Here is an email that I (and a lot of other people) received from BlogRush John Reese:

After careful consideration, we have decided to shutdown the BlogRush service.  If you have the widget code on your blog you will need to remove it.

When BlogRush launched in late-2007 it spread like wildfire all over the Web.  Thousands of bloggers were talking about it and the service exploded to become one of the fastest growing free services in the history of the Web.  During the first year of the service it successfully served 3.4 Billion blog post headlines and the BlogRush widget could be found on blogs all over the world; even up until the moment we closed down the service.

BlogRush didn’t grow without its fair share of problems — from security issues to abusive users trying to ‘game’ the system to much lower click-rates than expected.  We also had some problems with trying to fairly control the quality of the network, and in the process made many mistakes in deciding what blogs should stay or go.  All of these issues, ultimately, limited the service’s full potential.

Our team worked very hard to try and build a service that would truly help bloggers of all sizes get free traffic to their blogs.  This was our primary focus.  Not once did we ever try to monetize the service with ads or anything else.  BlogRush never made a single penny in revenue.  We wanted to be able to help our users FIRST and then worry about monetizing the service later.  Unfortunately, the service didn’t work out like we had hoped.  (It happens.)

I want to say “Thank You” to all of the great bloggers that at least gave BlogRush a test to see if it would work for them.  We sincerely appreciate you giving the service a try.

We have received several offers & inquiries about acquiring BlogRush, but we are choosing not to go that route.  While many might think this is crazy, we truly feel it’s the ‘right’ thing to do for our users.  Believe it or not, it’s not always about the money.  In fact, BlogRush will have lost a small fortune when it’s all said and done, and it was by choice.  There were many things we could have done to monetize the service but we wanted to make sure it was going to benefit our users first.

Last but not least I want to say that I hope the failure of this service doesn’t in any way discourage other entrepreneurs from coming up with crazy ideas at 4AM (like I did with this one) and from “going for it” to just try and see if something will work.  Without trying there can be no success.  And as we all know, ideas are worthless without action.  The Web wouldn’t be what it is today without entrepreneurs trying all sorts of crazy ideas.

On behalf of the entire BlogRush team, we wish the best of luck to everyone with their own blogs, ideas, and crazy ventures.

Sincerely,

John Reese
http://twitter.com/johnreese

RIP

Many predicted that the site would have problems, specifically since it seemed a lot like a traffic exchange and was being gamed by thousands of its users.  Still, it’s a shame because it did add an element to many websites that was slightly different than similar offerings.

Coincidentally, I actually removed it from this blog a couple of weeks ago, not because I looked into my reliable crystal ball and saw the problems, but because my new theme didn’t work right with it.  As a proponent of many Internet startups, the passing of BlogRush is painful.  We want to see most startups succeed.  There are people involved behind the scenes who have put effort into these sites and services, so any time one falls, it does not sit well.

BlogRush, you will be missed.

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Read more about Web 2.0 Startups at Social News Watch.

Somehow, the Cuil algorithm missed it for a couple of days.  No worries.  Problem solved.  On this, the third day since it’s launch, Cuil has listed itself when someone does a search for “Cuil”.

As reported in TechCrunch and further explored in Soshable, this wasn’t the case for a little while.  In the hustle and bustle of promoting the launch of the site, this one minor detail slipped through the cracks, adding to the flurry of poor reviews that followed hours after its Monday launch.

Here is a screenshot of the search before the algorithm either corrected itself or it was manually updated following the discover of the omission:

As the site matures, there is still a chance that it can recover from its launch errors and regain some momentum.  Still, the damage is done.  It was publicized enough to where if it had been more accurate when it was launched, it could have made a very strong splash in the search engine market.  As it is, the site has arguably garnered a strong batch of initial users.

If it can improve, it has the funding to succeed.  The question is, will it?

While it hasn’t taken off yet as hoped with only 4 stories posted there currently, a variation of the idea was created at PopFAIL.  This one has much more activity currently (I am one of the contributors) and each submission is accompanied by an analysis of why it didn’t make it and why it should have made it to the front page of Digg.

