Podcast: Play in new window | Download
There are a few services that have withstood the changes taking place on the web that deserve a little scrutiny on The Bella Buzz podcast. These services can almost be identified as early players in the Social Media space as they attempt to connect people with common interests and invite them to share interesting articles and web sites. As the newer, more noteworthy, services have evolved such as Twitter and Facebook, the question has to be asked whether or not there is value in spending the time and resources necessary to cultivate these aggregator sites.
During the course of our hiatus from the podcast there were two events that put this on the radar as something to discuss. The first was a post that was Stumbled by some users at StumbleUpon, that generated a welcome spike in traffic to one of our web sites. StumbleUpon lets content creators submit links to the site so that others who are interested in that category, or are following the links from a particular submitter, can see the content and pass it along to others.
The second event was the release of the new Digg version 4. Digg is the brainchild of founder Kevin Rose, who was looking for a site that would help uncover the most relevant blog posts that were being written on the web. Before the advent of social sharing, sites like Technorati and TechMeme were curated sites, leaving the decision about what was good in the hands of editors. Rose wanted to let the mass audience make that decision themselves.
What was good about Digg was also its downfall. More and more the site was controlled by a band of “power users” who were able to influence the appearance of blog posts on the home page of Digg by voting up some articles and burying others. Articles that were voted to the home page of Digg could expect such an influx of traffic that servers could get overloaded and crash. Unfortunately, many started to find that the volume of traffic was not necessarily converting traffic in regards to overall business objectives.
In time many users felt that the articles that they were being exposed to were not relevant. This fact, combined with the increased adoption of social networks like Twitter, which made it much easier to find good content as recommended by someone you have developed a trust relationship with made the situation for Digg’s long term potential tenuous.
Digg’s hierarchy decided it was time to take a chance on upsetting the powerful user base and completely re-vamped the format of how the service worked. The most important feature in the new version of Digg is the ability to follow someone, in fact it is very easy to transfer the social graph from one platform to another, making the Digg experience more relevant for each user. The other new functionality that is great from a marketers perspective, is that the system accepts RSS feeds from blogs. This eliminates the need for manual submissions from a content creator.
Are these sites important for a small business? Do marketers need to pay attention to them as part of their service responsibilities? Driving links and traffic, and generating buzz from any possible platform is important to growing a successful web site and cultivating a social network is the job of a good web marketer.
Do you use these sites? If you are on Digg or StumbleUpon let’s connect!
On a final note, the founders of Typepad announced that they are forming a new company called Say Media in conjunction with VideoEgg.
Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.
You can subscribe to The Bella Buzz directly from ITunes by following this link, and we would be happy to receive listener feedback and ratings at The ITunes Store.
t is 
Using Comments as a Business Tool
Download Comments as a Business Tool
Our hosts on The Bella Buzz podcast, Desiree Scales and Joe Magennis discuss the use of commenting on blog posts and activity streams, as a way to contribute to the overall conversation on the web. Each blog post should simply be the catalyst for a conversation, with the comments from the readers & listeners as the different ingredients that combine to form an even more interesting dialogue.
Unlike mass media outlets which are a one way dissemination of content, a blog post or a podcast is an open invitation to engage the audience like never before. Taking the time to add to the post via a well thought out comment is a great way to develop a significant relationship on the web and to promote your own brand by demonstrating your knowledge and understanding in a very meaningful way. Comments allow you the opportunity to fully express your opinions beyond the limitations of 140 characters.
But it’s not all about using comments to promote, as may bloggers are extremely concerned about comment spam and comments blatantly designed simply to link to your own profile. Done correctly, you have inserted yourself into a topic that could lead to other opportunities. As a small to medium sized business owner, you should make it part of your regular efforts to respond to the posts that you read with a comment .. you will find it can lead to greater rewards.
There are also networks on the web that allow for a follower/following relationship for comments. As you contribute to blogs around the web your followers can see your messages in a social way. This is also great for blog owners as a single commenter with a large following can lead many others to see your original post.
Integrated blog commenting tools such as Disqus and Intense Debate are great examples of these types of networks, while the web service BackType takes a more holistic approach to tracking comments via email address. A great advancement on the Disqus system is the integration of Facebook Connect as part of the social sharing of your comments, and may even disintermediate the need for having yet another social network to participate in… by having your comments feed into the Facebook Activity stream you are reaching your audience and sharing your web participation with them.Your Facebook followers can see your activity on the web, migrate to the site where you left the comment, and participate in the ongoing conversation.
As a site owner you have business decisions to make regarding the implementation of commenting systems on your own site.
In discussions with companies venturing into the use of blogs and social networks for the first time, a typical response is voiced .. “we’ll do a blog but we want the comments turned off, we don’t want anything bad to be said about us on our own web site!” … This is improper thinking about how commenting can help a business owner. Positive comments are of course peer to peer endorsement that carry much more weight than any content you could every write. A good comment can also help you to expand upon the meaning of your original post by drawing out more examples that make your point, making your content even better.
Negative comments give you two opportunities; one is to address the deficiencies that are voiced in the comment and become a better organization, and the second is to craft a response to the negative comment that demonstrates to the rest of the readers that you are listening, responsive and engaged. Don’t fear negative comments .. embrace them and use them as a tool.
In the end, don’t overlook the power of comments on the web. Feedback via comments is in many ways a motivation to continue producing the great content that we all enjoy on the web, and can be a great tool for business owners to use to help expand brand reach.
Do you leave comments around the web? Are you contributing to the dialogue by jumping in to the conversation. Are you a site owner using comments to expand your business? Let us know, we’d love to hear from you.