Discussions
Has the shameless self promotion gone a tad bit far here?
Posted by pointlessbanter • 6/22/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blog catalog, etc, self promotion
When I came across blog catalog a few weeks ago I really like what I saw. It seemed like a great community and this discussion board was something that really interested me; it was a great place for bloggers to get help with issues, find new blogs to read, and talk about blogging in general.
Lately though it just seems like half of the threads are of the "stumble me" variety, or people writing a title snazzy title with a link to their post in the content. With the you subscribe to me I subscribe to you being the new pointless trend to inflate numbers that in the end mean nothing.
It is just a little disappointing is all I am saying... Promotion is good to a point, I am happy to have found some new friends on here, to have new friends on stumble upon and digg, but at what point is it a little over the top? Does anyone else feel this way?
User Comments
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I have to agree to a point. I have been involved with the stumbling thing recently, I am very new to it and trying to get a feel for what I'm doing. Everyone has been very helpful in that regard. But I know what you mean, it kind of feels like a little family thing going on here at blog catalog, and with the blog promotion taking center stage on the discussions page, we get so caught up we don't have time to chat about anything else.-
yeah I mean one of the things I really like about this site is the sense of community, I just don't want to see that gone with a bunch of people just constantly begging for attention
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"Linkers vs. Thinkers
Rebecca Blood is one of the sharpest and most patient thinkers about weblogs, and she happens to one of the original authorities on them as well. In 2000, writing a history of weblogs, she explained that the original aim of the weblog community was to filter the web. This changed after the introduction of the Blogger software, which encouraged more people to write journal-style entries. This dichotomy evolved into linkers vs. thinkers, which first may have appeared on Steven Den Beste's blog in April 2002 (some people who wrote him after the post suggested the terms); the was cited on Robert Williams's blog in October of that year. It took another year for Daniel Drezner of the University of Chicago, in a post "The division of labor in the blogosphere", to identify two types of bloggers-- he just called them "portals" and "commentary." Den Beste replied in the comments, reminding Drezner of the thinker/linker terminology.
None of these classifications have really stuck. In July 2004, Drezner co-authored an academic paper with Henry Farrell of George Washington University, The Power and Politics of Blogs. They did a decent job of explaining why certain political blogs are popular, but they skipped any attempt at trying to categorize blogs."
Source: civilities.net/BloggerArchetypes-
I suppose I'm one of them "thinkers" :-) Establishing a stronger net presence sure would be nice, but, I know my Willow persona's blog would appeal only to a small % of the population... besides, I'd rather go with quality rather than quantity of readers... but in terms of the BlogCatalaog discussion threads: yeah, would really be nice to have more non-link/stumble/digg exchanges... -
At this point it seems like such a large number of blogs are neither, but are only intended either to sell a product or to form a hosting arena for advertising, that I suspect both the "portal" and "commentary" style blogs have fallen into the minority.
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I agree too. We may have to start limiting Stumble and Digg type threads. They have gone overboard.-
Someone (sorry I've forgotten who) had the good idea to start a dated Stumble thread within the past few days. For some reason, though, other Stumble threads sprouted up anyway. Maybe the answer is to have one dated thread each day for Stumble, one for Digg, and every post requesting a Stumble or Digg has to go into those threads? It might be a hassle for our fearless leaders at first to remove or move the extra posts, but I suspect that we'd all catch on pretty quickly if that happened.
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yep tiffany...that was adria and i...our idea was to keep the thread from getting too long and for people not to have to scroll through several lists...but, yes, others have sprouted up...dunno if they just prefer to do it on their own or they don't realize ours is there...
our idea was to post a new dated bi-daily thread...i thought someone was going to do something along the same lines for digg today but i haven't seen anything yet... -
no you guys are totally doing it the right way having the stumble thread for every couple of days, if anything you are helping the situation
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Thanks for recognizing that Lisa and I are trying to do a good thing. We both want to be supportive of other bloggers here; at the same time, we want to use our time (and the BC discussion boards) efficiently. -
thanks pointlessbanter...much appreciated!
