#And it's 4 out of like 50 gen 3s so it's not like I have a huge need for it

[shiroselia]

Y'know what based on how my self-imposed rules thing is going give it 2 years and I'm gonna be selling Gen 3s

[pain-of-redemption]

Well since we’re getting into a threshold of the comic I think it’s high time I make a post about all the headcanons I have for Fallout 4 (please note some of these may not be used or altered slightly in the future.) I will also explain my purposes behind these head canons so you can see my reasoning behind them.

So here ya go ladies and gentlemen and everyone inbetween to a bunch of Fallout headcanons.

The wasteland has a lot more plants, it’s not as lush as it is today but not a barren wasteland either, a nice middle ground if you will. The plants and vegetation would obviously adapt to the radiation, they won’t be exactly like their prewar counterparts as the radiation would alter the plants appearances.

Gen 3 Synths can age. It is impossible to ultimately stop a living thing from aging, you can expand its lifespan or slow down the aging but you can’t stop it. Now whether Gen 3s age like normal humans or have a significantly increased lifespan I haven’t really decided, but I’m leaning more towards the normal aging process.

The entirety of Jamaica Plain (and I mean the whole town) is a settlement. It was the BIGGEST let down ever when I found out you get this tiny little corner of land and not the whole gosh darn town. I can understand from a gameplay perspective since Jamaica Plain would be almost as big as Diamond City and it would be difficult to maintain, but I want the whole town to be usable so fight me.

Goodneighbor is a lot bigger, maybe not as big as Diamond City, maybe just as big as Sanctuary Hills or a little bigger. I just feel like Goodneighbor should be bigger to house all of the drifters and be home to a lot more shops. Goodneighbor should really be on par with Diamond City when it comes to people, shops, explorable places, etc.

While staying in the topic of Goodneighbor, the Third Rail is a lot more spacious too. There’s a separate dining area, a few waiters/waitresses, and more than just one singer. Magnolia does sing the most at the Third Rail but I imagine when she wants to take a break to rest her voice another person steps up to sing. That person may not be as well known as Magnolia but the people of Goodneighbor still appreciate their voice.

There is a wider selection of music around the Commonwealth. I love 50s music but I will say it does get a little bit stale over a long period of time. So there will be holotapes scattered around the Commonwealth containing different genres of music ranging from 80s hard rock to even Japanese Vocaloid. They aren’t as popular as 50s music (especially in the wasteland) but they are heard of. I’m mainly doing this because I’m addicted to music and I will put a lot of references to songs in the comic.

Nick Valentine knows a bit of Japanese! Ok I know this is really weird and out there but it just makes sense to me. I have no idea how I came up with the head canon, it might’ve just come up from the NPC dialogue between Takahashi and Nick but it’s stuck with me for so long that I just had to include it. Also Nick may not be fluent in Japanese, or it’s just the “oh I can read and write it but I can’t speak it” situation.

Danse can’t swim and has Thalassophobia (fear of bodies of water). Ok ok another weird one but again it makes sense to me. Danse is almost always in power armor and seeing how you can’t exactly swim in power would make him anxious. Can’t imagine he learned how to swim trudging in power armor all day either.

That’s most of my headcanons for now. Knowing my brain I’ll probably come up with more considering my brain never stops thinking. I hope you guys at least like or agree with some of my headcanons, lemme know your take on them and what you think!

[the-mercurial-star-o-vesper]

Fallout Themed “Get to Know me”

tagged by @emiratexaaron. Blast, I didn’t even realize I got tagged!

FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH FALLOUT:

Ye gods, I was maybe... We’re gonna go early teens. I remember watching Fallout 3 on my father’s computer, and having been someone who had played Oblivion to death, the graphics were amazing.

And then I got a hold of it, and didn’t immediately put God Mode on, and actually learned how to play a Bethseda game for once.

NAME OF FIRST CHARACTER To be honest, I don’t honestly remember. I was a kid who tended to blunder into games like nobody’s business. So I really can’t remember my first.

... I can remember that I tried to create the Fonz at one point in FO3. So High Charisma, wears the Tunnel Snakes Jacket, good Repair and Speech skill.

DUMB WAYS TO DIE, SO MANY DUMB WAYS TO DIE: I. Hate. Reaver Ghouls.

Falling off Bridges

How bout opening up a can of AcciDeathclaw in Fallout New Vegas?

Pissing off Legion at the wrong time.

NEW VEGAS. LEGENDARY. BLOATFLY.

Trying to make a run North of Goodsprings.

Trying to run away from North of Good Springs...

Geckos in Fallout 2.

Talking Pig Rats in Fallout 2.

Rats in Fallout 1.

Really, the list could go on.

WHAT WOULD I IMPROVE IN FALLOUT 4: *cracks knuckles*

Where do I start.

For one thing, Bring back the Dark Comedy that Fallout is known for. Fallout 4 is too damn bleak, made bleaker by its poorly executed message of “Never give up Hope”.

Cut out half them settlements. A few of them you can’t even build anything on (LOOKIN AT YOU COSTAL COTTAGE).

How about fix those Character plot-holes? Like what was Nick’s take on the Ghoul Removal from Diamond City. He’s been there for nearly 60 years.

Where are the Fallout ZAX?

Add Centaurs. Yes, from the Concept art. Fallout 4 wants Bleak? We’ll make it bloody horrific.

How about more lore-backing to the cap system, hm? Original Fallout, it had been the water traders and their show of force. Here is... cos they want to? You can dig a thing anywhere for clean water, so maybe the trade off could be food. Or maybe make it more mafia theme’d, like its Triggerman enforced or something.

Speaking of Which, can we have more revelance to the Triggermen? We have a Detective with all the Perks for the gods’ sake. Make something of ‘em. Fallout 4 is clearly Fallout Noir to New Vegas’s Fallout Western, let’s go all out.

