FEATURE
THE
MEDIUM
IS THE
MESSAGE
Public Health England and Cancer Research UK’s
recent social media campaigns used
video to great effect
BY GORDON STRIBLING
There’s been a lot of debate in recent months about the impact
social media may be having on our lives. Inspired in no small
part by the US-based Center for Humane Technology – a group
of concerned former Facebook and Google employees – social
media users are beginning to take a step back and consider
whether the benefits of sites like Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram outweigh the potential detriment to the health of young,
developing minds.
But as Nir Eyal, author of bestselling book, “Hooked: How to Build
Habit-Forming Products,” pointed out, we should keep concerns
about social media in perspective and not make sweeping
statements about it being wholly negative to individuals and wider
society. People can choose whether or not they engage with
social media and when it is used for good, it can be a significant
force for change.
Chartbeat provides online businesses with real-time data that
helps them understand web visitors and how they consume
content. In 2016, the company analysed deep user behaviour
across two billion web visits over the course of the month. They
discovered that 55% of people spent less than 15 seconds
actively on any given page.
98 | VM16