I have been blogging for many years. I believe this year will conclude as my 7th year blogging on Blondish.net. Believe me, it has changed quite a bit. More tools have changed to be more community oriented as the content pulls in people who want to continue on the topics through whatever comment system has been integrated. Bloggers went from hard coding plain HTML or simple php sites without comments, to using simple outside comment resources like Haloscan (haloscan), and then finally to blog platforms like WordPress (wordpress), and many others. Bloggers now use social network sites like Twitter and other sites to push their content to the masses. However, I have been finding that there are people pushing their content in a manner that may detract from their own site.
Examples:
- The blogger who tweets and retweets their posts constantly without engaging their followers.
- The blogger who shares articles with followers and asks loyal followers to spam their links on other blogger’s sites that may not be relevant to the article they wish to be shared.
- The blogger who creates a separate ID to push the same content that they are already tweeting in another.
- The blogger who tweets, visits other sites and pushes their link at sites that are not on topic through the comment system – comment spam.
Sharing your material with others is great. In fact, that is the beauty of social media. However, here is the problem. Sharing your material in a way that is off topic and does not belong is spam. Whether within a social network, or other’s blogs, it is the responsibility of the site owner to make sure that they only promote within areas that will help attract people to your blog or where you want them to go. This extends to those who help push your content as well. Your loyal visitors may not be as internet savvy and could plug your content in places that may do more harm rather than help.
The reason for this is that you could be reported for spamming. Regardless if it is at another’s blog, or on the social network streams, you run that risk. You could face the following (not all or possibly all depending on how extreme the offense is):
– loss of your social network account
– blacklisting in search engines
– loss of your webhosting through your provider
– loss of your Internet connection with your Internet Service Provider
Spam has been a big issue, so when you push your content to the masses, be cautious and knowledgeable.
How do you manage promoting your content online?
Thanks for the nice explanation. I am seriously confused because I did tried experimenting with haphazardly tweeting and retweeting on one of the profiles and that one is attracting more followers then the one that I am taking good care of. Maybe I am taking a little bit too much care of my main profile and thus it is not attracting any followers.
yeah apam is a main problem of commentor in blogging it may be due to the slow rate of net and there chance of lacking social network.
thanks!!
Awesome post here I really need to gain new twitter followers so I can enjoy more twitter traffic right?
thanks for sharing this awesome post!
Absolutely true, Nile
i completely agree that while it is almost mandatory to have your article published in the social media but it should be well within the reach of only the intended and the interested readers. It will only help to enhance your dignity and the status.
I’ve been doing this WordPress blogging thing for 7 years now and have used a variety of commenting systems. And the one, I’ve finally settled on is disqus and the native WordPress for giveaway contests.
As far as looking for comment links, I could care less. I’d rather have relevant or opinionated comments about the post that could build discussion rather than seeking a damn comment link.
Thinking of a post to add to your #SharingSunday
You’re right – Ideally social media is about sharing and having a conversation and when you don’t do that you risk alienating your followers or as you said – getting labeled a spammer and ultimately getting shut down. Good reminder of what we all know to be true but sometimes forget in our focus to get our content “found”
Congratulations on 7 years Nile, that far exceeds many bloggers for sure. I just found your blog via Eddie Gear’s. If I see a Twitter follower just sharing their own stuff I do not follow back. I believe engagement is more important than the # of followers. I like to use the 80/20 rule when sharing my own stuff and trying to stay under the 20%. I think it’s harder in the beginnig for blogger to do that because no one starts sharing their stuff on day #1.
I also love Triberr. A great way to share and be shared. JustRetweet is another one that I use on occasion as well.
I hear you Nile but I tell you what I find things in stores that I never thought I would and sometimes getting your content shared elsewhere can mean you are in front of people who just got to find you because of an interesting and unusual link, perhaps it is a balance – as spamming is spamming and that is different to sharing and I wish people would stop connecting the two…just saying and it is my humble opinion 😉
Niles congratulations! I am so sensitive to spamming sometimes I think I under promote my content. I tweet others content more than I do my own trying to find balance. Thanks for this post.
Hello Nile,
Its a good lesson for all new bloggers. New bloggers always think to share their site in different friends circle, network without trying to get proper visitors. Definitely it is a spam. In twitter we have to maintain balance. We tweet both ours as well as others. So others also encourage to do it
Interesting post, Nile.
If I’m understanding what you’re saying, it’s important to share things on Twitter that are relevant to your followers. That assumes, I guess, that your followers are all in your niche or similar.