I want to build a Synth.

How about the Minutemen? What they could’ve done is expanded it more than just from the Castle. Look, all other Factions have bases and set missions from bases that apply to their respective storylines. The Minutemen’s stops at getting a base. Why is that? Why not bring in that Minutemen-Gunner war? How about having the end of the Minutemen Quest be “Taking Quincy Back!”.

Speaking of which, let’s redo that Minutemen Intro a bit. How about... Billy the Ghoul’s Family! Yes, I mean the Ghoul kid. Remove that stupid Fridge quest, and add them to the original roster of Settlers that Preston Garvey is protecting. It’d introduce your character to Ghouls right off the bat without issue (Since there wasn’t a bloody introduction to ghouls).

How about where the Hell the rest of the Minutemen groups were when Qunicy was attacked. The only two you run into were recently Gunners, or turned Raider years ago.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE TIMED MISSIONS BETHSEDA.

How about a bit more interaction with the world from the Companion’s side? If you take a look at Outer Worlds, made by the creators of the original Fallout, the Companions do have an impact when they’re around and it affects and changes the world around them. When you have a Companion in Fallout 4, they’re more like Ghosts with tiny but ultimately meaningless interactions here and there. - I want to be able to call out Piper on her Yellow Journalism, and actually see an increase in News papers around the Commonwealth if I help her. Plus, not just earn her perk, but also gain the ability to create News Paperstands / Printing Presses in Settlements in order to help build the infrastructure of News. You can even add missions about gathering Paper or Printing Parts. - I want to be able to have trading interactions with Goodneighbor, thus giving a reason to have Hancock as a successful companion outside of him being a real cool ghoul. - If you let Danse survive, how about not just letting him grow out of his bigotted views, but let him train Minutemen in weapons, in armor, and in tactics and having a command. - If you help Curie, imagine the improvement of Health for your settlements. Imagine who she could teach for Doctors and Medics, and actually give the Commonwealth a Healthcare system again. - PRESTON IS YOUR BATMAN (I mean the military term, but its funnier if you don’t know the alternative meaning). - Y’know, I would’ve liked to have seen Duncan.

For Companions: -

And the Fucking Institute. An attempt to be the Big MT, and failing that. They could’ve done wacky mad science and still been 50s B-Movie levels of seriousness, y’know? We got so many hints on what they’re like, and they failed to live up to it! We have the visual evidence and dialogue that Gen1 and Gen2 tend to literally dissect / pull things apart by their bare hands. We could’ve seen more of that. What do they do to all those people they kidnap? ... Where did they get the Super Mutants from. How about the Synth v1 Gen3s? Y’know, the one’s that Look like Gen 3s, but have machine parts inside. There could’ve been more mad science, more B-Movie levels of sholy hit. Grossly mutated animals, brains in jars, unique robots, the works!

How about we have something akin to the Master directing the Super Mutants. This was a problem / thing I had with FO3 too. The original Super Mutants had a Psychic Master entity, so why not the East Coast mutants?

How about an explanation as to why the Assaultron is only in Boston.

Where the hell is the Rest of Boston.

How about being capable of directing Minutemen groups to weed out or scavange an area? I don’t have time for all this Missions Present, we have a Castle Now, SEND SOMEONE ELSE.

How about instead of going after Kellogg, Kellogg comes after you. The Director is dying, and you’re the Backup. This would associate you with the Institute just as early as the Minutemen, Maybe. And then, you can take the game into whatever direction you want. - Explore the Glowing Sea by yourself, we’re busy.

Mix Pickman’s Gallery and Cabot House... As one mini-storyline.

Add more cases for Valentine, such as Diamond City Blues and Mystery Meat... Possibly even Cabot House.

Where on Earth is the Brotherhood getting all those Vertibirds... Do they have a factory? Those things blow up if you look at them wrong--- WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THEM.

Replace most of the Generic Raiders with named Raiders, not unlike Fallout 1. Have more Gunners, Rust Devils, the Nuka World Parties; more development at Libertalia.

How about more branching options to deal with Kellogg.

Add a bit of a reputation system for Cities you can’t make a settlement from. Boosting faction or trade routes or really, anything other than sitting there.

... So to sum it up.

I’d do practically a rewrite of Fallout 4.

... ye Gods.

Not tagging anyone cos, well, I don’t know that many people who play fallout that weren’t already tagged...

[crystalbeastsquidney]

Yall ever think about how fallout 4 had the Institute kidnap Shaun for his DNA to make the gen 3 synths, and then adamantly had them proclaim that they weren’t human/people... like Todd, Todd how are they not people when they were literally made from human DNA are you fucking serious. The game even tells you there’s no way to tell a gen 3 synth and a human being apart aside from killing them to see if there’s a synth component jammed in their skull. That means they have blood, and tissue, and organs, and bones and DNA that is nearly if not totally identical to born human beings.

Why,, why the fuck do people (in-game and some parts of the fanbase) think gen 3s are machines?? They’re clearly not—at the most they’re cyborgs but that’s just because of the synth component which is really only a glorified reset button. And might also play into that fucking nonsense about how they can be made to not age or lose/gain weight but I’ll tear into that garbage in a second.

The gen 3 synths are just genetically engineered people (in most cases clones); they’re made instead of born, that’s it. Not even made of different stuff mind you. It’s like in an ideal scenario fallout 4 wanted the gen 3s to be in a gray area—not totally human, not totally machine—but in execution the writers just,, made them entirely human and then called them machines...

