U.S. Self-Promotion Index: Which States Brag Most on Social Media

Consider this:  On social networks like Facebook and Instagram, many so-called "status updates" are really "brag-ommendatons" -- opportunities to enhance your status with friends and followers by showcasing your apparently amazing life.

But are people getting annoyed by your self-promotion? Some data seems to reflect this trend. In fact, a study published last month by Harvard University researchers found that people are now less likely to want to hear about the more exciting experiences of their peers - so they will likely tune out your amazing vacation photo.

We wondered how the entire country ranked in self-promotional behaviors: Don't your Facebook friends of certain states seem just so much more humble than others...whereas friends from other states seem to major in Facebook bragging?

So we decided to test out our questions. 

To analyze the nation's self-promotional habits, our on-staff "sharing experts" asked 2,500 Americans who participate in social media to rate the number of posts they typically make on potentially self-promotional topics (such as trips to special locations, attendance at memorable events, and work-related good news).

We were floored by what we found.

Shown below are the 20 most boastful and most humble U.S. states (with the average percent of residents who frequently make self-promotional social posts shown in parenthesis):

>>  TOP 20 "MOST BRAGGADOCIOUS" U.S. STATES
#1:  California (77% percent frequently engage in self-promotion)
#2:  Washington (76%)
#3:  Nevada:  (72%)
#4:  Maryland  (70%)
#5:  New Hampshire (69%)
#6:  Illinois (67%)  
#7:  Virginia (66%)
#8:  Oklahoma (64%)
#9:  New Jersey (60%)
#10: New York (58%)
#11:  South Dakota (57%)
#12:  Delaware (57%)
#13:  Colorado (55%)
#14:  Alabama (55%)
#15:  Kentucky (54%)
#16:  Indiana (53%)
#17:  Georgia (52%)
#18:  Minnesota (52%)
#19:  Florida (51%)
#20:  Texas (51%)

>>  TOP 20 "MOST HUMBLE" U.S. STATES
#1:  Utah (22%)
#2:  Oregon (26%)
#3:  South Carolina (33%)
#4:  Kansas (34%)
#5:  Arizona (34%)
#6:  Arkansas (37%) 
#7:  Pennsylvania (39%) 
#8:  Massachusetts (40%) 
#9:  Rhode Island (40%)
#10:  Wisconsin (41%) 
#11:  Connecticut (43%)
#12:  Ohio (44%) 
#13:  North Carolina (45%)
#14:  Maine (46%)
#15:  Michigan (47%)
#16:  Tennessee (47%)  
#17:  Missouri (48%) 
#18:  Louisiana (48%)
#19:  Mississippi (49%) 
#20:  Iowa (49%)

We also asked respondents to rank the top 5 most popular topics they like to post on social media (with the percent who do it 'frequently,' 'almost always,' or 'always' shown in parenthesis):

>> MOST POPULAR TOPICS FOR SELF-PROMOTION ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
#1:  Going on a special trip (62%)
#2:  Attending a memorable event (59%)
#3:  Meeting a noteworthy person (54%)
#4:  Something nice that your significant other did (53%)
#5:  Getting work-related good news (52%)

What's great about HeyLets  is that when you post, no experience is just "average" and a menu of inspiring new life moments is only a click or swipe away. 

On HeyLets, EVERYONE posts incredible life experiences to help others find their own magical moments through the power of recommendation. 

What are you waiting for? Download to your iPhone now using the button below (Android coming soon!)

You'll be glad you did!

Wishlist & Win #4

We're taking you around the world each week for a chance to win $100!

Simply wishlist your favorite experience we share on the app to enter to win!

To enter, click the button below the experience you'd rather do and hit 'wishlist' on the app. Leave a comment as a second entry to win.

It's that simple!

Don't have the app yet? Download here or if on Android, sign up for our release list here.

Wishlist & Win - Week 3

We're taking you around the world each week for a chance to win $100!

Simply wishlist your favorite experience we share on the app to enter to win!

To enter, click the button below the experience you'd rather do and hit 'wishlist' on the app. Leave a comment as a second entry to win.

It's that simple!

Don't have the app yet? Download here or if on Android, sign up for our release list here.

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Are online reviews going extinct? 8 ways they’ll be different by 2020

Original article appears on The American Genius here.

The state of online reviews

Online reviews have gone mainstream, and the majority of people either write them, or at least view them, making purchasing decisions based on others’ opinions. But something is shifting. The problem with some of the big review sites are considered by some to be an outmoded one-size-fits-all solution.

Why is that a problem? The world is going niche. Justin Parfitt, CEO of HeyLets has expertise on how reviews are used by consumers, and says that the next generation of review sites and apps will more intelligently utilize your personal data and contextual preferences to make more thoughtful recommendations.

Consider that HeyLets can already show you a personalized feed of recommendations from users who have similar interests, and use your social data to inspire you to try new things across the full range of your interests.

Even more impressive, next-generation apps like HeyLets will soon learn over time how you live your life, and be able to do things like:

• Anticipate your needs and propose activities for particular days by using information about past movements and even the weather forecast.
• Automatically disregard reviews from people with distinctly different preferences (i.e. a vegan diner who posts a at a non-vegan restaurant).
• Help you avoid less reliable reviews from “Debbie Downers” — people who only post critical updates and negative content.

