As you sit there, slogging away at the social networks, has something titilated your brain? Have your senses been “tweaked” alerting you to some unseen element? You may be an unwitting victim of social media ruining your mind.

That’s right, you read correctly, recent studies may have revealed links tying social media to all manner of ills. Not only could your ability to multitask and your focus be adversely affected by your incessant networking, so might other cognitive functions. As the infographic from Assisted Living Today below shows, science may have once again found fodder for hazard warnings and labels, this time maybe on Facebook!

Infographic by Assisted Living Today – Assisted Living Facilities

Facebook, Twitter and now Google Plus, social media has supplanted blogging as the most popular outreach and expressive tool, at least for many. Social media participation, as the graphic tries to illustrate, may in fact dull the senses dramatically. But, is social media really running our minds? More data will be needed there, but until then perhaps your personal blog and an IM can be a preventative?

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Facebook and blogging, if both are done right, can be a powerful combination. Linking up your Facebook Page with your blog is a great way to get your blog readers more involved with your Facebook community, and it’s also a great chance to let your Facebook fans know what’s going on over on your blog.

It’s not difficult to link up your Facebook Page and your blog, in fact some of it can be set once and then will automatically continue to work for you. It’s just a matter of getting the pieces in place so that both your blog and your Facebook Page are communicating with each other and your people can easily connect with you where they are most comfortable interacting.

Let’s start with some things you can do on your Facebook Page.

Automatically Post Your Blog Updates

Every time you write a new blog post, you can have Facebook automatically publish that on your Facebook Page. This is a great way to let your fans know that there is new content over on the blog, and they can get a quick sneak peek to see if it’s something they want to check out or not.

All you need is a Facebook Page app that posts from an RSS feed. RSS Graffiti is a good example of one that is completely free and easy to set up.

Blog Directly In Facebook

Most bloggers will want to continue to have an external blog outside of Facebook, however, Facebook’s Notes app can act like a blog inside Facebook. With Notes you can write and post an article, include images and links, and post it right to your Facebook Page Wall. The Notes app is automatically added to any new Page, so you can easily find it by going in to the Apps section in your Edit Page backend.

The Notes app can also be used to import your blog and works great if your blog is primarily written. {Videos do not import properly, so if your blog has a lot of video, then I recommend just using the RSS Graffiti app for your blog.} The Notes app will import your new blog posts right into Notes, so that it’s now in your Facebook Page and your fans can comment on it there.

There are also a number of things you can set up on your blog to point to and connect to your Facebook Page.

Facebook Share Button

There are a number of good plugins for WordPress that add a Facebook Share button to each post on your blog. You can have one that shows the number of shares, or one that simply has the Share button with no count.

A Facebook Share button is a quick and easy way for readers to share your post if they like it. They are able to add their own comment, and Facebook pulls in the title, URL, short description and thumbnail, so it gives your blog some great exposure to the Share-er’s friends.

Facebook Comments

Adding Facebook comments to your blog can be a great way to bring some more interactivity with Facebook to your site. Facebook comments sync between your blog and Facebook so that user’s comments are posted to their Personal Profile when they comment.

Readers who are not on Facebook are not able to comment, however, so some people use Facebook Comments alongside the regular WordPress comments, or only use the Facebook Comments on certain pages of their blog.

Facebook Like

You can also add a simple Like button to each blog post. When readers click Like, it publishes a quick story to their profile saying that they Like it. The Like button also typically shows readers if any of their friends already like the post, so it can be a great way to show them that their friends are already interacting with your blog {if they actually are, of course}.

The Like button doesn’t let them add a comment or share the actual post, but it does give your post just a bit of visibility on Facebook. And visibility equals new fans and more interaction from current fans. Use it as well as the Facebook Share button to give your readers two easy ways give you some Facebook love.

Facebook Page Icon or Like Box

Many of your blog readers would love to be fans on Facebook, as well. Give them the option to do so right from your blog with a Facebook Page Like Box, which has the Like button right on your site, so they don’t have to leave your blog.

Or if you prefer to have them leave your site to go to Facebook, then use a Facebook icon that links to your Facebook Page. You can use just a plain text link, too, but if people are looking for how to connect with you on Facebook, they’ll be looking for the blue Facebook “F”. Don’t be shy about displaying that icon!

How to Find Apps and Plugins

If you’re not familiar with finding and installing new Facebook Page apps and WordPress plugins, just start doing some searching. You can use the search bar in Facebook to search for apps – just start typing what you’re looking for and Facebook will show you a list of suggestions. If looking for WordPress plugins, you can do a search on WordPress.org for plugins.

And don’t forget that Google is your best friend. You can search for Facebook apps and WordPress plugins right in Google, as well, and will find recommendations from others, as well as the actual apps and plugins on Facebook and WordPress.

Your Turn

Are you already using some of these tools and techniques? Which new ones are you going to start implementing? And are there any other techniques that you would like to add to the list? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Image Credit: Anirudh Koul

About the Author

Jess is a quirky entrepreneur who helps fellow quirks EXPLODE their business on Facebook. She loves all things Facebook and being able to help business owners learn how to build an active audience to grow their business through Facebook. If you’d like to learn more, you can attend her FREE webinar, The Facebook Explosion Blueprint, or join The Facebook Explosion community on Facebook. You can also follow Jess’ blog and website over at www.jessilicious.com.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

New technology seems to arrive at the speed of thought, and it can be difficult for the casual web user to keep up with all of it. If you have ever shied away from a conversation that steered toward anything web-related or have ever shrugged your shoulders when you heard terms like social networking, tweeting, status updates, wikis, blogs, or social media, you are not alone, and this guide should help you get a basic overview of what social media is and how it is used.

