I used a bit of Digg, StumbleUpon, BlogCatalog, MyBloglog and other social networks to take a peek on how to use these. I did not get too far with Digg and StumbleUpon.

Digg and StumbleUpon

It seemed to me that Digg and StumbleUpon are two similar sites that let me interact with others. I can promote my sites by simply submitting my own posts to them, but as a rule, these social sites are made for members to submit content of other people.

Both sites are made on the premise to change the way people access information. Unlike search engines, where the most relevant site appears on search results, Digg and StumbleUpon are entirely powered by the votes of the community. The most popular site gets featured at the front page – this post also gains a significant amount of traffic driven to the site.


photo credit: steve.wilson (Flickr)

This is efficient, because I find good content that show up on the front page.

Other impressions and notes from other bloggers that I had seen with Digg and StumbleUpon are:

  • There are so many members. Getting popular with both sites may take some time.
  • A blog owner keen on promoting his blog should be consistent in using both sites to drive massive traffic.
  • Traffic is not consistent. There could be a thousand of visitors in one day and none on the next day.
  • Visitors are ad blind. Even if there are thousands of impressions from this site, you might not be able to earn from these because they have the tendency not to click on ads. There are some bloggers who complained that they had not earned a few cents from those thousands of impressions.
  • It is a “fake” traffic where one gets to see a site, rates the site if the visitor wants it, then proceeds to view the next site. When I stop using the services, then I get no visitors at all.

BlogCatalog and MyBloglog

BlogCatalog’s strength lies on its community discussions, while MyBloglog’s advantage is on its tag system. I think both sites are great in finding bloggers who can turn into loyal readers of a blog. Participating in BlogCatalog’s community can help in connecting to other bloggers, while in MyBloglog, the generous use of tags greatly helps other bloggers find your blog.

Twitter

I had been using Twitter for quite a while. I find this useful to do mini-blogging, so I don’t get to worry about putting up a new blog post. Even reaching out for help is better in Twitter, because there can be somebody who can answer your concern.

Facebook

Facebook is a more advanced Friendster account to me, but I’m still keeping my Friendster account intact to connect to non-blogger friends. Facebook lets me put in a lot of timely content – Tweets, blog posts, Diggs and StumbleUpon submissions. Most of the content automatically posts out to my Facebook profile, so I get to promote all the other social networks to my friends in the profile.

Everyone is Still Invited

Of course my first impressions may be wrong. I’m still trying to learn a lot from these sites. If you are experienced in any of these social networks, do leave me a tip or two.

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