The Power of the Absurd

August 9, 2009 · Comments

Over the last few days, I’ve run two satirical blog posts: Get More Twitter Followers TODAY and 10 – no 4!! – Days to Become a Social Media Expert. They were meant to highlight how silly it is that there’s an entire cash-sucking industry built around getting more followers or learning about social media.

What I didn’t expect were the stats. I want to share my findings with you:

Stats for a Blog Post

The arrow marked “twitter post” shows the final day’s tally for the day I ran that post. The second arrow that’s marked “expert post” is actually a bit of a misnomer, because the stats show both the Twitter post *and* the expert post helping drive my traffic. What’s just crazy is the third arrow labeled “so far.”

For whatever reason, my stats package thinks the new day starts at about 10PM ET. I get a new graph every day at that time. I took that snapshot at Midnight ET of the day the expert post ran. That means I’m going to have one of my best blog traffic days ever on Saturday the 8th of August, and for what? A couple of silly posts?

Here’s the breakdown of the traffic on the day of the Twitter post:

stats

And here’s the breakdown of traffic so far of the “so far” day:

stats 2

What Does This All Mean?

Near as I can tell, it means that writing absurd pieces that mock or mirror the current status quo of things we’re passionate about like Twitter and Social Media can get some attention. But I think there’s more to it. Because people don’t expect snarky, sarcastic blog posts from me (or do you?), I think my efforts had even more impact. What’s your take on that?

Oh, I meant to tell you, on the day that I got the huge push against the Twitter post, LOTS of that traffic walked in the front door instead of clicking in from any discernible source:

stats3

So that means it wasn’t even pulled in via Twitter, but by sources either not tracked, or by people just typing in my URL.

Beyond this, I’m as stumped as you. I feel crazy and yet curious. There’s something to this little case study in the absurd. But what?

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  • I came to this post because I wanted to learn about becoming an Absurd Expert - I have followed your tips on being a Twitter Guru and Social Media Ninja. Now I'm disappointed that instead of offering substantial information to become an Absurd Expert, I see pictures. What gives?
  • I know! ;)
  • Do you think that maybe you're getting the crazy traffic boost because some (or a lot) of the people who are seeing the blog post titles and other signposts towards your blog posts are coming because they don't think they're jokes? Couldn't it be that you're actually drawing traffic because these readers are really looking for those types of posts and assuming that they're not intended to be satirical? That seems like the simplest answer to me.
  • Yeah, I had similar thoughts to Mark here... I think a lot of people saw the posts and thought, "hot diggity, more followers!!" :P
  • I think you're right. People probably retweeted that like crazy and everyone thought it was a real post.

    As for the walk in the front door traffic, it could be people using twitters API. I've found that people using twitter clients like tweetdeck don't actually register as visits from twitter, they show as direct traffic.
  • Hi Chris,

    I agree with Mark. I think that people are truly looking for this kind of information and think that you have the answers. In a way your posts provided it - the real answer:) Beyond referrers (2k hits out of 5k) it will be interesting to find more accurate info (than what that WP provids) on the other traffic sources (via Google Analytics or another WA tool) and the Search Engine Terms. If this traffic is search engine driven (people entered these terms/keyword in Google) then I believe that this is what that people are looking for, and you've done a great SEO job matching it.
    If this traffic is coming from search engines it could last longer (compared with Twitter traffic) and might even increase.

    It was nice seeing you yesterday at Podcamp4 #pcb4

    My two cents,
    Keren
  • J.T. O'Donnell
    Hi Chris,

    You might be interested in this story on the topic of using trends to gain traffic that was done by David Spark (@dspark) over at Mashable last month:

    http://mashable.com/2009/07/20/companies-using-...

    I had a similar experience to you when I wrote the post "Why HR's Just Not That Into You" around the time the movie "He's Just Not That Into You" came out last year. I couldn't believe the traffic - and for us, it resulted in a lot of new subscribers, so traffic was bumped up permanently.

