Social Media

It has many names. The Digg effect, The Slashdot effect, Farked, Goon Rush, Wanged and so on. This is an alternate look at the behaviors of web users and the problems it can cause that go beyond your server getting pounded like a womp rat on Tatooine. Everyone has seen it, and many of us have fallen prey to it. Let me ask you a couple questions; Is Michael Arrington a smart guy who knows about the world of Web 2.0 and internet startups? Of course. Does Michael Arrington ever get anything wrong? Of course. Does Michael Arrington have too much influence over a company’s future? He sure as hell does. To illustrate this point, I’ll give you examples of what happens in the offline and online worlds in which we live.

First let’s take this into an offline example and talk restaurant reviews. The new seemingly high profile restaurant opens up and receives a poor review from the New York Times. They’re certainly going to lose some business and there will be mentions of the New York Times review in other publications, but other major publications will also review the place and give their well respected opinions as well. There will be some reviewers that will be biased based on the NY Times review, but that’s to be expected and is obviously a normal occurrence. However, this method is more controlled and generally results in a more fair distribution of opinions and will more accurately reflect the quality of the restaurant.

Now let’s jump back into the online world. Hypothetical Interweb 2.0 super widget search site launches. They work long and hard and spend lots of investment capital and finally the TechCrunch crew picks up on the scent. Of course they get the beta invite and go in a do some testing. So a few days later Michael comes out with a scathing post letting all 600,000 of his readers know that this site sucks donkey balls and will be a miserable failure. Here is where we break away from the offline model.

Out of those 600,000 readers many of them are bloggers and many don’t have much of a mind of their own (don’t start ranting, there are many good ones, but there are far more bad ones). Secondly, most haven’t even tried the new service since they’re not cool enough to get an invite. So in order to maintain their “consistent blogging” status they post a regurgitation of the TechCrunch post. This repeats itself many many many times and the stories get Dugg, Sphinned, Farked, MadHatted, and so forth. The reach of the original post combined with the additional reach of the thousands of regurgitated posts and social media mentions equals a PR nightmare for the hypothetical company. And keep in mind there has only been one “actual” review of it at this point. Forget the Digg effect. This is the “Michael Arrington Ten Minute Soul Crushing Effect”.

The only hope at this point is for a large majority of other “A-List” bloggers to come out with opposite and extremely positive reviews. Hopefully the hypothetical startup really does have a kick ass service and it just wasn’t much of a turn on for the TechCrunch group.

In rare cases they can make a recovery. MyBlogLog for example came back strong after an initial mob reaction of “this thing sucks” (I don’t really know what TechCrunch said about them). I jumped on the ban MyBlogLog bandwagon quickly partially because the other cool people were doing it (I was a n00b blogger back then, give me a break). I’ve since changed my mind and have returned to using some of their services after some upgrades. It’s still a little spammy and buggy, but I like the avatars and such. It brings a bit more personality to my site. BlogRush on the other hand? Well, the jury is still out on that one.

There are many many more variables to this equation so don’t start ranting about all of them. The point I’m trying to make to all you other wonderful bloggers: Form your own opinion that is as unbiased as possible before you go joining a mob of bloggers. You can certainly take the words of Michael Arrington and others into consideration, but that doesn’t mean you always have to agree. Think for yourselves and be free!

(Disclaimer: I’m using TechCrunch and Michael Arrington as an example in this post. There are others that have major influence and even more that have too much undue influence. I have a lot of respect for both Michael and the people at TechCrunch. Michael, please don’t crush me under the weight of your all powerful startup killing boot heel should I ever get involved in one!)

          **** XTasy ****             **** The Best Girl ****         **** Angel8Teen ****

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Richardson here. There are a number of posts and articles dealing with linkbait, but because I’m still feeling a little bit of the SMX hangover, I figured this preview would be a good time to revisit some ideas and strategies that will cause people to do nothing but throw links your way… well, if not that, at least check out your work and perhaps add you to their feed reader.

Top “10″ Lists

It’s hard to stress just how popular these are with bloggers and the Digg crowd alike. It seems you could do a Top 10 list of Top 10 Lists and it would be well received, as long as it has a strong headline. Currently, there is only one Top 10 List story on Digg’s popular page — Top 10 Cities for Job Seekers — something that isn’t necessarily par for the course. Quantifying why web users like Top 10 lists is pretty easy: people like to see what others think, if for nothing, than for something to disagree with. Normally, these types of lists are met with plenty of scoffing and “worst list ever” comments, especially on sites like Fark.com.