The synth component doesn’t even really count towards the machine side of things anyway. This is delving into my rewrite/headcanon territory, but my understanding of the synth component is that when a given synth’s recall code is used it triggers an electrical discharge that wipes out specific bioelectric signal patterns in the brain. (I’m no neurologist but I think I’ve heard that’s basically how memory works; each individual memory is it’s own unique signal pattern). The component in turn can then be used to input memories by giving off the corresponding electric signals. You can easily then apply this logic to a gen 3’s physiology—it’s simply the component sending out something that then tells the brain to release some chemicals or something. If you wanted to prevent a synth’s weight from changing then you’d have the component tell the brain to slow or quicken the metabolism as needed.

The only problem is,, why???? This seems pointless at best and detrimental at worst. Like, extreme example here but say Diamond City goes through a long famine, everyone gets malnourished while McDonough’s still as plump as ever. The townsfolk think he’s got some personal stockpile of food and get pissed because everyone’s starving so they go up to his office and fucking kill him. Like congratulations Father, the synth you had take over Diamond City got offed because you thought it’d be a good idea that synths can’t lose weight. The ‘not aging’ thing’s probably worse tho,, like do you honestly think nobody’s gonna get suspicious when somebody they know just stops aging?? The Institute’s planning on being around forever right? Do they honestly not think anybody’s gonna notice a bunch of 50 year olds that all look 20 in 30 years????

It’s almost,, idk ironic?, that in the end it’s really only a synth component that makes someone a synth. You could easily rework fallout 4’s story to be that instead of replacing people, the Institute abducts them, installs the component into their brain, and sends them back out to the wasteland. Perhaps as a way of pacifying threats to society’s restoration, or the Institute’s own livelihood (That’s the reason I have for the replacements in my rewrite anyway, since Bethesda just,, doesn’t give the Institute any reasons as to why they replace people with synths... for fuck’s sake Todd).

Conclusion/tldr: Bethesda does not think through any of their writing decisions whatsoever and I hate it.

[thecrenellations]

I read Thick as Thieves for the first time two years ago, primed by years of rereads and fandom to cheer with my whole heart whenever a character said “So, so, so,” so I was a little overwhelmed when the phrase turned up again and again in Costis and Kamet’s conversations. I thought it would be fun to take a look at every example of “So, so, so” in the series — who says it, to whom, and whether there are any conclusions we can draw from the data.

I hope you enjoy the graphs above, and my descriptions and analysis below. Please add on if you have any feedback or thoughts about this iconic phrase!

Examples of “So, so, so” (S^3) 

The Thief (TT): 1. “So, so, so. Do I get my lunch back?” - Eugenides to the magus. Sophos is present, on a nearby horse.

The Queen of Attolia (QoA): N/A :0

The King of Attolia (KoA): 2. “So, so, so, at least my honor will be intact.” - Aristogiton to Costis, with Eugenides eavesdropping, about to join conversation 3. “So, so, so. Get the physician. Have him meet me in my rooms.” - Eugenides to Aristogiton and Costis 4. “So, so, so. I had hoped that your very obvious outrage at being dropped like a used glove would have protected you, but obviously it hasn’t.” - Eugenides to Costis

A Conspiracy of Kings (ACoK): 5. “So, so, so. We know who the power behind the throne is.” - Sophos to the magus, about chicken

Thick as Thieves (TaT): 6. “So, so, so. We’ll hope they’ll never see this at all.” - Costis to Kamet, leaving lion cave 7. “So, so, so.” - Kamet to Costis. Kamet refers to S^3 as “Attolian slang” 8. “So, so, so. Who would be so foolish?” - Kamet to Costis, about Ennikar being “in trouble with a maid” 9. “So, so, so.” - Costis to Kamet, answering Kamet’s question: “You can do this, tin a baking pan?” 10. “So, so, so.” - Costis to Kamet, acknowledging he gave Godekker all their money

Figure Descriptions

a) S^3 by Book: Out of 10 total examples, 50% are from TaT, 30% are from KoA, 10% are from ACoK, and 10% are from TT.

b) and c) Five characters say S^3 over the course of the series. Eugenides and Costis are tied as the characters who say it the most times, with 3 examples/30%, with Kamet coming in second place with 2 examples/20%, and Sophos and Aristogiton each saying it once/10% of the time.

d) Eugenides is the only one of these five who is in every book, so I divided each character’s total by how many books they appear in to find their average S^3 per book.

Costis: 3 S^3, 2 books - 1.5 Kamet: 2 S^3, 2 books - 1 Eugenides: 3 S^3, 5 books - 0.6 Sophos: 1 S^3, 2 books - 0.5 Aristogiton: 1 S^3, 2 books - 0.5 (Aris only appears for a moment in ACoK, but he does have a speaking role, so I’m counting it at a time he didn’t say “So, so, so,” but could have.)

e) S^3 is consistently a response to previous dialogue, so the other side of the interactions is the characters to whom the So-ers say it. Costis is most often the audience, with 5 examples (one of which is shared with Aris), Kamet is next with 3 the magus hears it twice, and Aristogiton hears it once (in example 3, shared with Costis). While Eugenides is present for example 2 and subsequently joins the conversation, he is not the intended audience.

f) Who is present for the most examples of S^3? This includes characters who said it and heard it, including both the specific audience of each S^3 and relevant characters who were present but not the direct audience, such as Eugenides in example 2 and Sophos in example 3. While Pol and Ambiades were also there for example 2, I thought it was relevant to include Sophos, as he says it later in ACoK.

Costis: 8 S^3, 80% Kamet: 5 S^3, 50% Eugenides: 4 S^3, 40% Aristogiton, the magus, Sophos: 2 S^3 and 20% each

g) If a character is in an interaction where someone is saying “So, so, so,” how likely are they the one to be saying it? Here, I divided their personal S^3 total ( c ), by the S^3 Interactions they were part of. My inclusion of Eugenides and Sophos is different than in (f); I count Eugenides as part of example 2 because he joins the conversation immediately after but do not count Sophos as part of example 1 because he is more of a passive observer who isn’t likely to interrupt the dynamic between Gen and the magus.

h) This chart shows a possible spread of the phrase across the population of characters included in this study, taking into account time, presence during S^3 examples, and character relationships. Dotted arrows are less certain than solid ones. More analysis in conclusion section.

i) This shows S^3 examples per book. A basic trend line projects that we can look forward to 5 in Return of the Thief!