Both LostShovels and PopFAIL exemplify what should be happening with social media.  While voting is currently king of what does and does not hit the front page of Digg and other social media sites, it brings to light a variation of a solution.  Keeping a site “purely” user driven is nice in concept, but as sites gain power and increase in users, the inevitable flood of poor content starts to creep onto the front page.  Trends take over.  Currently, politics is so heavily weighted on Digg that the former Tech News powerhouse often looks more like a dumping ground of political commentary.

New social media sites are popping up every day.  Some have promise.  Mixx is one in particular that demonstrates a stronger desire to and more malleable platform through which to make a “smarter” promotion system.  Propeller has been promising major changes for a while.  Reddit is Reddit, but even its homepage is starting to seem more quality-based of late.

Until somebody figures out a way to put the best of the best at the top and the rest at the bottom, PopFAIL and Lost Shovels are potentially viable options to see what “coulda, shoulda, woulda” been a popular submission on Digg.

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Read more social media analysis on the homepage or visit some of the sites we recommend.

The Digg Town Hall Meetings so far have been like bad sex in a bad relationship. There’s too much time in between causing a buildup that has to be released. When the climax finally comes, it’s too short and completely disappointing.

Mashable.com, who hosted a live blog with the help of The Drill Down crew, put it very eloquently when they summarized the event:

If you were to sum up what we learned from Digg Townhall #02, I would have to say it was… er… well… Jay Adelson really, REALLY loves Vernors Ginger Soda.

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Read the whole story on Soshable.

With companies that aren’t traditionally forward thinking in their marketing techniques, such as Ford Motor Company and Starbucks, making a push to enter social media marketing, it is clear that both big and small business are starting to take notice. Even local businesses are approaching anyone knowledgeable they can find on the subject to help them.

Below are some of the social media initiatives and trends from 2007 that tell of things to come in 2008. First, there are ways to create a web presence that goes beyond building a website or a blog. Then there are ways to drive traffic through social media to these websites.

First, Build Something for People to See…

Social Media Press Release

Ford’s Web 2.0 advertising for their 2008 Ford Focus made some waves in 2007. Not only did they create and market a completely different type of hype-up page that could appeal to and be spread virally by social media members and social networkers, they also branched out with the subdomain media.ford.com.

People can join the network and interact with each other, learn more about Ford products, and share what they find through an easy interface. MyMedia.Ford is the network, and while far from perfect, it is definitely ahead of the curve compared to other automotive manufacturers.

<Expect Ford to expand and other manufacturers to imitate and innovate in 2008. Combining different principals of Web 2.0 will prove to be brilliant. The advantage — appeal to a broader range of people, whether they are the Facebook/MySpace social networking types or the Digg/Reddit social media types. Links throughout to tag on del.icio.us, so no, the social bookmarkers weren’t left out. It’s a social smorgasbord.

Facebooking and MySpacing

It isn’t just for teens and techies. Social networks are getting groups from all around the internet. Facebook has popular groups for Victoria Secrets and Reebok, while MySpace boasts Bombay Clothing and Urban Outfitters.

Both Facebook and MySpace need to (and are, I’m sure) make changes to appeal more to business, not just through advertising, but also through networking. Even though neither format is strong enough yet for significant benefit for business, it isn’t stopping the businesses from flooding in to figure out some way to get their words out.

The emergence of niche social networks should end up being the fix that local and even national businesses are looking for to engage their direct audience. They are popping up left and right, are easy to market online and off, and as more new users swarm to Facebook and MySpace, more older users are leaving, looking for something more personal and less obscene.

Viral Social Marketing

Starbucks has never really gotten into advertising their products heavily until 2007. They didn’t need to. When the word Starbucks became synonymous with quality coffee in the 90′s, the buzz fueled unprecedented growth. Now, with more competition and rising costs, the old business model still works, but why not pump it up with some viral marketing.

