I know this has been a debated issue in the past and we have seen it done extensively, but since the redesign I think this issue has gotten out of hand.
A change in the social media behavior of the site has been noticed. The site went from promoting a few photos a couple of times a day to publishing one or two things every one to three hours (usually every other hour). Among these postings are old photos, some aviation videos/stories, and of course some freshly added photos that are just hours or in some cases minutes old and thus eligible for top photo etc. The sharing on social media of new acceptances is not new. It has been going on for a long time actually. However, with the recent noticed decrease in image views the affect of sharing new, non-newsworthy images shows even more. There are images on this site that are not even getting near 50 views after 10+ days. Since this new site launched it is considered a success if your image receives over 100 views in the first day, something that is never was hard to do in the past.
Times are based on Eastern Daylight.
Friday night's top 5 was:
1. Jetstar A320 Angry Birds new special.. promoted and right to be done
2. CargoLogicAir 748 on delivery flight.... already had a shot on the db of it but still promoted on social media instantly
3. Swiss 77W: Promoted on social media
4. Azores A330: Promoted on social media
5. Cathay Pacific B747 in new colors: Not promoted on social media
Saturday afternoon/evening revealed this:
1. China Airlines Blended Boeing 777: A.net promoted on social media
2. Singapore A380 landing in the rain: A.net promoted on social media
3. CargoLogicAir 748: A.net promoted on social media
4. US Airfroce B-52: A.net promoted on social media
5. Swiss Air Force F18: A.net promoted on social media
Clicking Top images of last 24 hours:
Top 8 were social media promotions.
Number 9 was not promoted on social media and is that Cathay 747 I described last night which respectfully got over 1,700 views on its own. After that the disparity grows big time as almost 1,000 views separate number 9 from number 10
Top 24 rounded out by an image with 188 views right now.
Ultimately there is a simple "fix" to this issue to ensure there is no artificial top 5: Non newsworthy images should not be getting promoted within their first 24+ hours after acceptance. If an image is newsworthy, as described by the site's priority screening banner rules, then it should be shared on social media.
Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
Re: Top 5 Decided by Social Media
len90 wrote:Ultimately there is a simple "fix" to this issue to ensure there is no artificial top 5: Non newsworthy images should not be getting promoted within their first 24+ hours after acceptance.
To be blunt, it's not going to happen. The crew actually tried this a few years ago - only promoting shots after 24 hours, so that the top 5 wasn't affected. That attempt was abandoned in fairly short order.
With shots getting fewer views overall now, it's even less likely that the site will go that route.
Personally, it doesn't bother me either way. I appreciate it when the site promotes one of my shots, but if they don't, it's no big deal.
I'm watching Jeopardy. The category is worst Madonna songs. "This one from 1987 is terrible".
Re: Top 5 Decided by Social Media
Hey Len,
I've noticed this also, and it is very disappointing when two shots you thought had a legitimate shot of the front page, can't even cross over 300 views.
I honestly would've waited to upload these if I knew they would get so few views. I agree completely with you on how to fix this problem. Has there really been such a large drop off in views just because of the new site? I really like the new site?
I've noticed this also, and it is very disappointing when two shots you thought had a legitimate shot of the front page, can't even cross over 300 views.
I honestly would've waited to upload these if I knew they would get so few views. I agree completely with you on how to fix this problem. Has there really been such a large drop off in views just because of the new site? I really like the new site?
Re: Top 5 Decided by Social Media
Of my 89 photos here, I've had 4-5 that have gone to the front page, and two of those that have been promoted on Facebook (after reaching the front page). I absolutely agree that non-newsworthy images should not be promoted until after the 24 hour mark. I don't understand WHY this is so difficult to change.
That said, as others have mentioned, I believe that regardless of promotion tactics, the top 5 is not a good representation of the possible images that should be there. In my opinion, there's no current method of encouraging visitors to look at photos new to the database other than the top 5. Personally, 95% of the days I visit airliners.net, I don't look at any images beyond those on the front page. I believe we should add a section to the front page that contains a constant scrolling of random photo thumbs uploaded in the last 24, some sort of automatic carousel/scroll that can be paused with mouse-over, and click would open the image. I think that this would help all of our photos gain more exposure on the front page, and would help create a more representative top 5.
Of course most important is stopping the promotion of images that should not be.