Conclusions - In which I speculate about the in-text use and origin of S^3. 

(Real linguists, please chime in!? Also, please chime in if you are familiar with this phrase outside of the series, either in other media or just in spoken English. I think of it as specific to these books and am treating it that way here, but I realized while writing these conclusions that it may not be like that!)

S^3 is an informal affirmative phrase, said in agreement, concession, or grudging acceptance of one’s circumstances. Eugenides, Aristogiton, and Costis seem to use it to position themselves or their next move in a range of stressful situations, and the self-deprecating Sophos jokingly does the same when he concedes how much he likes chicken. 

Informality and intimacy: most S^3s signal a close relationship that is either established (Aristogiton and Costis, Sophos and the magus) or forming (Costis and Eugenides after the assassination attempt, Costis and Kamet after the Namreen attack/lion time). While the magus and Eugenides are not on each other’s good sides during example 1 in TT, Eugenides, who has almost perfect control of everything he says, is always finding ways to be informal, annoying, and what he and the magus consider uncultured. No one says it in a formal setting.

What would Eugenides do? Eugenides is the first to say it on the page, and, except Aristogiton, everyone else says it after they have become close to Gen. Sophos and Costis have both blatantly imitated him, so I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to assume that they picked it up from him, at least partially.

Coin(ing) Friendship: While Kamet did make friends with Eugenides before his S^3s in TaT, his and Costis’ growing comfort with each other seems to be what influences his examples of the phrase. It’s like an inside joke between them; after Kamet says it for the first time, Costis “[smiles] at the Attolian slang.”

We should probably read Kamet’s classification of S^3 as Attolian slang with the knowledge that he’s an unreliable narrator with a formerly-imperialist outsider’s view of Attolia, but Aristogiton’s (unGenfluenced) use of the phrase suggests that Kamet might be right. It might be in similar use in Sounis, as Gen says it while pretending to be Sounisian (Sounisian with Eddisian relatives), but he also spent significant time in Attolia even before TT, so he could have picked it up then. No one says it in QoA, a book split mostly between Eddis and the Attolian court (nobody comes to the Attolia court to make friends!), and we know that all three countries have distinct accents, so it could honestly be Attolian slang.

Besides giving us HALF of the series’ examples of S^3, Kamet and Costis also often say “so” by itself, in a way that could be replaced by “yes” or “indeed.” For example, their last scene:

It’s woven into their relationship in a way that we don’t see elsewhere in the series! When Kamet, who’s so attached to status and decorum, adopts this informal Attolian phrase as he and Costis connect over their stories, does it lead to Costis changing and increasing how much he says “so” and “so, so, so”? Does he say it to connect to home, and/or to his king? Either way, they have this subtle inside joke snowballing around a phrase that is (in some ways) intrinsic to the series, a phrase that accompanies Eugenides as he moves between countries and into new roles.

----

Thank you for reading! I look forward to hearing any and all thoughts and critiques about whatever this has been, and I look forward to updating my graphs when Return of the Thief comes out next year.

- thecrenellations, 2019, with thanks to the Royal Library of Eddis, the University of Ferria, and Google Sheets

----  

Ok, one last thing? Knife dance! Attolia. “So, so.” Druic to the palace official. Supports use of “so” as “yes.” The MOST shocking twist of “Knife Dance.” ;)

[mariemary1]

Facebook Redesigns Pages as Reach Declines, 5 Fascinating Facts About Gen Z, the ROI of Meme Accounts, and More!

Looking to catch up on the latest social media news, but short on time? We have you covered!

Join 17,000+ weekly listeners for the Buffer podcast, The Science of Social Media, where we bring you the latest and greatest in social media marketing news, updates, stories, insights, and actionable takeaways.

This week we have a super interesting episode lined up for you, starting with specific details around Facebook’s plan to redesign business Pages from top to bottom for “utility.” We’re also chatting about some interesting social media facts about Generation Z in 2018, the return on investment (ROI) on meme accounts, and lots more.

Let’s dive in!

What you’ll learn in this episode

What follows is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation between Hailley Griffis and Brian Peters. Short on time? No worries! Here are four quick takeaways:

Facebook is attempting to redefine Business Pages not as just a broadcasting tool for marketing through News Feed, but a destination for customers.

Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube are among the top social media platforms for Generation Z, though Facebook is still a daily habit for most teens for passively consuming content from friends and family.

Many agencies and brands are switching their attention from influencers to meme accounts to run native advertisements on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

LinkedIn is now encouraging people and pages to use hashtags in their content so that they can increase the visibility of that content in the news feed.

Facebook Redesigns Pages as Reach Declines, 5 Fascinating Facts About Gen Z, the ROI of Meme Accounts, and More! [complete podcast transcript]

Part I: Facebook redesigns Business Pages as reach declines

Part II: 5 fascinating marketing facts about Gen Z

Part III: The ROI of meme accounts and what marketers should know

Part IV: Using LinkedIn hashtags to maximize content exposure

Brian: Hi everyone! I’m Brian Peters and this is The Science of Social Media, a podcast by Buffer. Your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and learning.

Hailley: Welcome to episode #108! I’m Hailley Griffis and this week we’ve got a super interesting episode on tap for you starting with the fact that Facebook essentially redesigned business Pages from top to bottom. We’re also chatting about some interesting social media facts about Gen Z in 2018, ROI on meme accounts, and more!

Brian: You know I just realized that I don’t think we’ve ever talked about meme accounts here on the show, but I’d venture to say that they’re one of the biggest players on social media over the last few year. This should be fun!