    PS - I loved the funny posts you did (commented on one of them). It really made me laugh and want to contribute. Sometimes, there are so many good comments on an 'expert post' that I just don't bother, but on a fun post like the ones you put out, there was room for everyone to throw in their two cents, don't you think?

    Congrats on the great stats!
  • I think the answer is really simple. You've spent a long time building a trust relationship with your audience and they clicked through your posts because they believe that you were really going to show them how they could get more followers and become a social media expert. You can also add to this an element of many people also having appreciated the humour and consequently directing their friends to your post.

    Hey, maybe when sponsored Tweets take off you'll have the opportunity of leveraging your trust relationship outside your sphere core expertise! Chris Brogan plugging sneakers!
  • Kinda funny, but also an interesting point. People come because they trust I'll steer them right. In this case, was this abuse? The humor posts?
  • You stop that abusive behavior right now, Chris Brogan! :-D
  • Hey you got snarky because of the spam on Twitter. You're human like the rest of us. But I must admit I wasn't sure where you were coming from initially with your spam parody Tweets, because your post as usually really level headed, insightful and often though provoking. Personally I take a little time everyday to unfollow those who spam me. I'd rather have a smaller amount of friends and have a great onging conversation with them, rather than have tens of thousands of followers but not be able to listen to the good stuff through the spam noise. My rule of thumb here is if they spam for more than two days in a row - then they're off. I suppose we can think of Twitter as permission based marketing: If you follow someone - you're signing up to what they have to say. The good thing is, if you don't like it you can unfollow them.
  • Agreed with Mark, Burgo and Keren here to some extent. You must be ranking well for that post and due to its nature its attracting people who want the answers to becoming an "expert" in 48 hours or less. Its not a pretty reflection of the mentality of people frankly.

    If I write a post called "how to be an expert brain surgeon in 48 hours" it would probably pull traffic, but traffic I don't necessarily want because the people looking at it are probably a bunch of lazy bollocks looking for a fast buck.

    Also, because its different to your usual post Chris it may have attracted extra interest. God only knows, but overall its a depressing line of thought to consider how no one actually wants to put effort into things but want them handed to them like a McDonalds meal especially with the "cash-sucking industry built around getting more followers or learning about social media" only serving to perpetuate the myth that social media is simple, quick and easy.
  • For me this shows the power of writing great blog post headlines. When people see a tweet with a headline like this or see the headline in a bunch of different rss articles there is a better chance of them clicking it and sharing it with their friends, no matter the content.
  • Hey Chris ... fantastic blogEntry as usual ;] ... i'm going to check out the posts you mentioned above, just in case i missed the snarkiness of 'em or something ... all i know is if absurdity on the web leads to any sort of success, then ... uhm ... that might be good news fer me ;]

    but seriously, i was tweeting, retweeting and reretweeting ( the latest phenomena on Twitter ) w/ twitterNun the other and she was all like, 'to tweet is divine, to plurk so sublime' ... which, like ... i didn't get at all, i mean, does twitterNun really enjoy plurk THAT much? i guess her vow of silence can be easily circumnavigated through the powerful use of all the amazing tools we currently find 'out there' on the social web ... gawd bless her little soul :]
  • bobbiec1
    Hi Chris,

    I had something similar last week when I wrote a blog post that mentioned one of your blog posts. You responded to me on Twitter and traffic on my website rose dramatically. BUT when I looked at where the traffic came from, there were quite a few folks who clicked through from you but the vast majority were direct "type-ins." I like to think that it's the WOM -- someone sees something they like and mentions it to someone else who may not have the actual link. So they type it in.

    And, to answer one of your other questions, think about what is successful online. What goes viral? The humorous, the funny, the snarky, the unexpected, the counter-intuitive. Oh yeah, all those things and the truly useful information.
  • Isn't the direct (sources not tracked) traffic most likely to be links from desktop Twitter clients? They send the traffic directly, without a referrer being set. I have often thought that this should be tracked somehow - right now the only was is by using a URL shortener but doesn't cater for others shortening your link.

