Do you participate in [tag]social networking sites[/tag]? Are social networking sites a waste of time? I’m trying to figure out the benefits of the social networks sites. I’m actually finding that social networking sites don’t work very well.
While social networking sites might bring some traffic, traffic alone isn’t enough. I participate in [tag]Digg[/tag], [tag]Reddit[/tag], [tag]StumbleUpon[/tag], [tag]Bumpzee[/tag], [tag]Mybloglog[/tag] and a few others.
I get a good amount of visits from Stumbleupon, but those are just one-time visitors.
From July 2, 2007 to Aug 1, 2007 I received 548 hits from Stumbleupon, 76 from Blogcatalog and 2 from sk-rt.com. I was actually very active in the forums at Blogcatalog and I think that is what increased my traffic. However now that I’m no longer there where are those bloggers? I’ll tell you they are not at my blog.
I have 27 people on my friend’s list and at least 30 people not on my list have befriended me at BlogCatalog. Where are those people? Only three of them regularely visit and join discussions on my blog.
At Bumpzee 9 have befriended me. Those people don’t comment on my blog either. At mybloglog 142 people have befriended me and maybe at the most five have commented on my blog.
I guess I’m missing the point of social networking sites. I’m starting to see them as nothing more than collection mania where some people try to be linked to as many people as possible with no desire to actually network with those people.
So what do you think of social networking sites? Have you noticed a good increase in traffic after you joined and started participated in them?
How many of those that befriended you or you befriended actually visited your blog? How many have started participating in the discussions on your blog? How much time are you actually wasting on social networking sites just trying to get visits?
Lifehacker has a readers poll on this very subject that you can also participate in. Please see Social networking a waste of time?
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43 responses so far ↓
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 2:05 pm
Rose,
I’m a member of all those sites and like them but I have gotten the most response from BlogCatalog. One site that I use is Ning and it’s incredible. Yes, people there visit each other’s blogs but nobody worries about stumbling or digging, etc. It’s just an easy way to get people to notice your blog.
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I don’t think they are a waste of time. I have gotten lots o f traffic from yep… you guessed it… blogcatalog…
Now I have to confess last night I went and cleaned out all the “neighborhoods” I joined when I first joined the site. I joined a lot of blogs neighborhoods of things that I’m not interested in. I joined them because they joined mine…
Not sure how it is supposed to work, but I’m just not interested in certain kinds of blogs.
I was so fed up with Blogcatalog yesterday, the discussions. OMG…
Every other post was about gender, sexuality, religion, or everyones favorite “add me to your technorati faves…”
But the God bashing and sexual orientation discussions were really out of hand. And I was offended. I can’t believe I’m venting here.
I was actually thinking if Rose was still over there what would she think or say?
I still belong to the site but I’m not too thrilled to be a part of it right now. (shh)
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Hi Rose,
I hope I am one of your regular visitors. I recognize I don`t do it everyday, but I try to do so every couple days or so. By the way, sorry about the languase I used on your post about Lindsy Ashford, but I was furious
Big hugs for you
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 2:18 pm
A large percentage of my subscribers have come from various social networks, but also by establishing friendships with like minded bloggers who I link with frequently.
Lots of cross pollination occurs.
Have you defined a niche for your blog such that it attracts a specific demographic audience?
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Awannabe, I was lurking around and I saw the God and Gay bashing and I can not say that I’m not surprised. I was also very disappointed. The blogcatalog discussion boards are quickly becoming a promotional tool and you are not the first to comment on the way the discussion forums are now taking a turn for the worse.
Jane thanks for commenting. Maybe I have not found the right network yet. I’ll check out Ning.
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 2:23 pm
It’s hard to search Blog Catalog. Let me rephrase that, it’s hard to know what search words to use. There’s not a very good “cataloging” system over there. I am always looking for “personal blogs” and “online journals” If anyone knows a good way to search and find those types on an ongoing basis, pls drop me a line.
Rose you already know I think Social Networking is a waste of time. Although, Stumbleupon is a genius place! I’ve taken some flack for saying that publicly but I don’t care. Some people do what they want, they don’t want to be confused by other’s opinions.
I do use the sites from time to time but usually never find what I went there for.
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 2:27 pm
I belong to Digg, StumbleUpon, MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, Netscape, BUMPzee, SpicyPage, and The Good Blogs. The only one I really put any effort into now is StumbleUpon, stumbling for others.