I guess that’s the way I do things, but I didn’t understand that it was spamming to retweet irrelevant content.
Thanks for the advice.
Nice info Nile.
We have to consider above mentioned point like not to spam our links,not to spread the same topics from more then one ids,and also not to post the comments which are irrelevent to the topic.
Nice share
Being marked as SPAM could be the most offensive label anyone could give to you. It must be heartbreaking. I just started blogging this year and created two personal blogs where I post relevant and random posts. However, in a professional’s point of view, being marked as SPAM could ruin you and your business’s name. It shouldn’t come to that point. Be real right from the start. Thanks for this share, Nile – that’s a nice name! 🙂
Twitter is a great promotion tool but it def’ is important to find the right balance. But consistency is one of the main things, if you aren’t consistently giving your audience good quality content whether promotional or not you’ll find yourself losing followers rather than gaining them.
Hi Nile,
Yes, People will voice their opinion and that is not cyber bullying. And bloggers DO need to take responsibility for their choices and who they choose to promote and align themselves with.
For example, I reject offers to post about certain food brands, chocolates, or movies because they don’t fit in with my values and my own integrity is too important to ever mess with.
Bloggers also need to realize that they were invited on this trip as professionals and influencers- crying about cyber bullying is not professional. As pros in the social media space, they need to be prepared for disagreements and opposing points of view, and answer PROFESSIONALLY. IMO calling for the “healthy” bloggers to be ignored by brands and calling disagreeing “bullying” is not professional at all and tarnishes ALL bloggers credibility.
Thanks for the breakdown of spam. I think you succinctly addressed the different types of bloggers and blogging reputations.
We see examples of spamming almost everyday. Spammers sign up as users on our blog just to promote a product that is no where near what our site is about. Twitter spam for unrelated sites. We do not feel sorry one bit if those people who waste everyone else’s time is suspended from their accounts.
Great post and yes the responsibility of the blogger who tweets really high. Thanks for sharing this post.
Thanks for the tips on Twitter! Really helpful since I’m a huge noob with twitter
Hello Nile…
ya this is a type of problem in tweeting and re tweeting consistently . Spamming is the main problem in the current cyber world. Thanks for sharing this nice post all of us.
Truth be told Twitter is a nut that I have yet to crack. Sure I share my content, as well as others, on the site. But I really don’t see a lot of interaction on the site no matter how much I tried. I even went so far as to get Hootsuite and dedicated an hour a day to going in and making comments and trying to get a dialog going. But that didn’t work out too well. I would love to see it become more of a traffic source but for now it eludes me.
I recently moved away from being your third example of a bad Twitter user. I looked at it and felt so much like a spammer, which wasn’t my intention but easy to see how it comes across like that.
Hi Nile,
you are making some great points here in regards to promoting on twitter.
It is amazing how many people seem to be posting their own content.
When someone follows me I usually check out what they are tweeting and I don’t follow them back if there are no other tweets or interactions going on.
Thank you for sharing your insights on this issue!
Cheers,
Yorinda
I’m glad I read this one.Great presentation and clear explanation .thanks you..
Yeah I see a lot of bloggers that have two Twitter accounts and push the same content. There’s actually a couple of semi-famous one’s that do it.
Hi Wade! I see it a lot as well. It is very frustrating, especially if you are wanting new material. Often when someone does that, it seems like spam and a way to beef up their exposure through an account that some would think was fake. Might as well just maintain only one if the content is the same, right?
I’ve been on Twitter for several years, but I’ve never done a lot of interacting on there, because it’s too big and overwhelming. I don’t know what to do about all my followers, short of spending too much time a day on the site. There’s that “all or nothing” thinking again. I know there is a way to manage my time on Twitter so as to spend some time each day without spending too much time. Right now I post a couple of blog posts a day via the Tweet Old Posts plugin… and promote others’ blog posts once a week or so. I can certainly see the value in what you’re saying, and hope to do more with Twitter in the future.
Willena
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Hi Nile,
Nile,
Well said, content just being sent on to twitter and not thought out will not encourage engagement and reading of a blog. If we run a blog we put a lot of effort into it and it is pity not to go that extra with our community’s to have it read and create business.
Kind Regards
Rosemary
Great post and yes the responsibility of the blogger who tweets really high. Thanks for sharing this post.
I’d find it interesting to find out really how many twitter users are making a good income on twitter as an only revenue source.