Do you USE any Social Networking Site on a regular basis, meaning - do you actually go to the site and spend time on that site?
I go to Technorati and try my best to add favorites but it's been so darn slow lately that I'm turned off.
I go to Link Referral and review blogs. It gives me a chance to read sites that I haven't been to (and some that I have been to) and bring my input into the blogosphere.
I set up BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog but I have to be honest and say I don't go to the site on a regular basis.
I also set up FuelMyBlog but that too has been so horribly slow that I dread trying to fuel the blogs of people I find and so I've stopped adding them.
Then there is Twitter.....I tried people but I just don't get it and I think it has something to do with my generation and how we communicated.
What other sites are out there that you have found, what's good, what isn't?
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Social Networking Sites
Oh yeah, I should probably add that it isn't my ISP (I have corporate level service at home), nor is it my computer as I have 4GB of Ram.
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I recommend BlogEngage and Mixx. You can add every post you write to them. Then everyone votes on the posts that they like. Mixx is much bigger so if a post gets noticed it is better but your post is less likely to get noticed. BlogEngage is smaller so I find I get more regular traffic even though its small. Look for me on them I am jwag57.
I also refuse to use twitter.
Great observation re fuelmyblog!
We are deploying a huge fix to the server tomorrow, has taken a month to get there..! Please do come back and try tomorrow afternoon, let us know what you think :)
Thanks for trying us
Kevin
Thanks for the tips.
I Have accounts at BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog but, like you, I don't visit them often. Entrecard is the only one I really use at least once daily.
I have a MySpace that I never use and Facebook that I stopped using. I found it rather childish and full of stupid invitations and add ons. It's OK for those who want to be hit by a wet fish or other such rubbish!
Maybe it is a generation thing ;O)
Hey MamaFlo,
I have tried a few of these but am becoming discouraged like you--not so much because they are slow, but more because you have to work so hard at maintaining your presence on these sites. I would rather concentrate on making my own blog good, reading other blogs I like (like yours) and interacting with real people.
I agree with Babs - Entrecard is the only one I use with any regularity (that's how I found your blog!), I have several of the other services, but Entrecard is the best in my opinion.
I'm with you on Twitter - maybe it's just a generational thing, but don't we communicate enough via our blogs and comments? Do I really need to Twitter about: "going for icecream" "I'm back" "got a turtle sundae" "now off to the loo" "need to add TP to the grocery list" "can't decide what to make for dinner" "skipped dinner and had chips & salsa" "now time for bed, need to remember to set the coffee pot"...
???
I do the Twitter thing and recently the Plurk thing, but I don't spend a ton of time with them. I also have a MySpace account, but that's mainly because there are some people in real life who are on there that I communicate with that way as well as a few others. I have a Facebook account that I never use because it had even less appeal than MySpace, but a real life best friend signed up, so I joined - I haven't been back in months.
As far as more blog promotion type sites, which I assume is what a lot of those are, I haven't really ever done anything with them. On a smaller scale, I do meet a lot of people through some of the weekly memes I enjoy doing like Weekly Winners, Heads or Tails, Thursday Thirteen and Haiku Friday, but that's more my speed, I think.
I really enjoy my own site but like being able to augment my site with others but my favorite by far is EC. I can't remember a hobby I've enjoyed more than blogging.
It's great to hear that Fuel My Blog is going to undergo some changes right around the corner (tomorrow did he say), I hope it brings more to the program.
I hear there is also more brewing at EC, this is all good news (hopefully).
Hi MamaFlo,
With all due respect, I think you are confused between social network sites and social bookmarking sites.
As per my understanding, all you have mentioned except for Twitter are bookmarking sites.
My Space, Facebook and Friendster are networking sites. If you like to know which has the most number of users, I made a recent post on my Humane Blogging Tips blog.
Thanks.
Guardian Angel, thank you for correcting me error.
I have tried all those with much the same results
I use just about every social network tool I can, as often as possible. But then again, I'm a social media consultant.
I really like Twitter a lot, but have been playing with Plurk when I get time. Between Twitter/Plurk/Jaiku/Pownce/Facebook and others, I'm really pleased to see ping.fm and hellotxt as tools where you can send an update to lots of sites at the same time.
I also like FriendFeed which seems to be the most popular aggregator of person posts.
Depending on how you define things, I like Flickr, YouTube, Blip.TV and other media sharing sites.
Also, for bookmark sharing, I couldn't exist without del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, ma.gnolia, Clipmarks and now Mento which is a new tool for sharing bookmarks to multiple sites.
For more on this, stop by my look. Look at the social media section in my topics list on the left, and on the right, near the bottom, see links to some of the social networks I try to stay active in.
With that, let me comment on some of the comments. I have yet to try Mixx, but it is getting a lot of good buzz. I haven't played with blogengage or fuelmyblog. I like BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog a lot.
I found your site through EntreCard and I really like EntreCard. My MySpace site is mostly dead, although some of the tools like ping.fm might cause me to revitalize it. I use Facebook a lot.
For Twitter, I use TwitterFeed to feed the RSS feed from my blog into Twitter. It helps with the traffic to my blog. I also use hashtags to track conversations in Twitter around conferences and twitterlocal to find twitters from people around me. BrightKite is supposed do help with location specific microblogs as well, but I've got mixed feelings about it.
I currently follow around 500 people on Twitter and have around 900 people following me on Twitter. I get a lot of breaking news there in the political and the technological areas, as well as stay nicely connected with friends around the world through Twitter.