    I think it'd be most useful if on clicking from a link in, say Tweetdeck, the referrer was set to twitter.com/username_of_user_whose_tweet_the_link_was_in/ (sorry couldn't think of a more concise way to phrase that!)

    That would certainly improve the reliability of the statistics, and be better for twitter the company too. The present method of tracking visitors/referrers doesn't quite work for the fragmented nature of how people consume media these days. But that conversation is best had elsewhere.

    As to the real question here - how come the bounce in numbers - perhaps these posts were RT'd more than others? I think changing things around a bit is always going to garner some interest. If you changed your style to sarcasm rather than genuine easy-to-follow advice you'd lose readers in the long term.
  • charlesneville is correct.

    Desktop Twitter clients don't pass any referrer info and so get counted as direct.
  • I think people thought you were serious. Those two posts weren't my favorites. If Malcolm Gladwell's theory is correct about its taking 10,000 hours to be an expert. Who is the expert on Twitter? :)
  • I think Gladwell is quite right.
  • Then I'm an expert in baking chocolate chip cookies. Let me know when you're in Ohio again and I'll bring you some.
  • Chris - what I see here is that, based on your referral traffic, the masses are still looking to cut corners with social media. Google has yet developed a way to parse our sarcasm. ;-)
  • Chris & John - Instead of cutting corners, could it be that many people still don't understand the basics of social media and Twitter, and are looking for tips?

    I submit that if the social media ungurus are going to spill the special sauce or share their secrets to social media success, others want to know and follow their experiences. In the eyes of many of Chris' (& John's) readers, you (and may other social media ungurus) have found the rhythm to the social media dance and lure others to the beat with your success. There will always be the need to help others learn the basics as well as understand the absurdity of becoming a social media expert in 10 no 4 days.
  • Jeff - very insightful. My cutting corners comment implies that most people already know the basics and that you can't be an "expert" overnight.

    When I first saw Chris's article on Twitter, I immediately got the sarcasm, but I also thought, "Hmmm... let's see what other goodies Chris has here".
  • I believe people are looking for information reagrding these topics. People wants to know about this thing since it's one of the trend of internet marketing today. Maybe out of curiosity they were attracted to your title and just decided to drop by.

    The title is indeed sounds valuable so, that might be the reason you got a good flow of traffic.
  • MaureenEMcBride
    What if mainstream media has brain trained the public to react to the absurd?
    Most of your posts are both thoughtful and thought provoking.
    I look forward to understanding a bit HOW YOU THINK...when I read your posts.
    The posts that drew attention were framed differently.
    The implication in the satirical posts was there was something a person could do---the magic, secret, just beyond my fingertips inside scoop, missing link, key that unlocks the door. In an instant-this and drive-through-that world wherein the connection between effort and reward, behavioral choice and consequence is perpetually blurred by advertising the kind of magical thinking that drive the bus for many people gets triggered by the posts you ran.
    It serves as a testimony to how well you have established your expert brand. Psst...Brogan is giving away secrets.
    The secret is of course hard work, and consistency over time.
    Thanks for running the experiment and sharing the results.
    Maureen
    PS as a gracenote, people love and need a lot more humor around technology.
    Many take it all so seriously. Masters of the Universe blah blah blah.
  • seanrhys
    Definitely not expected from you. Some of those that clicked in - myself included - are beginners in this arena faithfully reading your every valuable post. The satire was apparent in the title but a small part of me (the novice) was disappointed in that the info was humor and not a golden tool box. A thought on the sources not trackable - word of mouth by live contact, telephone and various IM
    routines always comes into play especially with humor.
    Sean Rhys Stirling
  • Chris,

    I read your twitter stats post and had a nagging feeling about it. I think you may have discovered something about where you are now in the world.

    Among the comments on your post this is the one which spoke to my feeling-

    I don't understand my feeling very well, but after your second post, about Jay Z or whoever, I began to feel like sarcastic or ironic blog and twitter posts might not be a good idea. I mean, in that world (social media) you ARE Jay Z [right everyone?]. Look at the love the guy has for his fans. It works because he's sincere. It seems he would never show sarcasm to those people, especially the newbies, right?.