The discussions on the sites that have them seem to devolve rapidly. I’m very turned off by recent discussions on BlogCatalog and I won’t even bother to get started in discussions elsewhere.
I’m spending much more time focusing on my own blog and not much time visiting other blogs. I have a full plate at home and I have to prioritize. The last thing I need is to get into a devolving discussion at a social site — which eats up my time without any real rewards.
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 2:36 pm
I think interacting with the community is just a way to find other like minded bloggers. I have found many blogs that I read daily, including this one, but I do not click through blogcatalog to land on it.
If I find a blog I like through StumbleUpon, Blogcatalog, or whatever I tend to either bookmark the ones I am interested in or subscribe to the RSS feed.
I don’t really think you can accurately judge the effectiveness of a referring website just by the daily hits or even the amount of participation.
I also found Andy Beard’s blog daily, sometimes I visit multiple times a day just to read the comments but I VERY rarely comment. There are many blogs that I read daily in which I have never commented.
Participating in social networks will always bring a varying level of results and as your audience grows I think people will find them less useful but for a new blog looking to find its audience I think that they will continue to be one of the best venues for getting the smaller voices heard.
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 2:50 pm
I have absolutely not mastered the whole social networking thing. I still do most of my blog visiting based on following links on blogrolls and in comments on otehr people’s blogs. Of course, despite all my hard work doing it my way, the PR updates which are flickering on and off only show my newest blog hitting a 3, while people who have fully mastered social networking are looking at higher ranking.
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I just don’t have time for those social network things.
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 4:02 pm
The EZ answer is a resounding YES!!!
if yer lookin’ to make a Fast Buck!!
However MyBlogLog + BlogCatalog have been awesome for getting much needed Viewers + Traffic to my $B Baloney Blog!!
The really Sweet Payoff is meeting beautiful People like Rose DesRochers along the way!!
;))
It’s a Numbers Game!!
We are all hoping to Hit the Jackpot (kinda) + Hope + Pray somebody will magically appear + actually PAY us a lousy $ Buck fer the work + effort we Web2.0ers put in fer FREE!!!!
Hopefully that will all change in the not too distant Future*
I actually wanna see a Whole New Economy created that allows Bloggers + Artists + Musicians + Creative People that have typically slaved for Centuries entertaining the Rich for Peanuts get PAID properly for the WORK they LOVE doing + NOT have to work for The Man doing some BORING AS HELL Corporate Office Mind-Numbling stoopid McJOB!!!!!!!
Cheers Everybody!! Billy ;))
Peace*
p.s. the other side to this New Economy 3.0 is that 10 or 20 percent would be distributed to the POOR Folks that really NEED it!!!!!!
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 4:36 pm
I would assume that you visit the people who have befriended you on the social networking sites…or at least try to. It can be hard to keep up with all of the activities that one joins up with online. I find that if I repeatedly visit people back & make sure to have interesting content they return the favor. I don’t keep up very well with EVERY social networking site that I have ever joined…and I haven’t joined that many.
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 5:12 pm
I like social networking. I’ve met a lot of nice bloggers that I interact with regularly. Have to admit I have been too busy to follow the discussions at BlogCatalog lately, but in the past I have really liked BlogCatalog and have met some folks there that have been really good to me. Stumble gives me the most traffic. I got 12,000 visitors one day from them. Like you said, it’s a one time thing and stumblers generally don’t click out on any ads… but it made me feel good to see that many people had at least laid eyes on my site.
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 5:59 pm
I think there is a place for social networking, thats how I met you, and really, really miss your topics at the discussion area at bc, it has gone downhill lately a bit, there is still some good discussions, but when ever I put my 2 cents in it magically stops, I dont use any swears but for some reason its like I enter the room and everybody stares and doesnt say anything. Ive meet a few people there that visit my blog , but I have a very ultra nich blog, astronomy, not a whole lot of people interested.
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 7:04 pm
I guess it depends where you network and why. I belong to BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog, and I do get quite a bit of response from both.
I also belong to some more hardcore social networking sites like MySpace, FaceBook and LinkedIn and I get a very good amount of traffic from those. LinkedIn and Facebook especially, my guess is because they seem to be a bit more on the professional side although I have had many people email me from MySpace.
