For some reason I was curious about local media and Facebook recently, so that’s what I looked at this week. If you’re looking for a good rundown of recent news, check out Karen’s latest Edmonton New Media Roundup.
Here’s a quick comparison of Edmonton media organizations on Facebook (as of October 17, 2011):
| ORGANIZATION | MEDIUM | LIKES | TALKING ABOUT IT |
| 102.3 Now! Radio | Radio | 55,454 | 3,186 |
| 91.7 The Bounce | Radio | 49,280 | 1,816 |
| Global Edmonton | TV | 41,963 | 2,447 |
| 100.3 The Bear | Radio | 21,416 | 1,786 |
| Hot 107 FM | Radio | 16,565 | 1,597 |
| Sonic 102.9 | Radio | 14,244 | 1,605 |
| CTV Edmonton | TV | 12,876 | 1,080 |
| CISN Country 103.9 | Radio | 9,799 | 1,181 |
| CKUA Radio | Radio | 9,045 | 198 |
| 104.9 Virgin Radio | Radio | 7,587 | 848 |
| Edmonton Journal | 5,695 | 269 | |
| K97 | Radio | 5,461 | 334 |
| BT Edmonton | TV | 5,155 | 1,222 |
| 92.5 JOE FM | Radio | 3,488 | 175 |
| up! 99.3 | Radio | 3,221 | 482 |
| Edmonton Sun | 3,134 | 616 | |
| 630 CHED | Radio | 2,026 | 53 |
| Lite95.7 | Radio | 1,727 | 180 |
| Vue Weekly | 980 | 14 | |
| CBC Edmonton | Radio/TV | 963 | 30 |
| The Team 1260 | Radio | 945 | 7 |
| 96.3 Capital FM | Radio | 842 | 54 |
| Metro Edmonton | 803 | 14 | |
| the edmontonian (retired) | Online | 744 | 2 |
| fusedlogic | Online | 693 | 12 |
| daveberta.ca | Online | 581 | 20 |
| iNews880 | Radio/Online | 354 | 6 |
| The Gateway | 336 | 3 | |
| The Unknown Studio | Online | 296 | 3 |
| City and Dale | Online | 251 | 9 |
| Avenue Edmonton | 190 | 6 | |
| West Edmonton Local | Online | 176 | 11 |
| mastermaq.ca | Online | 155 | 6 |
| KikkiPlanet.com | Online | 54 | 14 |
| Jay n’ J. | Online | 21 | 0 |
Some thoughts on this table:
- Radio stations are clearly the heaviest users of Facebook among the local media, both in terms of likes but also activity.
- Online properties generally don’t have many likes on Facebook. Is this because they’re already online, just elsewhere? Is it because they don’t have as large an audience to promote Facebook to?
- I would have expected CBC and the Edmonton Sun to place higher in terms of likes. They both have a significant offline audience, but they evidently haven’t been as aggressive at converting that audience into Facebook likes as other media organizations.
- I think it’s interesting that 102.3 Now! Radio almost never links to its website on Facebook. Instead they posts photos, videos, and general notes, and seem to generate quite a lot of discussion. Contrast that with iNews880, where pretty much every post on Facebook is a link back to the website.
There’s a ton of additional analysis that could be done (which organizations advertise their Facebook pages, which have it integrated into their websites, etc.), but I think this is a useful start.
What do you think about the results?
MasterMaq's Blog 
You forgot about CJSR, Edmonton’s community radio station…
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2254826790/
I didn’t forget them, but I didn’t link to any organizations that didn’t have a page. So CJSR, Shine FM, and a few others are not in the list above. Interesting that CJSR has gone for a group instead.
Re your last point, which approach do you think is better? And why?
A group is more of a closed-down option. So, CJSR volunteers can get info and exchange thoughts, but I can’t just wander in from my Facebook page and see what’s up and throw in my two-cents.
If Facebook is going to be used to promote or engage with a wider public audience a group probably isn’t the best option.
Are you talking about Now! vs. iNews? I think using the tool to its fullest is always better, so I like the approach Now! has taken.
I don’t really follow any radio stations via social media, but I wonder if they do a lot of giveaways – tickets, swag, etc. That, combined with lots of people listening to the radio at work (people still do that, right) could explain why radio did so well.
This is super cool Mack!
I would bet radio, being the most interactive of the traditional mediums, is finding it easiest to move from call-ins and on-location hits to engaging their audiences on Facebook.
And if Now is rarely linking to its own website I bet that keeps their Facebook audience content with what’s happening right there. Some of those fans may not even listen to the station very often, or at all.
With the edmontonian I always tried to upload photos to Facebook. The photos could have been in a post on the website, but I thought uploading them as a Facebook-only album would be just a little bit of an extra to the Facebook fans.
That ties into your question on online properties having fewer Facebook fans; I think you’re right and it’s a got something to do with lots of interaction on the websites themselves (and Twitter was huge for the edmontonian) and I’d add that it’s also that link-heavy interaction that doesn’t give a bunch of extras to following on Facebook.
All good points! I know all I do on my FB page right now is post links to blog entries. I guess if I want to grow that, I should make better use of what FB offers.
It was the same for us with the edmontonian. It was mostly links. And I find a lot more organizations on Twitter are linking TO their Facebook page instead of website, so that could be something too.
It would be really interesting to see how the page likes correlate with station ratings too. I listen to NOW a lot, and actually think their tagline “Edmonton’s Social network” is pretty apt. They love talking WITH (not to) their audience, which is pretty unique, I think.
Hmm that’s good to hear, I should check them out. Correlating with station ratings is an interesting idea! Future post!
Thanks for adding Jay n’ J. to the post Mack! I love that we’re on a list with you, Kikki, The Unknown Studio, Sonic 102.9, and 102.3 NOW! radio. Makes us feel all official and stuff. 🙂
Yay! We are playing with all the cool kids now!
I apologize in advance if this comes off as trolling, but I suspect that the average Sun reader is to cynical and anal to grasp the concept of anything tagged as “social”, unless it’s shootin’ guns or drinkin’ beers.
I’m just pleased to show up on a Mack D Male “table”. Woo hoo! I hit the big time in #yeg, baby!