    Probably you're catching my drift, but perhaps this is a tipping point, where you decide which direction to go - stay authentic, or risk alienating your novice fans. You'll never loose the die hards, but people like Sean, above, have a feeling of disappointment. I think that's perhaps a consequence you may not have wished to evoke.

    Not sure though. Would love to see a follow up post re: how you think about this in a week!

    Steve
  • Exactly! It's NOT about being an expert. It's about being real, connection, authenticty. Follow numbers are about appearence and do not represent the value of the tweet :).
  • First, thank you so very much for your comment. I'm glad you gave me your opinion, and Steve Ames follows on with a really great comment, too.

    The Twitter post definitely meant to educate within it. With the expert post, I really missed the mark of saying, "there's no true way to be an expert."

    I believe this post, or rather your response to it, is a turning point in understanding my own contributions and my own voice.

    I'm grateful for this.
  • I'm a new subscriber, but I could definitely tell they were meant to be satirical - especially the 10-no-4 post title. I think those of us that are out there have seen every self proclaimed expert follow us on twitter and your post was right on about how ridiculous it is to just up and call yourself an expert. So thanks for the funny posts. I must say, I am a little tired of hearing a lot of social media "etiquette" posts from the "real" experts - the ones that sound fairly condescending as it sounds like thinly veiled insecurity or maybe even they sound a bit threatened by some new emergers. Everyone does have to start somewhere - just my humble opinion.
  • Well, at the end of the day it's all about creating more visibility, and generating more money out of ones' blogs. So, there are a zillion people out there searching for keywords such as twitter and social-media marketing, and you did the right thing of posting articles sporting their names. Wow! That's a nice move to boost website traffic, as you've already published the stats ;)

    Slightly outta topic..are you using WP-stats? Not sure if that's reliable ;)
  • Ah, but it's not about creating more visibility. It's about the nature of each individual relationship. That's the lesson!
    Steve
  • cyndeetc
    Chris - I was one of the many people who paid to hear what you had to say with Peter Shankman earlier this week. I did this because I am a newbie to social media. I listened carefully to what you and Peter had to say and I trusted that you would help me figure out social media (including Twitter). While I read you post about social media experts and even I saw the "tongue in cheek nature" of it - you did not clearly indicate in the post on increasing Twitter followers that it was a joke. I took you at your word and followed some of your tips, which have some truth in them. For example, your post taught me about #hashtags and I used a few to identify people who are similar to me and who write about the things in which I am interested. My comment for you to consider is that you are smarter than I am about all things social media. By posting such satire without stating what you are doing, is belittling people like me who are not as knowledgeable as you are and might not understand. I feel badly that you are laughing your @ss off that you tricked so many. :(
  • What it actually means is what I've been saying, which is that people are now flocking to Social Media apps & sites in large numbers for the "Get Rich Quick" aspect of it. Everybody wants to have followers, but they don't want to work for it.

    So.. If you or anyone else posts something with a title that seems like it's going to explain to people how to game the system, people who want that information are going to click on it... A LOT.

    I think the actual lesson here, and I'm going to read your new post now, is that satire and sarcasm don't translate in type. If you type "How to get more followers", that's what people are going to expect.

    A second lesson might be that there are a lot of people who are aware of the types of posts that you write on this blog. I'm one of those people. I wouldn't expect an actual "gaming the system" post from you on this blog. Still.. There are a lot more people than the people that have met you IRL and have read your previous articles and absorbed what your style is that a) are going to be pointed to your blog by RTs and b) are going to arrive here through Google. You can't "afford" to assume that people know what your style is or isn't when you make post titles.

    I get 66% of my traffic from Google, 4% from Bing and 4% from Yahoo search engines. That means that 3/4 of the people that come to my site have no idea who I am or what my style is when it comes to commentary. I have to assume that people are going to take my titles at face value.
  • Both posts were funny. It's something you send to friends.