8 ways online reviews will be different by 2020

In his own words below, Parfitt offers eight ways he says online reviews will differ from today in coming years:

1. Anticipate your needs and propose activities for particular days by using information about your past movements and even the weather forecast. (i.e. if you like bars and surfing you’ll get a recommendation for beaches where the surf will be good that also have bars you’ll enjoy)
2. Disregard content from people with different preferences (i.e. a vegan diner who posts a at a non vegan restaurant).
3. Seek out the experiences locals enjoy.
4. Help you avoid people who only post critical updates.
5. Put little quirks and minor issues (i.e. “they take only cash”) into context and treat them as tips.
6. Allow you to truly find the “diamond in the rough” – truly something that very few people have experienced.
7. Focus on the positive, and automatically avoid negativity.
8. Expand your network to automatically put you in touch with people who are more likely to become your best friend, based on extremely similar interest.

Why The Cracks In Big Review Companies Keep Coming...

The recent decision of a Guest House's management team in NY to threaten guests with a $500 fine for any negative review posted on opinion and review sites such as Yelp or Trip Advisor caused significant outrage. And only recently, an appeals court in SF has awarded Yelp the right to change a company's ratings for money. How did we get here? What is happening to the world of review sites? Is the end near?

As a co-founder of two companies, HeyLets and Zanui, I asked myself what would prompt the Guest Houses' management to take such deliberate action and risk such negative PR? At my previous venture Zanui, our most important metric was our Net Promoter Score, essentially used to determine how many customers would recommend your company. We valued the feedback, both good and bad, as we do at HeyLets. Admittedly, we preferred it when customers chose to communicate their grievances with us directly before they blasted social media and review sites. But, on the odd occasion when it would happen (lets not lie, furniture is damn hard to ship around Australia, and there is a WHOLE lot of desert in the middle of it), we saw value in publicly admitting our mistake, and publicly acknowledging that we would attempt to fix the problem immediately. But I would never have threatened to fine a customer in this way, nor thought I could get away with it. Many I have spoken to feel the same. 

This situation highlights the inherent issues with opinion and review sites. Whilst review sites will always play a part in people's decision making process, the increasing cracks will continue to fracture their relevance and authenticity, leaving both consumers and businesses desperate for alternatives. 

So, what is causing the fracture? And what is the result, apart from $500 fine threats? Looking at businesses and consumers separately, we see - 

For Businesses. 

 1. Massive review sites such as Yelp and Trip Advisor that encourage reviews of a place or venue, have become many company's most dominate marketing channel, and thus they are spending money to advertise on these channels. But these are opinion sites, not recommendations. This conflicted revenue model is leading to business owners (such as the hotel in New York) making seemingly nonsensical threats (such as the $500 fine). However, imagine you owned a company and paid for a TV commercial to advertise your company, but 30% of the coverage involved people speaking about what they hated about your business? To placate irate business owners who are paying money to advertise on platforms where they are being often unfairly lambasted (often by competitors writing fake negative reviews) review companies employ staff and spend time and money encouraging their army of "reviewers" to be more "positive", bringing into question the authenticity of reviews. 

 2. Review sites encourage a "negativity bias". It means that consumers deliberately focus and place more weight on the negative, which leads to business owner frustration and its desire to force customers to focus on the positive. 

3. Businesses are going to make mistakes, and no matter how hard they try to fix it, they might not get it right. This, coupled with a negativity bias mentioned above, and the fact that many review sites force "ratings" upon a business means that the averages will tend towards a 3 out of 5. Is a 3 star review a recommendation? Who calls a friend, or goes online asking "I am looking to be inspired - who can suggest an average thing to do this weekend?".  

 4. My experience has shown me that dissatisfied customers are far more likely to leave negative reviews than satisfied customers are to leave a recommendation. Is this more to do with the lack of platforms that exist to leave positive recommendations that are seen by people who are actually interested, or more to do with the sort of person who likes writing about places and experiences? Probably a bit of both, but more so the former.

And what does this mean for consumers?

1. It is leading to a lack of trust in the authenticity of the reviews, and widespread backlash. Yet, Yelp and Trip Advisor are now massive publicly traded companies, and until there are viable alternatives, people will still use them, even though they may not enjoy doing so. 

2. It is very hard for consumers to find what they are looking for. Negativity bias means consumers are missing out on "gems" hidden in the 1 star reviews. What if, hidden amongst a 3-page 1-star review from an irate lady who was having a bad day, she mentions "the best truffle eggs I have ever tasted". How does a person looking for truffle eggs find that?

3. People using these large review sites are increasingly finding they have little in common with the person writing the review. They may actually love something about an experience that is the reason another person has given it a 1 star, but no one would read a 1 star review to actually find this out. 

4. Consumers who actually enjoy an experience, but don't like using these big review sites, are forced to use the wrong platforms to share these positive experiences. I am sure everyone is following a friend on Instagram who insists on posting photos of their quinoi salad they get from their organic cafe. I wont lie. I hate quinoi. But I know plenty of people who would LOVE to hear about this quinoi cafe, but aren't following this person on Instagram. They are missing out on finding out about this experience. 

The combination of these factors are leading to the emergence of recommendation platforms that cater for people looking to be inspired. Platforms such HeyLets allow a crowd sourced feed of tailored recommendations to inspire people to try out new things. It shows you the hidden gems, and allows you to search for things that you are actually interested in. Sosh and Up and Out are catching on as well, providing editorial content for people who are looking for things to do, not looking for things NOT to do. 

There is no doubt review companies are here to stay. But their relevance, dominance, authenticity and readership is being threatened. And it is about time.

- Dean