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no problem, you deserve credit for being proactive and trying to curb the problem..
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Just kidding.-
can I gamble and get my home refinanced?
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Can I make hundreds of dollars every day with my static "blog" page?
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I can partly agree, that's why I recommended the once a week digg party. I don't want to cut it all out though.-
oh I don't think it should be cut out at all but it needs to be roped in to some extent
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Right now the home discussion page only has 3 shameless plugs out of 25 total posts. That's not too bad is it?-
that hasn't been the norm at all as of late.
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I totally agree.
I find that most of these people have crappy content or their sites are unfocused. They might get some visitors in the short term, but I bet most of these vistors leave quickly anyways...
They should concentrate a little more on having decent content and the Diggs and Stumbles will come naturally.-
I know, I had a conversation with someone the other day on another message board. He was bragging that he got on the front page of digg and that he has friends that can get him there almost at will. He said getting on the front page got him thousands of hits to his site. I asked him how many rss readers he gained after all of that...
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I guess that speaks to his content... -
Yea, stumbling and digging without actually reading the content kind of defeats the whole purpose.
High Digg and Stumble stories are supposed to be good. I can see you having your friends having the first initial hits, but the content should be good.
I wont stumble or digg unless I really like it. That way my stumbles and such can be of value to others too...
The social networks are going to catch up to this spam...
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I agree far more than "a point," and I even blogged about it, offending a few people along the way (unintentionally). Promotion and profit are fine, but what's going on here is so short-term that it's fantastically counterproductive--everybody thinks they've outsmarted the folks who put together these enterprises, ignoring that BLOGGERS ARE THE CUSTOMERS, not the suppliers.
I know that's an unpopular point here, but the rapid pursuit of easy riches has so obscured real discussion here that I find myself reversing my first appraisal of this site as a welcome relief from the tedious discussion boards elsewhere. I think I'll just go back.
I know I probably wouldn't be missed, but the rest of the party can knock themselves out linking each other into happy oblivion, naively thinking that no site, engine or company could ever possibily foresee or derive a strategy for blocking such obviously predictable behavior, sitting at home waiting for the riches to roll in.
Come on.
Short term strategies are, well...
...short term.
Writer-
I will be honest I have tried to be diplomatic whiles starting some discussions on here. Especially the pay per post discussion...
I agree with what you are saying, I laugh when I see people talking about monetizing their blog and they have like nine posts and they are bitching about how much they aren't getting anything from adsense.
However there has been exceptions to the rule, I have found some really interesting writers on here, those people I will digg and stumble every time they request it. -
I'm with ya, Writer :-) like I mentioned above, I'd rather go with quality rather than quantity of readers. I like that I've found some great blogs and writers via Blog Catalog, and I've participated in some decent discussions on the bulletin board,,, but it seems like so many are in BlogCatalog just to squeeze every last linkable blogger out there rather than to build proper readership.
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Hmm, I hope I'm not one of those crappy content sites.
I pulled out of the stumble game because it was getting too much and I had trouble with my conscience about stumbling sites that I didn't like.-
actually I thought your male knitting idea was great...
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Hehe, I'm having some problems getting started. Too much sun outside to think about knitting =)
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No your site is not crappy!
Talk about a focus. Photos of Norway. Pretty good for not using photoshop...
You just got to make a category on Norway accomadations and some Expedia links!
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I pull out of stumbleUpOn as well. I don't mind everybody stumble each other, but We have to make sure we stumble it the right way. Otherwise, it is not hurting the page review, it also hurts your own reputation in the Stumble communities.-
I agree, I have been tighter with my stumbling as of late.
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I don't know about StumbleUpon, but I know that other "voting" sites (ie: Digg) are sensitive to "voting clouds" and those votes are somehow devalued. It seems likely to me that the same group of people stumbling the same group of posts every day might have limited value.
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lol Jungl... that's a nice problem.
