Twitter's published mechanism for linking to tweets is to use "http://twitter.com/{ScreenName}/statuses/{Id}" -- where ScreenName is the user's screen name and Id is the unique Id for the tweet. But Twitter also allows users to change their screen name, and would probably allow two different users to have the same screen name if they are sufficiently distanced in time.
Given this, what happens to the tweet URL? Can it not be considered permanent?
I have noticed something that may provide the answer. You can actually substitute any string at all for {ScreenName} and the url still works (it will redirect to a url with the correct screen name). So it would seem that the only bit that really matters is the {id} - which obviously will be permanent, and from that Twitter will work out what the screen name is and redirect to get the right looking url - even if the {ScreenName} has changed
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I have given an option to my users to share my website on whatsapp. And I want to know how many users land back on the website using the shared link. Hence, the shared button opens this link:
https://wa.me/919876543210?text=https://www.mywebsite.com?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=share
But this URL considers the end &utm_medium=share as a part of the wa.me URL, and shares only https://www.mywebsite.com?utm_source=whatsapp on WhatsApp. So instead I did this:
https://wa.me/919876543210?text=https://www.mywebsite.com?utm_source=whatsapp%26utm_medium=share
which shares the correct URL on whatsapp: https://www.mywebsite.com?utm_source=whatsapp%26utm_medium=share, but when I open it, the UTM params are not captured by GA.
What is the way out of this loop?
There's a more elegant way of doing it than utm params. Have something like: https://wa.me/919876543210?text=https://www.mywebsite.com?t=wa
See how now it's shorter and more elegant to a user? Now you have two good options.
Make a conditional redirect on your site from any url that has a t=we query param to whatever utm param you want with no restriction.
And even more elegantly: use GTM to parse pageviews where there's a t query parameter set, then make a neat lookup table where the input would be the value of t and the output - whatever you want to name it. Then use that lookup table's value to set your session-level custom dimension in pageviews.
Why a custom dimension and not UTM? Because when using UTMs, you're affecting your attribution. And sessions. You can easily override organic or paid attribution with some meaningless whatsapp attribution. Well, yes, if you don't use attribution at all and you don't care about GA session breakpoints, then sure, UTMs are just easier.
Also, try escaping the &, but not much hope there.
When posting a soundcloud track, I wish to reduce the length of the internet address, which leads to the track. Normally the track contains the uploader's username and also the track's title.
Unfortunately soundcloud's own URL shortener has been abolished.
A workaround could be, to extract the track ID number, because mostly it's shorter than the track title.
How can I build a plain internet address which contains the track ID number? I tried, but it does not work.
Does something like this work for you?
You can either shorten a link to a random URL or use the "Customize your short link" option to add the track ID if it is important.
Currently I'm using this link forwarding structure:
bit.ly/{some_hash} > example.com/s/{ID} > example.com/blog/full-seo-optimized-url/
Because the id of the blog never changes but the url might change (e.g. spelling mistake), I'm forwarding my bit.ly short urls to a special subpage (/s/{UD}) that will eventually get the full url from the database and forward the visitor to the blog entry.
Pros:
If the URL changes, the bit.ly short link will still work and forward to the updated url
(Possible) Cons:
Might be seen as spammy method (hiding target link)?
Might be violating any terms of service?
... ?
Therefore I would know, if this is a good and proper way or if I should remove the step in the middle?
Those redirects will cause a slower user experience and when used will cause a loss of PageRank being sent to the destination.
I'd avoid doing it where possible.
There are URL shorteners out there that let you directly edit the destination which would avoid your need for the middle redirect.
You also want to avoid changing the destinations URL as other people will not use your fancy redirects and you will lose PageRank every time they change.
I want to get a list of users who have used a particular hashtag. Eg. #ManOfSteel.
How can I get a list of the users who are using that hashtag as well as their details (like which city they are tweeting from) using a twitter API or any other means?
Yes, you can. And it's quite simple, really.
According to the documentation:
GET search/tweets: - Returns a collection of relevant Tweets matching a specified query.
Resource URL: https://api.twitter.com/1.1/search/tweets.json
Now if you scroll down on that page, it gives an example of what a query for a tweet returns (I took a screen, sorry about the appalling arrow, it's 10am here and I haven't had my tea yet).
Great! So you know the URL and method (GET) that you need to get your data. As for searching for a hashtag specifically, the query documentation is what you're after.
This is basically as urlencoded string in the GET request like: ?q=#hashtag. Perform the search like that and you'll get back the data above. Then just loop through it, find the user object, and grab the value location key if you want the user's city.
Now, as for a library to interact with the twitter API, you haven't even stated what language you're using. From your profile, you use JAVA I'm guessing. Regardless, checkout the libraries page on the twitter dev site - there's one for JAVA that looks pretty good (and many for other languages too).
If you were using php, this post would be immensely helpful.
When Facebook drives traffic to an application, it often append &ref=whatever to the query string. This is useful for figuring out which integration points are working or not. I've figured out what some of these mean. For example:
ref=bookmarks - the user clicked on a bookmark.
ref=game_my_recent - the user clicked on the upper portion of the games dashboard.
What does "ref=ts" mean? It accounts for a ton of traffic. I've viewed source on pages all over common Facebook pages and cannot find a match for ant piece of content generated by any of my applications.
Same question, posted by me on the Facebook developer forum:
http://forum.developers.facebook.com/viewtopic.php?id=54866
It means 'Top Search' (if you enter a query into the top, and then click on something, it will append ref=ts
As noted, ref=ts is appended to the url whenever a user makes a search in the Top Search input field.
Also note that people tend to copy/paste links in their website and blogs, without trimming useless GET strings.
So it is possible if you get a high number of referrers coming from the top search that they are in fact links that propagate outside of Facebook.