A clear definition

The first problem with social media is that it means different things to different people, but it is important for someone trying to understand it to have a clear definition of what it means. Social media, in this context, refers to any site on the web that relies on participatory input and interaction among its visitors. Part or all of the content is created by the users.

Social media has taken over the web in a very short amount of time. Nearly all of the top sites on the web are participatory in essence, excluding the search engines, and nearly all sites have at least some participatory elements (such as comments).

Types of Social Media

While there are many forms social media can take, one can basically divide them into five categories, and each category has several sub-categories with accompanying examples:

1. Collaboration:

• Wikis — Easily editable encyclopedias. Often open to any users, although some are more restrictive.
  • Example: Wikipedia
• Open Content — Content licensed for reuse and sharing
  • Example: Creative Commons
• Social Bookmarking — Sites that allow users to bookmark, share, and discover websites.
  • Examples: Delicious, Google Bookmarks, Stumbleupon
• Social News — Share links to news and comment on stories
  • Examples: Digg, Slashdot, Reddit

2. Communication:

• Blogs — Services or software for easy user publishing, comments, and more
  • Example: WordPress, Blogger
• Micro-blogging — Very brief blog updates, often shorter than 140 characters
  • Examples: Twitter, Identi.ca
• Social networking — General social interaction, sharing, and friendship building.
  • Example: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn

3. Multimedia:

• Photo sharing — Publish photos for the world to see, comment, and share
  • Examples: Flickr, Smugmug, Picasa
• Video sharing — Publish your own videos online
  • Examples: YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion
• Live streaming — Stream live videos
  • Examples: Livevideo, Justin.tv, USTREAM
• Audio and Music sharing — Share favorite music streams
  • Examples: Last.fm, Like.fm

4. Reviews and Opinions:

• Product Reviews — Rate products for quality and price
  • Examples: Epinions
• Questions and Answers — Anyone can ask and answer questions
  • Examples: Yahoo Answers
• Employer/Educator reviews — Find out how good an employer, professor, or other authority figure is
  • Example: Rate My Professor
• Real Estate — Rate apartments, houses, neighborhoods, and commercial property
  • Examples: ApartmentRatings, Neighborhood Scout

5. Entertainment:

• Virtual Worlds — Create avatars and live out virtual lives
  • Example: Second Life
• Social Gaming– Play games online with other players
  • Examples: Browser-based games like Farmville and MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) games like World of Warcraft

Beyond websites and services specifically designed for social media, many personal, non-profit, and commercial websites incorporate social media elements. For example, many shopping sites like Amazon.com and eBay allow users to review products, rate them, and even resell items. Most news sites, even from corporate media, now give readers the ability to comment on articles, audio, and video. Furthermore, many sites incorporate elements from established social media sites. For example, a site may have a Facebook “Like” button or a Twitter sharing button. Some may even allow you to share their content on several different social media sites.

Although social media as a concept is relatively new, the actual implementation of online participatory elements predates the term. Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), for example, date back to the 1970s, and chat rooms have been a part of the Internet from the beginning. With a steady evolution, most interactive features of the Internet (such as email) are now integrated into the web. Because of this, some people use computers and never close their web browsers.

According to web experts at UK dedicated hosting 34SP.com, when the web was created, it was intended to be a participatory tool that anyone could use to create and innovate. Social media is just a step in the direction of realizing that vision of a participatory culture, where a free exchange of ideas and knowledge flourishes.

About the Author

Tavis J. Hampton is a librarian and writer with a decade of experience in information technology, web hosting, and Linux system administration. His freelance services include writing, editing, tech training, and information architecture.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

The social component is thought by many to be the true spirit of what we obsessively hear called as the Web 2.0. Not the round font logos, nor pink or blue gradients.

The need for more human interaction and developing an online identity has lead to the apparition of thousands of social networks and social media platforms out of which only a few managed to get the blessing of the masses. What set them apart from the rest? What made them turn from social experiments to successful businesses? The user, their biggest asset.

Power to the people

During development stages and also while growing in popularity, these social media platforms understood the need to focus on what users wanted or needed:

• The means to connect with people who they shared interests with;
• The means to discover content based on their own interests;
• The means to become an important part of a community.

Driven by such needs, some members of these social networks turned into what we call power users. They were the most prolific users of each platform, gathering masses of other users around them, sharing the most content and most times acting like evangelists for the services they used.

The idea of one day becoming one themselves, of wielding the power that such users have, attracted more and more people to these social networks, giving them the boost required to reach mainstream and go beyond, turning them into the multi-million dollar businesses we know them to be today: Facebook, StumbleUpon, Digg, Twitter.

Social Media is shifting perspectives

The mirage of power users also had the unlucky, but somehow normal, outcome of attracting people who’d want to bend the rules and exploit the system in order to obtain personal benefits. So, unlike our wall-climbing-building-jumping superhero Spiderman, they did not get the fact that “with great power comes great responsibility”. Also, to an extent, the social media platforms themselves, turned into online business superheroes, neglected the concept completely and focused their actions against power users instead of thriving to come up with solutions to prevent such exploits. They chose the path of reaction instead of action and so, a witchhunt began.

The people that were once their most respected assets and their closest allies were forbidden to do any kind of self promotion, no matter the percentage of it compared to the contribution they made to growing the platform, nor the fact that most times, this so called self promotion was nothing more than addition of new content, quality content even. When money is involved and these platforms offer advertising methods to “self promote”, you have to be at least the next online Messiah, sharing fish and bread to the people expecting nothing in return.

Power from the people

Such is the case of StumbleUpon and more recently Digg. The idea of being a StumbleUpon power user was at some point similar to being some sort of modern Robin Hood. You’d have to keep quiet, do your thing and hope you won’t get noticed by the local SU sheriff. Shortly, Digg followed in their footsteps hunting such high profile users to the extent of banning them from ever using the service again. How dare they get any kind of profit from using the platform and not share it in part with the owners?