Let’s kick off the show.

Part I: Facebook redesigns Business Pages as reach declines

Resource: Why the News Feed is Becoming Less Important for Facebook Pages

Hailley: An unescapable fact of Facebook’s unbelievable growth over the past few years is that as more Pages and people compete for limited News Feed attention, the percentage of a business’ followers who see their posts reach decline will increase. Naturally.

And as we’re going to talk about in next week’s episode (so stay tuned!), reach for Pages has dropped more than 50% on average over the last year and a half.

We’ve seemingly hit a point of no return on Facebook with a combination of increased content and decreased space in the Feed.

Brian: That’s why Facebook is attempting to redefine business Pages not as just a broadcasting tool for marketing through News Feed, but a destination for customers. Think Yelp, Google, TripAdvisor and other destination-based websites.

In short, Facebook is redesigning the Pages of the 80 million small businesses on its platform and the 1.6 billion people around the world connected to them.

Hailley: First, Pages will emphasize what many are calling “utility” related to the business. Utility might mean making an appointment or a calling option for salons, or reservations and menus for restaurants.

They’ll also be focusing on recommendations and reviews.

The recommendations users can give friends through Facebook’s special News Feed post format, which is triggered when people ask for suggestions, will now appear on Pages. And to improve the quality of reviews left on Pages, there’s now a 25 character minimum.

Brian: But one potentially controversial change is that Facebook will start showing a “Related Pages” on other Pages.

Facebook’s VP of Local Alex Himel told TechCrunch that “there’s no easy way to discover new businesses on Facebook and the focus is to make it easy to discover new businesses which we think any business will be excited about.”

Which from a consumer standpoint will be super useful. It’s like searching for a restaurant on Yelp and seeing all of the other similar restaurants on the list.

For businesses, though, that will present a challenge. Which is why providing detailed information about your business along with recommendations and review will be extremely important moving forward.

Hailley: Finally, a few smaller but still important changes.

To provide promotional options beyond the feed, all small business Pages can now post Stories to Facebook, which is an interesting play from a discovery standpoint.

Facebook is also rolling out its job applications tab worldwide so small businesses can easily find staffing. According to TechCrunch, both of these could blossom into advertising opportunities at a time when Facebook’s revenue is declining and it needs more income streams.

Alex Himel did note that 2/3s of businesses say Facebook has helped them increase sales and that Facebook will be talking more soon about how local businesses can stay relevant and visible in the News Feed.

Brian: All in all and intriguing move from Facebook that will keep a close eye on in the coming months here on the show so that you can continue to thrive as a business on the platform.

We recommend dedicated resources to ensuring that all customer inquiries via direct message, Messenger, or comments, are handled in a timely manner and that you are actively cultivating positive reviews for your business on Facebook. If you haven’t already, check out our tool Buffer Reply which can help you do that and more.

Part II: 5 fascinating marketing facts about Gen Z

Resource: It’s Lit: A Google Guide to What Teens (Gen Z) Think is Cool

Hailley: Social media usage continues to grow, with social media global penetration set to hit three billion people worldwide by 2021. And one of the fastest growing, quickest adopting generations on social media is Generation Z (or teenagers) as we know them. Gen Z is estimated to make up more than a quarter, roughly 26%, of the US population.

This week we stumbled on a really interesting report from Google titled “It’s Lit: What Teens Think is Cool” showing key demographic, marketing, and social media stats around this up and coming generation.

Some of the findings were pretty insightful and so we thought we’d share them with you today.

Brian: First of all, that title Google is just amazing. I can just see their team sitting around trying to figure out what to name the report until someone finally says “It’s Lit” haha they’re like that’s it – we got it!

So the first thing I thought was interesting is that Gen Z reported, and I quote,

“Snapchat, and Instagram are the coolest platforms.”

Facebook is still a daily habit for most teens for consumption and passively viewing content from friends and family, but they rarely post and it’s not seen as cool.

Hailley: In the report, one 17 year old was asked why she loves Snapchat and she said,

“Snapchat gives us a place to connect with friends in a fun way, without having to worry about them sharing your thoughts (unless they screenshot!).”

Which I think gives us an interesting look into the psychology of teens on social media.

Brian: Agreed. Yeah it seems like Gen Z is a lot more focused on the private or more “closed” networks that allow them to message and share with friends without everyone seeing it publicly.

Like WhatsApp, Telegram, and other chat services for example growing in popularity over the past few years.

Hailley: Breaking the stats down even further, here’s how each social platform compares to the other in terms of Gen Z and usage:

As you might have guessed, Instagram and Snapchat are in a tight race for the top, with 59% of Gen Z’ers using Instagram and 57% of them using Snapchat.

After that it’s Facebook at 53%, Twitter at 36% and Pinterest at 26%.

Brian: Yeah I thought that part was interesting because Google didn’t count YouTube as a social media network like we often do here on the show. But they do talk about it later in the report as a streaming service.

Teens report that the top 4 coolest streaming services, in order, are YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, and Hulu. And if you were to compare those with usage on social media networks like Instagram and Snapchat they’re right up there with them.

So in other words, just a ton of content consumption across the board for Gen Z.

Hailley: Another part of the study which I though was interesting was which companies Gen Z rated as their favorite. And I think this gives us insights to the type of brand marketing campaigns Gen Z finds engaging and how we might learn from those.

So at the top of the list are brands like Oreo, Playstation, Doritos, Xbox, Apple, Nike, Amazon, Chik-Fil-A, and Go Pro

and as their least favorite brands they listed Patagonia, Zara, Lululemon, Quicksilver, Oakley, Nordstrom and Sunglass Hut.

It goes to show that brands should think about the future of marketing if they want to thrive 5 or 10 years from now when Gen Z has purchasing power.

