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Micro-blogging Olympics: Day One

Written by Jason Boom on August 9, 2008 – 6:29 pm

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.

If we’re active on them, we gain followers who will periodically read our blog.
We gain a network of like-minded people who help us better our blog, essentially propelling our blog towards larger readerships.
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?

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11 Comments to “Micro-blogging Olympics: Day One”

Mr. Javo (Who am I?) Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 7:17 pm

Hello Jason, nice idea this one of the Olympics, I want to read more about this.

I use pownce, but although it’s not my favorite network, it’s really cool. This is my profile.

See you online!

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3.8 (1 person)

Jason Boom (Who am I?) Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Hey Javo. I’ve added you on Pownce.

Everyone else can leave your info here too. Let’s get connected!

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3.2

Raivyn ~ Idiot's Guide to Blogging (Who am I?) Says:
August 10th, 2008 at 8:45 am

Hey Jason, interesting idea!
I’m a Twitter user myself, and over the past few months of tweeting about my daily life, random rants, and plugging my articles, I’ve gotten a fairly good amount of traffic to my blogs. It’s not much compared to other sources, like the search engines, but it definitely seems to help. I’ve met (and continue to meet) all sorts of cool new people, and gained a few new blog readers in the process. Well worth it, I think.. though I’d like to see the outcome of your project here.

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3.6 (1 person)

Stephan Miller (Who am I?) Says:
August 10th, 2008 at 1:19 pm

I stick mainly to Twitter. I have tried Plurk but really don’t hang. I singed up for Pownce, but haven’t done much there either. But twitter works for me. I have built a few followers, saved a few ideas from my phone(by using Swurl to archive everything), and got subscribers I can measure to my blog.

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3.5 (1 person)

Jason Boom (Who am I?) Says:
August 10th, 2008 at 2:24 pm

Thanks Raivyn! I do think it will make a difference. I’m already seeing a little trickle in from both the sites. I still haven’t updated Pownce though, as it seems to be quiet for most I know.

I’ll have to check out Swurl. Sounds interesting. Plurk seems to be more about having conversations than anything. It’s fun. Probably too distracting. Still testing the water there though.

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Ismail (Who am I?) Says:
August 11th, 2008 at 12:11 am

Basically, the idea of getting more traffic to your blog is like a job of a salesman/marketer. Don’t you think so?

Ismails last blog post..Blogging Tip : Adding Comment Numbers

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3.5 (1 person)

Clint Pee (Who am I?) Says:
August 11th, 2008 at 2:24 am

Jason,
How much traffic do you recive im interested in a ad on your site pointing to http://www.crunchnow.com

Clint Pees last blog post..No-Minimum.com Best Scam Email | No-Minimum.com Is a Scam With Spam

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3.5 (1 person)

syuxx (Who am I?) Says:
August 11th, 2008 at 3:02 am

twitter does give you a traffic.
there’s even a plugin which will automatically post up your latest post to your twitts.
kinda cool too. i do gain some traffic from twitter.
just make sure be creative in tricking them to click the link. haha

syuxxs last blog post..Friendster Auto-Friend Adder & Comment Software

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3.5 (1 person)

Jason Boom (Who am I?) Says:
August 11th, 2008 at 10:20 am

@Ismail - I think you’re exactly right. We always have to sell ourselves. It’s just good showmanship.

@Clint Pee: I’ll send you an email.

@syuxx Twitter plugin equals me happy! I’m working on a post describing a lot of the twitter apps out there. I’ll add that one to the list.

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3.2

Renee (Who am I?) Says:
August 11th, 2008 at 10:21 am

Well I am going to continue to give it a try…I put too much work into writing posts to just let the blog languish. Thanks for the mention BTW

Renees last blog post..Amanda Beard: PETA and Olympic Pussy Pimping

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Jason Boom (Who am I?) Says:
August 11th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Hi Renee. I understand the sentiment. We need to get the word out. I’m just trying to find what works best for my site and hopefully for yours too.

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