On the other hand, we have the platforms that have always encouraged you to be as active as you can, with limited restrictions (mostly common sense restrictions) and let the rest of the users decide if you’re worth following and thus becoming a power user or not. A notable example would definitely be Twitter .

Have you ever seen a Twitter user being banned because they dared share a link to their own website or blog, unless it’s a shady business or pornographic content? I haven’t. Indeed, Twitter is yet to discover its own successful money making recipe which might turn things around at a later stage.

And what about Digg’s new approach? The power users are still there, only they are not real people. They have been replaced with large media corporations and publishing groups that pump steroids into their content with the help of Digg users. Why aren’t they hunted down? The answer is truly simple: money. They bring in the cash for the platform, but their success depends on the mass-appeal of the platform. This way, the old creed of “power to the people” shifted to “power from the people”.  But how long will this last?

People started noticing that StumbleUpon is nothing but a way to pump up your Alexa rank. While a few years back this would have meant the world for a website’s advertising efforts, now that most advertisers seek results and real conversions, that you have more chances to get through cost-per-click or cost-per-lead than with the old cost-per-mile model, StumbleUpon’s model is outdated and thus has severely decreased in popularity a lot.

For Digg it’s just the beginning. When people will start realizing that their content will virtually have no chance to outrun the competing corporate content, they’ll abandon ship and Digg will be forced to either reconsider its position or take the fall.

These are the past and the present of social media, and unless the user is the center of attention of both, there will be no future.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

We’ve already established that how you act on Twitter is paramount in determining your success when using this microblogging platform. What you say, how you engage others, how you act towards them, all these matter in positioning you as either an ideal Twitter user to follow or a nuisance.

The following question is how to effectively choose people to follow on Twitter. There are literally millions of options to choose from and in most cases you know nothing of that user prior to seeing their Twitter profile page. What should you look for, what criteria are there to be used to decide if clicking the follow button is a good choice?

Again, this does not necessarily apply to people you know or whose work you follow. If your favorite bloggers are tweeting, of course you will follow them. You will probably also follow some friends and relatives for diversity. But these are people you already trust or look up to and the value of their tweets needs no further proofs.

1. Check out the numbers

How many people do they follow? How many follow them back? How many tweets have they posted already? If for example the person you want to follow has been tweeting for a week, has 3 tweets, follows 1500 people and only 5 follow them back, of which 3 are bots, that user is not someone you should follow.

If on the other hand they follow 10 people and tens of thousands follow them back, they won’t be a valuable Twitter connection. The most common scenario is that you’ll follow them, they won’t follow back, you will never engage in a meaningful conversation with them.

2. Check out their content

Is what they tweet interesting to you or your own followers? If the content they post is not in any way related to the fields or activities you’re interested in, following them makes no sense. Some people you follow for the great information they post, relevant to your job or line of business, some you follow because they cover your hobbies or passions, some you just follow because their tweets are a great way to relax. Of course, the reason you follow them might be the same for which other people follow you and retweeting their messages might be valuable to you. But if what they post is something you may as well leave without, the logical decision is to continue to ignore them.

3. Check out their conversations

Do they retweet other people’s stuff? How many people to they exchange replies with? If you’re on Twitter, you’re there to exchange ideas with other people, share tips and offer advice and be introduced to fresh content to users you might not be introduced to otherwise. If the only thing you get from following someone is fresh news from a field, there are dozens of other services that broadcast constantly.

4. Check out tweet frequency

If a certain user has not posted an update to their Twitter account in over three months, they probably won’t use that account again. They might come back later, but following them just to add a number to your counter has little value of any kind.

If they post on a regular basis, also check out how many tweets they post each day. Some people are power users that post a few updates every 5 minutes. If that does not bother you, then follow ahead. If you cringe at the thought of too many messages flooding your stream, step away from their profile

What do you check before deciding who to follow on Twitter? Which are the best criteria you’ve used up to now?

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

It’s been already established that Twitter is a great channel to form relationships, network and connect. Moreover, it is a great tool bloggers have to promote their writings. If your followers read the stories you tweet about, retweet them to their own connections, it translates into more traffic, more comments and leads for the business part of your blog.

While some get great results when using Twitter, others fail to see any positive outcome from their 140 character writing endeavor. Who are these users that get all the attention and added benefits of traffic, always more followers and business success? Let’s see how ideal Twitter users look like!

They are not self-absorbed

Twitter users with steady crowds reading fervently their every update don’t think the world revolves around them. They don’t exclusively tweet their own stuff, urging others to worship them. The only such users that actually are successful are the stars and wannabe stars in the entertainment world, and they are the exception to the general rule – narcissism does not work in social media!

They value conversations

Twitter is not just broadcasting your own products and services. It’s about engaging in meaningful conversations with your network. Be it to find out how they’ve been, to advise them or share some useful piece of news, popular Twitter users talk a lot with their followers.

They are the first to offer something

Power users know that the examples they set will most likely be followed. If they engage their online friends, if they answer their questions, if they retweet their stories, the same will happen to them. You cannot simply show up on Twitter, post a few updates and expect everyone to drop everything and concentrate on you. Most of them follow hundreds of people and need to notice you first. What better way to discover you than a reply or a retweet with a valuable comment.

They respect their followers’ interests

If you’re an expert in a field, have an unusual hobby that you tweet about, have a niche blog, your followers most likely read your tweets for that very reason. You can mix it up with personal updates, funny videos and other such casual conversations, but most of your tweets will be about your topic of interest, the one generally described in your Twitter bio.

If people have followed you because you initially posted a lot of great resources for small business and you switch to ranting about unimportant, unrelated details and only write a useful tweet once a week, they are bound to leave.