Brian: Totally, and one last thought here is that Gen Z never knew the world before the internet – before everything you could ever want or need was one click away.

As a result, Gen Z is one of the most informed generations. They value information, stimulation, and connection and they also have high hopes for the brands they choose.

As Google writes at the end of their report, “As professionals, we should see this as our challenge—to live up to the standard Gen Z has set for us and to continue to inform, inspire, and create products and marketing that facilitate the world in which they want to live.”

Part III: The ROI of meme accounts and what marketers should know

Resource: Better ROI than Influencers – Meme Accounts Attract Growing Interest

Hailley: Let’s talk meme accounts.

Meme accounts have been flooding our social feeds for several years now, each offering their own brand of witty, relatable posts.

If you’re not sure what we’re talking about, you’ve likely seen a meme in your feed at one time or another. Essentially it’s a photo or video with text around it describing the photo or video in some funny way.

Brian: From sports, to celebrities, and everything in-between, meme accounts produce some of the most popular content on social media today.

And according to Digiday, with the peak of influencer marketing slowly setting in, meme accounts offer attractive partnerships for brands and publishers.

Supposedly, some agencies and brands are now switching their attention from influencers to meme accounts to run native advertisements on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Hailley: Digiday reported that meme accounts get a high return on investment because it is extremely hard for a brand to create the kind of wit and humor that seems comes naturally to the content creators behind these meme accounts.

They are super relatable, so they get amazing engagement.

Brian: It’s also interesting to read about the difference in cost and ROI as well. Since meme accounts are just starting to be utilized as ad platforms, they don’t know their value yet and so they’re cheaper, at least for now.

Hailley: Tim Armoo, CEO of influencer platform Fanbytes, reported that “for 1 million followers, you could be paying $15,000 to a human influencer, and for 1 million followers on a meme account you’d be paying about $1,000.

Brian: Wow, that’s pretty incredible.

But obviously meme accounts won’t work for every brand or industry.

Meme accounts are really good for driving brand awareness in certain industries like fashion, food, entertainment, publishing, eCommerce, etc., but I’d imagine it might be tough if you’re a brand in a more traditional industry like education, finance, banking, and real estate.

Hailley: I totally agree.

But you know I do think there is an opportunity for brands to great creative here even if you are in a traditional industry.

Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how this grows and play out in the near future.

I’m curious to watch how meme accounts go from really organic and authentic to a network that accepts advertising revenue. Will they become less authentic? Only time will tell!

Brian: Yes, indeed, Hailley. As with most things in social media, right?

Part IV: Using LinkedIn hashtags to maximize content exposure

Resource: How to Maximize Your Expose with LinkedIn Hashtags

Brian: Alright, last but not least, some bonus content for you today and this one went sort of under the radar, we certainly missed it on this podcast, is that LinkedIn launched a new version of hashtags and they’re actually great for spreading and finding content on the platform.

Hailley: So before I’m pretty sure we were all unclear on if hashtags actually worked on LinkedIn and if company pages found them valuable.

Until now.

LinkedIn is now encouraging people and pages to use hashtags in their content so that they can increase the visibility of that content in the news feed.

Brian: Similar to Instagram, you can now follow and search hashtags on LinkedIn using a feature they’re calling Your Communities.

You can even pin the hashtags that are most relevant to you so that they appear first in your feed every time you login.

AND you can use a new discover feature to search hashtags that shows the amount of people following each hashtag – a sort of social proof move by LinkedIn which is cool.

Hailley: Yeah so before you begin adding hashtags to your LinkedIn posts and articles, you’ll need to find hashtags that align with your LinkedIn strategy and the interests of your ideal audience.

A good place to start is to see which hashtags the influencers in your niche are using on LinkedIn, as well as on sites such as Twitter and Instagram. Pay attention to who is using the hashtag and how they use it in tandem with their content.

Then, before adding any hashtag to your own strategy, it’s important to verify the hashtag’s popularity and contextual meaning.

Brian: Right now LinkedIn doesn’t limit the number of hashtags you can add to your articles, but they do encourage users to use hashtags that are relevant.

And while you can edit an article after it’s published, you can’t edit or remove hashtags. So just a heads-up there.

Finally, for all of you using LinkedIn for business, we had the opportunity to get some inside LinkedIn marketing tips directly from the LinkedIn team which we’ll be talking about in an episode in the very near future. So check back soon!

Hailley: Thank you so much for tuning in to the Science of Social Media today. The show notes for this episode are now available on the Buffer Blog at blog.buffer.com with a complete transcript and links to all of the resources mentioned today.

If you ever want to get in touch with me or Brian, we’re always here for your on social media using the hashtag #bufferpodcast. You can also say hi to us anytime and hello@bufferapp.com

Brian: As always, thank you so much for your iTunes reviews! We know we say this every single show, but honestly, those mean a ton to us and it’s one of the main factors that helps our show to grow.

More great episodes coming up including a massive 43 million facebook post analysis, how to discover irresistible content, LinkedIn marketing, and more.

Until next Monday, everyone!

How to say hello to us

We would all love to say hello to you on social media – especially Twitter!

Hailley on Twitter and Hailley’s Website

Brian on Twitter and Brian’s Website

Thanks for listening! Feel free to connect with our team at Buffer on Twitter, Buffer on Facebook, our Podcast homepage, or with the hashtag #bufferpodcast.

Enjoy the show? It’d mean the world to us if you’d be up for giving us a rating and review on iTunes!

—

About The Science of Social Media podcast

The Science of Social Media is your weekly sandbox for social media stories, insights, experimentation, and inspiration. Every Monday (and sometimes more) we share the most cutting-edge social media marketing tactics from brands and influencers in every industry. If you’re a social media team of one, business owner, marketer, or someone simply interested in social media marketing, you’re sure to find something useful in each and every episode.  It’s our hope that you’ll join our 17,000+ weekly iTunes listeners and rock your social media channels as a result!