Ok, I admit I have been participating a lot in the stumble train; it's quite addictive. But I also stumble on my own a lot too.. not just here. I am getting to the point where I am tired of stumbling blogs that I don't think is there yet(either content wise or it just doesn't interest me). I think I am doing stumbling a disservice so I agree with Jungl..
however, I really do appreciate the stumble back I have been getting back. I have tried to reach out to other established green blogs and most of them haven't been too keen on me so it's a way for me to get exposure. I know I write good content. Abby my Bernese it the CEO and she gives me a thumbs up.
I got very angry today because there is this blog community member who's been here awhile and Adria and Lisa had the honor code in play on their thread. This member plops down his stumble and does not even stumble one other person. I checked... and I checked to see if he did sign back in again since he left the stumble because some do come back if they are at work and such. He did sign back on and still not one return Stumble. I have noticed that this member has been doing that for awhile. He would ask people to stumble, digg, blah blah blah and never returns or even say thanks. I got so angry I had to not sign on until now. I hate moochers and people who feel they are entitled...-
I should mention though that I have been asked to be channel editor for Natural Path for their Eco-friendly Shopping or Organic Lifestyle (the editor has to run the wordings by the tech guys for SEO purpose) so I am getting some recognition from my work! Yeah! and Keetsa! have been really kind to me.. plus I just got a free book sent over my way for a review from a publisher. I am kind of knocked over by the whole thing really.
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wow! that is soooo fabulous! congrats girl! you definitely deserve it
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It is nice to see people stumbling each other and not even asking for it. I know I have hit some different posts by different people on here just because I liked it, I wouldn't have found their pages if it wasn't for blog catalog...
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I have Stumbled posts without the authors knowing I stumbled it simply because I liked the post or the blog however.. it's one thing to stumble on good will but another to participate in a train which is suppose to be a mutual stumble and not do it. I have decided to stop participating in the trains for now. I am just going to stumble the posts I like and of course the blogs I actually do read everyday
I would also like to add that I have met some of the most wonderful people on Blog Catalog.
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That's the great thing about these avatars folks. I've been here enough that I can tell by the picture and screen name whose shameless self-promotion I want to read, and whose I can do without. Let's just do our best to promote real conversation. This thread is a good start. -
OK, I'm guilty too. I started one of those threads but I've only done it once. Point taken pointlessbanter.
Hope I'm not in the crappy crowd either. -
Nothing wrong with choosing which articles to stumble. We can't expect everyone to stumble a post they don't like. Good point there pointlessbanter.
I hope my content is not too crappy haha. -
I also come here alot and notice everyday the majority of the front page articles are digg me, stumble this, and techno fave that. After awhile, it gets to be too much. There should definitely be a limit. Someone mentioned that what is the real point anyway, it is quite time consuming and at best, a minimal return.
The best way to get traffic and loyal readers (IMHO) is communities like this, getting to know one another better, and offering to help. Like when Terrence, Decarn and Borzack all volunteered to help with different things, that works well.
I say limit, balance, and don't start new threads for stuff you already see 20 times on the FP already for. -
A big gripe for me is that we have people here trying to instill some order, but if there is no true moderation, then it is chaos. Once one person either willingly chooses to or unknowingly ignoresthe "rules" or "guidelines" for the stumble/digg/promotion posts, then an avalanche piles on from there, as the next poster thinks "they did it, why can't I?"
In the end, people have to not encourage this behavior by NOT giving those one-off threads any attention and/or saying "hey, this is how we roll here."
I appreciate the discussion, either way. Good call, PB.-
Yeah I understand that, and the guys that have been running the site have done an awesome job. As a community we just need to band together and separate the crap from the real discussions. We can't expect the guys to babysit the forums or anything...
I have no idea where I am going with this.
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I agree with all of you guys and I like the idea of the dated Stumble and/or the dated Digg and think we should continue with it. It is nice to help each other out or give each other a push to expose our articles to a larger group. I know that I have gained readers and increased comments on my blog from this.
