I’m running the Micro-blogging Olympics, which is really just an experiment with three separate micro-blogging services. The Twitter service has the largest user base out of all three. I’ve been active in the Twitter community longer. You can update Twitter from your mobile phone, from their website, and from third party software applications. I’ve compiled a few applications that can help you stay connected to your followers and those you’re following.

Services

1. TwitterFeed - Ever wonder how bloggers always link to their site through Twitter? It’s probably an automated service like TwitterFeed pushing their content to your doorstep.
   
2. Ping.fm - Update Twitter along with many, many other social networking sites all from the same website. It includes Pownce and Plurk, so I’m signing up now. Update: beta code needed…argh.

Desktop Twitter Applications

1. Yakkle - Kind of like a cackle, but a yakkle. You getit, right? Download, integrate with Twitter and other IMs, roar on the scene.
2. Twhirl - Recently purchased by Seesmic, an Adobe Air app that allows you to update Twitter, Pownce, and Jaiku. Hooray for multi-use software!
3. Twitterific - Own a mac? Get this lightweight desktop app for your Twittering needs.
4. gTwitter - Running Linux? Try this Twitter client.

Plugins for Firefox

1. TwitterFox - A plugin for Firefox which makes interacting on Twitter so much easier, if you’re on your browser all day long. You can customize how often it checks for updates, makes replying much easier, and doesn’t use up any screen space when not in use.
2. TwitterBar- No they don’t stock martinis in this TwitterBar, but you can add it to FF 2 or 3 for easy twitting action.

The NESW Sports site claims to be the best sports news anywhere. A very, very bold tagline. Their browser title says The Best Sports Videos, which is maybe a little more apt. I’m no ESPN jockey, but they do some fairly serious reporting. My first bit of advice for the owner would be to cut the hyperbole and get down to the nitty-gritty — what does the blog provide? (Sports Videos from Every Direction — just an idea.)

The NESW Sports site does provide sports videos with a bit of historic background. The current post (as of writing this) shows the Carl Lewis National Anthem from 1993. The bit of text leading into the video provides a clear idea of what you’re about to see. Each post has a relaxed and informative feel to it, which will help gain readers and with search engines ranking.

There’s no archive in the sidebar, but it appears, according to Alexa, the site’s been around since March of this year. Since that time the site has been posting sports videos, or videos related to the sports world on at least a daily basis, if not two or three times a day. This is no small achievement, and fans of the blog should high five the blogger. Keep it up.

Template and Layout Problems

I would say there are some problems with the appearance of the blog, mainly due to the header. The image in the header doesn’t look right. It should cover the whole of the page or at least be balanced with an RSS subscription callout or something to the right, and the main banner should not look like a scanned in photo. The Live banner below the header image appears to be the secondary title of the site. Not a good thing by any measure. There’s also some prime real estate on the right side of the blog being used by…white space.

You’ll also notice the post title scrunched up to the Join Now banner. It’s hardly noticeable with no margin. Pull the ad, or give it a margin, then people will see the post title much more clearly. The navigation does quite well on the right. There’s quick access to subscribe to the feed, recent posts, and categories. The only thing missing is the archive.

The RSS feed is supported by Feedburner and includes the option to sign up via email. It shows the videos perfectly inside the feed, so A+ in that respect.

Does All This Negative Talk Mean the Site Sucks?

Not at all. The site has really good content. If the header were to be cleaned up, some key advertising moved around, and a few navigation elements added, then the blog would be really, very nice. Could it use some professional design touches? Absolutely.

I would start with the header and work my way down. The majority of the design flaws on the site could be fixed in a matter of an hour or two. The more laborious things would be sorting out the main header with advertisements.

All in all I would say the site’s a good one, but could use some tweaking. The right changes and with the current content, the site will definitely pick up readers and continue to move forward.

Micro-blogging has its perks. You can meet cool people and chat all day long. The downside — you rarely get much done except for talking and reading different blogs. Well at least that’s how Sunday went. I interacted on both Twitter and Plurk most of the day, adding in a failed EC forum postings. All in all it was a good day. Then on Monday, I went to the office and got overwhelmed with Twitter. The deluge of messages really came when Gmail went kerplunk.

Back on Plurk, things were a little smoother. Plurk does have the Karma feature afterall.

Recently, everyone reached Plurk Nirvana. I had it with less than 20 Karma. It appears you should only receive it with over 80. No big deal. It’s not like it adds a whole lot to the experience. It’s just a number, right?

It has been fixed though, so no more free Nirvana spirituals.

The Karma Number

It is just a number. But the number ties into your profile and your specific activity so it can be a good indicator of your popularity to someone you don’t know. It’s tough to add random people, because you don’t really want to add just anybody. What if they have a terrible attitude? You need some degree of separation from them. Choose a friend whose judgment you trust and check out their friends.

When you’re new to a service like Plurk, it’s good to judge by numbers. On Twitter you would look at the followers compared to the number of those they’re following. On Plurk, you might also look at this, but you would check out the Karma points too. Those with Karma points above sixty definitely participate. It’s good to be in a community of those who participate because it reinforces our desire to be there. Without those individuals responding to our plurks, we’re simply talking down a long empty hallway.

Mama Always Said Be Picky When You’re Choosing Friends

I joined Plurk from an invite. I then decided to visit that friend’s friends. Ultimately I searched for a few people I knew would be using the site, added them, and then sat back to plurk. Others have added me since. As I’ve grown to use the service more frequently, I’ve found I make genuine connections with people. I could have gone through and added person after person, but people might have denied me and that would have hurt my Karma. It makes sense to add those you know then branch out slowly from there.