Their Cheer Chain was extremely innovative and successful, with over 30,000 chains created already. Relatively inexpensive advertising perpetuated by users with a competitive edge to it — what better way to get the word out and expand on their monumental branding. Social media marketing is not just about selling something. Sometimes, the branding alone is enough to make sales happen down the road.

When you have the clout that Starbucks have, you have the luxury of being able to focus on such things. Still, businesses do not have to be mega-global empires to learn from this. Any time you can get your customer base to spread the word and get your logo out in front of the masses, you’ve accomplished something. Perhaps more importantly, it’s dirt cheap.

Twitter and Flickr and YouTube, oh my!

Social media marketing doesn’t have to require long development and planning. Some businesses have recognized that micro-blogging and media submissions are enough for a boost to get more of the word out. With Google’s Universal Search starting to take wings and show up on the search engine results pages in the form of images and videos, this is more important now than ever before.

Companies like Radio Shack and Bowflex have done a little on YouTube, while EBTM T-Shirts and Chumby are active with using Flickr for marketing. Then there’s Tiger Direct, who has created a mini-empire by promoting on YouTube in bulk.

Micro-blogging platform Twitter needs only two words to prove its effectiveness: Amazon and Apple. Though both have modest follower numbers, you can always bank on these two knowing what they’re doing with new and innovative marketing techniques. Businesses large and small would do well to follow their lead on internet marketing matters.

Second, Get People there to See it…

Promoting Social Media through Social Media

Possibly the most important trend for 2008 is the use of social media to promote other social media. A perfect example recently happened for one girl trying to win a contest. Kina Grannis put a video about Digg on YouTube, had it submitted to Digg, and watched as it flew onto the front page and up the Top in All Categories section.

It has had over 250K views in 10 days, not including the knockoffs and resubmits.

Sometimes, taking events on social media websites and turning them into news for social media websites works well.

“The true gems in the social media arena are folks that not only find good User Generated Content (UGC), but create it as well. Interviewing a top banned Digger and interviewing the Mixx founder were great sources of content for us.” – Brian Wallace, NowSourcing

Any good social media marketing piece should make its rounds. That part is clear. But in these tough-to-find cases, the social media became the social media story. The results — a likely victory for a singer and a nice couple of bursts of targeted traffic for a pair of social media blogs.

StumbleIt! the Right Way at the Right Time

Every day, many people see a spike in their traffic that they hadn’t seen before. They check their web analytics and see StumbleUpon.com as their top referrer by far. If the content is high quality and they are lucky enough to get a few good reviews and some thumbs up, there’s a potential for this traffic to continue for a few days.

If they get lots of good reviews and lots of thumbs up, the traffic could continue for months.

At some point, these website owners go to SU, create an account, and stumble every page of their website. At this point, they’ve nearly ruined their chances of getting any real traffic from SU, and they don’t know why.

StumbleUpon is an incredible traffic driver, but the algorithm is designed to not be used for spam marketing. First, the more prolific stumblers are the ones who drive traffic, not the ones who just created an account. It takes time and sincere stumbling, discovering, befriending, and activity to build the kind of account that can shut down servers the way Digg can. Second, repeated discovery or stumbling of the same website by one user will result in turning your stumbles into worthless window-dressing on the review page.

If you have time, Stumble earnestly. Create an account, discovery quality content, make friends, and enjoy. You can stumble the occasional page from your website, but for the most part, it’s better to just let people know where your website is by posting it on your profile and hope they discover your pages for you. If your stuff is good, it will get traffic. If not, you might get a burst, but it will die quickly.

Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Mixx, Newsvine, and Everyone Else

As with StumbleUpon, you have to have something high-quality that people want to see for the social news websites to be able to work for you. Whether it’s a new and innovative service, an interesting article or blog post, a funny picture, or a great video, you have to have something that compels social media users to vote it up or it’s a mostly worthless submission. Of course, it helps with search engine optimization, but this is about driving social media traffic.

Submitting your own content is fine as long as it is done sparingly. Still, having someone with some clout find your story and submit it is always best. Many of the top users are flooded with requests to submit things for people. Keep in mind — if it’s crap, it’s crap, and having Mr BabyMan on Digg, TechnologyExpert on Propeller, or QGYH2 on Reddit do the submitting will not get it to the front page if it’s crap.

Best techniques – either spend time, make friends, build up a strong profile on the social media websites, and succeed that way, or just hire a social media marketing company who knows what they are doing. The best of the best have made connections with strong submitters. In some cases, they’ve gone so far as to contract or even hire them. Services claiming to get you on 200 social bookmarking and social media websites for a fee are usually not the best. Services who have a firm grasp of social media marketing are the ones that will make themselves (and you) stand out in 2008.

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Social media marketing is here to stay (at least in internet terms, which means a couple of years or more). Businesses, charities, blogs, and individuals with a message or a product should take advantage of this, as it can be extremely cost effective and fun. You’ll touch people that you probably weren’t touching before. There are many pitfalls and a high chance of failure, as very few understand the concept and even fewer have the ability to practice it, but if you can market through social media properly, you have the potential to reap tremendous rewards.

Special thanks to resources with research that helped: 110 Ways Retailers are Using Social Media Marketing and Get Ready to Get Social in 2008, plus others who offered ideas and advice.

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Learn more about social media at the Social News Watch homepage. We take Web 2.0 News seriously.

They’re just more useful than the big sites.

The appeal that brought millions to form profiles and make friends on MySpace and Facebook will have the opposite effect in 2008 an beyond.  We built our MySpace page and started Facebooking because everyone else was doing it.  As closed social sites begin to gain in popularity, they will appeal to people because NOT everyone else is doing it.  Inclusion is easy on today’s internet.  Being part of something exclusive is becoming the new IT thing to do.

Ning and other emerging websites offer places for people to “give everyone the opportunity to create your own social networks for anything.”  Here are some of the more popular emerging themes for these closed social niche networks:

Age-Based Social Networks

There are social networks popping up for everyone from 8-year-olds to 80-year-olds.  Websites like Boomj (social network for baby boomer), Whyville (“a virtual world where boys and girls from all over the real world come to chat, play, learn, and have fun together”), and Eons (“loving life on the flipside of 50″) are making it possible for people in particular age groups to interact with each other.

The appeal here is obvious.  Age gives people an instant point of reference where they know that, no matter what else is different, they have something in common.  Exploring these websites reveals that the members seem to be more open, willing to reveal more about themselves than they would on general social networking websites.

Local Social Networks

Quick story: a friend was at a party the other day and really hit it off with a girl he met there.  They talked, laughed, drank… all was going well.  As the night drew to a close, he asked for her phone number.  She hesitated, saying that she didn’t really give her phone number out to people that she just met.  Then, she took a card out and wrote something down.

It was her MySpace page.

She said they could get to know each other better that way first.  He was disappointed, but it was better than nothing.

Social networks like Tribe and GoingOn to localize their networks and give the audience places to find local focus. While MySpace and Facebook have similar interfaces, it’s impossible to separate yourself into the closed networks, as the bulk of friends and members will still be crossing over to other general areas.

Social networks with local membership and flare are becoming more and more prominent, especially with dating.  Being social with people you can never meet based upon proximity is one thing.  Having them available within your city is something completely different.  Local social networks act as that buffer zone where people can interact and get to know each other without having to meet for drinks or talk on the phone.  In 2008, there will be multiple large social networks in every major city.  Expect to start hearing radio ads and even a few television spots pop up.

Professional Social Networks

The car business, which is notoriously a year or two behind the times when it comes to the internet, has a few social networks for car dealers popping up.  The presence of Automotive Social Networks is either a sign of the end of the world or an example of how any, ANY, profession can find itself with a social network specific to its profession.

Getting advice, networking, sharing experiences — we are professionally based individuals who revolve around our jobs.  Few are willing to admit it, but it’s true.  Having a place with like-minded people makes it easier to cope sometimes.  That’s the appeal to social networks by profession.

Interest Social Networks

Forums fade.  They pop back up, then they fade again.  Slowly, they will be integrated into social networks that offer more interaction beyond the forums themselves.

Gaming, for example, has dozens of emerging social networks.  Gaming Social Networks like Great Games Experiments offer networks within the networks to allow gamers to become even more specific about their wins and conquests.

Why Now?

What makes 2008 the year that Niche Social Networks will emerge?  The answer has 2 parts:  Money and simplicity.

With the Facebook Beacon debacle and other outcries for less user data being used for marketing, it makes sense to target networks where the advertisers already know they’ve got the right audience.  Hyper-targeted marketing will continue to emerge, but for now, closed social networks make it much less controversial.

The simplicity aspect is even more important.  It is simple from every angle – simple for members to find the answers and networking they need, and simple for developers to make the sites and promote them with very little investment.  Google’s Open Social and several other applications will make it very easy for these types of networks to get started and grow.

For more information, read a previous post on this blog about Niche Social Networking.

Or will they?

Thinking forward, reading the trends, looking underneath the pseudo-obvious, it becomes clear that these small fenced-in playgrounds are the future. This article from readwriteweb.com shows an excellent example and six clear-cut reasons why niche social networks can not only survive, but also flourish in a virtual jungle dominated (currently) by the gorillas.

* * * Banners Moved in Lieu of Less Annoying Listings * * *

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We also have a dealer in Minnesota called Chevrolet Minneapolis.

Our New Jersey Chevolet Dealers store is one of the best in the east.

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Remember when banner ads were the thing? Now, most of these gorgeous, flashy, interactive banners get passed over, while simple text links generate tremendous amounts of traffic.

The same thing will happen with social networking, as long as there is a way to integrate different networks into a single posting interface. A 35-year-old firefighter named Henry is a father of 3 in Burbank, California, who enjoys hiking and running the occasional marathon. He cannot easily interact with similar people online through the big social networks. It’s possible, but the general themes of these networks interfere with the end goal of participating in his niche with people in similar situations.

In the near future, he can be a part of a firefighter network, a parenting network, a Burbank network, a hiking network, and a marathon network. With the right interface, if he finds and excellent article about physical fitness that he wants to share, he can post this article to his firefighter, hiking, and marathon networks, but not to his parenting or Burbank network. Later that day, her finds a video news clip about an upcoming 10k run in Burbank, which he can post to his Burbank and marathon network. That night, he hears about a change in the way that the schools are going to be grading students and decides to right a blog post for his Burbank and parenting networks.

That was a long, tedious example, but you get the point. With the right interface, Henry can have an orderly, simple series of social networks in which he can belong and interact. With the right interface, Henry can search for and find information that is shared by those who share in that particular interest. With the right interface, social networking can work well for Henry and those around him.

* * * Banners Moved in Lieu of Less Annoying Listings * * *

Miami Dodge Dealers is close to Ft. Lauderdale, too.

In Minnesota, we have Toyota Dealers Minneapolis to count on.

Our Oakland Honda Dealers offers service and sales without the hassle.

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Therefore, it all comes down to the interface. Is Google’s OpenSocial the answer? What about websites like Ning.com and GoingOn.com? Flux, the new interface created through a partnership between Viacom and Social Project (which I just signed up for — review coming soon) may be the answer or at least a step towards the answer.

No matter what, an answer will come. It’s just a matter of time.

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Be sure to read more social media tips right here.

Before you dive into this social media world you need all the information possible to come up with the best strategy possible. We are here to help you along with providing some of the best information out there on social media — the link below is one of those “gems” of a resource. Like always, we strive to make you more informed and to bring you the stories behind the stories.

Enjoy!

Want to start an internet marketing franchise:

Vandelay Resources | We Dugg it. You should too.

You don’t put out job posts unless you are serious about making it happen, unless it’s a big fat smokescreen as they position themselves to buy out some other platform. Doubt that, but you never know. Microsoft has done wackier things over the years.

read more | digg story

 What are your thoughts on it?  Is it the next big thing or a fad in the wind?  Ford seems to think it will work — they just put one out recently about their 2008 Focus.