When I first wrote a post about being social, I knew I wasn’t specifically identifying the post’s title with my internet social experience. I didn’t think it matters because being social could apply to both online and offline (real life). Now there seems to be an obvious difference for being social online: internet marketing and/or web site promotion. Personally, I use them to get in touch with friends, old and new. A nice benefit for me is to discover new (and previously unread) blogs, and to keep up with current trends. But, I can’t deny it’s also great way to drive traffic to my blog.
Social networking services are on the rise. Perhaps they’re responding to the demand of people trying to get in touch with clients and readers. Perhaps they’re trying to fill in the void of features that are missing from other sites. Perhaps it’s simply another way for them to burn venture capital money. Whatever is the reason, there are just too many of them for me to get actively involved in. There are 35+ of them out there! I have to really pick and choose the few that I can actively participate.
Here’s a list of the sites I’ve been using, starting from the most used to the least:
- tumblr – A relatively new concept for me: tumble logging (aka micro-blogging). I have done something similar on my main blog, but tumblr takes it to a much higher level. It’s so easy to post quick notes, links, photos, videos, etc. The important feature of tumblr is what’s happening on the Dashboard level where I can “follow” other tumblrs. I can see what they’ve been posting immediately. I can then re-blog their post. If I want to, I can put my own commentary. Another neat feature with the tumblr Google Map where I can check out others by geographical region. I’ve been using tumblr almost every day since the beginning of the year. It’s so much fun!
- EntreCard – it’s becoming an addiction. I can’t help but check my Card Drop inbox twice a day, and visit those who visit me. The community is supportive. I’m also starting to like their community forum, a place to share light-hearted and tongue-and-cheek discussions.
- StumbleUpon – this is also an addiction: internet channel surfing. Like television channel surfing, I don’t always get what I want to see, but most of the time the results are quite good. I find most of my EntreCard’s community there too. A neat feature is the ability to see what they’re “stumbling” so I can see what they are browsing. I also like this service because they bring lots of traffic to my stumbled pages.
- Twitter – there is one thing missing about Yahoo IM, it’s the ability to record whatever I’ve typed and wrap a website around it. That’s where Twitter comes in. Now everyone can see what I’ve discussed with others. It’s sort of a repository of my thoughts of the day. Here’s Twitter explained in plain English. The archive goes pretty far back. I can still see my first Tweet back in January 2008.
- Facebook – this was a surprise discovery. I read about it last year and thought “Who uses this thing?” Apparently: a lot of my friends in Toronto, and my nieces and nephews in Asia! As soon as I found one, I connected with the others in his/her group. For that I’m glad to use Facebook. Otherwise, the site is full of Super-Poke and Super-Wall notifications, which are totally annoying. Thankfully, they can be stopped by turning off email notification in the profile setting.
- LinkedIn – similar to Facebook, but it’s targeted towards business networking. I connected with my previous work colleagues in Toronto and SF Bay area. My profile is the most comprehensive here because others can recruit me from this site. In practice, I have not seen a single offer, but then again I haven’t been looking (happy in my current job). LinkedIn is also a source of knowledge, by asking a question and have other professionals in the same field answer it.
- Flickr – social networking for pictures. Now that was a great idea and Yahoo made the right acquisition. But, I don’t use it for that purpose though. I use it because the site has a good amount of Creative Commons, non-commercial, copyable images for my blog.
- Digg – I used to like this site a lot. But now, after many controversies with vote rigging and censorship, the site now just offers biased articles (mostly to the left) and a lot of Fanboi-ism. However, the technology section is still useful and pretty much neutral, so Digg still has its use in my weekly reading list.
- Multiply – I have an account here just to read my nieces’ blogs.
- MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog – I joined these two sites because everyone’s been tracking their recent visitors through their widgets. I just want to get my icon showing up on their sites. Behind-the-scene, there’s a slew of user interaction features such as inbox, shoutbox, groups, forums, etc. People use it to send a thank you note for visiting their sites. A nice set of social networking feature, even though I hardly use them. Note that I’m experimenting with BlogCatalog’s news feed widget on my sidebar to show my social networking activities.
- YouTube – I started to upload videos that I may use on my blog. My first YouTube video was for the Super Mario Galaxy post. I have a bunch more video from my Samsung u740 cell phone to upload, but the 3gp file format support is kind of buggy – I get no audio. If that works, it’ll make YouTube immensely more useful for me.
- Reddit – news aggregator site. The standards are much higher here. The site just looks ugly and takes quite a bit getting used to.
- Pownce – looks like a Twitter clone but with ability to share files, etc. I checked it out on Maki‘s recommendation. But I can’t see myself using this too much. I just joined a few days ago, so maybe it’s too early to tell. Warning: the site sends sponsors’
spamad messages from time to time. - Technocrati – WordPress software uses/pings them, but I don’t see much of the social networking in it.
