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An MIT assistant professor used a complex algorithm to determine that more social media doesn’t necessarily mean more sales for your product. The insightful concluding quote:

“It’s not just a question of spreading your message to the greatest number of people,” Lamberson said. “You’ve got to get people to say, ‘Yes, I bought this product - and I think it’s good.’ ”

Not quite an Edward Bernays breakthrough, but some businesses might need an MIT study to validate their Spin Control budget.

Stumbled upon this surfing while surfing.

A tried and tested* truism of web Interface design has historically been to design ‘above the fold’. That is, ensure the main elements of your message were visible on the homepage/landing page when it first loads; not requiring vertical scrolling by the user.

*(does this phrase still resonate when test results change in a matter of months on the web? Test early, repair, test again. Repeat periodically.)

Unsurprisingly, somewhere along the line web habits diverged — with content and a medium as formless as the web’osphere, this isn’t really a mindblowing revelation. Now there is some dissonance.

As this article by Milissa Tarquini touched upon, it boils down to content. As per Nielsen NetRatings’ latest metric on the average internet user’s attention span (aka how the human mind has resorted to the shifty habits of over-caffeinated goldfishes), if you can engage your user in 7.2 seconds with a punchy combination of aesthetic/message/video/dancing-baby, then, they will scroll. But, in 7.2 secs, that probably means you must present this argument above the fold.

Moral of the story as always: Content is King.

Secondary moral: Always measure. The counterpoint from Clicktale that fold still matters - see point 3. )