A Facebook Post Is Twice As Likely To Go Viral If You Append It With The Phrase "Please Post This"

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ANATOMY OF A FACEBOOK MEME: Facebook defines a meme as "an idea that is readily transmitted from person to person." It's defined broadly, because a meme evolves over time (e.g., someone takes a photo of their dog, and then other people repurpose the image with funny sayings). A team of Facebook data scientists has published a research paper that helps explain what drives the virality of this type of content on the social network.

Appending the words "please post this" or "copy and paste" to a meme make it twice as likely to go viral, or continue to be shared.

Furthermore, phrasings that are agreements or easy to identify with, such as "if you love your" or "paste if you agree" also help drive meme virality. See chart above for other phrasings that are advantageous to getting your content shared on Facebook.

The propensity to share content on Facebook makes it a hub for memes. Brands can tap into the social network to start their own memes that help promote their image, or tap into memes that have already gone viral to prove to consumers that they are culturally aware. (Facebook Research)

PUBLISHERS EXPERIMENT WITH SNAPCHAT: Bloomberg Businessweek is now using Snapchat to send readers previews of its upcoming magazine covers. Seventeen Magazine began using the app to communicate back in December. If you know of other businesses using Snapchat in interesting way, send me an email at csmith@businessinsider.com. (Businessweek)

CONFIDE - SNAPCHAT FOR TEXT MESSAGES: A new startup called Confide launched yesterday. The app allows users to send text messages that disappear after they are read by the recipient. Despite the shady use cases that people have already come up with, from cheating on spouses to insider trading, Confide is being branded as a professional tool. The company's founders said the app could be used to prevent the leaking of a press release or terms to a deal. (GigaOM)

NEW YORK TIMES EXPERIMENTS WITH NATIVE ADS: Among the changes to The New York Times website recently, the publication is now featuring native advertising. Native ads have been a staple of paid online content for years, but The New York Times is just dipping its feet in it now. Dell reportedly paid a six-figure price tag to run the first native ad spot on the publication's site. (AdAge)

NEW YORK TIMES WORKING ON NEW SOCIAL PRODUCT: Fresh off the heals of redesigning its website, The New York Times appears to be developing a new editorial product described as "a new, all-day-long opinion experience online and for mobile devices." According to two job listings that are believed to be associated with the project, the new editorial product will include a mixture of tweets and Facebook updates of trending opinion pieces across the Web. (Digiday)

GESTURE-RECOGNITION FOR GOOGLE GLASS: A startup called OnTheGo Platforms is building a software developer kit that allows developers to integrate gesture recognition in Google Glass apps. Currently, Google Glass only supports touch and voice recognition. (Engadget)

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