The Least Shareable Words on Facebook

May 12th 2010 View Comments




Continuing my series of Facebook data, here’s the flip side to last week’s post on the most shareable words on Facebook.

What I found was that techie and social-media dork favorite topics like Twitter, Google, and the iPhone aren’t very popular with the mainstream Facebook audience. These topics might be hot with the bleeding-edge Twitter crowd, but when you’re targeting the much larger Facebook audience, lay off the trendy web geek stuff.

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  • http://www.wpin.me Ben

    Very useful insight into Facebook, I have just started a blog and am using Twitter and a Facebook page as well to attract users etc. Completely agree Twitter and Facebook are two different animals when it comes to end users.

    Bookmarked this and signup for a newsletter, oh and retweeted!

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  • thejasonsadler

    Interesting. Where are “kittens” and “boobs”?

  • http://twitter.com/Kimberly_Wilson Kimberly Wilson

    Dan, Just curious…why do you suppose USAToday is one of the least shared words? Is it that people truly don't like that publication or does this evidence indicate a wider trend involving all news-related link sharing?

  • larrythewineguy

    So if I’m using Google to poll how many USAToday readers in New York use apps on iPhone to be social vs. how many spend time to watch live TV, I shouldn’t put that on Facebook, but you are down with it if I put it on Twitter? Do you want to review that statement or is this just a game?

  • http://www.maniactive.com/states/blogger.html maniactive

    Instead, use George Carlin's 7 words on FaceBook. Guaranteed Results!

  • http://bradendouglass.com Braden

    Don't use the word “time,” got it. Seems pretty straightforward. On a much less sarcastic note, doesn't everyone feel that it is our duty to enlighten people on these terms? If they can understand them, they might be more likely to purchase. I could be way off though.

  • http://twitter.com/kerriebrynn Kerrie Brynn

    Hey thanks for this! This makes me feel much better about myself. I always post things like “Hey who's on Twitter?” or “Omg how funny is the google logo today” and get zero response.

    Makes sense though! Thanks for sharing :)

  • http://twitter.com/vlb Vicki Brown

    I don't understand “targeting the much larger Facebook audience”. I'm not “targeting” and “audience”. I'm posting things that interest me. Besides, isn't Facebook supposedly “just for your friends”?

  • http://twitter.com/drororbach Dror Orbach

    I think the issue isn't the “much larger Facebook audience” but rather the likes, dislikes and inclinations of the audience you are actually talking to. Even if you aren't “targeting” an audience, you are sending a message to an audience – be it your family and real-life friends, the typically broader circle of Facebook friends, or (if you're a business) the members of a target market.

    Using these statistics, you're advising people that “techie” words may not go down well with a general audience – but that does not usually characterize any particular individual's audience. For this reason I don't find it very interesting or actionable.

    What I think it does highlight, though, is that Facebook indeed serves an extremely broad active audience with different likes and tastes. If you run the same kind of test with Twitter I'm inclined to think that the active user profile is more biased towards certain professions, interests and age groups. Hence the “techie” words (and specialized language in marketing and other areas) will be more popular.

  • http://www.ivanwalsh.com Ivan Walsh

    mammary glands

  • http://web-workathome.com Bill Masson

    Its a very diversified crowd on FaceBook and so it depends as you say on what your fans or target audience is into. Techie terms are everywhere on the web and if your new to the internet then it can be bewildering.

  • http://www.slymiser.com speener

    This article is about brands who use Facebook to communicate to and through their clients, customers, and evangelists.

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  • http://www.searchengineoptimisation.com Phil

    FB user base have separate habits, sometimes i have seen people will keep surfing FB all day without single indication of any actions

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