Last week I did a poll about blogging goals and asked BC community members for their input. In my article I wrote all of the BC members respones to the poll and linked to their site which I think has far more return than adding someone to their Technorati Favorites or a short lived traffic boost from Stumble or Digg. Is this an accepted method? I polled the BC members because this is the most active and helpful blogging community that I have found and all of the replies that I received were excellent. -
I've been so busy with the NHL Draft that I really don't worry about the stumble, digg, and that sorta thing. I prefer people just to come check out the site as opposed to all the little things we have at our disposal. The next couple weeks are rather busy with all sorts of speculation...so forgive me if I'm not on here as much as I should. -
I've participated in the "please link to me/stumble me" threads, but you're absolutely right, it's taking over. It's also kind of silly for anyone but the pro-blogger crowd, since the traffic increase is so short.
And I think I won't be doing those anymore -- I was finding some links that I just couldn't promote because I vehemently disagreed with the site, or the site was nothing but ads and "buy my ebook to tell you how to make money!" posts.
I'm still stumbling and/or linking the blogs I'm actually reading, though, and anyone who wants to reciprocate is appreciated of course. But totally not obligated to do so. -
Wow! Nice observations. I was experimenting with the ViralTags to see how far it'll go, haven't done the Stumble/Digg game.
My blog is about things I come across while building my website and once my community for my book builds, it'll have more on the technologies in the book. I've had readers for several years follow me on things I'm doing online, this is my latest project. The book is a sci-fi action thriller set in the present and the future entitled, Tell No Lies, But Keep Secrets.
I did, with the ViralTags game, come across some really good sites and info that I incorporated for my website. I'm on BlogCatalog to build a community, mainly techies since that is my background and some others I think will enjoy reading my book. There is a lot of technology/science in the full story and techies and futurist love those things.
I really enjoyed this thread and you are absolutely right to me, I'm closing down on my ViralTags experiment, today. It makes since not to offend and to keep things as there intended purpose.
Thanks,
www.worldlifesite.com -
In a world of a zillion blogs, no one likes to think theirs isn't being read, I guess. But there is a lot of 'you scratch my link and I'll scratch yours' going on out there, isn't there?
The couple of blogs I have are very different, but some of the readership crosses over. I've tried to keep my shameless plugging consigned to web forums rather than places like BC, as this seems to garner a more solid, returning readership, and its great to get to know people, their views and their take on life that way.-
Well said Thomas. It is always my pleasure to read anything you have written. I simply adore the stories you share with us. Harry McFry Investigates is a delight.
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Wow! I was getting sick of the rather excessive shamelessness here, but I am heartened by the response to pointlessbanter's question here. -
A more productive and less irritating way of doing the link/stumble/digg exchanges would be within categories. Why not just browse through BlogCatalog categories related to your blog and link/stumble/digg any blogs you like? Then you can comment on their profile and mention that you did it and request (politely) that they check out your blog.
It's more work, but your backlinks would be much more relevant. -
I was just thinking about this subject (sorry I'm lete to find this discussion.) I've been trying to do a bit of blog promotion. I'm a writer--I think there's a bigger audience out there who is unaware of my work and I think that when people visit my blog for whatever reason, they tend to come back. Through BlogCatalog, I've discovered some really cool blogs --blogs that I revisit and on which I comment. But the whole thing of "Stumble me and I'll Stumble you" doesn't seem quite... honest somehow. Because I've stumbled a few blogs that I really had no interest in. (I don't know, maybe it's not the system that's dishonest, it's me!) At any rate, there was a point yesterday when I couldn't find any discussions going on--all of the discussions seemed to be about tit for tat. I'm not sure what the answer is...
Barb -
A linking party v.s. interesting contents... -
It's almost a kind of madness isn't it? Everyone seems to be scrambling
to be linked, dugg, exchanged, etc. and once that's done, what do you
actually get out of it?-
I guess the bottom line is getting traffic which supposedly helps to monetize their $ites...
