My Top 10 Tweets

Posted on by Lilianne Nason

Throughout the course I have tweeted a lot, using the hashtag #NHsmc. Certain tweets have made more impressions and generated more engagement than others, due to different aspects of the tweet, including media content, hashtags, and mentions. After analyzing the impressions and engagements of my tweets, I have collected my top 10 tweets of the semester and ordered them by date below:

1. September 8: Real Life Social Media

Impressions: 392
Total engagements: 21
Engagement rate: 5.4%
Detail expands: 9
Likes: 4
Media engagements: 3

One of my earlier tweets in the semester, of “real life social media,” was one of my strongest tweets, in terms of overall impressions and engagements. The tweet had a high number of impressions, which I think can be partially attributed to my use of the hashtag, #socialmedia. I used this hashtag very often this semester, and noticed that those tweets tended to have more impressions. Additionally, the majority of the engagements with this tweet consisted of detail expands and media engagements, which have led me to conclude that including an media, such as an image, can lead to engagement. A photo intrigues followers, and as a result they have a higher likelihood of clicking on the tweet and engaging with it further.

2. September 16: Social Media Infographic

Impressions: 185
Total engagements: 11
Engagement rate: 5.9%
Detail expands: 4
Link clicks: 3
Hashtag clicks: 2

This infographic that I shared garnered a fair amount of engagement, and specifically detail expands and clicks on the link and hashtag. Similarly to the previous tweet, the preview of the image most likely drew followers in, especially given that it contained statistics and imagery. I have observed throughout the course that sharing images, graphics, statistics, etc. tend to lead to engagement, which is most likely why this tweet had somewhat high engagement. Also like the last tweet, I used #socialmedia, which as I mentioned, often led to impressions and engagement. This really goes to show how much a hashtag can influence who sees your tweet, as well as how they engage with it.

3. September 17: #NHsmcVoice – Jimmy Fallon

Impressions: 296
Total engagements: 4
Engagement rate: 1.4%
Detail expands: 2
Replies: 1
Hashtag clicks: 1

My #NHsmcVoice tweet was one of my most interesting tweets, not necessarily because of the engagements, but the impressions and nature of the tweet. I included Jimmy Fallon’s #OneTimeInClass hashtag, a selection of which were featured on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. It makes sense that this tweet had a relatively high number of impressions, as many twitter users were probably looking through the tweets that used the hashtag. This tweet, as many have, showed me the power of hashtags. They create a smaller audience within Twitter that can lead to more impressions and engagement, which I will later analyze in the response that I received to this tweet.

4. September 22: Dog Eating Peanut Butter GIF

Impressions: 169
Media views: 35
Total engagements: 25
Engagement rate: 14.8%
Media engagements: 12
Detail expands: 9
Hashtag clicks: 2

This original GIF that I made had a high number of impressions, but what was even more notable was the engagement rate and number of media views. GIFs are engaging, as they draw attention and tend to incorporate humor and entertainment, which I think was one factor that led to engagement with this tweet. In addition, dogs, and animals in general, tend to generate views and engagement on social media. Together these two ideas make the tweet likely to be viewed and engaged with, which has taught me how using the right medium and subject can lead to impressions and engagement on twitter.

5. October 2: Washington Post Article

Impressions: 311
Total engagements: 18
Engagement rate: 5.8%
Link clicks: 11
Likes: 2
Detail expands: 2

This tweet shares a link to a Washington Post article that featured my #NHsmcVoice/#OneTimeInClass tweet, which I previously discussed. Following my tweet, I was mentioned in a tweet from @ReciteNews, notifying me that my tweet had been quoted in a Washington Post article. The article gave an overview of the hashtag, #OneTimeInClass, and shared a collection of tweets using the hashtag, which included mine. This article further exemplified how using a certain hashtag can expose your tweet to a specific audience, which might not have seen it without the hashtag. I also found it interesting that while my tweet was not chosen to be on the Tonight Show, and possibly not even seen by those selecting the tweets, it was noticed by the author of the Washington Post article.

In terms of impressions and engagements of my tweet sharing the link, it had a high number of impressions and link clicks. I think that the hashtags I used in the tweet probably had an impact on the impressions that it made, as they allowed it to reach multiple audiences. The hashtags may have also had an impact on the link clicks, but I also think that because this tweet shared something that I was featured in, many of the link clicks could have been from classmates. Overall, my #NHsmcVoice/#OneTimeInClass, Washington Post the article, as well as this tweet sharing the article provided me with a real example of the impressions that my tweets can have and the way that people engage with them.

6. October 2: News Engagement Day

Impressions: 282
Total engagements: 11
Engagement rate: 3.9%
Detail expands: 7
Retweets: 2
Likes: 1

My tweet for News Engagement Day made many impressions, as well as had some engagement. I tweeted this as a way to promote News Engagement Day, and specifically Newhouse’s participation. Due to the fact that this is an acknowledged day, for which I included the hashtags, #NewsEngagementDay and #NHned, I am not surprised that it made many impressions. These hashtags allowed the tweet to be seen by multiple audiences that were interested in the topic. Additionally, I mentioned @NewhouseSU in the tweet, which may have led to further impression and engagement.