The only weekly meme I participate in is Wordless Wednesday. I try to be somewhat regular of it, but it varies. It does drive nice traffic, however.
I have been on Friendster for years, but mostly that has lapsed.
I would take issue with Guardian Angel. Social Networking sites is usually used to include many times of sites, including social bookmarking sites, like del.icio.us stumbleupon, ma.gnolia and others. Recent Reader Roll sites like MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, BumpZee and others, Microblogging sites, like Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Plurk and others, often included are media sharing sites like YouTube, Blip.TV, Flickr, and others, business oriented social networking sites like Ecademy, Ryze, LinkedIn and others and older general social networking sites, like Tribe, Orkut, Facebook, MySpace and so on.
Enough of my diatribe.
Aldon
have you tried bloggingzoom.com
i'm on cre8buzz and poshmama.com
not so much on myspace, but i have an account. blog catalog of course.
i won't twitter either and i get it, but i'm just not doing it. i like to read people's tweets though
I love Twitter. It took me a while to get used to it but now I use it all the time to capture funny things my family says that I don't want to forget. And I also use it to keep up with some co-workers.
Actually i have been planning to join them all as i have joined them with my old/abandoned blogs (actually revised and transferred) but i just fdont have a lot of time to do it yet...
I have come to love cre8buzz, blogengage and entrecard. All three of these sites have helped me to discover new blogs including this one. I visit each one everyday. I have a myspace that I want to try to stay updated on but there are too few hours in a day. MamaFlo, I agree with you that blogging is such a fun hobby, it has saved me in more ways then people will ever know. I love dropping entrecard though, I may be a little addicted, lol. It takes me a long time because I can never just drop and leave. I have to look around.
I don't 'get' twitter either! I just don't have enough time in my day for all the social sites. Maybe in a few years when my kids are older?
I have just quit Twitter and Plurk and can only be found on cre8Buzz and Facebook - Facebook being mostly a family/in real life friend thing.
I do have a blogcatalog thing and I always stay logged out. I hate showing up on people's blogs when they have the caller ID thing :)
I've also cut everything out of cre8Buzz...I have no content except for my blog. I want to quit, but i don't want to quit for a second time...I'm just going to answer my comments and move on - that network is a waste of time - as are most of them.
What I've found is that the best promotion of your own blog is to read your commentator's blogs.
Forget all the social network BS.
I use Link Referral and Entrecard and these work the best for me at the moment!
I tried Twitter, and like you, I just don't get it! So I am not using it any more! I have also tried Stumbleupon, but I'm not sure it's for me!
I think I'll stick with Entrecard and Link Referral!
I have tried all the mentioned except for FuelMyBlog and Twitter, I've joined a few niche networks (scrapbooking) and get a view visits from time to time, right now blogexplosion, entrecard, and squidoo gives me most of my traffic.
For Social Networking Facebook is the best, I'm on there every day. That is where I interact with most of my friends and at the same time have been able to become re-acquainted with tons of friends from as far back as Kindergarten! People I probably never would have ever heard of again but have thanks to finding each other on Facebook. I even touch base with family members through Facebook that I never really did before. It just has soooo much to offer.
I'm on Myspace as well and have been for a few years now, but find it pretty boring there so rarely go, it just doesn't have all the things Facebook has to offer, though I've heard they are starting to add some of those things. I don't know many people on there though.
As for Networking with my blog Entrecard is definitely the big one and by far the best. I'm signed up with quite a number of other places as well, but Entrecard is the only one I really use all the time and actually get a lot in return for.
I haven't been there for a while, but I gave cre8buzz a hot, in addition to all of those you have mentioned. Plus I belong to some VERY niche sites like myragan and SmallerIndiana.
I'm with the rest of you. I use Blogcatalog - I am also in Blogmad - this plonks blogs onto your screen for 30 seconds you respond and then after viewing min of 5 blogs you can place your points into Verb which allows your blog to go into the viewing ranks. The points last for a long time so you only need to log on once or twice a month for a couple of minutes. I have tried both Fuel my blog and Spicey page but don't appear to get clicks back which is quite disappointing. I sometimes go blog hopping along the top ... just for fun and to see what's out there. Sunday's they usually upload the new blogs. I have several off Linkreferral but find myself doing the viewing mainly rather than reviewing. I have managed to upload the blog updater onto my twitter account ... and have just joined Plurk!!! Yes it's amazing what you do to get extra views. :) I think we could all do with finding out how to upload our links into the Chinese blog catalogue listings and also the ones in India. From what I have seen so far they only allow Indian blogs into the Indian listings - a bit unfair as many are written in English. Don't you feel as though there is no one place where you can ask these sort of questions to? Perhaps someone will be brave enough to set up a blog that will advise us all and answer all the questions we ask. lol
Oh Mama Flo I don't seem to do anything on a regular basis except maybe wake up everyday. I can't even visit blogs on a regular basis. That's the thing with working. I do what I can. I must say I do enjoy your blog and that is the best part of this computer stuff. Visiting our friends!!! Have a great day.
I use My Space but don't go on regularly anymore because I'm too busy with blogging and entrecard. Also, when I do want to discuss books and stuff with other people, I prefer Shelfari.
Entrecard has brought a lot of traffic my way. I do twitter. I recommend sticking with it if you can. Once you build up some followers and can really engage in "conversations" there, you'll likely see a jump in hits. I am there http://twitter.com/michellew_ if you'd like to follow me.
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