That said, as others have mentioned, I believe that regardless of promotion tactics, the top 5 is not a good representation of the possible images that should be there. In my opinion, there's no current method of encouraging visitors to look at photos new to the database other than the top 5. Personally, 95% of the days I visit airliners.net, I don't look at any images beyond those on the front page. I believe we should add a section to the front page that contains a constant scrolling of random photo thumbs uploaded in the last 24, some sort of automatic carousel/scroll that can be paused with mouse-over, and click would open the image. I think that this would help all of our photos gain more exposure on the front page, and would help create a more representative top 5.
Of course most important is stopping the promotion of images that should not be.
View my photos
Matthew
Matthew
Re: Top 5 Decided by Social Media
vikkyvik wrote:len90 wrote:Ultimately there is a simple "fix" to this issue to ensure there is no artificial top 5: Non newsworthy images should not be getting promoted within their first 24+ hours after acceptance.
To be blunt, it's not going to happen. The crew actually tried this a few years ago - only promoting shots after 24 hours, so that the top 5 wasn't affected. That attempt was abandoned in fairly short order.
With shots getting fewer views overall now, it's even less likely that the site will go that route.
Personally, it doesn't bother me either way. I appreciate it when the site promotes one of my shots, but if they don't, it's no big deal.
I'd be interested in knowing the basis of why the test run was abandoned in "fairly short order". Unless the total photo views of all new uploads in a day were added and compared to previous totals, it would be difficult to assess the impact. Obviously, when new photos are quickly promoted, they will stick in the Top 5 for far longer and accumulate far greater views, as opposed to many more photos rotating through the Top 5, and getting less views each. In other words, I hope the staff didn't just notice the Top 5 dropped from 10k-20k views to 1k-5k views and decided to abandon it because of that. After all, the total view count across the database might have been higher during the test. As I've said before, when viewers see the same Top 5 pictures every time they hit the homepage, they are less likely to click on them more than once, but if they see fresh pictures every hour or two, they are more likely to view additional photos. When I last inquired about the criteria used, I was basically told it was none of my business. Well, as this site mainly runs off user-generated content, it kind of is the users' business and as anyone can see, when a site starts dismissing feedback and engaging in biased practices, people will leave.
Last edited by planespot on Mon Jul 11, 2016 3:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Top 5 Decided by Social Media
planespot wrote:I'd be interested in knowing the basis of why the test run was abandoned in "fairly short order".
I'm not entirely sure - probably negatively affected photo views or social media growth or something.
It's a bit difficult to sort through the threads and posts on this subject, but I believe this is the thread where it was originally decided to wait past 24 hours to post a shot on social media:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=917495&p=12453139&hilit=Top+24#p12453139
And I believe this is the thread where that was eliminated:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=918379&p=12461555&hilit=Top+24#p12461555
I'm watching Jeopardy. The category is worst Madonna songs. "This one from 1987 is terrible".
Re: Top 5 Decided by Social Media
This is the thread in question viewtopic.php?f=7&t=918971
Re: Top 5 Decided by Social Media
Planespot brings about a good point. Instapromotions are among the worst as it allows a single image to hold onto the homepage for an extended period of time and thus prevents a casual visitor from seeing fresh content. With the latest traffic data showing less page views per person; a more varied content throughout the day might make a difference.
There's got to be something to do that can allow everyone to be happy...
There's got to be something to do that can allow everyone to be happy...
Len90
Re: Top 5 Decided by Social Media
len90 wrote:There's got to be something to do that can allow everyone to be happy...
Read through the threads Vishal and I posted. You'll find many similar comments.
But we ended up where we are now, and I doubt it'll change.
I'm watching Jeopardy. The category is worst Madonna songs. "This one from 1987 is terrible".
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- Smoketrails
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Re: Top 5 Decided by Social Media
Homepage top 5 now all Steve Brimley shots?!?!
Re: Top 5 Decided by Social Media
Smoketrails wrote:Homepage top 5 now all Steve Brimley shots?!?!
I know! Who the heck is he?
What can I say? They were all priority uploads from Farnborough. I have no idea if any of these were 'promoted on social media' (I'm an old git and don't use it myself).
All I would say is that before the site changed, based on previous experience of uploading shots from Farnborough, I would have hoped two of those would make the home page (the 727 take-off and the A350 crew-rest). I say this without wanting to sound big-headed and it is based on experience of previous Farnborough shows where I have had four of the top five.
I think the fact the other three have made it is due to the generally lower number of photo hits being generated since the site changed.
I'm almost embarrassed.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana!
There are 10 types of people in the World - those that understand binary and those that don't.
There are 10 types of people in the World - those that understand binary and those that don't.
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- Smoketrails
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Re: Top 5 Decided by Social Media
Hahaha..no probs there Steve! I thought it might have been that....
Love the B727 t/o shot!
Love the B727 t/o shot!