Comments on: First / Last person wins meme (please help)

By: DaGood

DaGood — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:20:26 +0000

I’m winning!

By: botogol

botogol — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:03:51 +0000

wooo!

By: Caspian

Caspian — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:42:40 +0000

You could test Martin’s idea with an automatic 1st comment that is either banal (“1st”) or something more constructive/useful and see if the subsequent comments follow…

By: Martin Harrison

Martin Harrison — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:20:15 +0000

Have a look at the Lynx page we’re running – http://www.facebook.com/lynxeffectuk – same thing happens. Heli may have a point on the demographic!

I think there’s a link between the content and this behaviour, and also the first person to post influences what folows. So if the first person responds to the content, you very rarely see this, if the first person says “first” you get the type of conversation seen above. What I’m unsure about is whether this is a good or a bad thing. Facebook count it as an interaction so improve your post quality score….

(Liking the Bunny campaign by the way, but couldn’t you get the ads to at least mention twitter or Facebook? Or am I too hung up on calls to action?)

By: Mike Towber

Mike Towber — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:59:34 +0000

The Onion’s AV Club usually has a race for firsties on posts. Although, it doesn’t seem as rampant now as it once was. People get pretty creative too. Like so http://www.avclub.com/articles/slasher-films,34400/.

By: Heli Rajasalo

Heli Rajasalo — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:07:03 +0000

Hi Asi, it’s tempting to conclude this behaviour is particular to certain demographic, i.e. teens. Will be interesting to see what you’ll find out!

By: Daan Jansonius

Daan Jansonius — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:39:29 +0000

I’ve noticed this behaviour on forums (remember those?), where this has been going on for years.

As example I’ll give you Talklfc (I’m a member of admin staff) – you’ll see this behaviour particularly after a funny post. We even have a smiley for this behaviour:http://www.talklfc.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/postcount.jpg

I s’pose there is a slight difference here in the sense that the post count provides an incentive (however small it may be), whereas Facebook has no such thing.

Hope that helps

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:35:44 +0000

Asi, check out the Nike Football group I am working on. http://www.facebook.com/nikefootball

Exactly the same thing happens, within seconds of posting a note, we get 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc posts….without fail.

By: asi

asi — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:25:20 +0000

Hey Dom – thanks a lot

By: Dom Tillson

Dom Tillson — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:31:36 +0000

Hi Asi – B3ta http://www.b3ta.com/ always has a rush for the first comments after the newsletter, as does BSNYC http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/ just two of the ones I check out. Across Bebo we see it a hell of a lot on some of the popular brand profiles, and have got the brands to use it to their advantage by ensuring they put the first comment up to recycle the user back into the profile – see http://tiny.cc/3zBu0 in 17Agains Zac poll. Hope this helps Dom