In conclusion, the recipe for success is not complicated, at least not in theory. All you have to do to be a successful Twitter user is to get to know the community you are about to join, find out what their interests and preferences are, then join the conversation and try to help whenever you can. The rest is mostly based on reciprocity and being nice.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

OK, I’ve been dying to write about this for a while so bear with me for a little rant-type of post in today’s schedule. With the explosion of all social media websites and platforms like WordPress and Blogger, nowadays everyone has access to publishing and networking. The more time passes, the more such “Internet Marketer” and “Social Media Expert” profiles seem to rises around us, invading our Twitter accounts – following – and our Facebook accounts – connecting.

In a tough economical climate and with the rapid development that has always been the online’s industry trademark, it’s only natural for people to try different ideas and approaches as means to create either an extra income or a stable full-time income in this field. That’s understandable, but what I simply don’t get is where do these “experts” come from?

It’s a job like any other

Being an Internet / Social Media Marketer is a regular job, not much different than being a teacher or a policeman, for example. So if it’s just a job, I’m yet to see that person on Twitter – let’s say – that describes his/her job position as “Junior Internet Marketer”. Have you seen any? Let me answer that for you: NO.

We’re living in a world where being and Internet Marketer is not a qualification, but rather a personal decision, and where the “Expert” title is not earned by the appreciation of others or results of your work, but rather a catchy term that acts like a “nice bling” on your profile.

In a world where a self-titled Social Media Expert follows 3000 people on Twitter and has 4000 followers you know you’re bound to waste time and money if you put your trusts in the wrong hands. And to further express my worries about this topic: Have you ever looked at some of these Experts’ websites, blogs or even their big-bold-italic-red-titled-dash-bordered-money-back-guaranteed sales e-letters? Maybe I’m just crazy, but tell me in which universe a person that doesn’t put up the money to get a decent design (an investment in his/her own image – self-marketing/self-promotion) would qualify as an expert to teach us or promote our products/services?

Open your eyes

Take a good look at the reality around you. Want to see how a real Internet Marketer looks like? An expert? There you go: Chris Brogan, and if you don’t agree with me, check the stats:

• ~60.000 blog subscribers (not counting daily casual readers);
• ~145.000 Twitter followers (can you imagine the exposure?);
• Marketing business owner/president;
• Published book author;
• Top 5 in AdAge Power 150;
• Speaker at countless industry events and workshops;
• And the list could go on and on…

Now, if everyone else is an expert, what should Chris do? Start a religion? And before it passes your mind – NO – this post is not sponsored by Chris, although I bet he pays decently.

What needs to change?

The answer is so simple: We should all exercise our decency. Truth and honesty about our own abilities and performance would take us further than a faked-blinged-out profile. The road from spare-time blogger or work-at-home blogger to Social Media Marketer / Expert is long, and although many take it, less than a handful reach the end. Just remember that along this path, there are crossroads that we call stages, and through which you have to go. You cannot jump to the statute of Expert just because you wish to.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

In yesterday’s post I have shared some light on two of Facebook’s most attractive features for bloggers, the Facebook Like and Facebook Share buttons. While the decision of which one of the two use is your own (though the general answer seems to point to “Like”), today I’m going to talk about another feature that Facebook has improved and re-released back in June: Facebook Insights.

Through Facebook Insights you can gain free access to a whole bunch of highly useful information about your users’ behavior, their like/share habits and pretty decent demographics analytics, since Facebook uses their own user profile system to provide the information (and we all like to fill in our profile info, right?).

While Facebook Insights provides analytics data for Facebook Apps too, for bloggers probably the most interesting segments of this data are those that reflect the users’ like/share/reshare habits on Facebook accounts attached domains and the Facebook Pages created by their owners.

Getting Facebook Insights for your domain

Attaching a domain to the Facebook Insights is a straight forward job. All you have to do is to access the Facebook Insights dashboard and follow the 3 easy steps described in the image below:

Once you’ve completed these simple steps, you’ll gain access to a set of domain overall analytics data, as well as per URL data, by request, by entering the desired URL from your domain in a classic input box. Here are some eloquent screenshots of the data the Facebook Insights provides:

Facebook Insights: Likes vs. Shares

Facebook Insights: Demographics Analytics

With Facebook Insights, your choice is easier

Now you have a better tool to help you decide which button works best for your blog: Facebook Like or Facebook Share. Although my personal favorite is the Like button, I’d recommend using both of them for a while and simply compare in the Facebook Insights dashboard which one performs better, and only take a decision after you’ve come to a strong conclusion.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Soon after one starts blogging, the fact that just posting the entries and waiting for an indefinite “them” to come is not really working well hits you. Posts need exposure, especially for new blogs that don’t have an established readership. Even when we’re talking about a well known blog, the audience has its preferences when it comes to where they like to receive the latest updates. And Facebook is one of those places where you can reach a lot of new or returning visitors.

As it happens with any other social media channel, the blog author’s connections are limited. But their readers come with their own friends that might be interested in what the blogger has to say. So making it easy for them to share your fresh stories on Facebook is important. You’re faced with two options – going for the Facebook Share button or choosing the Facebook Like or Recommend button that’s so popular right now.

Most times, Share buttons are placed at the beginning of the post. They’re easy to spot and a visitor shares the story with a few clicks. Recommend or Like buttons are usually smaller and harder to spot, especially when there are no prior recommendations. Yet when a few people have already clicked the like button, you’ll see how many of them have done so and if they are people in your network, their photos will also appear.

The names of those who have already recommended the story add credibility. If your friends, the people whose updates you follow, think this story is worth reading and sharing, it probably is. The one seeing the recommendations will more likely read and share it.

It’s also important to note that a single click on the Facebook Like button is a lot easier than a Share. People find it fast and painless and don’t think of it as a big effort. They just push the button and continue to read the story or its comments.