I belong to these groups to promote my book, not necessarily my Blog (event though the Blog promotes the book, it’s one spoke in the wheel) and it is working. Online or offline, networking takes time and you get what you give. Offline networking may take months or even years to make sturdy inroads with other like minded people. My guess is that online networking may take some time as well.
There is so much to see, read and hear out there you cannot expect people to come back just because they visited in the past. Social net workers are not a loyal bunch. They are always distracted and off to the next big thing so my suggestion is to always keep plugging away and making new friends. Keep making connections and the ones that matter will stick.
Wrote: Aug 2, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Damien, there are 65 blogs listed in the personal section of BloggingFusion.com
Stumbleupon is a great way to find interesting sites and it can be very addicting. Stumleupon does bring good quality traffic. Thanks for adding me by the way.
RT, I too put a lot of effort into Stumbleupon. I have stumbled 177 sites and have 79 fans. It really is a great service for surfing. RT, don’t let the discussions of one forum turn you off from participating in others.
Oscar thank you for commenting on this discussion & you are welcome to comment on my blog anytime. I understand what you are saying with regards to book marking a site, but I was referring to how many new visitors the site sends and how many new visitors actually return to join discussions. I’m also wondering how much time we actually waste on social networking sites that could be better spend building a readership for our blog.
Angie, you know the biggest part of the blogs I visit is through that very method. I have found it to be more successful then social networks.
Butterfly, I visited many of the blogs who I networked with, but I found few return the visit.
Gerri, I’m glad that you have had success with the social networking site BC.
Bob, sometimes it can be hard fitting in somewhere and it is nice to be missed. I sometimes don’t know what to comment on your blog, but know I’m there lurking.
Larry, I kind of figured out that most were not loyal.
Wrote: Aug 3, 2007 at 2:32 am
Rose, I found your site through BlogCatalog and then added it to my RSS reader so I can keep a close eye on new posts.
Overall I think you are right that a lot of people just want to have the most links, friends, votes, whatever…but I do think there is value to be found in some of the social networking tools.
Like many commented before me, I enjoy StumbleUpon the most and can lose a lot of time stumbling new sites. However, I spend most of that time just hitting the stumble button and not necessarily trying to connect with other SU users.
Wrote: Aug 3, 2007 at 11:57 am
You are exactly right here:
“I guess I’m missing the point of social networking sites. I’m starting to see them as nothing more than collection mania where some people try to be linked to as many people as possible with no desire to actually network with those people.”
Wrote: Aug 3, 2007 at 9:40 pm
I think most people are there for the same reason you appear to be…to get traffic for themselves. They aren’t so worried about visiting others.
Wrote: Aug 3, 2007 at 9:55 pm
Dana, I’m not there to just get traffic for myself. I joined to network with other bloggers and I visit and comment on many blogs via social networks.
Wrote: Aug 4, 2007 at 10:03 am
“starting to see them as nothing more than collection mania”…
You might be onto something here, Rose. I get really tired of received friend requests from people who are obviously just out collecting random names.
Wrote: Aug 4, 2007 at 4:40 pm
On the weekends social bookmarking is a bit on the slow side.
When everyone is at work 9-5 that is when it get crazy and you get lots of hits to your site.
Blog Catalog has a good thing going with their discussions. I’ve gotten a lot of good use from Blogcat especially for group projects.
Wrote: Aug 4, 2007 at 5:12 pm
Jordan, I don’t doubt that you do. I got a lot of traffic when I was participating in their forums. However, I was also called a forum whore and ridiculed by some members for starting multiple discussions. Where are those visitors now that did visit my blog now that I’m no longer participating in the BC forums? Only a very small percentage visits my blog. As several commented above me, the forums of BC as of lately don’t provide a resourceful section to assist bloggers. I guess they provide a service if you are looking for a place to debate issues like is homosexually a sin or to request diggs.
Wrote: Aug 4, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Funny you mention that Brian. I noticed one person who added me on Bumpzee was only collecting attractive women. lol He has 7 contacts and all of them are ladies.
Wrote: Aug 4, 2007 at 10:49 pm
I find many people not making the most of their existing network are usually the ones joining numerous networks for the sake of ‘coverage’.
Sidebar real estate is vital, in my opinion. MyBlogLog is used on my site strictly. While I ‘am’ involved in a handful of forums, those forums are targeted for specific interested viewers of the host/parent site they’re on.