The Science of Social Media is proudly made by the Buffer team. Feel free to get in touch with us for any thoughts, ideas, or feedback.

Thank Facebook Redesigns Pages as Reach Declines, 5 Fascinating Facts About Gen Z, the ROI of Meme Accounts, and More! for first publishing this post.

[zhaoly]

ok really long post ahead, sorry for mobile users since i dont think the spoiler break works on mobile iirc

i finally finished the main quest for fo4.. um.... was that it?? that was kinda my first reaction lol. ok i have SO many thoughts as i always do when i finish a game.. maybe more for this one tho

so i ended up doing both the minutemen and bos endings because they split relatively late in the story so i just made two separate saves... they were basically the same except i thought following liberty prime was kinda fun lol. i liked watching him pick up a behemoth and then just throwing it to the ground

so now that i’ve like... finished the game.... i guess i can see why people complain that fo4 is more of an fps than an rpg

like.... i’ve dumped a ton of hours into this game, but that’s mostly because i’ve spent a lot of time building settlements lol. besides that, the story does seem to be lacking a bit. i think it definitely had potential, but nothing was really fleshed out that well... like if i try to think back on what i did, i’m like.. ??

maybe part of that is because four main factions was a little ambitious? i just feel like there wasn’t much opportunity to actually get to know each faction and like actually feel like you were involved with them

1) minutemen - i mean, you got a shitton of radiant quests from preston (which drove me crazy very early on and got modded out)... and then what? you claim settlements and that’s about it. reclaiming the castle is as deep as the story gets. besides that all you have is radiant quests

also there were like... zero named characters besides preston who were actually really involved with the minutement. like there was ronnie shaw but she just ends being a merchant later, and i didn’t even get the proper armory quest from her because my game glitched out. so basically she was just a unique merchant for me

and like... who else is there?? there’s the sanctuary crew and some named settlers but none of them are really part of the “minutemen.” so like you didn’t really get to talk to members of the faction and stuff and actually feel like you were immersed in the story. like i know that the story is that you’re rebuilding the minutemen so there’s supposed to be no one but preston, but later on as you claim settlements and expand the minutement and stuff there’s still nothing... no new story, quest, npcs... you have to do some dungeon clearing quests for some of the named settlers but that’s literally it.

i liked their general “for the people” thing but like... they never really expanded on it... they did end up being one of the two factions that i sided with because of their cause but i just think the story (or lack thereof, really) with them was pretty bland

2) railroad - well i was considering joining them very early on cause i do think their cause is decent, i like deacon, and i accidentally spoiled for myself that danse is a synth (i like danse because i mean you know me and my beef)... but then i felt like they were a little too focused on the synths. like that was literally just their entire cause. and i just felt like that was just too narrow.

and you met these characters that you really just.... met and then nothing ever happened later with them! like high rise, mister tims, idk what the point of drummer boy was, etc..

and again there were just a ton of radiant quests... at least they were all finite, but like there was what? helping that one safehouse (forgot the name), mila quests, and pam’s caches. the ticonderoga quest was kinda interesting but i wish there was something more besides “here’s ticonderoga. oh whoops it gets destroyed later. haha!”

3) institute - well i disliked them right off the bat because they were the ones who not only MURDERED MY HUSBAND but also KIDNAPPED AND BRAINWASHED MY CHILD (yes i consider it brainwashing)????? like come on. i take this stuff very personally man. it’s the same reason why i joined the stormcloaks in skyrim (before realizing what a bunch of racist assholes they are but.... i digress) cause i was like WHY tf would i join a group that tried to execute me with absolutely zero cause

so i’m just like why would i join a group that murdered my husband (right in front of my eyes i might add) and kidnapped my child. hello??? like yeah i hated the fact that they gave you a goddamn baby in the first place, but since i had it i was like WELL I AM OUTRAGED THAT THEY DID THIS TO MY CHILD.

then there was the whole deal with them actually taking real people (and presumably murdering them) and replacing them with synth copies. i HATED that a lot and it was a big turnoff on top of all of my personal grievances against them. their elitist attitude towards the commonwealth was annoying as fuck as well as their manufacturing of gen 3 synths for what was basically slave labor. also there were like random conversations that would occur between scientists and synths and the scientists were such assholes.

oooooh and the part where you ask shaun why he decided to let you out of your cryo pod and he’s like “well... i suppose that i just wanted to see what would happen” and i was like BITCH WHAT?????? EXCUSE ME?????? THAT’S YOUR REASON?? 

like the shaun/father thing was an interesting twist in the story... but it def was not enough to make me want to join the institute. esp with that craphole reason that he gave me for letting me out of the cryo pod. and like the dude is basically a stranger to you, why tf would you just join the institute bc he’s “”””family””””? i suppose they tried to make it a more difficult dilemma by really trying to push your character’s story in the “i’m looking for my son!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” direction before you actually find out what happened to shaun, but i didnt find that a very compelling plot point in the first place.... so it had pretty much no bearing on my decision

also. the synth shaun. he made the synth shaun which is like super weird and a little creepy. like this kid’s never gonna age.... i mean 50 years from now he’s gonna be a 60 y-o in a 10 y-o’s body!!!!!!!! who tf thought that was a good idea?? i mean i’m on the “gen 3 synths are truly sentient” train cause the game basically does nothing to show you otherwise. you have institute scientists telling you that they aren’t, but literally everything in the game shows you that they are. also danse

and then their cause... they say they’re the “best hope for humanity” and stuff but like what are they actually doing to help humanity. the only beneficial thing they did was create gmos like that huge pumpkin (while replacing roger ww in the process which as i mentioned before was something i hated). besides that, wtf are they doing besides hiding away in their blindingly white laboratories experimenting w/ synths?? 

