Writing Contest! Win 3,000 EC
Over on Chain Drop I talk a lot about making and keeping friends. And when a contest we recently tried to run completely flopped because no one entered it, except for one contestant, whose entry was eaten by our entry form, Dane says to me "what we need is to bring in all those Writers like in Tiffany’s writing group….They would write good pieces about how they use social networking". So I thought to myself, I’m friends with a bunch of those writers. And some of them I know read my books blog if not Chain Drop.
Which is why I am announcing here on The Thin Red Line, Chain Drop’s Social Networking WRITING contest, where Everyone’s a winner. The contest rules are really simple:
Write a three to five paragraph entry about how you use Social Networking. It doesn’t have to be about any particular social networking site or about any particular aspect of social networking; just write about whatever you want to as long as it relates to social networking, it’s all good. NO link back is required, feel free to post your entry as a comment to this post or on your own blog and leave your link in the comments.
Feel free to comment about any entries that have been posted. Each substantive post about social networking and Each substantive comment about a previous post will count as one entry.
On February 28, 2008 I will close this post to further comments. I will remove any comments that are inappropriate or insubstantial prior to selecting the winner by using a random number generator to select one of the comments as the winner of 3,000 Entrecard credits to be purchased by Dane and Alan just for this contest. And if you are not into Entrecard you will have the option of receiving from us via Paypal the cash price we would have topay for the credits on 2/28/06. All of the entries and comments may also be published on Chain Drop in a special post about this contest. By submitting your work you grant us the right to pubish your submission on both blogs as described. You retain all other rights to your work.
There are quite a few social networking sites that I use regularly, and others that seem to fall by the wayside quite rapidly. I’m a big fan of StumbleUpon and have found SU to be the most useful in bringing in quality web traffic, that actually leads to increased subscribers instead of people just dropping by to mount up credits like with Entrecard.
ENTRY # 11
Entrecard is not to be ignored either, but I haven’t had much time lately to pursue the
boredompleasures of chain dropping, due to health issues and my father in-law being in the hospital again. Entrecard does provide some means of traffic, but it tends to give a high bounce rate with people just dropping cards and immediately going to the next blog and the next. I have gotten a few subscribers from Entrecard chain dropping, so I can’t say it doesn’t bring benefits.BloggingZoom is also a good social media site, although it seems to be developing into something akin to Digg with category tags mainly focusing on “blogging” or celebrity b.s. that I couldn’t care less about. There aren’t very many blogs in my own niche that have joined BZ, so I do hope more people will join BloggingZoom that write about relationships, family, parenting etc. The latest word is that some great improvements are to be launched very soon, so hopefully networking will bring it’s rewards as well.
My personal opinion of Spicy Page is that it simply sucks, and it sucks big time! A complete waste of time and effort. However, Cre8Buzz has some fabulous members that actually interact with each other and become subscribers and frequently comment on posts. Cre8Buzz can sometimes be cumbersome to navigate in search of other like-niche bloggers, but well worth the effort. Currently, members of Cre8Buzz are only able to join one category group, when many members qualify to be members of several all at the same time. I’m a woman, but I’m also a mom, so I feel I should be able to be a member of both.
By and large, StumbleUpon provides the best advantages to bloggers over and above any other social networking site around. Anyone that isn’t a member of SU is really missing out.
Funny. I left a comment and it didn’t seem to get picked up. I was saying that though I belong to Facebook and Twitter and Utterz (and even My Space, though I never go there), I don’t really “use” them for anything other than diversion. However, most of my best real-time friends came about through meeting first on line, mostly through CompuServe back “in the day,” and then eventually meeting face to face. I cherish those friendships.
ENTRY # 10
My first social network was Friendster, and I had a lot of fun just figuring out who knew who. It was the best way to reconnect with my old friends and discover our common friends. Some even went so far… in that they gossiped with me about our common friends. It did occur to me that they must be gossiping about me too, but it was so much fun so I played along.