If you’re inclined to choose the Like button, you now need to consider Facebook visibility! A simple like comes with a quick update on the Facebook feeds saying X likes the Z story. A share comes with a link to the story, an excerpt and eventually a photo. If the person sharing it adds their comments, they will also show up on their wall and in their friends news streams.

The trick is the Facebook Like button also allows visitors to add their comments and share the story. But people sometimes overlook this feature. The option to add your comments and post them to your Facebook page shows up after liking the story. So a second action is required, which some would choose to say no to.

Best solution to decide which to use? Trial and error! Add each button to your website and see how people react. Add them both for further testing and see what the outcome is. Then decide which button suits you better!

Have you added Facebook Like and/or Facebook Share buttons to your blog? Which worked better in your case?

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Let me start of by asking you one thing: have you ever doubted the power of social media? The U.S. president, Barack Obama stands proof of its power and now the Revolution in Moldova too.

After the recent election which are said to be manipulated by the communist party, Moldavian teen and teenagers started today that will probably go down in history as the first European revolution covered by live blogging and twittering.

Police, army, students, students that speak my language, as Moldova was once part of my country, Romania. Smoke, fire, fights, gun shots. These are the images that are spread via YouTube, Flickr, Twitter and personal blogs.

In an attempt to stop these images to go live, Moldavian authorities have restricted internet access, have taken down websites and have shut down private TV stations and news sites. But even so, the revolution is still transmitted live.

It’s enough to check out these hashtags on Twitter and you’ll see how fast the information is pouring in: #pman, #moldova, #chisinau.

Photo copyright by UniMedia. More on Flickr.

So, my question to you: Do you still doubt the power of social media? Do you still believe that Twitter is only a tool to exchange links with your friends? Think again! These kids didn’t!

Used in the right context, and for the right reasons, social media is the most powerful tool a common person can get.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

With blogging turning into such an amazingly popular activity, it was only the next logical step that some people would position themselves as tutors for the blogging novices. Internet marketing blogs, SEO blogs, design, writing and blogging tips blogs emerged and some of them became leaders of opinion in the blogosphere.

The advantage they had over other blog was their information. The quality, the relevance and the applicability of their guidelines finally secured their path to world wide awareness, authority and eventually success.

But, while everything works well from their point of view, readers trying to implement their guides and tips might encounter a few problems, or might have a hard time deciding on the most viable solution for their blog.

We need to dig deeper

How many times have you encountered this advice?

Comment on other blogs in your niche.

I’d say that you’ve seen it on probably every single blog tips blog. But how many of them go deeper, telling readers how to select those blogs that will deliver the best results? How many will tell them what to stay away from and what kind of discussion to engage in?

How many blogs talk about branding yourself and your blog without explaining to the common user what branding means and a difference between a poor logo, for example, that will most definitely position you as a “wanna be”, instead of a professional?

I’m not trying to point fingers here! I’m just saying that we need to go deeper when approaching certain topics, and not expect our users to be internet savvy people. We have the advantage of years of experience behind, so the best thing to do is to put that experience to use for those that need it the most.

Now, let me share my point of view over a few commonly misunderstood blog tactics, and I’m not talking from a “tips” blogger’s perspective, but from the reader’s side. From that side where I’ve been and where I had to learn things by the “trial and error” method.

Commonly Misunderstood Blog Tactics

1. Using Social Media

One of the most common advice you’re bound to find on blogs is to build an active social media profile. Some will tell you how well Digg works for blogs, or StumbleUpon, or Reddit, or Facebook.

There’s no general rule here. What works for a user, might not work for another. Also, being an “active user” on social media, might affect the quality or the posting schedule of some bloggers.

It’s not an easy task building a strong social media profile, without exposing yourself to risks like:

• Being considered a spammer of a specific service (due to a high number of submissions);
• Wasting time that you should be using for growing your blog;
• Positioning yourself as a Social Media Marketer, rather than a blogger.

From where I stand, the most important thing is NOT the volume of your submissions, but rather their quality and the quality of your network. Since most services don’t encourage submitting your own works, or even if they do, users tend to skip those entries, the best idea is to focus on building a strong relationship with your network.

For that, you have a few options:

• Find those highly ranked user profiles that focus on the same niche you’re interested in, or activate in and start building strong relationships with them. It’s not easy, it will take time, but it’s worth it. Help them, and in time, they’ll start to help you.
• Focus on delivering high quality content and encourage your readers to share it over their social media profiles. Most of your readers are also present on these services. Use that to yuor advantage and build up a network around your reader base.

If you’re interested in maintaining a traffic level based on social media usage, the best results come from loyal network users and readers. They are the one most interested in your content, thus being more willing to submit, re-share and vote on it. So, the majority of the incoming traffic will not be based on your own submissions, but on submissions of your content, made by users in your network.

2. Commenting on Other Blogs

This is one of those tactics that can have either positive or negative effects, all depending on how you apply your strategy.

Of course, the first thing you need to do is to focus on your niche. Commenting on high traffic blogs, may not always turn out to be efficient, due to the high number of comments they receive. In this situation, your comment might get lost in between many more other comments.

Still, you have two options to make you comment stand out (best results being delivered when combined):

1. Be among the first to comment;
2. Have a strong opinion on the matter and express it in larger comment. The majority of comments that high traffic blogs received are those “Great post!” or “Thanks for the tips!” type of comments. A more elaborate opinion is bound to stand out between those.

High traffic blogs are not always the best solution. Readers are constantly on the lookout for new blogs, written by not-so-famous individuals with fresh ideas and fresh content. By commenting on these blogs you expose your self to a whole new audience, an audience eager to discover new things and easier to engage in communication and to attract to your blog.

