Summer is officially here! Here’s a digest of cool news stories to kick off this hot weekend. Let me know what you’re reading, and share your thoughts in the comments.
Search Engines Get Social
What helps to determine your Google search ranking? New research shows that social media shares are playing a key role, with Facebook having the largest effect on search engine optimization (SEO) and Twitter coming in as the sixth strongest factor. Other findings: Well-known brands have an edge, pages with too many ads turned up lower in rank, quality backlinks still boost rank, and domain names with keywords continue to grab top spots. (Thanks to TMG Digital Strategy Director Andrew Hanelly for the link!)
How Tablets Lead to Shopping Sprees
Sixty-one percent of tablet users have purchased digital content, according to a study released this week and funded by the Online Publishers Association. Of the survey respondents, 39% bought magazines, 35% bought e-books, and 15% purchased newspapers. Regarding video content, 26% paid for a full-length video and 18% shelled out for a full-length TV show. Read more.
I Want My #MTV
The first television show to drop a hashtag in its name is finally here! MTV’s Made started its 12th season with a new name: Made #DreamBigger. The strategy aims to increase engagement on the social network and also create buzz around the new aspirational direction this season will take. Meanwhile, the show’s Twitter handle remains @MTVsMade.
This week’s video
How did the recent auto-tuned Mister Rogers video, “Garden of Your Mind,” become a viral hit? PBS reached out to John D. Boswell, a musician-video artist, who “[focuses] on a theme, something bigger than just auto-tuning words.” Boswell’s process: Watch a sampling of episodes, identify clips by time code, organize them digitally, pick a theme, get a chorus that syncs with the theme, weed out clips that don’t fit, write music and match clips, and stay true to the ideas and personality of who you’re auto-tuning. Easy right? PBS declared the video a success because it experimented in a new direction and reached its audience.
[Image: HeyRocker]
