It’s rather disturbing, really. Our competitive nature seems to have transferred seamlessly onto the Internet. I’m not talking competition among businesses, which is normal. I’m talking about competition in the oddest places. Try looking at Entrecard, Yahoo! Answers, LinkedIn, and a host of forums on social networking sites, as well as pseudo-advertising sites. We’re all competing for attention. Worse, we’re rushing from site to site in order to raise our profiles with the Internet community.
Blogging should be different, but it’s not. We want followers! We want commenters! We want to be popular! And when we get no comments or we have no one who wants to follow our blogs, we feel a bit like that shy kid on the playground in 1st grade, waiting for someone to want to bother with us. And don’t we just feel a little of that anxiety you felt when the prom rolled around and no one had asked us yet? Or is it that Lori is living out her own issues online and the rest of the world is fine with this?
On Entrecard, which is a good site to join in order to drive traffic your direction, you earn points for “dropping” your card on others’ site widgets (like the one to your left there). You’re limited to 300 drops per day. I’ve never yet gotten past 30 a day – what a time sink! However, that’s not the problem. It’s the “ranking” that the Entrecard gurus give you for your “drop frequency.” It’s disturbing. Maybe I’m more competitive than I think (but I think it’s coming from my own stubborn streak here), but I get a little, well, worked up when I see that ranking, which others may be judging me on, and I’m faced with the choice – spend the time dropping cards or earning money. Guess which one I’m picking?
All these sites are brilliant in that they’re “rewarding” you for overuse of their websites and services, thus driving their own traffic on the backs of our insecurities. But what’s it doing to us? I admit – I’ve raced to join in on voting for blog award contests, begged shamelessly for nominations, and in general had to ignore my feelings that no one liked me when I didn’t get any notice. (I’m fine with it, really I am. Honest. Chocolate cures everything.) In a few cases, I put considerable effort into contests run by people I don’t even know. Who are they to judge me? But there I was, begging them to.
I feel the same way about social networking. I belong to just two (three if you count the Facebook page I never visit). It’s all I can handle and still work to make a profit. I don’t Twitter. I’m not ADD enough for it. I want to, but it seems like an incredible draw on my already-stretched time. I want to Yammer (and I’m doing my version here), but again, who has time? I signed up for Technorati, Bloglines, and a few others, but I can’t remember the passwords or why they were so important to me. I have a Tag and a del.icio.us on my toolbar – never used ’em. Have the RSS feed, but since you have to visit the blog in order to see the content, it seems a bit pointless. If I’m there, why not just read it without the RSS?
So tell me, what do you belong to? How is it useful to you? How is it detrimental to you? Why do you belong? And should I make an appointment for the shrink now, or does anyone else see the competitive nature of these places?
You’re hilarious! Well, I recently joined Twitter but am trying to limit my tweeting. 🙂
It is a bit crazy. I’ve forgotten some of my passwords too. It’s just so overwhelming!
You are right, though. It comes down to networking or earning…
*smiles*
Michele
Lori, I belong to too many now. I belong to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and accidentally joined a new Twitter networking site (long story, but it really was an accident). You really have to be careful with Twitter. I can see the benefits, but it can also suck away your time if you don’t stay focused on why you’re using it. I’m going to reaccess and scale back this weekend. I can only do do much social networking and pay my bills too!
In my case, ignorance is bliss. I kinda fell into the blogging thing, and one of my kids made me a Facebook page I just found out about (don’t ask). I’m too old to tweet or twitter or whatever. Blogging’s about all the social networking I can handle. All those buttons, widgets, doodads and stuff, if they appear on my blog, it’s because I didn’t know what I was doing when I was messing around. 🙂
I hear ya. I use Twitter, and while it does take up time in which I could be working, it has strengthened my relationships with other writer, and it’s a very quick pit stop for when I just need a minute or two to look away from my work.
I’m on Facebook, but purely for the Scrabble application, which I am addicted to. But again, it’s a 5 minute rest before resuming work. I need these brain breaks!
I also use Entrecard, but when the site is as slow as it too often is, I don’t bother dropping.
I’m someone who needs to walk away from something before I can finish it. Working for hours on end doesn’t do me any favours, and the work suffers. That’s just me, though!
Social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Naymz, Plaxo and two different Yahoo! Groups. I use Facebook a lot, LinkedIn and Yahoo! Groups occasionally, and do nothing with Naymz or Plaxo except keep my profile up there.
Blog-related sites: Technorati, BlogCatalog and Zimbio. When I first started my blog, I was pretty addicted to them, but since the newness has worn off I don’t do much with them at all.
It is a little overwhelming at times. One of my friends is a “signer-upper” and belongs to pretty much every single social networking site you can imagine (and probably a few you can’t). She used to send me invitations every time she joined a new one, and eventually I had to tell her to stop–if I want to join something, I’ll make the effort.
LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter I actually use, in that order of importance. I have accounts at Digg, del.ico.us, StumbleUpon, Technorati, MySpace, FriendFeed and probably others, all of which I have used exactly once, or at most in single digits.
Lori, I get your RSS feed, and it just shows headlines, so I have to click through to your site to read the post. However, you can change that — go to Settings, Site Feed, and select Full in the drop-down next to Allow Blog Feeds.
This may result in you losing a few visits that might otherwise come to your site… but it increases the chance that they will see your post in the first place, thereby reminding them of your existence.
I couldn’t agree more, it’s INSANITY! I like the “If you build it, they will come,” “Field of Dreams” motto, personally, all that other stuff is just absolutely crazy making!
It’s a constant juggle — how much do I need to do to market? How much is a waste of time that could be used to generate other income? I have no answers.
I don’t do Facebook, because they don’t allow pseudonyms. I don’t do Twitter, because I can’t see the point.
I’m on MySpace, but I don’t utilize it enough.
I’m involved on several yahoo loops for my fiction, but I’m not sure it’s actually positively impacted sales. I’ll have to take a look at the figures in a few months.
I prefer to just hunt down people’s blogs, and, if I like them, comment and keep visiting. Not the most time efficient, but somehow, it feels more personal.
Kirk, I keep it at headlines on purpose (and I try to make them enticing). I’d much rather have folks visit than read in their emails. :))
My daughter put up the Facebook page – or was it the MySpace page? Either way, I never visit them. I love LinkedIn – it’s like a professional MySpace. Technorati would be great if I remembered to visit. Same with Bloglines. I know I have a password, but which one?
Devon, I have to agree. I’d rather visit directly and feel like I’m part of the conversation rather than an observer.
Lori, well said! Something I’ve noticed is that people seem to get easily discouraged when their blog isn’t immediately at the top of every Google search, flooded with comments, and tweeted daily. It’s this sense of entitlement again! But I digress. I belong to a number of sites, but Twitter and LinkedIn are the only ones I really use. All this peer pressure — people keep sending me invites and I keep joining and then doing NOTHING.
Verification word: difyicha
Sounds like an Italian profanity…
kk
Lori, This is hilarious. I’m so glad I stumbled upon it!
A few months ago, I wrote a post about how much of a head case the online space can make us, because it’s easy to get caught up in measuring your impact online, and to in turn measure your own self-worth: “I Suspect Everyone Else Is Smarter, Better-Looking, Taller, Cooler, Cuter, Has Newer and Shinier Objects than I Do (and Is More Modest)”
http://www.annhandley.com/2008/06/26/everyone-else-is-smarter/
(And let me apologize in advance for commenting on your blog with a link to mine, but I do so only because I thought you’d appreciate it, just like I appreciated this post!)
I do appreciate it, Ann! Thank you!