Do not over-promote your blog through your comments. Allow the community to base its decision on the quality of your opinions. If it’s top notch, they’ll want to click you name and thus visit your blog.

Also, one time comments will have no positive effect. Actually, they’ll have no effect at all. Why? Because making a user click you link is a matter of trust, and trust is not gained with one comment. Make a habit of commenting on those blogs from time to time, in order to gain their audience’s trust.

The negative effects of a commenting strategy come from poor quality comment repeated over long periods of time. This will affect both your online image – your brand – and your schedule, as you’re wasting time that you should dedicate to research and publishing.

I recommend that you read this excellent post on how to develop and maintain a good commenting strategy, by Caroline Middlebrook.

3. Networking With Other Bloggers

Link to other blogs. Email other bloggers. Subscribe to their social media profiles. Comment on their blogs. I’m sure you’ve read all these tips. But, do they actually work? Or, better said, in which conditions do they actually deliver results?

Linking it’s nice. It’s a sign of blogger appreciation. But to be true, linking can develop into a relationship only if it’s a repetitive process. You have to be ready to put out a lot of links to the same blog. Would you do that?

Commenting works too, but mostly on small sized blogs. Only because you risk being one of the 200 hundred people using the same commenting strategy, when it comes to big blogs. You’ll only be a small fish in a big sea, trying to generate some waves. It’s hard.

Following bloggers on social media could work too, but again, it they are high profile bloggers, chances are you’ll be just one of another 2000 or more followers. no much of an exposure there, right?

So, we’re left with emails. Networking through emails has its own set of rules, that most people tend to ignore.

I’ve been getting non-spam emails on my private address (which contains my real name) starting with: “Hi Blogsessive”. Is it really that hard to use the name? That’s a mistake that many people make.

Also, I’ve been getting emails being asked to read a certain post, or exchange links with different blogs, based on this sentence “I’ve been a long time reader of Blogsessive.” OK, that’s cool, and thank you for that. Sometimes, I’ll take time to read those posts, sometimes I won’t. But surely not because I’ve got an email from someone claiming he/she is an avid reader, that I’ve never even seen commenting on the blog.

My readers can confirm that their emails are responded, mostly quite fast. But the ones that get responded have the decency of reading my about page, using my name, not asking me to do things in exchange for their loyalty. Networking is not “emotional blackmailing”.

The best way to network with a blogger is to be the first to offer help, instead of asking for. I can assure you that help will come back 10 times more quick and efficient. Also, try and build a strategy by combining most of these networking tactics to support your main networking strategy.

Over to You

As I said before, these are things I had to learn in time from experimenting. From making mistakes and fixing them. You’ve certainly been in the same position, so I’d love to read your opinion on the above matters and how you’ve dealt with similar situations and blog tactics.

And remember that everything you do contributes to your online image, you brand.

Photo credits to Rodolfo Clix & channah.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Every blogger concerned about his blog’s exposure and traffic levels has a StumbleUpon account, right? Oh, you don’t? Then you should. But never mind that, let me tell you about some less happier experiences on StumbleUpon.

I’m one of those StumbleUpon users that usually discovers and votes on pages when he has time, when he finds something really interesting, or to help out his SU friends. But sometimes, being friendly and willing to help is not enough, sometimes, somebody has to take it over the top. Here are 5 guaranteed ways to piss me off on StumbleUpon.

Method One

You visit my profile, do a bit of research and message me, telling me how much you love my stumbles and my blog, and how much you’d love to be SU buddies. Flattering right? After reading the message I’m checking if that person has added me as a friend and I find that he didn’t.

So why would you expect me to add you first when you’re the one approaching me? Add me, and If I’m convinced I might add you back. That’s how it goes.

Method Two

Starts exactly like method one, messages and flattering included. Only that this time, the user added you as a friend. That’s pretty nice, let’s add him/her back, which you do. Two days later – surprise! – you’ve been removed by that user from the friends list. This basically means you’re his fan now, while he/her is some kind of a SU god. Dirty move right? You know what to do next.

Method Three

We’re friends, and as friends do, I like to help out. You ask me once to discover a story, ask me if I can review a page, all good. But with time, you see that I’ve voted on most of your stories, so you start sending 6-7 review requests per day, 2 or 3 out of the same website, and probably you’ll throw in a discovery too. OK, when was the last time I’ve asked you to help me out? 2 weeks ago! Let’s keep things fair play.

Method Four

We’re friends and you send me stories to stumble and review. I’m OK with that, and sincerely, most times I take the time to check the page out and post a SU review too. I know it helps a lot.

When my time comes to ask for you help, you hurry to hit that thumb up button. Good, I can understand that once, twice, but every time? A review for a thumb sometimes does not seam like a good deal.

Method Five

We’re friends and the friendly SU activity goes just great, but there’s something that you do that I really hate. I understand that we’re best friends and all that, but do you really have to send me “hug” and “thank you” pictures and messages every 30 minutes? Once is nice. Twice is flattering. More is spam.

And to understand why this attitude is so frustrating check this: StumbleUpon sends email notifications when you receive private messages, which is great. The problem is that the only link contained in that email is a link to their sponsorship page (smart isn’t it?). From there to my inbox I have to click 2 more times only to find a message saying the same thing as the one before and the one before that. And that’s frustrating.

Respect Your Friends

So, dear friends and StumbleUpon users, be careful how you treat your friends because that “Remove from friends” button is pretty accessible. Give without asking anything in return and you’re guaranteed to receive more than you would have expected.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Yes, I’ve finally decided to join Plurk, now that I have a bit more free time. So, why don’t you leave me a comment with your Plurk account so that we can be Plurk-buddies?

