With recent changes to Facebook I’ve really lost much of my FB mojo. Those Facebook changes mean that only a fraction of a page’s actual fans ever see the posts, unless of course they pay to promote them. I’m seeing less than 10%. HOG currently has 1,423 fans on Facebook. When I make a post there, only around 100 people see it. If the post is more popular, a few hundred see it. Those are the same numbers as back in early 2011 when the page only had 200-300 fans.
Links Have Less Views
Posts which get the least amount of views are ones which have external links in them. Straight text posts with no links reach more fans. I think FB knows you are posting external links to promote a website. And automated posts, like from RSS feeds? They get almost nothing or nothing. No views.
Example: A FB page I run had two posts yesterday. One had a link to an external website and the other did not. The text-only post currently has been viewed by 1,700 fans. The post with a link? 381 views. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Pay To Reach Your Own Fans
If I wanted one of my posts on Facebook to reach all of the fans who have already expressed interest in my page by clicking like, I’d have to pay $20. That may not sound like a lot, but consider that I’ve already worked to get those fans and in the case of 100’s of them, already paid Facebook advertising fees to attract the fans. If I only promoted one post per day, and I post several, I’d be at a bill of $140/week or $560 per month. As popular as this blog is, I can’t afford to do that.
A business associate of mine has a company FB page with 20K+ fans. They’ve paid FB $1000’s in advertising to attract them. For them to reach all 20K, they have to fork out $200 PER POST. That’s $1000/week for one post per day. I don’t think they have a $500,000/year advertising budget for social networking.
Money
Sure it is about money. FB went public and has shareholders to answer to. They need to start bringing in dough. I understand that.
If I hadn’t already PAID MONEY to gain fans via advertising to golfers on FB, I wouldn’t have as much of an issue with paying to promote a post. But if someone clicked like they already expressed that they are interested. Having to pay to reach fans you already paid to get is like double FB taxation.
Consider that many sites like mine, actually promote Facebook by advertising and asking their patrons to like them. Each of my posts has a like button and the right sidebar of the site has a like button. I’m promoting them for free.
The Drawback To Relying On Social Networks
This is the drawback to relying on a third party website for for anything. The last few years I’ve had friends abandoning their blogs/websites and going to FB because it was free. I warned them that if FB decided to change a policy, a layout, a format, they’d be SOL. Well, here you go.
I’m Not The Only One
A recent article on readwrite.com quoted Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, “Facebook is driving away brands, starting with mine.”
The New York Observer web site posted this article, “Broken on purpose: shy getting it wrong pays more than getting it right.” The article describes in detail the role of sponsored stories. The article also speaks of other broken parts of social networks, like the fact that they don’t delete fake accounts so that they appear to have more members. Interesting read.
Dangerousminds.net has a great post addressing this issue as well called, “Facebook: I want my friends back. The biggest ‘bait n’ switch in history?”
“So why is it that our pageviews—our actual inventory, what we sell to advertisers—coming from Facebook shares are off by half to two thirds when the number of new ‘likes’ has risen so dramatically during this same time period?!?!”
Conclusion
Time will tell what this does to Facebook and to the entities who use it for fun or for business. I think it is ironic that the articles mentioned above have thousands of likes and that some pay to promote them. It is like FB eating itself to death. I even paid to promote the Dangerous Minds article on my personal FB page, 7 bucks, just to see what would happen. I already know that some companies are making plans to reduce their FB activity. Some plan on using promote to reach their customers one last time to tell them their new social network choice.
Next Post
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European Tour
UBS Hong Kong Open
Dates: Nov. 15-18
Venue: Hong Kong Golf Club, New Territories Fanling, Hong Kong
Golf Channel Airtimes (Eastern):
Thursday 1:30-5:30 a.m. (Tape Delay) / 4-6 p.m. (Replay)
Friday 1:30-5:30 a.m. (Tape Delay) / 4-6 p.m. (Replay)
Saturday 1:30-5:30 a.m. (Tape Delay) / 4-6 p.m. (Replay)
Sunday 1:30-5:30 a.m. (Tape Delay) / 4-6 p.m. (Replay)
In the field: Rory McIlroy, Michael Campbell, John Daly, Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Colin Montgomerie, Gregory Bourdy, Simon Dyson and Lin Wen-tang.
SA Open Championship
Dates: Nov. 15-18
Venue: Serengeti Golf & Wildlife Estate, Johannesburg Ekurhuleni, South Africa
Airtimes (Eastern):
Thursday 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (Tape Delay)
Friday 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (Tape Delay)
Saturday 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (Tape Delay)
Sunday 9 a.m.-1 p.m. (Tape Delay)
In the field: Charl Schwartzel, Michiel Bothma, Darren Fichardt, Matthew Carvell, Jean Hugo, Jaco Van Zyl, Warren Aberty, Garth Mulrou, George Coetzee and Shaun Norris.