I think it is also important to note that I tweeted this on the same day as the previous tweet, which also had a high number of impressions an engagement rate. When looking through and analyzing my tweets from the semester, I noticed that often times my tweets had a higher number of impressions and engagements when I tweeted multiple times that day. I think that this shows how your activity and presence on social media directly affects the influence that your tweets have overall.

7. October 15: Ethan Z

Impressions: 401
Total engagements: 6
Engagement rate: 1.5%
Detail expands: 7
Retweets: 2
Likes: 1

This tweet that I tweeted during Ethan Zuckerman’s talk at Syracuse had the most impressions of all of my tweets this semester. Ethan has a very large following, which likely had affected the impressions that it had. Further, Ethan liked the tweet, which gave it more exposure to his following. This tweet really showed me the influence that certain people have on Twitter, and how even mentioning them in a tweet can increase impressions and engagements.

8. October 15: #NationalPuggleDay

Impressions: 198
Total engagements: 23
Engagement rate: 11.6%
Media engagements: 14
Detail expands: 6
Likes: 1

This tweet had the highest number of engagements of all of my tweets this semester, the majority of which consisted of media engagements. There are multiple factors that I believe contributed to this level of engagement. To start, as I have mentioned when discussing other tweets, images tend to draw engagement and particularly detail expands, due to the preview of the image shown in the tweet. Additionally, I mentioned @SyracuseU in the tweet, as my dog has an Otto toy in the image, and they liked it. Including their Twitter handle, which has a large following, probably had an influence on the impressions engagement rate. Off of that, my dog, which was pictured in the tweet also probably contributed to the engagements, as, like I mentioned in another tweet, animals tend to have positive affects on social media. Lastly, I used multiple hashtags in the tweets, which exposed it to even more small audiences. I used #NationalPugDay, which was a trending hashtag for the day, as well as what I thought was a unique hashtag, #NationalPuggleDay. As it turns out, #NationalPuggleDay actually exists, although the following is relatively small. Between the influences of @SyracuseU, #NationalPugDay, and #NationalPuggleDay, this tweet had a fairly large impression, as well as many engagements.

9. November 16: Unilever’s #ShareAMeal

Impressions: 144
Total engagements: 7
Engagement rate: 4.9%
Likes: 4
Detail expands: 2
Hashtag clicks: 1

I tweeted this as a part of our class activity that involved raising awareness about a social issue, and largely, Unilever’s #ShareAMeal campaign. For each retweet or like of there tweet, Unilever would donate one meal to Feeding America. Shortly after quote tweeting their tweet, @Unilever liked my tweet. While this tweet might not have had the highest number of impressions or engagements of all of my tweets, I found it important that such a large brand engaged with my tweet. Their interaction with it, along with the use of the trending hashtag, #ShareAMeal, and the mention of @FeedingAmerica could be largely associated with the impressions and engagement that this tweet resulted in. This tweet showed me the power that large brands have on Twitter, in terms of reaching audiences, and more so, the role that social media can play in social issues.

10. November 16: Bloomingdales’ Apology

Impressions: 251
Total engagements: 5
Engagement rate: 2.0%
Likes: 4
Retweets: 1

In connection to my previous tweet, this tweet quote tweeted another classmate’s tweet that raised awareness for a social issue. They tweeted about Bloomingdales’ inappropriate holiday add, which they had recently apologized for on social media. I did not expect this tweet to make too much of an impression, but it made many impressions, as well as had multiple engagements. Looking back at the tweet, I am not surprised by this, due to the fact that I included @Bloomingdales’ handle, which given the controversy surrounding their brand was probably being followed by many. Through this tweet, I learned that we have a lot of power on social media, whether we know it or not. I think that we are all well aware of the power that comes with negative actions on Twitter, but it is very important to keep in mind how much influence one tweet could have on promoting social change.

I should also point out that this was tweeted on the same day as the previous tweet, promoting #ShareAMeal. As I previously discussed, this was not the first time that I noticed multiple tweets on the same day having many impressions or engagements. Based on my observation and analysis of my own tweets, I can definitely conclude that tweeting multiple times in the same day had a direct impact on the influence of and engagement with each tweet.

Conclusion
Analyzing my tweets from throughout this semester have shown me the true impressions that I have made on Twitter, as well as how much others engaged with my content. This course has definitely taught me what works and what doesn’t on Twitter, and selecting my top 10 tweets has reinforced what I have learned. In addition to what I have noted for each tweet, I think it is also very important to keep in mind that all of these tweets included our class hashtag, #NHsmc. This automatically exposed each tweet to the class, as we were all constantly engaging with the hashtag, which could have influenced overall impressions and engagements.

Many factors go into the influence that a tweet has, and it is important to consider them when hoping to leave an impression or spur engagement. Overall, I think that I have learned what makes an influential tweet, and I will definitely be more conscious of this when tweeting in the future.

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