Also, for those of you wanting to add me on Plurk, here is Blogsessive’s Plurk account.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

In the past I’ve tested quite a few social networking and social bookmarking services, but I must admit that only a few caught my attention and made be become a long-term user. FriendFeed is one of them. The simplicity and ease of use really made my day when a friend of mine recommended me their services.

Even though some of you might already know, I wanted to tell you a bit about the new Beta FriendFeed and how FriendFeed just got a lot friendlier.

Let there be “Social”

And so it was. The new beta comes packed with some really nice and useful feature, long awaited by the community. Among them, the option of creating lists (groups) of friends from your subscriptions or FriendFeed’s recommendations.

Another nice feature, very useful to those active in many rooms is the posibility of creating and personalizing a list favorite rooms, quickly accessible from a sidebar menu.

And that’s not all. Now you can also upload pictures for your posts with a multiple uploads option.

Still not enough? How about seeing everyone’s profile just as if it was your one homepage (here is mine), with a full list of items shared by their friends, their own subscriptions and much more? Now it’s possible.

And just to ansure a propper medium for all these cool new features, the Beta FriendFeed also received a design face-lift.

Congratulations to the people at FriendFeed. Good things come to those who listen to the needs of their community!

Check out the FriendFeed Beta now!

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

The social bookmarking frenzy goes on. For quite a while I’ve been waiting for a redesign of del.icio.us, something that would really make me want to use it at its full potential. But that did not happen and I’ve continued to gather bookmarks the classic way, in my browser and through StumbleUpon or FriendFeed. Still it requires a lot of time to sort everything out while searching for something you’ve discovered 3 months ago. That until the day I got my SecondBrain!

I know, it sounds crazy, but that’s what SecondBrain is for. A place where you can collect your links, organize them through tags and collections and share them with other users. The good part is that you can import all your bookmarks from most of your favorite social bookmarking and social networking services available at this moment and track them all from one place.

If we take a look at how the folks at SecondBrain describe their services we won’t see anything revolutionary

• Import content from all your favorite services in one place
• Browse and search all your content
• Organize content into collections
• Keep track of your content in a single library
• Share your lifestream
• Find people through content, and content through people

but the difference is made when you start using the site.

This is how the website’s home page looks:

Signing up takes only a few seconds and after that you’ll step in a good looking, friendly environment, one that somehow reminds me of MySpace’s layout, from a structural point of view.

There are a few things that I don’t quite like, especially the fact that on the dashboard I see additions from friends of friends, and I have no visible option to turn that off. Perhaps I need ta take a closer look at the preferences, but still, that kind of option should be pretty much obvious. At least you have the option to display only your own updates.

Considering the website’s design, I find that a few icons are too big for this kind of service. I need to focus more on the content than having a page filled by only four or five icons.

Where there’s potential, there are also premises for evolution

SecondBrain is getting ready for a BETA 2 stage, and that’s why I’m sure that most problems will be solved and I’m also guessing that if you sign up with them, your feedback will be greatly appreciated. Further more, there’s also a contest for those who sign up in this period and a chance to win a MacBook Air.

One policy that SecondBrain has is that the added content will be manually reviewed by their team (in the background of course, as you don’t need to panic about not getting approved) and the most valuable additions will also be rewarded.

So, there you go, more reasons to try it out. I did, and I’m happy with it, at least for the fact that it’s still a BETA, and where there’s potential, there are also premises for evolution.

The day I got my SecondBrain was the day my browsing history became more accessible.

This is how my profile looks:

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Yes, that’s right! Enough with it! Why do we have to make all these comparisons between these services, when sometimes it just isn’t the case?

For the past month my RSS reader has been literally filled with Twitter posts, FriendFeed posts and now it’s time for Plurk. Each blogger tries to find the next big microblogging platform, “the Twitter killer”. I always love a visionary post, but sometimes we need to take a step back and analyze the facts. Twitter is not going to disappear any time soon.

Yes, Twitter had, and still has problems, but I can bet it’s a temporary thing. We’re talking about a huge financial investment here, and no investor will sit and watch his money flowing out the window. Further more, many communities have been built on Twitter. People have spent lots of precious time growing their number of followers, no one is going to give that up so easily. Beyond that, Twitter has a value that only few realize: it’s a great instrument to help you develop your writing skills by focusing ideas in concise, 140 character long, messages.

Twitter has the advantage of time and awareness. That’s one advantage that FriendFeed and Plurk don’t have. And no, I’m not writing this post because I’m some sort of Twitter fanatic or evangelist. On the contrary, I know I’ve never used it at its full potential due to time limitations. Further more, I really enjoy participating in discussions over at FriendFeed, but I’m not a Plurk user, and probably won’t be any time soon. I find it awkward for my taste. And sincerely, I prefer a bird instead of a headless animal.

Why I don’t believe in the reality of this “war”

The biggest problem with this “versus” hype resides in the fact that these services are different, providing different user experiences, at least Twitter and FriendFeed. A few days back I was watching ShoeMoney‘s videocast, co-hosted by Jennifer Slegg. I asked them what do they think of FriendFeed. Jeremy’s answer was pretty straight-forward: “I’ve never used it”, and when it was Jennifer’s turn to answer I got the following: “I’ve signed up a few days ago, but I’m not convinced. I prefer Twitter.” (These are not exact quotes, but since I don’t have a transcript, I tried to reproduce them.)

So, here goes something that I did not expect from Jennifer, a confusion between 2 different services. Otherwise, I don’t see how Twitter popped into her answer. While Twitter is clearly a microblogging platform, if we really need to find a term for FriendFeed, the most appropriate should be “microforum“, in my opinion. How can we compare them? We should not, but unfortunately, this is the reality that’s been spreading lately.

Letting the numbers speak

If people are so eager to find the service that will grab the crown from Twitter, maybe we should take a look at some facts, for example the funding that these 3 services received (according to TechCrunch):

• Twitter – $5.4M + $15M (May 2008)
• FriendFeed – $5M
• Plurk – This I couldn’t find

Higher funding does not necessarily guarantee better services, but it surely creates more premises.