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What about the recent sprout of viral link blog posts? Anyone find them annoying? -
Yup, while I am happy to Stumble items that are relevant to my blog and even happier to link to folks who would be a good resource for readers, I think it's not bad to have a hardy dose of discretion in these things. It will make your audience feel more comfortable and help you gain trust if the resources you present them are consistent with your own messaging.
It's not a question of a like or not like what others are up to-- I always love hearing about it. But some things just fit better than others. -
It is human nature to take things to excess...we do it all the time...I still havent quite got the head around the stumble and digg....but blogs are a way to gain exceptance with in a community or tribe...it is a very primative need in all of us...that is the philosophical me talking....the cynic says ..I agree it goes to far sometimes...but we all need a platform to voice our opinions...and show off a little or lot..depending on your needs and personality...but things like stumble and others will be relaced by newer and better andthe cycle will start again..... -
Hi pointlessbanter
Yes, I understand what you are saying. People join social networks for two reasons that I can see. Some for shameless self-promotion and some who actually WANT to interact with others on a personal level.
I count myself as the latter so there! now you know. LOL
I am also becoming addicted to the networks that I've joined - I haven't left this computer chair for hours and well I'm hungry so I think I'll have dinner right now.
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I'm so busy with my content that I hardly have time to even read my subscribed feeds! Not to mention the tagging game, the stumbles, the diggs, the technos... uurgh...! I'm so out of the topic, aren't I?
What if there's a 'sticky' Digg thread, Stumble thread, Technoarti thread etc, so that people who're interested to get digg help will post in the digg section, without having to create another Digg thread and so on... -
So, any chance I can get a Digg on this thread...I kidd, I kidd! Agree with PB. -
I think borzack has a really good idea. I think Blogcatalog should have threads devoted to promotion. All of us want our content read right? Why don't we talk with the BlogCatalog staff and work with them to set up some kind of system for promotion through dedicated discussions/threads?
If we had a separate area for promotion the normal discussion area could remain free from promotion. Perhaps we could have promotion through categories. Right now if we go to "Browse" we get a list of categories that then break down into smaller categories. What if each of these categories had an ongoing promotion discussion every day?
We could post on the promotion thread in order to share some of our posts. My site is all about web page design for instance, so if I wrote an article that I thought could benefit a lot of people I could write something like this in the promotion thread under Internet/Web Page Design:
"Hey everyone, I just wrote an article about x. I think it could be really helpful for (list reasons). If this sounds like something that interests you please come check it out.
(Link)"
It could be something as simple as that. We don't need to ask people to stumble us, digg us, etc... If the content is good and people like it, the rest will come naturally.
I think this kind of system would work well because all of the promotion would be in a set place. I think it would also help people looking for content. Are you looking for some good articles about the environment? Go check out the environment promotion thread and see if anything catches your interest.
Right now we can wander around Blogcatalog exploring the sites of others. However, we don't have a good way to explore specific articles that people are writing. I think if we had some kind of system like I am suggesting it would help all of us connect to each other better.
I am obviously not a master of blogging knowledge or anything, but I think this idea has potential. Please let me know what you think. I know that together we can come up with something great that will allow us all to get even more out of this community experience. -
Here was me trying to be funny by bumping one of your first discussions and it bloody turns out to be a good one!
It also highlights how much the admin listen to their members, in providing a home for those that do like a stumble or two.-
I am so bumping your birthday thread again.
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Please don't! I am sorry!
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Oh it is SO on
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So So On
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and on and on and on
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pointlessbanter... it's good to see you on again
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What is going On here?
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Nice meeting you at BWE... ok off to the office basketball league... I hope I don't tear my ACL
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I wrote a post on here a while back about the lame "please comment!" posts being thrown up here every 2 seconds... can't find the link though. Oh well.
The way I look at it is like this - spend the time that you would spend reading through a "digg this" or "comment here" post on doing real promotion - like e-mailing other bloggers, building a discussion around a good post, etc.
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