- del.icio.us – Bookmarking site with minimal social networking interactivity.
I plan to continue using this subset of the social networking communities to promote my blog, and find new ones. I can’t see myself getting involved in more sites. But with new sites keep popping up these days, there might be another one (or two) that will draw me into it.
If you’re on any one of these sites, add me as a friend, follow me, or just drop me a message. It’ll be nice to hear from you.
Photo Credit: Social Networking in Plain English
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That’s too much confusion for me. Can’t I just come over for a drink? (I’d prefer after you get your new TV though)…
Periapex’s last blog post..Is EntreCard a Metaphor For Sex?
When I started writing the post, I also realized that I’m in too many sites. They’re not all on OpenID too, so I had to create separate accounts on most of them. One day, out of this list, one will emerge as the definitive social networking site and we’ll all be on it. I wonder what’s taking Google so long to acquire these guys…
Google is working on Orkut right now. Looks promising, but I’ll stick to blogging and that damned facebook for now.
Don’t worry, one day when I rule the world, I will eliminate all existing social networking sites and return us to the days of the dialup BBS. I will run it from my basement and you can be the co-Sysop.
Periapex’s last blog post..Is EntreCard a Metaphor For Sex?
Well hurry up and rule the world already, Dr. Evil D.M.D/D.D.S. I want to use my Commodore PET 4016 because it’s collecting thick dust right now.
I’m too busy dropping entrecards right now. Once the novelty wears off, I’ll be able to work on taking over the world. I have to find a minime first.
Do you remember those PunterBoard BBS’s from back then? They ran off software written by Steve Punter and were state of the art. Everyone wanted to run one but an extra phone line cost so much…
Periapex’s last blog post..Is EntreCard a Metaphor For Sex?
Entrecard is how I found your site. It is addictive but I have to say the benefit is finding interesting blogs that I never would have read!
P.S. Just a thought, but I would have broken this down into a series. You gave out a lot of resources and information. Not everyone has as much time as me to read this much.
beeker’s last blog post..America’s Financial Future
@Periapex: I don’t remember the specific name, but Punter Board sounds familiar. I managed to run a BBS in high school because the Data Management teacher let me as part of an experiment. That was trippy.
_
@beeker: I have thought about breaking this down to a two-parter. But I couldn’t decide what to divide, so I decided to combine them as one easy reference page.
But you know, I’ll bet by the end of this year, I’ll be posting an update on which new sites I’ve joined, and old sites I’ve abandoned. Social networking is such a hot new trend right now, there’s plenty of opportunity to talk about all aspects of it.
I totally agree with you on facebook’s annoying superpoke and superwall notifications. I still use Digg to submit posts from time to time but I think Mixx is a better alternative if you ask me. With all the new features being added to the site, I think Mixx will get it fair share of the Digg market. Rumors of Microsoft and Google bidding for Digg doesn’t help the site either. I have heard of tumblr before and haven’t checked it out yet. I’ll give it a try and maybe write something about it in my blog. Thanks for the tip. 🙂
Louie’s last blog post..Make Low Resolution Videos Look Better with Fix My Movie
Hi Louie. I’ve seen Mixx and it doesn’t look anything special. Maybe people like it because it’s not ruled by iron fisted admins, so smaller blogs get more exposure and traffic.
What I’ve tried recently is VocalNation.net. The way to vote is to slide the scales. I haven’t gotten anything out of it yet, but it’s different enough for me to look into it some more.
Tons of twitter clones out there. Digg IMO has gone way down hill the past couple years. Reddit is far superior and I think it actually looks a ton better. It doesn’t continuously load and it has a clean interface. It doesn’t have tons of images to make it look like something for teens, which probably forces teens away from the site which again, IMO is a good thing.
Gary R. Hess’s last blog post..The Power of Deception
Hi Gary. I am giving Reddit another try. The simple interface and the densely packed text are the reason why so many people don’t like it. But if I know what I’m looking for, then it becomes useful.
I’m hooked on too many things! I need more hours in the day and more energy too. I try to hit on at least one of these sites per day. I’ve learned about some new ones from you though. I’m not sure if I should be mad at you or happy that you shared the info 😉
Connie’s last blog post..Dinner Out
Hi Connie. Well, hopefully I can help you stay away from some of them. 🙂 They’re not all good. You’re right, they do take a lot of my time to read and participate in.
Great list and I’ve spend some time with a fair share of those. If I hang out too long I’ll forget to post on my blog 😛 Which of those listed is your favorite/most useful?
Shay’s last blog post..Natural Punch Drunker gives their ?best?
Hi Shay. The Top 5 are my favorites and use the most. They are a good place to find inspiration for my posts, so I try to hang out there as much as I can. Interacting with as many people as possible gives me a lot of ideas. Especially an opinionated person like me. 🙂
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