The Art of LinkingThe Art of Linking

Joanne JacobsTechnology Strategist and Interaction Designer

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/silly_little_man/4993064427

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The Art of Linking

Linking as a social act

Linking as an art

Linking and influence

Communication context

Qualities of art

Measurement of influence

Linking as creativity, adaption

Klout/PeerIndex Experiment

Results, Lessons

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Presentation purpose

To show how sharing of links affects perceived authority.

To show how connections between people form the basis of influence.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/2875741772/

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The Art of Linking

Linking as a social act

Linking as an art

Linking and influence

Communication context

Qualities of art

Measurement of influence

Linking as creativity, adaption

Klout/PeerIndex Experiment

Results, Lessons

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The social act of linking

• Linking of any kind is inherently a social act

• Sharing links to content is an invitation (or excuse) for social interaction

• Social media that facilitate content as well as interpersonal links are almost accidentally useful:– Human filters better than algorithms– Conversations around links clarify and

extend understanding

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/96khz/3127953038/

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Linking variations

• Forging a connection between people online;

• Linking to content and websites you have developed;

• Linking to content you think will be relevant for your audience.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ndanger/4425413794/

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Strategy 1: Linking to people

• Real world: family, friends business

• Online: real world plus people you admire, find useful or those recommended to you

• Link for information, reputation, opportunity

• User behaviour online can be broadcast or passive recipient of content – links to people will be affected by this behaviour

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/toolstop/4546008967/

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Strategy 2: Linking to your content

• Perception: drives traffic/influence

• Reality: stronger search relationship with own content

• Implications: can involve adjustments to perceived authority and influence but this is secondary to amplification

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29233640@N07/2896971130/

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Strategy 3: Linking to other content

• Value highly dependent on:– Link timing;

– Content quality;

– Track record of shared links;

– Audience makeup.

• Can actually reduce perceived engagement and ‘presence’

• In spite of influence scoring systems, only truly useful when irregular

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uggboy/4973852319/

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The Art of Linking

Linking as a social act

Linking as an art

Linking and influence

Communication context

Qualities of art

Measurement of influence

Linking as creativity, adaption

Klout/PeerIndex Experiment

Results, Lessons

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Linking and influence

• Why focus on linking and influence? – Businesses seeking influence

metrics and mechanisms to justify expenditure in social media;

– Influence scoring systems take links between people and content;

– Scoring tools focus predominantly on quantitative measures.

• Possible to ‘game’ the scoring systems

• NB: Influence actually a much more subtle concept

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/x1brett/2209126473/

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The Art of Linking

Linking as a social act

Linking as an art

Linking and influence

Communication context

Qualities of art

Measurement of influence

Linking as creativity, adaption

Klout/PeerIndex Experiment

Results, Lessons

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The Klout/Peer Index experiment

• Purpose: to discover what is measured

• Link strategy: – Linked to content I found

interesting– Did not attempt to link to people– Did not create much new

content of my own

• Method: 20 mins of link research each day, producing between 8-12 links in tweets.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/f-oxymoron/4752989199/

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Tweet list

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RSS

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Timed link sharing

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The Art of Linking

Linking as a social act

Linking as an art

Linking and influence

Communication context

Qualities of art

Measurement of influence

Linking as creativity, adaption

Klout/PeerIndex Experiment

Results, Lessons

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Experiment results: Klout

• Started with a score of 57• Score went up dramatically

initially• Score peaked at 71 in

July• Score began to wane as

more content sharing tools (Flickr, LinkedIn) were measured with Klout, and trust in presence reduced.

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Experiment results: Peer Index

• Started with a score of 61

• Score went down to 58 with content linking

• Score eventually rose back to 60, as activity rose, but authority and audience still declined.

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Interpreting the results

• Other results: marked rise in retweets, followers

• Reduced engagement in conversations

• Google+ launch a factor in audience activity during the course of the experiment

• Need to interpret results in terms of links not made: people, own content

• Need to remember results based on measurement tools, not actual influence

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenharris/4775086039/

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Where to from here

• Experiment will continue until end of October

• Will include more own content

• Will share more on LinkedIn, Flickr

• Will NOT link to people (to show how this affects audience/perceived authority)

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joanet/2994421437/

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The Art of Linking

Linking as a social act

Linking as an art

Linking and influence

Communication context

Qualities of art

Measurement of influence

Linking as creativity, adaption

Klout/PeerIndex Experiment

Results, Lessons

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Experimenting with tools

• Algorithms based on quantitative measures don’t represent reality of contribution:– Links uninteresting;– Poor timing, etc.

• Social act of linking can be compromised by automation techniques

• Measurement of links thus NOT a measure of social performance

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ideonexus/4022770547/

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Lessons on linking

• Linking to people involves conversation, not just follower numbers, connections

• Linking to content may be interesting but works best when done irregularly as this notes special rather than general interest

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/eddidit/438050570/

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The Art of Linking

Linking as a social act

Linking as an art

Linking and influence

Communication context

Qualities of art

Measurement of influence

Linking as creativity, adaption

Klout/PeerIndex Experiment

Results, Lessons

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Linking as an art

• Art is intuitive, not necessarily rational

• Art is creative, and resists quantifiable measurement, but encourages emotional reactions

• Art is a context for communication and re-presentation

• The act of linking qualifies as an art

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/6025026113/

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The Art of Linking

Linking as a social act

Linking as an art

Linking and influence

Communication context

Qualities of art

Measurement of influence

Linking as creativity, adaption

Klout/PeerIndex Experiment

Results, Lessons

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Qualitative measures and art

• Art can be evaluated in qualitative terms:– Signs/meaning

– Category/format

– Emotional response elicited

– Creative/adaptive potential

– Perceptions arising from work (how useful, complete, reliable, what could be improved, etc)

• These qualities cannot be expressed through sharing, audience numbers.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14646075@N03/3552611542/

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Observations on linking

• Qualitative measures more useful if ‘measuring’ linking:– Perception based on

endorsements received– Perception as revealed in survey

analysis– Quality of output in area of

expertise– Humility, openness,

responsiveness to others

• Linking creates an archive – of people, content. This is of personal value, unrelated to influence

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/scitech_wa/3829707440/

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Observations on influence

• Influence cannot be measured by activity and audience

• Influence may be affected by perceived authority (qualitative measure) but need to ask who is being influenced, and for what purpose

• Social act of linking only relevant to influence when it is genuinely social.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoonabar/3452263992/

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Final two thoughts…

1. Linking is an art, not a science. Like art, it resists measurement,

but engages on the basis of stories.

2. Don’t let the ROI blind you to the creative opportunity of linking.

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Questions?

Joanne Jacobs

Tech Strategy | Interaction Design

Email: joanne@joannejacobs.net

Blog: http://joannejacobs.net/

Twitter: @joannejacobs

Skype: bgsbjj

Skype-in: (+44) 0208 144 9348

Mob: (+44) 07948 318 298

NB: all images used in this presentation are subject to CC BY - Creative Commons Attribution licenses.

The source of all images is included in slides. The art of linking extends to practice as well as theory.