    Tony
  • I think a couple of things here:

    1. The Internet does not filter sarcasm.
    2. There is definitely a huge interest in the false assumption that Twitter is all about quantity and not quality. It really doesn't matter how many followers you have. For example, say you are providing services and have only 200 followers, what if those 200 followers are all your clients or CEOS of major companies who want to hear from you?
    3. Twitter cannot be explained and it cannot be controlled. Each one of us has the power to make Twitter our own. I truly believe it is bigger than us, and as much I as don't get or want to get the get more followers money trend, the reality is that their is a market for it and some people will capitalize on it, even though I find it ethically wrong.

    Nice post.
  • rachelvelarde
    I do think you're getting the crazy traffic boost because of the titles of your pieces. However, hopefully anyone who has spent more than a week on Twitter has found that quantity does NOT win out over quality. You CAN get to 1,000 followers without using any of the engines - it just might take 3 months instead of 3 hours. But, those are more likely to be people (the key word being PEOPLE) with whom you will find interests/goals in common. THAT'S the lesson that I've learned from Chris - how to make the human to human interaction that is most important. This snarky post was fabulous, because I've been reading him for a long time.
    Sarcasm IS hard to filter through the typed word (haven't you written posts about misunderstood emails?). Also, unfortunately, there seem to be many people in the world who just don't understand sarcasm. I'd LOVE another one of these posts (I LMAO!), but for clarity there should probably be a #sarcasm in there somewhere. :-P
    Thanks for ALL the great information you put out there Chris!
  • craigmcgill
    Chris, I laughed my head off at both because as well as being funny, they still had decent pointers in them - they weren't out and out spoofs. I'd say carry on and to hell with those who don't get it. It was funny, you delivered in an effective style but yeah, as I've learned, sometimes people don't get when you're trying to be funny, but that's an individual thing. It's not your fault they don't get it and people shouldn't expect you to dumb down to them. It shows skill to vary a writing style.

    Of course, this is where I add in the usual prerequisite Brit disclaimer about how the yanks don't get sarcasm and irony and how you owe us 200 years in back taxes and so on.
  • To me it is obvious that people want the real stuff. I mean, they are not getting sales or views or any type of results with their twitter posts.

    Is it so surprising they would flock to something that helps explain why the big lie is not working for them?

    As far as coming in through the front door, could it be that people are telling other people through email that there is a heretic in the crowd, someone who does not follow the sheep dogs?
  • jennyonthespot
    Well, I get your posts via email... I actually clicked to your site for the Twitter post... I went because I thought the title sounded counter to what your typically write about... "get more followers" is not a phrase I would ascribe to your "brand" :)

    I HAD to click to make sure this was the Chris Brogan I usually read :) I have come to know you as community and relationship driven and the "get more followers" hype is for the other people... ya know?

    And the listed matched your voice. Counter to the "1 million followers now" apraoch. I enjoyed the list... and nodded and "yepped" with each point. You didn't say, "get 100000000 more followers today"...

    The list has good points to go by, which actually WILL help grow a following... Especially good for newbies. I know I've fallen into certain traps... before I knew where I wanted to go in this. Not that in know exactly where I want to go, but as a friend said once, "I don't want 1000 new followers because of some program... I want to be followed because I they chose to follow me... because they find value in what I share... I am relevant..." more or less.
  • WarrenKelly
    Personally, I think that these posts were very valuable to the kind of people who would click on something with that title -- and I figure that was the intent ;)

    Don't you dare give up the satire, Chris Brogan; satire is a better teacher than almost anything out there, because the people who learn are the people who really need it.
  • Are there any relevant search terms that led to these posts on those days? It would be interesting to see if people REALLY thought they were getting the secret to more followers or becoming an expert.

    I just read the previous comments...and it looks like everybody else had the same thought.

    That's actually kind of sad. I enjoy your satirical posts, and anybody expecting serious posts about how to get more followers should start heading elsewhere. These numbers are indicating that the general public really is looking for quick followers and expert tips - and these satirical items you posted are the things people are SERIOUSLY posting to fill the interest.

