Lets face it, social media is very big amongst bloggers in the make money industry. I’m not saying that other bloggers don’t use social media. They are probably better users to be honest and I’ll explain why I think so.
Do You Join Social Media Sites for their Traffic Potential?
If you do, then the chances are very high that you fall into the category of social media abuser. Primarily social media is about connecting with others and not to self promote your content.
Unfortunately that is what many bloggers are doing every day. I used to be one of them too. But I have come to realize that self promotion is likely going to kick yourself in the bum after a while - so don’t do it! I’m not saying your shouldn’t submit any of your posts ever to social media, but rather keep the self promotion to an absolute minimum.
Wikipedia says: Social Media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into content publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers.
So how come we seem to think that social media is primarily here to serve our needs to attract a boat load of traffic?
Needless to say that as a blogger we want to be heard. Otherwise we wouldn’t bother writing. Personal experience has shown me to focus on helping others, rather than worrying about submitting your own content as a rule.
I’m still in my baby stages of getting the hang of social media networking. But what I have learned so far is encouraging me further to keep following this new found path.
Social Media is about:
- giving
- networking
- sharing
- making new friends
- connecting
- discussions
- discovering
- learning
What Social Media isn’t:
- shameless self promotion
- abusing others
- agreeing with everybody
- abuse
- using solely for traffic influx
Genuine Social Media users:
- are those who stop thinking about their own benefits
- are those who submit other blog posts because they deem them worthy enough
- are those who care about networking and making new friends
- are those who give without expecting anything back in return
- are those who we should all aspire to be!
The downside of Social Media:
- time consuming, as to do it right does require a daily effort
- trying to cover too many social media sites (concentrate on fewer social media sites and become a good user)
- getting spammed
- getting abused
- not using it!
I have decided to focus on two social media sites and become a better contributor. It will help me to overcome my natural need to participate in too many social media parties and will help me to hon my skills.
Helping others with blogging karma is far more beneficial for any blogger in the long run. If we can manage to build up trust and friendship with other bloggers in the same niche they will feel more inclined to blog about us and mention us in some of their posts. This is ultimately a lot more beneficial to any blogger who wants targeted traffic.
Monika
Technorati Tags: social media , stumble upon , pownce , blogging , networking
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[...] by markdykeman Are writers abusing social media to promote themselves? I found an interesting article on this topic from Monika Mundell at The Writers Manifesto [...]
Good article. I tried to use a trackback from one of my own posts where I discussed your article, but I can’t tell if it worked. In case it didn’t, anyone who wants to read it can just check out my blog.
Hi - just sphunn & stumbled you. Great post as always!
By spending so much time with social networking, I’ve been neglecting all the forums - and forgetting that a lot of traffic used to come from them too. Must get back into some and keep up appearances!
I was about to publish a post at BW20 this morning but saw you beat me to it! I’ll publish it tomorrow instead so the posts are evened out day to day, so take (another) day off if you like!
Ha! Bet you don’t!!!
Terry
I use primarily 2 Social Medias, namely Blog Catalog and MyBlogLog to catch who are viewing my blogs so I could follow them too as necessary. However, there are those who would do so just so they can leave their marks and attract new hits without even trying to read your posts. Then there are those who would even add you to their profiles and join your communities just for the sake of it.
And worst, others would leave senseless comments that are too obvious to be just trying to attract visits for their sites. Comments like “this is cool!” are so insincere and not too far from being SPAMs.
[...] articles week after week, often multiple times a week, I’ve gotten suspicious. A good article here on social media abuse: Do You Join Social Media Sites for their Traffic [...]
Mark: I think it did work and thanks again for mentioning this on your blog.
Terry: thank you, what was this about another day off? That would be sheer luxury and we can’t have that can we? Or can we.
BTW I have also slacked off with forums which is a bad mistake. I’m trying to make room and ease back into it.
Kotsengkuba: you know, that thought has occurred to me before too. What cracks me up the most are those dumb a… who comment with a link thinking I will raise to their cheap bait.
Hi Monika, thanks for exploring this issue. It makes a nice contrast to all the ‘how to use social media sites to drive traffic’ posts people write - although I guess most bloggers (me included) are secretly interested in those tips too…
I’m still trying to work out which sites I enjoy using, but StumbleUpon is definitely one of them, cos you find new stuff without information overload, and meet new people - yourself being one them
Joanna
Recently a few of my articles had received massive traffic (relative) from StumbleUpon and I’ve enjoyed and getting use to this never-before-received attention on my small blog.
Forum is an avenue I can’t seem to stick to.
You’ve hit the nail on the head! I think there are definitely some bloggers who’ve overlooked the essence of social media sites : voting for excellent content… but no matter how many friends or networks one is in, bad spammy content always gets shot down… pretty much as fast as it went up the popular page…
Thanks for writing about this issue in a refreshing perspective. It’s a great reminder!
Cheers,
Ellesse
You are right about needing to participate in social media communities. Some people only use them for self promotion. But that is funny because if they participated more, their self promotion ability would greatly increase.
Wise words… and something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I more or less ignored social media until I got hit by a traffic wave, and immediately wanted to recreate the effect. Needless to say, I didn’t. But I have discovered the amazingness that is SU, and enjoying it for its own sake!
As a ‘blogger, I’m very much aware of the traffic potential of social media, but I steer well clear of the self-promotional “push” aspect — whereby some submit their own stuff.
As much as social media is conversational, it’s also about exchanging trust as a currency.
As is the case with life in all quarters, irony abounds, and I can’t pass trust about my own stuff. That trust must come from elsewhere…
[...] Have Bloggers Become Social Media Abusers? - Monika has written a great guide for how to properly use social media. [...]
Joanna: likewise, I’m glad I met you too.
Betshopboy: that is great to hear. Now you need to build on this by becoming a good SU user and you could experience this again in the future.
Ellesse: thank you, I felt it needed addressing and I’m actually very happy that it is of use to some.
Fred: yes, you are dead right. It’s kind of ironic but true.
BTW, thanks for the blog post too.
Suzie: SU is really great. I do love this platform too and am still learning every day. It is fun to network with others and help them get noticed. Hopefully you can recreate your earlier success sometime.
Wayne: you said that very well. Trust comes from credibility and credibility comes from being an honest carer and helper.
That’s how I see this anyway.
Like you I’m youngster at Blogging but I’m an oldster otherwise and I find blogging a refreshing way to increase my talent as writer as well as hoping to increase my personal growth financially.
JBWriter
@ JBWriter: Not sure what you consider a youngster, but I have been blogging nearly four years now. Not on this blog though. Would be nice if I did.
I’ve been to your blog and you have some good stuff on there for writers like me. Keep up the great work. I will be back for sure.
[...] Have Bloggers Become Social Media Abusers? [...]
Nice point. As you said, there are many people abusing of those services… Social medias is for sharing information. Instead reading google news or something, I prefer to look up Mixx or Digg to see what’s new…
Great post and bloggeries in general. I came across your blog from a plurk by a good social media user genuinely enjoying the read. I enjoyed it as well.
All the best,
Rob
@ Bloggeries: Hi Rob and thank you for taking the time to say hello. It’s great to hear that a social media site has sent you here after all. Makes my work all more worthwile.
I look forward to seeing you back soon.