I looked through the interesting plurkers earlier and found one of the top plurkers to be TechCrunch’s Arrington. He had over 92 Karma. If I had his cred, I could just let the gravity of my presence feed my karma. Unfortunately I have to work hard at it, like most everyone else.

What’s the Point of All This Again?

The point is to bring in traffic and analyse how well each service helps with that. I suppose there’s lots of intangibles too. Do you have a personality people are drawn towards? Can you stay active enough to make an impression? So far with micro-blogging the newbie seems to go after well known bloggers or industry professionals first, then heads to the lesser known folks like myself. I’m trying to just get out there, get noticed, and help you all out in the process.

1. Follow me on Twitter
2. Join me on Plurk
3. Pownce on me

The Olympics have commenced. I’ve dug into my micro-blogging sites of choice and begun the games. Here’s one response to my previous post.

“I have just started with twitter but honestly I don’t believe that it will add that much readership but one has to keep trying to promote a blog if your going to go through the effort of writing it in the first place.” — Renee from Womanist Musings

I can understand the sentiment. I felt the same way myself. I began using Twitter about two months after my blog began. I mostly added friends and read tweets. The experience didn’t do a whole lot for my blog. It helped me get to know other bloggers on a more personal level, but overall had no effect on my traffic. Now the Micro-blogging Olympics are testing a few of my theories about these types of services.

1. If we’re active on them, we gain followers who will periodically read our blog.
2. We gain a network of like-minded people who help us better our blog, essentially propelling our blog towards larger readerships.
3. We keep the momentum going, as constant contact with other like-minded bloggers will keep the passion alive.

I’m Only Selling Myself

I did some basic maintenance on all three of my profiles. I added links back to my blog, uploaded photos, and on Twitter, followed those who had added me since my last pass through (about 40 more individuals). I then began digging into Plurk and Twitter. My account on Twitter has a much better chance of sending me traffic. I’ve had it for a lot longer and have close to 150 people following me. The Plurk experience was a little more fun though.

Plurk has the casualness I crave. The friends I’ve added seem to talk quite a bit more than Twitter ones. Unless, you’re following Scobleizer, Guy Kawasaki, or other power users for that matter. A lot of Twitter power users seem to use the service to convey links/information to their followers. They don’t use it necessarily for their own sites, but they do push a lot of content. I’m fairly certain this is just an off-shoot of them being highly active on social networks and on the internet in general. They probably receive crazy amounts of email everyday, giving them tips on a site here or there.

Plurk has feature after feature. When you first create an account there, you might notice the Karma score. Everyone has a Karma score. It’s the first bit of obsession. How can I up my Karma score? I uploaded a photo, which gave me a whopping 7.5 karma. BAM! How’s that for instant gratification?

You can gain karma points by being active, not getting having friend requests rejected, and having people respond to your plurks. This is the biggest thing about Plurk, so far — having people respond to your message. It creates a fun and interesting way to have a conversation. Instead of all the @s to individuals, you can have a group of people commenting and joining in on the fun. I imagine as I gain friends that will definitely go up.

Still on the Starting Blocks

Pownce has the feel of an IM on the web. I haven’t dug into the service much yet, but at first blush it seems difficult to find people. Who has Pownce? Do you use it? I did update my profile on there a bit today, but haven’t looked around much. I need to put some time into it if I really expect to give it a chance. What do yow think? Wowld yow wse pownce over the other services?

1. Follow me on Twitter
2. Join me Plurk
3. Pownce on me

In honor of the Summer Olympics starting in Beijing today, I’ve decided to start my own Olympics. I thought in what areas can I improve the reach of my blog, both with brand and readers. How can I introduce myself to new readers without paying for ad space? I’ve been somewhat absent when it comes to activity on micro-blogging platforms like Twitter or Plurk. It’s hard to use more than one micro-blogging platform at the same time, unless you’re a full time blogger, which maybe will come someday, but hasn’t happened yet.

For the micro-blogging Olympics I’m going to spend a week on three different platforms, talking, adding friends, socializing, and plugging my blog. Then, to determine the winner, I’ll review my traffic details. Of course, this isn’t an exact science. I can only measure my effort with each of the platforms. Let’s go over the three different platforms I’ll be using for the games.

1. Twitter - my first foray into micro-blogging began on Twitter. I’m partial to the service due to its simplicity, but it also has cons like number of times it’s been down when I’ve wanted to post. Overall this micro-blogging platform should be the front-runner to win the micro-blogging Olympics.

2. Plurk - This newcomer to my online routine has a lot of great potential. It has a sleek interface, with a scrolling timeline, the ability to create conversations without creating a cluttered screen, and a more reliable service than Twitter.

3. Pownce - Pownce was created by the Digg founder, if I’m not mistaken. I remember joining when it first started and thinking it had a long way to go before I would be active there. I think its been long enough. I’m ready to get reacquainted with the service and see how it can benefit me and my blogging efforts.

So there you have it. The three contenders for micro-blogging gold. The games will be relatively easy and laid back, but I encourage you to do something similar. Do you have a few services you’ve been trying to figure out would work best for you? Why not pit them against one another and find out?

I’ll be posting updates on the micro-blogging Olympics as I begin to experiment. I’m going to start off with Twitter and move onto Plurk, then Pownce. I’m looking for the service that suits my personality and needs the best. Where can engage a community and build my brand as well? I’m looking forward to the challenge.

So, with that said, I guess all that’s left is to say, let the games begin!