Keep it simple, stupid: Making friends on social sites like Digg, Twitter, Reddit and Mixx

I can't believe the number of articles that over-complicate and philosophize how to enjoy and do well on social sites. (Or you can skip to the big list of links.) Disclaimer: This isn't any kind of "always works" formula for manipulating votes. It's just a simple introduction with some common-sense tips. I'll start by talking about Digg, and then cover Twitter a bit:



Getting your item to be "made popular" on Digg.



The first stage is watching your item climb the "Hot in [subcategory]" upcoming page for your post. For example: digg.com/all/world_news/upcoming. If your post rises here, it will either disappear or make the "Top in [category]" page. Example: digg.com/world_business. Making the top of your category page will bring you TONS of traffic. If it fades, it was either surpassed by faster-rising submissions, or too much time elapsed (over 24 hours or so). But best of all is making the front page of digg overall.



When my last post made the front page of digg (a photo) it rapidly received over 140,000 views and well over 1,800 diggs. I deleted it pretty soon after, mainly because I decided it was indirectly unkind to the family involved. (But you can still see the digg submission and thumbnail here.) Now, on with the "how to:"



Make your homepage your friend's submissions



Add the user who submitted something you enjoyed to your friends. Make the feed of your friend's submissions one of the home pages in your browser. (You do have multiple home pages, right?) Press the F11 key at the top of your keyboard when you're browsing friend's submissions (press it again to return to normal mode).



The more friends you add, the more time you should spend finding and digging stories only from your friends submissions or shouts. It's amazing how much good stuff doesn't make it to the home page.



On Digg, this page is digg.com/users/[YOURUSERNAME]/friends/submissions. (The equivalent page on Reddit is reddit.com/r/friends/new.) Digg headlines and descriptions that you think look worthy and go back through your list of dugg stories to chose ones to read. Unless you have a lot of free time, you should digg things that look good and only later go back and choose which ones to read. You're watering the garden for your friends by digging their stories, as long as you digg them while they're new, or barely a few hours old. (When you have a lot of friends, you can make your homepage the feed of your friend's shouts.)



I don't advise digging someone's story, and then shouting to tell them you did and ask them to digg something back. But when someone shouts this to me I almost always take a close look at what they've got.



DO click the link at the top of Digg that says new shouts, and digg all you like. Shouting is more of an advanced topic, (here's a basic how-to shout on digg) but for sure experiment by sending a few, and reading most that come your way.



For some great Reddit-specific tips, try this article.



Note that "shout to all" only goes to your first 100 friends, so you'll have to manually shout to each 100 when you have more than 100 friends (and you should!) Also realize that Digg adjusts how features work from time to time, so references go out of date from time to time.



Link to your followers content when appropriate



On sites where users promote their own content, I'll use Twitter as an example: link to their content when appropriate in your @ comments directly to them. It lets others visit the site your are referring to, and helps promote their work. On Twitter, starting a comment with @[USERNAME] adds your post (called a "Tweet" on Twitter) to what is essentially their public inbox (twitter.com/replies).



Understanding Twitter



Prefer a simpler introduction to Twitter? Here's a great video introduction:

Always send a Tweet thanking anyone who follows you. It's the perfect way to make a connection. When Direct Messaging ("DMing") , if you're not sure if it would be perceived as spam, you can ask in the message. (Disagree?) Or don't do it. It's a great way to open a conversation, but be careful with it. You can say, for example, "[Brief message with link]. I don't/won't usually DM links, please say if this is spammy ..." Also realize that some users get their DM's on their phone.



Of course, if you really want the inside scoop on how people use Twitter, there is none better than the hilarious collection of inside jokes in the video below, "No Twitter for Hitler."

Follow your friends around the web



Comment on their blog posts, join their network on LinkedIn (why?) or elsewhere--at least read their profile!



Find people you respect, or have something in common with, and give them some attention. Set aside some time to read what they've written and when you find something you like, say something thoughtful about it in a comment or message to them. And avoid folks that seem like a poor fit for you, just because you're supposed to "network." Look for people you can help, like minds, and people willing to help you, in that order. I can't tell you how many times I've done a Google search for something of interest to a new contact and found something that helped them. Really. Othertimes it just helps me learn a little more about them.



Tools: Once you get better at this stuff ..



.. grab some tools to make it even easier:

• DoshDosh has a great list of Tools for Active Digg users.


• Here's a list of tool lists from stejules;


• Add Reddit Comments To Digg;


• Twitter autocomplete;


• Cool social site tools for FireFox.

Oh .. and use FireFox; it has hundreds of incredibly useful add-ins and extensions that you can't use without FireFox.



Also, read a few articles, get a few tools, and put your own wisdom down in writing (everyone else does). But if you're really geeky, this Forrester research post is worth a look. Any sites you would recommend? Also check the big list of articles at the end of this post.