Blogcatalog’s too much of a distraction from me doing what I wanted to do in the first place with ‘features’ that are no more than an SQL database run off CGI scripts based off of existing core GPL/GNU freeware.
Wrote: Aug 5, 2007 at 9:56 pm
I participate in conversations at Bumpzee. I joined BlogCatatalog and MyBlogLog, but I guess I haven’t found the organization intuitive.
I don’t have time to participate in conversations at multiple social networking sites. The thing I like about BumpZee is that I immediately found communities organized around topic.
Wrote: Aug 6, 2007 at 9:13 pm
I do visit a lot of the blogs that I’ve added to my blogcatalog list, but most of the time I seldom leave comments due to a lack of time.
Ultimately, it all comes down to why people join such communities in the first place. To sound rather crude, some do it to rack up a “body count” of “friends” where a bigger number in that indicator defines their success in online networking.
New bloggers are most guilty of that I suppose. I started out along those lines but nowadays I would like to think I’m a little wiser, lol!
Wrote: Aug 8, 2007 at 10:22 am
Whether social networks are a waste of time are not depends on a few factors.
The first, and most important, is whether that social network has any sort of focus on what it is that your blog is about. For instance, although I do occasionally submit my articles to Digg, I don’t do it very often, because my blog is about self development… Digg is mostly about technology and politics, and it seems like it’s more and more about the politics. Stumble Upon, however, works well for me, because my articles can be submitted to a specific category, where the people are interested in the type of stuff I’m writing.
The second factor is how unique your blog is, and how interesting you and your writing are. If you always write about the same thing that everyone else is writing about, and you don’t manage to do it in a more interesting way, yes, social networks are a waste of time. People will see your headline and go “Oh, that again” and ignore it.
The last factor is how well your blog is designed to capture and hold the random traffic that comes across. If it immediately catches attention and “sells” subscribing, then the thousands of people that social networking (at the bigger sites) can send to your site can result in a very significant bump in regular readers. Again, this ties back into the first factor… if your blog is about watching birds, and you’re trying to do social networking through Digg, those viewers that do come, if you have a successful article, are not likely to subscribe… it’s not what they’re really interested in.
All that being said, social networking sites can be great for either new bloggers (to get initial attention), or very well established bloggers… if your name is recognized, many people will visit, and though you already have traffic, if you hit, let’s say, the front page on Digg and a good Slashdot (two of the ones I use as an individual, not as a blogger), though Slashdot isn’t really social bookmarking it IS very social, you can easily get 100,000 visitors in one day. That’s a lot of traffic to just about anyone other than Matt Drudge.
Well, sorry for the incredibly long comment, hope you don’t mind. I like your writing style, by the way.
Wrote: Aug 8, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I don’t mind your log comment though I was beginning to worry. I thought you were telling me that my blog and writing sucked. lol I am glad that you like my writing style. I get a lot of traffic from SU and I have gotten a few hits from DIGG though I have never made the front page. I think that with a few of them it is a matter of how many friends you have on your list. Digg kind of appears to be a close clique.
Wrote: Aug 8, 2007 at 8:28 pm
The “niche” ones I’m active in: Library Thing, Last FM, along with a few forums, yes I do get traffic from them. I think “active” is the key. I’m on MyBlogLog, but I don’t post. Mostly I use it to check out new sites.. I’m not familiar with the others. I’ll have to check them out.
When you’re involved in several networks it is, well, work. I probably could get more traffic to my site if I spent more time at those places, but I don’t always have it to give.
Wrote: Aug 8, 2007 at 11:36 pm
I have found that MyBlogLog has been useful since I signed on a few weeks ago– however, to really get anything from it, I have had to use it in conjunction with Technorati– essentially, I’ve discovered a few blogs on MBL that were interesting enough to subscribe to on Technorati– I read, sometimes comment, and subscribe to a few blogs that they recommend– and it certainly has led to a moderate increase in my readership, comments and technorati “authority.” That said, I don’t think MBL is that useful without Technorati.
Mostly, I am concerned as to whether or not it is worth also joining blogcatalog.
Wrote: Aug 9, 2007 at 12:47 am
Ian thank you for dropping in via Mybloglog I assume. I am glad that you have found it useful. I have not given up just yet.
