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Social Media

Digg to Replace the Shout Feature… with Tweets?

by admin on May 20, 2009 · 2 comments

in Social Media

picture-21

Recent news indicates that Digg will be giving the axe to the ‘Shout’ feature, commonly used and abused by many Diggers around the world, and apparently it will be replaced by Tweets, and sharing via Facebook Connect.

digg-dialoggThis is still sort of an unknown change, not many people fully grasp the concept (especially me). I am all for change, but my gripes with it are that I don’t have ANYONE on Facebook from Social Media websites for obvious personal reasons, but promoting on Twitter has usually never been too much of a problem. Although, it isn’t always effective. Out of 260~ followers, I’d say that maybe at the most I can get 10 to Digg, and this is by also having a friend retweet.

Are you guys worried about the changes to the “share” feature of Digg?

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Mixx’s New Sifter Serves Ads to the Web Savvy

by admin on May 11, 2009 · 0 comments

in Social Media

Recently, Mixx has introduced a brilliant way to introduce online banner advertisements to the web-savvy, no-click generation.

mixx-sifter

The Sifter is their latest and greatest feature - allowing participants to earn 100 extra Karma points and a wicked bonus prize to the weekly winner of the Sifter, usually $25 gift cards to retail stores and iTunes.

Why it’s Smart to Sift

I applaud Mixx’s effort to build a revenue stream in the ever-failing social media advertising world, this is really genius.

Typically, web savvy folk do not even bat an eyelash towards a banner ad. This is why Digg is struggling to make ends meet - they get a variety of users, ranging from my grandmother, to a power user and web masters, but I know better than to click on an advertisement. It’s irrelevant to me, and probably 82% of the Digg community. Since Mixx isn’t amazing for driving traffic to sites, but that’s ok - their Alexa ranking speaks for itself. They get traffic most sites are envious of. However that traffic doesn’t necessarily translate into traffic for promoted content. Most recently, the sifter’s creatives were for the movie Terminator 4.

terminator-4-sifter

Social and Viral media have such great mainstream influences, it is in the best interest of new media producers to invest an advertising budget in the online game. Because when it comes to geeky or nostalgic news, those of us that care, REALLY care. [click to continue…]

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Getting to Know Your Social Media Sites: Mixx

by admin on April 21, 2009 · 17 comments

in Social Media

mixx

Mixx is one of the most underestimated social media websites around right now. I’ve been at ‘Super-Mixxer’ status for a while now, and I’ve noticed some pretty sweet things about Mixx.

Mixx is essentially another Digg type site, with a light focus on niche groups. While you can find your niche by simply searching the groups, you can reap many benefits by using Mixx.

Some of the Juiciest Dofollow Links Come from Mixx - I’ve had no problems getting a brand new website indexed within Google, in around 16-24 hours. Just from submitting an article to Mixx. Now please don’t take this in the wrong way - spammers know of this, and are always abusing the system. Since it’s a very new social media site, being just a year and a bit old, it hasn’t had the opportunity to experience Digg-like growth. User moderation is present, just not all the time. A lot of spam does sometimes slip through, but is corrected upon hitting the frong page. Please do not abuse the powers of the Mixx backlink!

Mixx Providing a Solid Backlink

Mixx Providing a Solid Backlink

Mixx is for Everybody - Startrek fansite owners, Baseball card collectors, and news hounds alike, can find their niche groups. Having a close-knit community involved in your specific fields of interest is a great way to see some quality traffic. People may find your posts about Star Trek so fascinating, they might even decide to leave a blog comment (nothing beats fresh content!).

It’s Easy to get Popular on Mixx - It takes approximately 30+ positive votes to get “on deck”, which eventually leads to the front page when it hits enough votes. If you submit a photo, it takes about 13-15 positive voters to become popular. Videos take about 15-20 votes to become popular.

Mixx has Some Cool Awards - Mixx rewards their users with neat little trophies which are displayed in their Mixx profile. Here is a list of the Mixx Awards, it’s worth checking out.

My Mixx Awards

My Mixx Awards

If you want to follow me on Mixx, my profile is Pepelu12
Now of course, there is always some cons to go with the pros:

  • Spam can easily slip through if not moderated
  • A lot of Hollywood/Bollywood ‘celebrity photos’
  • Not a ton of traffic comes from Mixx
  • The design isn’t as fun or as usual as Digg
Mixx Traffic on Google Analytics

Mixx Traffic on Google Analytics

I hope you learned something here, Mixx is a great network that is always growing, and I encourage you to join!

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6 Surefire Ways to Build Your Social Media Network

by admin on April 17, 2009 · 0 comments

in Social Media

smm-logoWhen I first joined Digg I had no idea what the hell I was doing. I made all the common newbie mistakes like mass adding friends, mass adding power diggers, and mass shouting to any of those poor souls in my friends list. I was hired do to Search Engine Optimization for a local company, right out of high school. I had heard that social media was the newschool method of getting stuff done. I’ve heard crazy stories of boatloads of traffic, which is every webmasters dream. What a fool I was!

After a brief stint of being a jerk with no ’social skills’ online, I decided to stop using Digg as a tool to submit spam. I created a new account as a sign of good faith, and added friends slowly, and surely. I got an AIM account. I activated my Google Talk account, and was prepared to serve my community.

Some things I learned along the way to achieving a brilliant social media network:

1. Do Everything in Your Power to be Contacted - People wanting to share their sites content cannot do it alone. They need anyone and everyone they can get their hands on to pass around their votes. Since sites like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon rely on a voting system to propel them through to the front page (and win all the trafficks), there is a lot of sharing involved. Be available on: Google Talk, AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger. Go through Digg to get people’s instant messenger (IM) handles. Introduce yourself as a fellow digger, etc. and let them know you’re interested in helping them get their votes up. If you do this from the start, you’ll gain a reputation. Don’t come on too strong from the start, because that will kill any respect you might want to hold in the future.

talsiach

Example = TalSiach of Digg

2. Submit and Share Your Friend’s Stories - When you share stories from one of your friends websites, or one of their submissions even, you are proving that you are really there to be part of the community. You gain trust, and you might even score some sweet backlinks (there are literally hundreds of webmasters that thrive on Digg, backlinks are wicked).

3. Find a Proper Niche for Your Site - There are a TON of niche community sites like Digg, such as Tip’d (Financial) Hugg (Enviro-friendly) and many more. You’ll be able to find more people on those sites too, and it’s awesome to have a niche where you can get useful feedback on your posts.

tipd
4. Do not Spam with the Share Button - Limit yourself. A lot of people appreciate hearing from you once, maybe twice at most per day. Reciprocate on voting on anyone you share with, because a lot of people actually do check on your activity. Which leads to my next point.

5. Be Active - Active Diggers get noticed, even if you don’t submit popular stories. A vote count is probably the thing that most people look at when they go through fans. High vote counts, high comment counts. Avoid blind digging if you can - help your friends out, but vote on things that are truly important to you. People will notice your trends, and choose to befriend you based on your likes and dislikes, because they are often similar.

bixby1-digg
6. Use Twitter Hashtags to Find People - Use the #Digg #reddit #stumbleupon hashtags to find people that use them! They’re typically active social media folks, and they’re definitely worth a Follow.

Good luck in your conquest to build an excellent social network, I am glad that I eventually figured it out. I regulary chat with many new people, about life as well as voting on submissions!

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