Creating content that becomes popular on social sites



Not going to reinvent the wheel: here is an excellent article on creating good viral content, or, if you need to hear from the "experts," try this article. Recent research indicates that to give articles the best chance to go viral (such as reaching the front page on Digg), you should submit them after (or before) dinner (C.S.T.) Tue-Thu. Results go down if you submit earlier in the day or earlier in the week. The best days in order, best to worst, are: Thursday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday, Monday, Saturday or Sunday. If you're seeking to expand on Twitter, this looks like a collection of interesting tools.



There's a lot more that could be said, but somehow these basic ideas seem to be overlooked a lot, so I've kept this short and simple.



Comments?



Big list of Social Media articles by Chris Brogan



These appear with permission of Chris Brogan. Click the headline above for links to the articles:



Community Development

• Understanding Community Development Strategies


• Ways to Disrupt a Community


• Why Do Community Development


• Should Your Small Business Use Community Tools


• The Long Tail of Community


• If Communitites Are Just Marketing Pools


• The Magic of Including People


• Meeting People at Events


• The Community Play


• The Community Ecosystem


• How Blogs Improve Customer Service and Product Development

Social Networks

• Three Things LinkedIN Does Better than Facebook


• How I Use Facebook


• Things To Do on Facebook


• Facebook - Let Me See My Friends


• Fix Your Facebook Profile Now


• Facebook and the Social Graph - Who Benefits


• Five Things to Do on LinkedIN


• Considering Social Etiquette


• Social Networks are Your Local Pub


• Why Join Another Social Network


• Marketers in a Social Network World


• Real Live Human Social Networking


• Social in Real Space vs. Social Networking


• Making Social Networks Work


• Improve Your Social Network


• The Importance of a Human Social Network


• Three Untapped Values of Social Networks


• Five Things to Do at a Social Networking Meetup

Social Media

• Social Media Starter Pack


• A Basic Social Media Strategy


• My Social Media Toolkit


• A Sample Social Media Toolkit


• Participation- The Key to Social Media


• Social Media - Talk is Cheap for Businesses


• How Big Companies could Use Social Media


• Social Media Inside the Firewall


• Social Media Power Secret - Listening


• Small Businesses And Social Media


• Social Media is a Set Not a Part


• Social Media for Your Career


• Help Someone Understand Social Media


• Social Media as Personal Power


• Snake Oil in Social Media


• Using Social Media to Meet People


• Social Media Starter Moves for Entertainers


• Social Media Starter Moves for Real Estate


• Social Media Starter Moves for Freelancers

Twitter

• How I Use Twitter


• Deeper Twitter - Tuning Twitter for Value


• Newbies Guide to Twitter


• Twitter as Directors Commentary


• Twitter as an Advisory Board

Personal Branding

• The Power of Personal Leadership


• Slicing Time in a Face to Face Environment


• Brand Stories


• Some Quick Branding Tips for Individuals


• The foundations of Your Power


• Personal Scalability


• Personal Branding and Social Media


• Passion Drives Personal Brand


• Elements of a Personal Brand


• Challenges of Social Media Types in the Workplace


• The Value of Networks


• Scaling Yourself

Making Media

• Why Create Personal Media


• Whats Your Social Media Strategy


• Media Makers Next Steps


• Blogging Advice for the Next Level


• Expand Your Audience


• The Future of Microcontent and Hperlocal Media


• Why Bother Blogging Podcasting and Using Social Networks


• Consider Your Media-as-Business Strategy


• Marketing Media Means Moments That Matter


• Using Social Sharing to Extend Your Message


• Performance and Your Audience - Blogging Tips


• Advice for Traditional and Local News Media


• Tagging and Metadata and Why Bother


• A Sunday Newspaper Strategy for Traditional Companies


• Promoting Your Media


• The Power of Links


• 20 Blogging Projects for You


• Succeeding in Independent Online Media


• Seven Blog Improvements You Can Make Today


• Keeping the Blogging Fires Burning


• 100 Blog topics I hope YOU Write


• 100 PodCamp Topics for You to Cover

Read more!

Ever been brainwashed? Sure about that?

One of my favorite themes is how identification (a key tool in brainwashing) is used in marketing and politics. In brainwashing, we are made to label ourselves, and then brought to "see" how in labeling ourselves we have also accepted other things about ourselves.



In one experiment, people are asked to put an ugly billboard or small sign on their lawn promoting community safety. They are shown a picture of what it would look like on their lawn; huge, ugly, totally inappropriate for the yard of a house. Not surprisingly, no one wants the billboard---it's ridiculous.



A second group is only offered the small sign, some accept, and are praised for being a particular type of person.



Later, the researchers (still posing as community activists) return to those in the second group who accepted the small sign, and use the same words of praise before asking them to "upgrade" to a billboard size sign (still ridiculously large and ugly). They are encouraged to believe that they are the kind of person, as demonstrated by their previous action of accepting the small sign, that would do this.



