Using an Online Focus Group to Predict the Popularity of APOD Images on Facebook
How accurately is it possible to predict social media engagement with future Astronomy Pictures of the Day? APOD selection criteria are diverse and include educational value and topicality, but for people to be interested in learning more about an image, it first has to capture their attention, and Facebook Likes and Shares are indicative of engagement. Therefore, it is sometimes useful to estimate the likely future popularity of images being considered for APOD. This study analyzes the predictive value of a comparatively small "focus group" page on Facebook named Sky. Some images being considered for APOD are first posted to Facebook Sky and their relative engagement statistics there are noted. To access predictive value, correlations between Likes and Reach for images posted to Facebook Sky that have gone on to be posted to APOD and Facebook APOD are analysed for data recorded in 2017.
To access predictive value, correlations between Likes and Reach for images posted to Facebook Sky that have gone on to be posted to APOD and Facebook ...