Network recently announced that it has transitioned into its new site CollegeBlender.com.

According to CollegeBlender’s Spencer March, the new site will still have all of the blogs visitors have come to love and are faithfully following in College Blog Network. But the blogs have also undergone major improvements in terms of tagging, advance comments, and an iframe toolbar. Other improvements include new ranking algorithms. The blogs have also shifted focus to enable it to grow into an online community, especially with the addition of updated profile settings and other features.

The guys at CollegeBlender hope that the new site will evolve more from College Blog Network’s initial objective of being a home for college bloggers. The goal for CollegeBlender is to become the online home for all things connected to college media.

CollegeBlender still maintains a strict registration process. Only real students can register in the site and this is enforced by requiring registrants to provide a .EDU email.

Facebook has become such a big phenomenon that even the deceased are finding a home within its pages.

Facebook recently announced it has implemented a new privacy setting that will allow family and friends to turn the online Facebook profiles of their departed loved ones in to some kind of memorial.

The idea for the memorialized Facebook profile had its beginnings when the friend of a Facebook employee was tragically killed in an accident. The deceased also happens to be a Facebook employee. One of the natural directions of the conversations among the officemates was what to do with the deceased Facebook profile.

The memorialized Facebook profile has some features removed. Basically, what is deeemd as sensitive information like contact information and status updates are removed. The profile is also removed from the public search. Only the people who were already accepted as friends before will be able to view the memorialized profile.

Despite some claims of commercialization of the dead, I actually like this idea. It’s a great way of remembering the people that we love who have passed away.

Geocities was one of those free internet services that, to my mind, really contributed to the explosive growth of the internet. It was also instrumental for many kids learning how to build their own websites.

But as with all things electronic or internet-based — its existence is fleeting even though its impact was undeniably massive. Yahoo!, who acquired the service in 1999 for $3.57 billion in stock, has announced that it will be closing the web hosting service on October 26, 2009 — and with it another chapter in the still morphing life of the internet.

The sobering note said that by the aforementioned date “your GeoCities site will no longer appear on the Web, and you will no longer be able to access your GeoCities account and files.

“If you’d like to move your web site, or save the images and other files you’ve posted online, please act now by downloading your files or upgrading to Yahoo! Web Hosting.”

It’s really quite sad to see another pioneer shutting down. Geocities, at its height, was THE place to be. AEveryone wanted to build their own websites and Geocities was the place to put them in. Geocities was also considered the first online community (remember those webrings?) — the larval stage of what will eventually become the social networking phenomenon that we see today.

Goodbye, Geocities.

Michael Jackson’s death last Thursday shocked the world. And despite the general consensus that Jackson is a has-been, his death proved that he has made an indelible mark on the world. In fact, the outpouring of sentiments on his death almost bogged down all of the social media sites.

Twitters from thousands of people reporting or giving their opinions on Jackson’s death slowed down the popular micro blogging service to a near crawl. It got so bad that Twitter had to temporarily disable its home page search field. Imagine seeing the number of tweets doubling per second! That could be a record of sorts.

But even non-social media sites were also affected. The web sites of Time Warner, Walt Disney, ABC, CBS and the Los Angeles Times, all experienced slowdowns.

So what is the significance of this? It puts into question how different networks — social media, blog networks, corporate sites — and its respective servers are addressing the growing number of internet users. Is there really a proper scaling strategy to account for the continued explosive growth of the internet, especially when we consider that social media sites are actually enticing more and more people to go online? Heck, even my wife’s 70 year old aunt just opened a Facebook account.

As expected, the recent elections have sparked anger over the blatant disregard of personal freedom for supporters of the opposition leader Moussavi who say they have been cheated. As expected, the closed state tries to silence protests and other forms of civil disobedience by blocking or interrupting mobile phone services and of all internet-based services Twitter which has been one of the best sources of information, responsible for the organization of protests in the capital Tehran that has managed to go through the information blockade. The portability and effectivity of Twitter to bring instantaneous news out to the rest of the world has put supposedly elected President Ahmadinejad mad as hell at attempts of what he calls are Western powers who have been giving the Iranian political system a shaking it should not have been subjected to. read on

The network discusses the growing rift between Steve Jobs and his former CFO regarding and issue that surfaces regarding Jobs landing in hot water with the SEC over some stock options that were seemingly over the edge. Stock options to major companies have always been part of corporate culture and the same is with Apple, one of the biggest earners in today’s technology driven world. The scandal has some millions of dollars in question regarding the value and amounts of shares the former colleagues used to share that some accuse the former CFO of blowing the whistle out on which led to his eviction from the board of directors in 2006. After all the finger pointing and accusations, Steve lands in the sights of the SEC read on