Proof of how powerful this technique is



Amazingly, some accept the billboard for their lawn! If this was an actual attempt at brainwashing, a smaller step would have been first, which they could have justified to their neighbors. The act of justification to others is a key step in brainwashing, solidifying the self-identification, and increasing the separateness from others. Divide and conquer. You would also be introduced to a group of others like yourself, also brainwashed. (If this sound a lot like single-issue politics, it is! An excellent modern-day example of brainwashing people.)



A favorite trick of Marketers is to fake an "authenticity" that we can identify with, and in the process of identifying ourselves with it, inadvertently trust the message. (Another issue on the web is how can we protect our reputation from attacks on it.)



Can you be manipulated?



One of the core tricks marketers rely on is that we don't realize we can be manipulated. Read up on the Obedience to Authority experiment if you don't think so. People argue about what it means, but remember this: it means most of us can be manipulated, most of the time (apologies to Abe Lincoln). You might also want to read 5 Psychological Experiments That Expose Humanity's Dark Side.



Brainwashing plays on our desire to remain consistent, getting us to agree to one thing, and then another, and then another ... Or, as Harry Beckwith says, "Certainty is a trick your mind plays on you; keep yours open."

Read more!

Domains Under $2? Simple! $1.99 Through Yahoo

Some people have heard of this deal, but don't know how to get it to come up. Other people think the deal has ended. Not if you go through the steps properly! Here's how:

How to get the offer to come up

Yahoo keeps threatening to make this go away, and sometimes it's inaccessible for periods. If you have a Yahoo! account, sign out first, then search Yahoo! for "1.99 domains yahoo" and click the relevant ad links. (Don't do this from anywhere but Yahoo!, so Yahoo! doesn't have to pay anyone for the ad!) It will step you through buying a domain. Confirm that the 1.99 price is showing on each screen.

Watch out for the tricks

To get to the domain search screen, look carefully at your choices. You don't want to click a link for hosting, for example, just for domains. And once you have entered your choice of domain, and Yahoo! comes back and tells you your domain is available to buy (see below for how to find a good name) if you look carefully at the screen, you'll see there are two buttons you can click to continue. Last I checked, they both said "Sign up." However, one will take you to a screen with an inflated domain price. If that happens, go back one screen and click the other button.

I suggest buying with Paypal to prevent the domain auto-renewing at a much higher price once the first year has ended. Or, if you are POSITIVE you will to keep the domain for more than one year, transfer it to GoDaddy right away for about $7.95. That way it will be yours for two years, and GoDaddy is unlikely to start auto-renewing at exorbitant prices (due to their business model).

Create a new account

You'll need to create a new Yahoo! account. Look for the confirmation email in the new account and click the relevant link and the account will go through faster (so you can set your DNS, etc.) Takes some minutes before the account is approved.

I switch from Yahoo! for later years sometimes. 1 & 1 hosting had a good deal for renewals recently.

How to find a good domain

Bust a name is really the best, IMHO. Builds domain names for you, finds synonyms, lots of tools for extending the name or creating special combinations, saving your searches, instant search, etc. MakeWords is good for a quick check with some common prefixes/suffixes. And Nameboy and Dot-o-mator have some nice options as well. (Sometimes it's easiest to start with Thesaurus.com or Wordsmyth though.)

Oh, and the Web 2.0 name generator is always good for a laugh -- or for ideas. (But it's results ARE real, available domains.)

Read more!

What motivates people? Harry Beckwith knows: The Beckwith 40

When I wrote about prof. Clay Shirky and giving people the chance to achieve higher needs, I was thinking about some of Harry Beckwith's genius.

We're not talking brainwashing here, this is common-sense human nature from a brilliant observer of it. One of my favorites from Harry is: The ultimate test of a communication: Does it make people stop what they are doing? That gem of advice is #40 on the list he calls the Beckwith 40.

So, for an introduction to Harry, here's a baker's dozen from the Beckwith 40: (The subheads are my addition. For the full list, Rajesh Setty has published it with Harry's permission.)

First, Understand How They Think

1. Your biggest competitor is not a competitor; it’s your prospect’s indifference.
2. Your second-biggest competitor is not a competitor; it’s your prospect’s distrust.
3. Your biggest obstacle is whatever stereotype your prospect has formed about you and your industry.
4. Prospects decide in the first five seconds.
5. Prospects don’t try to make the best choice. They try to make the most comfortable choice.
6. At heart, every prospect is risk-averse, and risks are always more vivid than rewards.

Second, Understand How You Need To Think

7. Beware of what you think you know or have experienced; memories fail people constantly.
8. For the same reason, beware of what others say they know or have experienced.
9. Certainty is a trick your mind plays on you; keep yours open.
10. If everyone likes your idea, it’s not an idea. Good ideas always make enemies.
11. Don’t create something that everyone likes; create something that many people love.
12. Research never shows anything; it only suggests.

Value, Communication, Action, Understanding

13. Never take seriously what people say they think, because people are never sure. Trust only action.
14.-40. Full list

Read more!