I then discovered forums and the power of real time chat, and IM conferences. I met a lot more people who shared my interests, and those that didn’t. I loved the ability to express my thoughts through posts and emoticons. I got involved in an MMORPG also, and I could say that online games are also social networks because we got to chat and play at the same time. There’s a common denominator, and most of the time the game came first before real life talks, but nonetheless i met some of the best people there.
I didn’t discover blogging, it came to me. At first, I staked out at comment sections of my friends’ blogs, particularly when the topic is hot. Then, I realized that “hey i can do this too!”, so I started to blog. Blogging opened up my world to more venues for social interaction online. And, though I soon realized that MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog are more self promotion areas than real interaction, I still enjoyed these two venues because I found a lot of good blog writers there. Entrecard is still the best discovery I made in my quest to learn more about this world of blogging. At first, I tagged along (some would call it stalking lol) some people in Entrecard who knew the system better than I did, observed what they did, listened to what they have to say about me and my blog, then I started making other connections and improving my blog.
This whole social network thing exposed me to different cultures, beliefs, writing styles and jargon. In fact, more than once, I had to message people asking them to explain a phrase or a whole sentence to me, because the language (though universally understood) has so many different nuances, depending on country of origin and background. And, it doesn’t stop there. I learn more about the internet and interaction each day as I go through the motions of getting to know people, learning about them and learning from them. In conclusion, I think social networks are convenient means of creating relationships without paying for the airfare.
ENTRY # 9
Besides Entrecard, I don’t use social networking very much. Occasionally I will stumble an interesting site, or see the effects of my site being stumbled. I also use blog catalog and my bloglog, but the traffic from them is so minimal I don’t push it. Technorati is a large source of backlinks thanks to the big bang meme I participated in. It was also great for favs and technorati rank.
In the past I tried Digg and Sphinn, but found neither site matched my content nor my reader base. In the future I would like to be more active in different web related forums. I get lots of hits from stating my opinion in forums, then people coming to check out my site. Thats without spamming links. I tend to comment a lot on other blogs, which is also a form of social networking. I visit their blog, they visit mine, and we get to know each other a little better.
ENTRY # 8
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The beauty of social networks is not just the ability to make new friends — but the ability to reconnect with old friends.
When high school and college ended, I, like all of my friends thought we’d be friends forever. We’d stay in touch as we spilled out into the far corners of the world. I graduated in the early nineties — just before the internet really began to take off. That meant the only actual ways to stay in touch were long distance phone calls (not an option for a recent graduate (except of course for those hundreds of dollars in international long distance, but that’s another story)) or hand written letters.
Gradually most of them disappeared.
But in the past few years I’ve been finding them again. First through Classmates.com, then Linkedin and MySpace, and more recently Facebook. I am finding all sorts of friends from the past. And even people I didn’t expect to keep up with.
But with busy work lives, it’s challenging to keep those rediscovered friends in the loop. That’s also where social networking comes in to play. The social networks mean I can see what my friends are up to. And they can see what I’m up to. I don’t have to do a copy and paste email. And when something really strikes a cord, we can connect through email.
Entrecard adds another element to it. My friends from the analog world can now see and interact with my new web friends who know me mainly through my blog and met me through my Entrecard.
Social networks aren’t a replacement for the world of wet ware. They are an enhancement to it.
ENTRY # 7
I have this problem with registering with all the social networking sites, but not really using them. MySpace, Facebook, Blog Catalog, Live Journal, etc. I’ve found that there’s no harm in having a profile on those sites, and people do find me and reconnect with me through them. I just don’t put all that much effort into them.
For me, EntreCard has been by far the most addictive of the social networking sites. I think it’s because it encourages interaction between bloggers out on their blogs, instead of within the confines of the social networking site. And as a blogger, that’s what interests me. But, I’ve only been a member of EntreCard for a week, so we’ll see how long the enthusiasm lasts.
ENTRY # 6
Ok here is my entry!
http://ahkong.net/how-deimos-uses-social-networking-entrecardcom-writing-contest-win-3000-entrecredits-by-alan-libdroneinfo/
A bit long winded, hopefully I am not disqualified.
ENTRY # 5
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Hmm. I don’t use social networking too much. It takes an awful lot of time which is a rare commodity. I stick to a few places to post. Blogcatalog has a writers and writing group which you could post to.
ENTRY # 12
I first began using the social networking site, Bebo, because some of my old schoolfriends wanted to reunited and have an easy way to catch up with the “gang.” I was dragged there kicking and screaming because I didn’t appreciate that sort of site. At first, it was a bit…meh. But old friends that I hadn’t seen in ten years contacted me out of the blue and made the place start to seem worthwhile. I had fun seeing what everyone was up to but nothing special. Until Bebo decided to make a book section. A place for aspiring writers to display their work. This caught my attention but I feared that it would be used and abused. As someone who has always been obsessed with writing, the idea of people being able to create their very own author pages to advertise their work was a new idea but a fascinating one. None of the other social networking sites did anything like that. I was wary at first until I read some exceptional pieces of fiction by some very strong, yet unpublished writers.
Although it was a good idea, I didn’t feel like enough was being done. I just wasn’t convinced that social networking was actually working for the writers. The authors had to resort to leaving their link in all of their comments just so people would find their page and possibly take the time to read it. This isn’t a great way of finding avid readers who will bother to read something that is so far unpublished. I thought that maybe I could do something to network these writers togeter. So, I came up with the idea of a writing blog called Bebo Author. Specifically created to help these people advertise their work to other like minded individuals. I knew it would be hard work. I knew it would never be a raging success. I knew that it would help some writers on bebo to find people who were serious about writing to give them some constructive criticism. I knew that some other writing groups would not be happy if I “stole their thunder” as someone put it to me. But what I wasn’t counting on was how much I enjoyed blogging. From one social network, I discovered another because I feel like every blog is a little self contained community. I was surprised to see how many of the bloggers I read, visited other blogs I happened across.
To this day, I’m glad Bebo was forced upon me. I’m glad that blogging became a natural transition to that – a way to network further if you will. I’m pleased to say I’ve found many new friends through my efforts at maintaining my own little social network. My blog has evolved since then but the friendships are still maintained, between fellow bloggers and fellow bebo authors alike. I’d like to think that social networking helps a lot of people in more ways than I can ever express. Personally, I’ve found people who have been given the courage and encouragement to pursue writing as a career. Others who have already started down that path and still more who are learning from those who are more experienced. Lonely people found friendships, social rejects found a welcoming place for themselves and people of all ages and backgrounds have discovered that they have more in common than they could ever have imagined.
Social networking can be a way to gain more traffic, yep. But, for me, there has been a whole lot more to it than just traffic.
ENTRY # 4
I use two main social networking websites. THE two main ones, as near as I can tell.
MySpace fills my email inbox with messages from strangers and virtual strangers, friends of friends, or listeners to my podcast who would like me to play their music or interview them. I have about 400 “friends” on MySpace, and I know, from blogging or other online interaction, about a hundred of them, and in real life, about thirty.
What I do with MySpace: I post a blog occasionally to let people know there’s a new podcast on the air or a new post at my actual website.
What I don’t do with MySpace: Network, socially.
Facebook also fills my email inbox, but, because I was more circumspect from the beginning as to whom I was going to accept as a “friend”, I actually consider the folks whose profiles are tied to these messages as friends of mine.
They invite me to play silly, mindless, time-wasting games. They “poke” me, the internet equivalent of the quick voicemail – “nothing to say, just thinking of you.” They encourage in more of a “come on, join the fun” manner than does MySpace, which engenders more of an “if you don’t do what everyone else is doing, we will all know how much you suck” mentality.
What I do with Facebook: Network, socially.
What I don’t do with Facebook: Feel like I’m being forced into anything.