Further more, let’s study the latest levels of traffic, including the last month, when Twitter was down and all the FriendFeed & Plurk hype began.

Is Twitter dying?

You tell me. The numbers say that despite their technical and communication problems, all this hype has boosted their traffic way above the competition. From where I stand, Twitter is going to be around for a while, and I can see a nice future for FriendFeed too.

What do you think?

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

BlogCatalog have updated their website’s design. The new look is fresh, it’s the BC blue, branded, with a much better homepage structure and an interesting feature that seams to attract more and more users – the social search. The social search allows you to look for certain things in the social activity of all BlogCatalog members.

On the inside pages, the redesign was mostly limited to the header, so that the users will not have a hard time accommodating, but don’t worry, it matches perfectly.

Here’s the new home page of BlogCatalog:

And while you’re on BC, you can drop by on my profile.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

“Twitter is stressing out a bit now.” Does that sound familiar? I’m sure it does. With all the buzz around Twitter’s tech problems, people started looking around for a service to fill in during downtime. And this is where FriendFeed comes in to play.

Some have used it for a while, others – like me – have only recently joined. After a week of being a FriendFeed member, I thought about sharing my experience with it with goods and bads.

What’s FriendFeed about

Just in case that the service’s name doesn’t ring a bell, FriendFeed is all about sharing your social activity with the world in a minimalist – and recently mobile friendly – environment.

With the recent addition of rooms to the service, people can form groups around their interests, hobbies or website. From my point of view, this is the greatest thing until now with FriendFeed.

People are able to share stories in these rooms and to comment upon them. Also, the interesting thing is that you could run a debate starting with a question and most of the times, get enough answers. So, FriendFeed adds a lot to the conversation. Rooms are moderated by their creator (administrator) and can easily be setup as private if you wish to restrict the public access.

Back to the buzz on Twitter vs. FriendFeed, after signing up and using the second, I can state that if Twitter is a great microblogging platform, FriendFeed has a good chance to turn into a nice, compact, microforum platform. On the matter of FriendFeed taking over Twitter’s throne – my personal opinion is that there’s no such “matter” – I would suggest you read some of SheGeeks‘ posts:

• The Problem With FriendFeed(ing): It’s Not Twitter
• The #1 Reason FriendFeed Will Not “Dethrone” Twitter

And since FriendFeed it’s about sharing and discussing items and stories, it works with almost every important social media website.

Don’t expect a huge buzz

If you’re expecting to use FriendFeed as a way to get those traffic spikes, stop it, now. You most probably won’t. Since the best thing about FriendFeed is conversation over topics, I can assure you it would be better to use it for growing a loyal readers’ base than for getting massive traffic.

What’s wrong with FriendFeed

While I’m sure that as we speak, features are being developed, I still have some things I really need along with my FriendFeed account:

• I need a place to browse all available rooms. Would be best if they were organized by topic also.
• I need a possibility to change a rooms display picture. (Update: Has been implemented)
• I need a way to promote room members to moderators or administrators, since a room that gets enough attention will be a target for fake-sharing, and by this I mean links under fake-titles. If this gets out of hand, I’ll need help.
• I need a way to select multiple rooms if I decide to share a story. I don’t want to go back and re-share the item.

Since I’m still testing out this service, I’ll probably come up with more points here, but until then, it would be nice to read about your experience on FriendFeed.

My FriendFeed profile: http://friendfeed.com/blogsessive

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Social bookmarking, social networking, StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, Twitter, everybody’s talking about them. Every known blogger is telling you how important it is to build a strong social media profile, how you can hit the jackpot of receiving thousands of visitors every day through submitting your articles, or having your articles submitted by your readers to the above mentioned websites, and many others.

Well, social networking is obviously useful and helpful; just don’t get your hopes up. You’re probably wondering why I’m writing this post, when only a few days ago, one of my posts has received a lot of love from social media websites. The answer is simple: While StumbleUpon sent a few thousand visitors to that article, another website (Reddit) did what it lately seams to be doing best.

Introducing link hate

No matter how important your article might be – you could be Jesus on your second coming, talking about the real Judgement Day – the first reaction you’ll see to your post is a few down-votes. This is the tricky part, you know you’ve written a good post, and when checking your Google Analytics you see no visits from that social media site. If so, why the negative response?

Look no further, link love is DYING! Who are you? Just another new kid on the block, trying to share your views with the rest of the world! You’re simply naive if you’re thinking you’ll make the front page through those easy-as-1-2-3 steps every website is talking about. Social media has long time ago transformed into a huge traffic provider, and where there’s traffic involved, so are money, lots of them.

It’s enough to scan some of the biggest forums and see those offers of over 1000 stumbles for only $10, and they are only the small fish of the industry. Sharks are a lot more savage! That’s the way things go when you’re a newcomer. Don’t expect link love, because some people can take your articles down, only to make sure their submission have a clear path to the top.

By now you’re probably thinking how come post from Smashing Magazine, TechCrunch or other famous websites hit the front page regularly. Don’t. They have the big bucks to spend on advertising, you probably don’t. They have a huge reader base, you probably don’t. They are famous and you’re probably not. It’s as simple as that.

Then, what else is there?

So, what can you do? Focus! Focus on being better. Focus on keeping your reader base close and on growing it. Don’t ignore the social media, as it’s still a good way to tell the world: I’m here, I exist and I have something to good say. But don’t expect the Holly Grail out of it!

If you’re looking for link love, make friends, good, close friends. If you’re looking for traffic, have your wallet near. Otherwise, you’ll probably get link hate.

Photo credits to Ayhan Yildiz.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive