Propeller | Soshable | Social Media Blog

A Social Network for Social Media (brilliant!)

February 13, 2008 by JD Rucker 4 Comments

Strange. It’s one of those things that pops up and you think, “was there really nothing like this before?”

That is what comes to mind when you look at the Social Media Social Network at Social News Central. It is a simple Ning site, but it has started off very strong. With 160 members joining since its recent creation and a member list that boasts “heavy hitters” from social media websites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Propeller, and Mixx, Social News Central promises growth and a world of potential. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Mixx, Newsvine, Niche Social Networks, Propeller, Reddit, Social Internet, Social Media, StumbleUpon Tagged With: Digg, Mixx, ning, Propeller, Reddit, Social Media, social network, social news central, Social News Sites, StumbleUpon

How to be a Part-Timer and Still Hit the Front Page

January 20, 2008 by JD Rucker 26 Comments

Most people who submit content to social media websites like Digg, Reddit, Mixx, or Propeller do so because they believe what they are submitting is worthy of making it to the front page where it can be viewed by a gazillion people. It could be something that interests them from the news. Perhaps it’s a story they worked exceptionally hard on from their blog. Maybe it’s a hilarious video they found.

So, new to the world of social media, they submit it and wait for their name to appear in the popular section. It’s a great story, afterall. However, in most cases, it does not make the front page. Undaunted, they try again. And again. Eventually they start to look at what hits the front page and they see a discouraging trend — the same names keep popping up, and it isn’t theirs.

What do they do? They click on a profile. At Digg, they might click on Suxmonkey, a front page regular. They scan down to the stats and their eyes pop out of their head. 34,000 Diggs! Oh ____! Perhaps they check out Reddit next and click on QGYH2 to see a karma score over 100K. Moving right along to Propeller, they check the Top Contributors section to find that they’ve all submitted hundreds, even thousands of stories and comments.

If you are one of these people, don’t give up! You don’t have to spend hours a day, every day, to become a regular to the front page of social media websites. You simply need a strategy that fits your schedule. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Featured, Mixx, Reddit, Social Media Tagged With: Digg, frontpage, popular, Propeller, Reddit, Social Media, social news, StumbleUpon

Call for Quotes from Social Media Superstars

January 18, 2008 by JD Rucker 14 Comments

We are putting together a piece about social media superstars and what motivates them. Looking for opinions. Please leave your opinions or quotes in the comments of this story.

There are those who spend several hours every day on social media websites like Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Mixx, Sphinn, and StumbleUpon. These sites invariably get huge benefit by having these people, as they can themselves become part of the news. The question is, “What’s in it for them?”

Is it the fame and notoriety? Few use their real names as their profile name, so that COULD be it, but I tend to think it’s a small part.

Power? Most have heard of the Digg Effect, while a power Stumbler can have a huge effect on a website with a click of a button. Do they enjoy knowing that they’ve helped out a blog or website tremendously (or possibly killed their server) by sending thousands of people to their website? Perhaps.

Is it an earnest desire to spread quality content? Maybe they’re promoting an opinion, a trend, a product? Helping a candidate or a cause?

Maybe it’s just fun. As one top Digger who already answered the question for me noted, “Some people play Xbox 360.” He, on the other hand, shuts down servers. Hopefully, we’ll know soon enough.

The story itself will probably be posted here, but it may end up on my new blog (with nothing currently on it) at soshable.com. Either way, I’ll let you know. Please post your comments.

Visit some of the sites we recommend.

Filed Under: Digg, Mixx, Propeller, Reddit, Social Internet, Social Media, StumbleUpon Tagged With: Digg, Mixx, Propeller, Reddit, Social Media, socialnews, sphinn, StumbleUpon

Sick of Social Media Political Spam? Just wait. It’s Going to Get Worse.

January 9, 2008 by JD Rucker 2 Comments

Social Media websites are flooded with postings promoting one presidential candidate or insulting another. Conventional wisdom says that after the nominations are handed out, we will see a decrease simply because there will be fewer people to post stories about. This assumption is incorrect, but we’ll explain that later. Right now, the landscape for social media coverage is starting on a temporary downslide. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Propeller, Reddit, Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, StumbleUpon Tagged With: campaigns, Digg, google, marketing, politics, Propeller, Reddit, Social Media, StumbleUpon

Going Social for Marketing, Business, and Fun

January 1, 2008 by JD Rucker 10 Comments

Social Media Marketing isn’t new. 2008 is simply the year that it emerges as THE thing to do if you want your business, charity, or blog to be “in” instead of “out”.

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. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Digg, Mixx, Newsvine, Niche Social Networks, Propeller, Reddit, Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Videos-Images-Music, StartUps, StumbleUpon Tagged With: Digg, Facebook, flickr, marketing, Mixx, MySpace, Newsvine, Propeller, Reddit, Social Bookmarking, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social Networks, Social News Sites, socialmedia, socialnews, StumbleUpon, Twitter, YouTube

Winds of Change in Social Media Promise Improvements

December 28, 2007 by JD Rucker 3 Comments

On the internet, change is part of the definition. In social media, changes are happening literally by the minute. 2008 promises to show humungous growth and an incredible amount of change for major and minor social media websites.

Certain things will be universal as the websites below grow. Some were acquired, some will be acquired in the future, but one thing that we have seen and that we will continue to see is a lack of a shake-up based upon the acquisitions. When a larger company buys a smaller company in the “real world”, there are normally big changes made right from the start. These changes rarely result in mass exodus of employees (unless done by design) nor does it yield a major drop in consumers.

SEO Spammers: Leave Social Media Sites Alone!

December 12, 2007 by JD Rucker 50 Comments

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...]

Filed Under: Digg, Mixx, Newsvine, Propeller, Reddit, Social Internet, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, StumbleUpon Tagged With: Digg, Mixx, Newsvine, Propeller, Reddit, search engine optimization, seo, smm, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Social News Sites, socialmedia, socialnews, StumbleUpon

Propeller: Knock knock knockin’ on Reddit’s Door

November 26, 2007 by JD Rucker 12 Comments

Compete.com’s and Alexa.com’s numbers are far from gospel, but they do offer an excellent comparative indicator for traffic. Looking at the traffic estimates and trends for Reddit and Propeller, it’s very conceivable that Propeller will overtake Reddit for the #2/#3 (depending on whether you consider StumbleUpon a social news website) position behind Digg amongst the social news powerhouse websites.

For a long time, Netscape was technically #2 in traffic, but most acknowledge that this was misleading. Many people typed in Netscape, not realizing it had become a social media website. Other sources sent traffic to Netscape, but only a small percentage used it for it’s news-based purpose. When the move to the new Propeller.com URL was announced, many believed that it spelled doom for the once-proud alternative to the Yahoo! and MSN homepages. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Social Internet Tagged With: aol, Digg, netscape, Propeller, Reddit, Social Media, Social News Sites

Social Media: Experts Offer Tips for Success

November 21, 2007 by JD Rucker 8 Comments

There are always articles about getting started in or getting better at social media, but this week was flooded with some great ones written by talented, respected authors. Here, I have compiled some great resources, some “must reads” for anyone wanting a leg up.

Social media is huge and growing. Those who have had success are often not willing to offer advice. It was a great week — the advice was strong and it seemed to be free flowing. Enjoy

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Social Self Sabotage

Ben Cook with bloggingexperiment.com takes a very straight-forward, conversational approach to showing the primary mistakes that submitters of social media make. Faking comments, misleading titles… we’ve all been tempted to try it. Some of us (myself included) have had marginal success doing these things. In the long run, it is futile and hurts your chances of building a strong profile that puts stories on the front pages consistently.

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