Overall, the biggest difference I’ve found between the two is that my MySpace account has been compromised twice – someone hacked in and began sending pornography to my “friends” using my profile. I have learned vigilance with this site, since I no longer trust them – I change the password almost frenetically to foil the hackers. This has never happened with Facebook.
ENTRY # 3
The Accidental Social Networker
http://whatswrongaroundus.blogspot.com/2008/01/accidental-social-networker.html
When Alan from The Thin Red Line posted a message on Blog Catalog saying that he and Dane Morgan were running a writing contest at Chain Drop, my interest was instantly piqued. After all, I’ll take any excuse to write, and this excuse had the added benefit of being sponsored by a couple of bloggers I like and respect. What a deal. Or so I thought until I read the description and discovered that they wanted me to write about social networking and how to use it to your advantage.
That deflated me a bit for a moment, because…well…I DON’T use social networking. I just kind of go out into the blogging and Internet forum world and do what I do in real life. It took about sixty seconds for me to see the irony in my assessment. There I was, contemplating how sad it was that I had nothing to contribute to the effort set forth by these two interesting, knowledgeable bloggers I’d really come to appreciate in the Blog Catalog forums…you’re way ahead of me, right?
So I thought I’d stop over and check out the actual rules, and this is what I found about midway through the opening paragraph: “Dane says to me ‘what we need is to bring in all those Writers like in Tiffany’s writing group….They would write good pieces about how they use social networking’. ” I guess that writers’ group had slipped my mind for a moment. It’s part of my non-social-networking campaign, I guess. It currently has 627 members.
So while I’m not doing any social networking, rarely thinking about driving traffic to my blogs, and posting to my blogs when–and only when–the impulse strikes, I am in fact getting regular traffic from a couple of social networking sites, meeting a lot of interesting bloggers, and amassing a writing group of several hundred members. Here’s my secret: I show up in online places and do exactly what I’d do in real life. I talk to interesting people whose thought processes intrigue me and I answer questions when I can and lend a helping hand where I’m able. And people respond–at least a fair number of people–by visiting my blog and commenting on my posts and linking to me and Stumbling my posts, and the next thing I know, there’s traffic.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m quite sure that if I took a more calculated approach, there would be MORE traffic. But I think on some level, the foundation is the same as it was when our parents were whispering advice as we headed out the door to kindergarten or on our first dates: Just be yourself.
ENTRY # 2
Social Networking — well considering all the SN “tools” there are available to us, writing a 3 paragraph comment about them shouldn’t be too strenuous a task. I can certainly use the credits as my account is sorely depleted right now and Saphyra’s blog is available to adverts. (or was 10 minutes ago).
Social Networking is a term used by we netizens to describe how we interact with each other. We do it through tools such as Stumble, Entrecard, Facebook, and MySpace. We write blogs (web logs) of our innermost thoughts, ideas, fantasies and invite everyone at Entrecard, Facebook, MySpace, Stumble (and countless others) to come and read what we’ve written. If we’re interesting enough, we get positive reinforcement of our efforts in the form of “card drops”, “stumbles”, “diggs”, or other such once-removed rewards. If we’re REALLY good, we get the gold which is a comment.
Comments are the lifeblood of a blogger’s sphere. Comments spur us on to ever more flamboyant posts (stories) about our chosen topic. Sometimes we’re lured into selling our blog-space for filthy lucre — we add widgets that display ads for other websites, businesses, or blogs. This in the hopes (of both the advertiser and the advertisee) that the “juice” of the blogger-with-comments will flow along the electrons that make up this thing we call the internet to OUR website, virtual store or blog, thereby empowering us with the same life-force of web popularity.
I must confess that I am no different — I too aspire to be well, maybe not a super-blogger, but at least a familiar one. One that my readers can feel comfortable coming over to my blog to hang out. They’ll know that they are welcomed no matter how contentious their comments are (as long as they remain civil at any rate). Words are the coin of my realm. Come and spend some with me.
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ENTRY # 1