Wrote: Aug 9, 2007 at 1:29 am
I joined a couple of social networks just because a couple friends invited me, and being the curious person I am, I had to check them out. But they didn’t appear to be much more than info and email address collectors to me, and although I tried to delete my account on Plaxo, I still get notes from them once in a while, telling me that another person uses Plaxo too. I’m going to try and delete my WAYN account (WAYN = Where Are You Now) I like email lists and sometimes web forums, and recently I got into blogging, thanks to Blogger’s post by email function. I find people’s blogs and communities on the net the old fashioned way, by chance, often from searching for something, or even by reading posts on forums and lists that might happen to have links to other blogs etc. that look as if they might interest me.
Wrote: Aug 9, 2007 at 12:24 pm
I find forums to be the best way to discover new sites as well, and also to get the best visitors and readers (obviously they’re already interested in whatever topic you write about or they wouldn’t be reading the forum), but I haven’t found a good way to actually find new forums.
So far, I’ve only found one good forum in my niche (self development), and I really don’t have any idea of how to find more. I even posted on that forum asking if anyone had any other forums they used, but though I got people visiting my site through that post, I haven’t received any replies yet.
Wrote: Aug 9, 2007 at 3:40 pm
i would have to say that social networking sites are the most important way to get visitors. They arnt the best way to get loyal visitors though. i notice that that most page views from digg are just a short upward spike and my site soon returns back to what it used to be about three days later. Stumbleupon has been great for me. From July 30 to Aug 7, i got 857 visits from one post. I think if you can write an article thats worth bookmarking many of these social sites will be very beneficial.
Wrote: Aug 9, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Jason, have you tried Google searches for self development forum, discussions on self help and other terms?
Wrote: Aug 9, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Oh, by the way, social bookmarking traffic doesn’t go very deep, either. They usually look at about 2 pages on my site, where traffic from Google averages around 6 pages (per visit, on both).
Of course, that makes sense, since the person was actively searching for something related to your blog (well, hopefully, as I’ve gotten visitors whose search terms were “Plymouth”, “clomid”, and other things, that I have no idea how the heck they got to me, since I’ve never written the word on my site).
Wrote: Aug 28, 2007 at 2:52 am
I have had the best luck with BlogCatalog as far as getting interest in my blog.
As far as connecting with friends I already know, it is all about myspace and facebook!
ThistyJon
Wrote: Aug 28, 2007 at 12:39 pm
The usefulness of social networking depends on the technology the networking site provides and on the people using it.
I get some people visiting my blog from BlogCatalog (which I joined after I first posted to this thread), but few of them appear to be engaged by my content. MyBlogLog, seems to bring me more readers who are also engaged and leave comments and are more likely to write blogs that interest me.
Tribe.net is particularly useful in that I can join groups (”tribes”) based around affiliations, topics of interest, and persuits and so it sometimes enhances my life away from the computer as well as gives a means of seeking an audience for my work (both online and offline.)
On the other hand, I’ve found that sites like myspace, friendster, and orkut seem to have a low quality of content and interaction that they only feed in to “collector mania.” Orkut has the technology to be as good as tribe (especially if it better integrated with other Google offerings) but for whatever reason, it attracts a largely inarticulate user-base.
Wrote: Aug 28, 2007 at 3:55 pm
I checked out mybloglog, and it looks good, offering discussion areas instead of just acting like a place for sharing profiles and sharing pics. Tribe.net is another good one, again, it offers all kinds of discussion areas. Both mybloglog and tribenet are accessible so the visually impaired can register accounts with them, and that’s something else they have going for them. Myspace doesn’t, and facebook’s audio code generator didn’t work last time I tried it.
Wrote: Aug 28, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Response to Ian Thal:
I like your observation about whether or not the community is getting you readers that are engaged and leading you to blogs that interest you! I am kind of new to this and I am just starting to learn that. I am not interested in getting as many “friends” or “contacts” as possible, if they are ones that aren’t really interested.
Good thoughts!
I am going to check out Tribe.net as well.
ThirstyJon
Wrote: Sep 21, 2007 at 1:06 am
Hi
I do think social networking sites are stretched a little too far. It starts off well with someone you know introducing you. But, then it takes off in all directions. Most of the time i find people wanting to link with you just for the sake of it [because they can do so - site enables it].
It really does not give me any kind of understanding of this person. There is no sensible communication leave aside any business benefit.
It all ends up with asl plz and exchange of photos. LOL.
Wrote: Mar 8, 2008 at 2:07 pm
I have the most popular socail site links at the bottom of each post, but don’t get much from any of them.