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Social News Watch
My StumbleUpon PageDigg the Candidates: Not much to analyze here
When Digg released their Digg the Candidates section back in September, we made lots of predictions. Luckily for Digg and for America, most were wrong.
Still, it has been a huge disappointment so far. Digg put together an excellent section with appropriate features and nice opportunities for the candidates to interact with their supporters, as well as those who support other candidates. It should have been a great thing, with many of our predictions coming true. They didn’t.
Prediction 1: Ron Paul will dominate this through Diggs, submissions, and fans.
Obviously, we were right about the fans, but that wasn’t exactly a stretch of a prediction. He currently has over 15k, more than Obama, Clinton, and every Republican candidate combined. In retrospect, we should have known that it wasn’t possible for him to submit a ton. There are too many supporters who scramble to submit the stories about him for him. I’m shocked his team has been able to submit 9. Read more
Please buy me a cup of coffee.Pwned: The StumbleUpon Digg Experiment Initial Results
First, a disclaimer about this experiment and the analysis.
In retrospect, this experiment was flawed. The subject matter and style of delivery was very clearly geared in favor of one of the combatants. When it was initially conceived, it was decided that the experiment would best be delivered through a post that announced itself. By checking traffic statistics on a post titled: “The StumbleUpon Digg Experiment”, there would be equal billing, equal exposure, and most importantly, equal chances through the delivery methods to give both sides a chance.
We were wrong. Read more
Please buy me a cup of coffee.The StumbleUpon Digg Experiment
(The initial results are in. Read them at StumbleUpon vs Digg).
Bloggers and webmasters out there who watch their traffic as closely as we do have been amazed by the “Stumble Effect”. Many know about the sudden burst of traffic that comes from the “Digg Effect” when a submission reaches the front page of Digg (or even better, if it reaches the “Top in All…” section on the frontpage). This is normally a day of joy (or terror if your server bombs) followed by limited tricklings of traffic.
Stumble has a different, more steady infusion of traffic that it can send to a website that gets stumbled, especially if it is hit by multiple top users. The effect is sustained, but more importantly, can be rejuvinated by a thumbs up and/or review by the right person/people.
Digg, on the other hand, has the advantage of having “controlled” traffic. Anyone watching their posts as they’re submitted and rising on Digg can pinpoint if and approximately when their page will go popular. You know when the traffic is coming and you know when it will stop. Read more
Please buy me a cup of coffee.SEO Spammers: Leave Social Media Sites Alone!
You’ve seen them before. They create accounts that have either a gibberish name or “SEOSuperstud”. No avatar, or one that is their company logo. They might have lots of people befriended. They may have none.
They always submit. They never vote/Digg/upmod anyone else’s submissions. Their submissions get 1 or fewer votes (unless they are a MASS - a Multi-Account-SEO-Spammer, in which case they will have more than one, but it will always be the same amount and always voted by the same “people”).
They submit stories or websites that nobody from social media visits or votes for, and they don’t care. They are the social media SEO Spammers. If nobody clicks on their link, no worries. The only visit they care about is from Googlebots, and sadly (in some cases) Google will visit and take note of the website.
We wanted to make a video spoof on the “Leave Britney Alone” theme, but neither Chris Crocker nor Seth Green were available. Instead, we’ll just put together a nice little rant about why Reddit, Propeller, Newsvine, Mixx, StumbleUpon, Sphinn, Digg, and the others are not communities tolerant of spammers. More importantly, we’ll offer ways to combat the issue. Read on. Read more
Please buy me a cup of coffee.Compete overtakes Alexa (according to compete.com)
Alexa.com was once considered one of the best indications of the health and traffic on a website. When Compete.com entered the fray in 2000, they wanted to “…help create a more trusted, transparent, and valuable Internet.” They wanted to compete with what alexa had to offer and become the authority on website comparisons.
If you go by their numbers, they are now that authority.
Other than a brief moment in September, Alexa has always maintained a higher traffic ranking. This is according to the numbers supplied by compete.com. Alexa does not rank their own site. That’s a whole other story. Here are the numbers: Read more
Please buy me a cup of coffee.Front Page Addiction: Destroying Families, Ruining Lives
A little-known but dangerous epidemic is spreading across members of social media websites like Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Newsvine, and Mixx. Like a secret scourge, SM-FPA (social media front page addiction) isn’t making national headines yet, but the effects have been felt in thousands of households across the world.
“Ever since my wife’s submission hit the front page of Reddit last month, we only see her on the way to the bathroom,” said Jake Dixon. His wife Amber, better known as “diggwho”, made the front page of Reddit with a story titled Bush makes more people mad by saying something stupid. Since then, Amber has been submitting 15-25 stories per day and has a submission hit the front page 3-5 times per week. She declined to be interviewed.
Research scientists at the Social Media Institute of Technology (SMIT) in Kolkata, India, say that Mr. Dixon and his family are not alone. They have documented 342 confirmed cases of SM-FPA in 2007 and estimate the actual number in the thousands. Read more
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