Currently, there is a Top 7 List on Fark discussing why zombie movies — a favorite of the Fark crowd — suck. As you can imagine, the responses go after the author, attacking his points (or lack thereof). But whether or not people agree with your list is not the point. The point is getting the traffic to your post. If they don’t agree, it’s up to you to defend your work, but there should be some satisfaction knowing your blog posts can elicit these kinds of reactions… unless it’s the quality of your work — grammar, misspellings, weak arguments — causing the negative reactions (not the case at with the zombie article… they just don’t agree with the author).

If you are going to post a Top Whatever List for your target audience, be compelling. Be confrontational. Just make sure you can generate a definitive reaction from your readers, whether it’s a disagreement or approval. However, if you do take a opposing view, be prepared to back it up because if you make a point and don’t defend it, you’ve essentially made a useless post and there are far too many of those in the blogosphere as it is.

Linkbait of any kind is not a “set it and forget it” exercise.

Pictures are probably the “Best” Linkbait

A fact supported by Aaron’s last post about Google. Quick, what did you notice first? The title or the hot chick holding the sign? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Hot chicks are considered almost instant linkbait and considering just how much male web users like these pictures, I’m surprised we don’t see them with every post being made. These types of pics are so effective, members of the sports blogosphere have started using them in recurring posts just to keep your attention a little bit longer.

For example, the awesome college football blog, Every Day Should Be Saturday, has a feature called the Friday Cheesecake. This post consists of whatever hot chick Orson and the gang are feeling at the time.

Not to be outdone, the great Kissing Suzy Kolber has a category called The Friday Cheerleader Post, which is exactly what it sounds like.

On With Leather, they have Saint Andrews Net, a daily link-dump post that features an attractive lady to assist with any attention-span trou…

Sorry about that, I got distracted by Sara Stokes.

However, not all picture/linkbait posts have to have a hot chick to be popular, although that never hurts. There have been a lot of image-only posts that have blown up on Digg that aren’t hot chick-related. This particular picture of Pikachu (what the hell is going on here?) got almost 7000 diggs and it was featured on Fark… all because it looks like a child is climbing into a giant Pokemon vagina… man, you gotta love the Interwebs.

Another one, as pointed out by Rebecca Kelley at SMX, simply stated Carmen Sandiego has been found. This post also received over 6000 diggs. If you don’t know who Carmen Sandiego is, read her Wiki page.

As you can see, images are very powerful linkbait, be it through the use of hotties or weird, Pokemon-based sex organ oddities. There are some other pointers to consider when making a linkbait post as well:

First, current event posts are always good linkbait fodder. This applies to most blogs, regardless of topic. If a current event item even remotely applies to your target audience, make a post that comes down on one side or the other. Spirited discussions are a good way to get returning traffic. Second, don’t be afraid to turn your ads off. Most socially adept net users don’t like ads and will navigate away from a page featuring an ad smorgasbord. Remember, you are making these posts for traffic, not ad clicks.

Finally, be sure you submit your stuff to the normal social media outlets at the right time. Weekends, evenings and holidays are not considered good times because many people actually try to turn off their Internet personas and actually venture out into the wide-open spaces. It sucks making a worthy post, only to see it get lost in the shuffle because you made it on a Friday afternoon (much like this very post I’m doing right now)… Although, I have noticed sports blogs are good about making weekend and holiday posts, especially when big games are on.

Just don’t expect the Diggs of the world to notice. Your work, however, may make Fark and they stay pretty active on the weekends. Anyway, before I go, I’ll leave you with some linkbait of my own:

Because, you know, you can never have enough hot chicks making out… at least for my money. Take care and enjoy the week.

Chris Richardson

Edit 10/29/07 for clarity

I thought about this post a little more this weekend and it occurred to me that what I called linkbait in reference to the sports blogs mentioned above should be called “trafficbait,” because I doubt those posts get a great deal of backlinks… no, it’s more accurate to say those pics are a good way to get your traffic to stick and to possibly attract more if they are discovering these images on feed reader.

I hope that clears things up a little.

/edit

John Edwards posted his presidential campaign announcement on YouTube. Are the politicians finally seeing the potential of the interweb? The next thing you know, they’ll be buying AdWords or something. Let’s give some applause to Edwards and his advisors on being first to market a presidential run via social media.

It appears law enforcement is using YouTube to hunt down criminals now. Via this story a man in Canada stabbed two men in the parking lot after a concert. Law enforcement officials, knowing that a connection existed between young people and YouTube, posted the surveillance video from the venue. 30,000 views later, the guy turns himself in after he sees it. Brought down by YouTube….that will be fun to explain in prison.