PGA Tour of Australasia
Talisker Masters
Dates: Nov. 14-17
Venue: Kingston Heath Golf Club – Sandbelt Course, Melbourne, Australia
Airtimes (Eastern):
Wednesday 8:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. (Live)
Thursday 8:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. (Live)
Friday 8:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. (Live)
Saturday 8:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m. (Live)
In the field: Ian Poulter, Adam Scott, Graeme McDowell, Peter Senior, Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, Mark Brown and Craig Parry.
LPGA Tour
CME Group Titleholders
Dates: Nov. 15-18
Venue: The Eagle Course, Twin Eagles Golf Club, Naples, Fla.
Golf Channel Airtimes (Eastern):
Thursday 1:30 – 4 p.m. (Live) / 6:30-8:30 p.m. (Replay)
Friday 1:30 – 4 p.m. (Live) / 6:30-8:30 p.m. (Replay)
Saturday 1:30 – 4 p.m. (Live) / 6:30-8:30 p.m. (Replay)
Sunday 1:30 – 4 p.m. (Live) / 6:30-9 p.m. (Replay)
I don’t dress up often, just weddings and funerals. Now I have a good reason to, new Kentwools to review. These babies are from the new 19th Hole Collection dress socks.
For those who have not yet read my reviews or heard of Kentwool, they are a great maker of wool socks with killer line of golf socks called Kentwool Tour. I’ve done a few posts about them in the past. See the related links below. Review coming soon, as soon as I dress up…
Related Links
Kentwool Tour review
Kentwool Orange Edition
Kentwool images
Photo © 2012 by Tony Korologos
This should come as a surprise to nobody. 23 year old, #1 player in the world Rory McIlory has won the PGA of America’s Player of the Year. Rory won FOUR times in 2012 in 16 events, including the record-setting victory at the PGA Championship where he lapped the field.
Rory also won the Vardon Trophy, the award for lowest scoring average on Tour.
“Honoured to win The PGA of America player of the year award along with the Vardon Trophy, it’s fantastic to see my name on a list of winners alongside some of the greats of the game.” ~Rory McIlory via Facebook
For good measure, Rory has won the money titles on both the PGA Tour and European Tour. He’s the 2nd player to ever do that. Luke Donald became the first last year. The money title award is referred to as the Arnold Palmer Award.
More Awards Soon
Next award for Rory: PGA Tour player of the Year. Mark it down. It is a lock.
My lovely G-Mac Ardglass – click for more
Today I’m reviewing the G-Mac Ardglass golf polo by Irish apparel maker Kartel. The G-Mac line is new; a coloboration between Kartel and Irish golf star Graeme McDowell. Let’s take a look at this awesome polo.
Ardglass Features
This golf polo is made from 63% pima cotton which is extremely soft and smooth. I find myself uncontrollably petting this shirt as it hangs in the closet. Tough to explain that to the wife at 4:13 a.m. The other 37% of the fabric makeup is polyester. Polys don’t wrinkle and they keep their shape well. And perhaps best of all a poly fabric prevents shrinking.
The collar has a “button under” design which is very nice. And the under side of the collar on my shirt (the orange or Whiskey color) is black, which matches the detailed stitching on the trim around the buttons. Very nice touch.
Wearing this polo provides the wearer up to 30SPF ultra-violet protection.
The fabric of this shirt is not only soft, it combats moisture with its dry-tech moisture wicking technology. The fabric pulls moisture from the skin to the outside of the shirt where it evaporates.
Along with the wicking, the shirt’s material is anti-microbial.
Colors
The Ardglass is available in four colors: Whiskey (orange, shown in this article), coral (hot pink), jade (hot turquoise), basalt (black/gray).
Adrglass Colors
On The Course
This shirt is so comfortable and good looking that it practically inspires good golf. I’ve gotten many comments on this shirt.
The smooth fabric combined with great design is great for the golf swing. No binding, stretching or pulling. I can swing free with this polo, and concentrate on my shot rather than an irritating apparel issue!
Ardglass – Whiskey – click to zoom
Conclusion
It is tough to come up with a 4,000 word article on a golf shirt. Lets face it. There are really only three crucial requirements a golf polo must meet: Style, comfort and performance. The Ardglass scores a “brilliant” rating in all three crucial areas. Brilliant old chap!
I wish wearing this G-Mac polo made my golf game as good as Graeme McDowell’s, but I’ll have to settle for being as stylish I suppose…
Related Links
G-MAC by Kartel website
Hooked On Golf Blog G-MAC images
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