Comparing the Interwebs to Social Media – NASA.gov: Behind the Page

Spent part of this week checking the spread of Monday’s Chandra story across the web, both from www.NASA.gov and social media. Though the social media channels are increasing in importance, especially in spreading the word on the first day, the web site still takes the preponderance of traffic, particularly the follow up in the days after the event.

Not surprisingly, attention generated by Facebook drops very quickly as the story moves down NASA’s Facebook page. Plays of the video fall off on both the site and our YouTube channel, but traffic remains higher on the site, paralleled by the drop we see on the site.

Notice that the reach of Twitter can increase as days go by, especially as people start retweeting others’ retweets.

The point of social media is not explicitly to generate traffic to the site, but it’s worth noting that a very small but growing fraction of people are coming to the site that way.

Trying to ascertain patterns and identify the strengths of each channel will be a key element as we start formulating ideas for the next version of NASA.gov in the weeks to come. As always, suggestions welcome.

(FB: Facebook; YT: YouTube. Like you didn’t know.)

Chandra FindsYoungest Nearby Black Hole (Nov. 15, 2010)

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu
Chandra main page downloads	91,462	15,289	4,425	(1)
Feature story downloads	35,812	39,497	12,405	(1)
Shares via Add This	10	7	0	0
Video on www.nasa.gov	70,648	50,027	18,117	10,975
Video on NASA TV YT	1,631	18,765		12,286 (2)
Press release on www.nasa.gov	40,613	N / A	N / A	N / A
Press release via Gov Delivery	263,693	N / A	N / A	N / A
Press release via listserve	14,329	N / A	N / A	N / A
Impressions on FB page	82,004	48,413	6,464	7,221
Likes on FB page	581	56	14	16
Comments on FB	102	8	4	2
FB likes on NASA.gov				2,000 (4)
Reach of retweets (people)	27,190	29,107	23,635	42,213 (3)
Retweets from NASA.gov				210 (4)
Referrals to www.NASA.gov from FB	32,843	9,516	3,131	(1)
Referrals to www.NASA.gov from Twitter	8,125	4,741	2,693	(1)
Total visits to www.NASA.gov	1.85 million	868,088	599,233	(1)
Live press conference streams on www.nasa.gov	18,000	N / A	N / A	N / A
Press conference replays on NTV YT				767 (4)

(1) Data not available until Saturday due to the size of logfiles to be processed

(2) Total for Wednesday and Thursday

(3) Includes retweets from other sites, e.g., NationalGeographic

(4) Cumulative for the week

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