anyway yeah i hated the institute but i guess in terms of “story” they did a little better than the railroad and minutemen. but they honestly got a helping hand from the fact that shaun was involved with them and a large part of the story early on was looking around for information about shaun and being able to ask npcs about the institute. however once you proceeded past a certain point they also fell into a very boring routine of having a handful of radiant quests available and not much else involving them

4) bos - well.... i def felt like they were super culty when i first went onto the prydwen. and i really dont like their stance on gen 3s and non-feral ghouls. but i do like that theyre out and about clearing the commonwealth of super mutants, ferals, and raiders lol. 

i really really hate the whole danse thing tho and how close-minded they are about him :( i did see that there was actually cut content where you could challenge maxson and danse would get his rank back and i kinda wish that they actually implemented that. i dont really want the elder role but i’d like the chance to do something where you could shift the bos’s opinion on gen 3s, even if only slightly... like THAT would be a good story element, come on! 

but w/e. i really didnt like them at first but i like their aesthetic compared to everyone else and their general cause (at least theyre not like opening fire on the slog, right... ?) ..

anyway i might just stick with their ending as my “main” playthrough cause afaict they’re not much diff from the minutemen ending except i get the sentinel rank, and you actually have some named people that you can interact with about your choice.

ok im actually really tired of writing this post... i actually have so many more thoughts haha but i dunno if i’ll be able to get them all out because as if on cue i’m getting tired around midnight.. anyway

yeah so the story was eh and i wish it went more in depth. like, even though i wasnt super fond of fnv’s story, i did think it was more immersive and detailed... i think fo4 had a lot of potential but sadly didn’t quite deliver. tbh i think the game couldve gone without the railroad if four factions really did just spread them too thin while in development.

like i think the part of the story with kellogg was good... the whole thing about trying to find the identity of this guy, searching his home, searching for him, looking through his memories, etc was pretty interesting. i liked how we were able to see his backstory and something about him that wasn’t just “dude who murdered my husband.” like that was all good stuff! but the story REALLY deteriorated after that... i mean you just end up having to kill the guy and then he’s just out of the story completely.

oh and like related to that--what was that whole deal with nick speaking in kellogg’s voice briefly after you finish in the memory den??? why would they just throw in a line like that and not expand on it at all???? that bugged me SO MUCH because again there was so much potential there!!! if kellogg had somehow gotten into nick’s mind you could be presented with so many new options. like how do you get him out? can you get him out? who do you go to for help? etc etc etc NOT JUST SOME THROWAWAY LINE THAT ACTUALLY DOES NOTHING AHHH

speaking of which. fo4 seems to do that a LOT. like maybe it’s recency bias bc i really dont remember all the details of fnv to be able to compare, but i feel like fo4 has a ton of little throwaway things that are interesting details but aren’t expanded on at all. like not even a little bit. i think there needs to be a certain balance between details and mini stories... like fo4 dangled SO many of these little details in your face that you just never got to expand on at all.. i love an interesting world where you can discover things that dont really have an impact on the main story or anything but these scraps just drove me crazy.

also there were like... no vaults??? i feel like fnv had a lot more... fo4 has vault 95 for cait (and a kinda boring purpose/story imo). the vault of triggermen where you find nick. the vault for refining human genes. vault 81. and that’s it.. i felt like i spent a lot more time in vaults in fnv? and they had some creepier stories/experiments too

ok like my brain... is really slowing down but i will at least get a few more thoughts down before i go to sleep

SETTLEMENTS. LORD HELP ME. again, a great concept with so much potential but poor execution. i really enjoyed settlements--with mods. vanilla settlements are just so horribly lacking. for one thing not being able to clean up your settlement is just terrible. you really would just have to leave piles of trash, garbage, debris, 200-YEAR-OLD SKELETONS, etc, lying around your settlement!!!!! where you’re supposed to have people living!!

settlers themselves also have some pretty terrible ai. theyre stupid af. their pathing is godawful. i am extremely proud of them when they actually are able to successfully navigate a structure i built because it is such a goddamn struggle for them! like they’re literally coded to take the shortest possible straight line path so i get tons of them walking into walls trying to get to their destination instead of walking around them, going through doorways, using stairs etc (yes theyre all navmeshed)... it’s actually so aggravating

also settlements themselves are incredibly and frustratingly buggy. the resources getting messed up in your pip boy bug is super annoying. there’s a shit ton of other bugs with them that i’m just too tired to list but i’m like ahhh god i feel like i’m playing a beta version of this shit! also what’s up with them spawning on top of buildings in sanctuary?

ok yeah i have a lot of crticisms for the game so it may not seem like i enjoyed it but i actually did. i think the story was decent up until after you finished kellogg’s part, cause after that it just got really boring (which is lame because seriously, the story gets boring after you can start decided which faction/s you want to join??)

but mods def contributed a lot to my enjoyment, esp my settlement mods... like most of my mods are settlement mods lol. so like... if i played vanilla fo4 i do doubt that i’d have enjoyed it as much. i do actually like the fps aspect of it, but i think there are too many places that are overloaded with enemies.. so you’re constantly fighting shit. it gets kind of annoying after a while.

OH THAT JUST REMINDED ME. GUNNERS. another thing that had potential but ended up just being... ??? raiders but fancier??? you could literally switch out all the gunners for raiders and nothing would change. when i first encountered them i was really excited cause i thought it was a new side faction but they’re literally just... raiders. but fancy. it’s disappointing af. there’s no story behind them... you can get into gunners plaza and find some holotapes from the leader and some members but then there’s nothing else! you don’t ever get to find out what the story is behind all of it! again with dangling some details in front of your face and then just never expanding on it at all. ugh gunners were seriously a big disappointment for me.

okay i’m actually done now cause i’m tired and typing this out actually took a lot of time lol. i still have a ton of thoughts but i need to sleep. lame