    As for a comparison to Jay-Z, his fans are loyal because they like his style. If you are the Jay-Z of SM, you have fans because you can joke about ridiculous trends and you are engaging at a high level. I don't go to Jay-Z for his humor and business savvy (though he may have a great sense of both); similarly, I don't listen to Chris Brogan for well-behind-the-curve trends or for an intro to social media.

    Keep up the good work,

    - Scott
  • From the screenshots it looks like you're using WordPress.com Stats. I believe that takes it's time from the Wordpress installation itself. So if you go to the Settings->General section of your wordpress install and set your Timezone, your Stats will kick over to a new day at midnight (i.e. midnight where you are) like it is meant to. If you don't do this, wordpress might use the same time as the server it is hosted on (not 100% sure about this though), which is probably different timezone to where you are.

    Sorry to comment off topic, just trying to be helpful :), especially considering many people have already mentioned what I was thinking in their comments.
  • richlaburn
    Chris, I think the lesson here is in the subject lines of your articles. So often attention grabbing headlines and quick fix solutions entice people to click through for a read. This can be seen in reality not only in the form of newspaper headlines (think tabloids in particular) but also in book titles, etc.
  • richlaburn
    Chris, as most of the people have commented, I think the subject lines are the cause of traffic coming through. You can write an attention grabbing headline in a newspaper, book title or blogpost and it is sure to entice some people to take further interest in buying it or clicking through to it.

    It would be interesting to see how long people took on the blog once they clicked through it. If they realised it was not what they were looking for and they had once again been caught out by a catchy title, they more than likely would have left shortly afterwards. Nevertheless, their presence still would show up on your traffic rankings.
  • Don't forget that a lot of traffic from Tweetdeck and some other Twitter apps will show as direct traffic, not referred from Twitter.

    The thing about mickey-take posts is that hey're funny because they're rooted in the truth, and so more people will pass them on - I know I'm more likely to pass on something funny than the same old Socil media stuff all the time that everyone has already retweeted / posted on Facebook etc.
  • I get small "Twitter floods" on a regular basis. What I've found is that when one happens, I get lots of "mystery clicks." Those mystery clicks are coming from Twitter apps like TweetDeck and Twitterfon and Seesmic and so on.
  • Ty_Walsworth
    If you quit using sarcasm I will not follow you anymore. Kidding. That was sarcastic... and I really enjoy your humor in a world of too much serious. I start every day reading your emails. Don't change. I also enjoy long walks in the park, but you should know I am slightly overweight. Sarcasm. It IS wonderful. Love, @Ty_Walsworth
  • There may have been some who thought those posts were serious, but I RT'd them because I thought you were spot on. I think there are many of us that really get a little tired of the mindless self-promotion from way too many people. I didn't think you were too snarky or sarcastic - it was "goldilocks" sarcasm, just right. Keep injecting your personality into what you write, that's why so many of us follow you. Don't give in to the vocal minority who may only follow you to find something (anything?) to criticize. With so many following you, you become a larger target; but, that doesn't mean you should change what brought you this far. Your advice has been that we should be ourselves when we use social platforms. Thanks for following your own advice. Keep up the good work, and wear that bulls-eye with pride.
  • Chris, outside of some of the other lessons learned from other commenteres, the first lesson I thought of is that it shows the power of the headline. It had the feel of a Cosmo or Enquirer headline, which work, right?!

    To back this up it would be interesting to see the bounce rate for these posts compared to others and also the time spent on the site where these posts were the lead in. My suspicion is that those visitors who thought the headlines were serious would quickly leave and not look at any of your other content.

    That may give a better understanding for the traffic bump. Could be an interesting analysis!
  • paulnorwine
    Hi Chris,

    Not that this is information about your "reach" that you don't already know but I did a google search on the top 50 social media blogs to get some advice for starting out. You came up at #1 so I did a little surfing on your site and came across the posts you are referring to. I did think the titles were a little off with your following but was intrigued anyway (you obviously know what you are doing so I was hoping to get some little golden nuggets). So, even though you may not see yourself as an expert, google disagrees :( Thanks, Chris!

    Paul
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