Top Tweet Theory

For these post, I wanted to dissect the top post based on the methods and principles we have learned so far in the course and determine if these methods are reliable and consistent throughout all the post. The majority of the top 20 posts with the hashtag “MondayMotivation” seem to consist of four main categories: politics, social issues, quotes, and visually appealing pictures. Some post incorporates two or three of these but the majority only consist of one. I think these posts echo the contents of the diaries and scrapbooks of old. Politics and social issues will almost always be subjects to post about it as most people have at least a vague political stance or position in social matters. They act like journal entries in a diary as it is usually a personal opinion that may or may not be grounded in fact, the only difference is this journal entry is publicly available. Visually appealing pictures are usually more associated with scrapbooks as scrapbooks tend to be filled with pictures. Quotes are somewhat in the middle of the spectrum as it can easily be associated with both.
However, all of these post’s success relies on the relatability of the entry to the audience for their popularity. I think this linking factor has to do with the hashtag itself: “MondayMotivation”. Mondays are notoriously known to be a “bad” day or even the worst day of the week even if it is not deserving of such a title. This is where social media marketing plays its part through the hashtag and indirectly the day of the week. The timing of these post being on a Monday plays a vital role in its success as certain feelings will be more relatable because of the cultural attitude towards the day. Therefore, feelings of inspiration or positive change are more likely to stick on a Monday because the vast majority of the population agree with the stigma placed on Mondays. In fact, I think including posts on social media based on the day of the week may be a good evolution of Kawasaki’s idea of posting in different time zones. It will be less of a “spamming” approach because it will be spread out across days of the week instead of only hours apart, if that, through Kawasaki’s method.
Another common trait between these posts is that they are “drillable” to a certain degree. Political posts will often result to fact checking or debate because politics is a subject with a lot of depth and a large “fan” base. The same attributes can be found in posts of social issues. Quotes are naturally drillable because they are a restatement of what someone has already said, and the person and the content of the quote can easily be investigated further. Pictures are possibly the least drillable because their purpose is to be viewed, but their location or photographer are still investigable.
The popularity of these post within their hashtag(s) and as a whole are easily explainable using the strategies and principles we’ve learned so far in the digital classroom. In fact, I think it is not unreasonable to say there is a science behind the spread-ability and popularity of a post.