Good lord, is it now a crime to social bookmark?

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   jfay2011posted 12 years ago

   Crime to social bookmark?  Are millions of us going to get called scammers because we want to social bookmark our stuff so we can gain traffic?  Not all of us can have a hub that is going to get tons of traffic, yet we want the traffic too.  What, we now can't social bookmark our stuff at different places?  We should be able to be free to do that.  Come on.  We can't get ourselves more followers from these different places so more people can read our stuff?  Come on!

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      Sally's Troveposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'm not sure where you are going here...you already have another thread about the same thing: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/87252#post1869561

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      wildernessposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      If you owned a social site that depended on ads to earn money would you want thousands of posts ("Go read this hub") that no one will ever read, that takes up server space, and that google will downcheck your site for?
      
      Find a forum post that asks a question your hub can answer and put a link in there.  Write a decent article on squidoo or other content farm and backlink to your hub.  There are a few places (redgage) that thrive on a simple backlink, but are pretty much worthless as a result.

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      2besureposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      The truth is, I bookmark everything!

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      relacheposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      When you don't bother to read the TOS of the sites in which you are participating and use the services in ways that violate those terms, it's not outright illegal but it will get you kicked off sites, or have the sites for which you write banned entirely from being able to use that bookmarking service.
      
      And from the line of questioning that you have been maintaining in the forums here recently, I'd say you exhibit behavior that makes you seem like a candidate for misusing those sites.

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         IzzyMposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         +1

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2. 60

   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   As far as I know, it is perfectly alright to brag about our stuff on our facebook, twitter, etc pages.  Has that changed?

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   QuestionMasterposted 12 years ago

   Technically, social bookmarking was originally created to share interesting sites you found - not to promote yourself. The general rule of thumb to avoid being banned for spam is to bookmark 9 other sites then 1 of your own.
   
   And personally I don't see the point in it. The traffic you get from social bookmarking is one off and very low quality (no clicks or sales.)

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      paradigmsearchposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I do that as well.

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   theherbivorehippiposted 12 years ago

   Your answer to this is in the other thread you have open. Izzy left you some really good advice you should find helpful.

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      jfay2011posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks.  It is just the fact that a bunch of people have been telling us to social bookmark and then , hey now it is not ok?

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5. 87

   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   Where's she gone??

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6. 78

   Greekgeekposted 12 years ago

   Social bookmarking sites are social communities. Imagine what this forum would be like if everyone just used it to drop bookmarks self-promoting themselves.
   
   Unfortunately, "get traffic quick!" gurus who are not part of social communities often include "spam social communities with bookmarks" as part of their traffic strategy, without consideration for the communities they are exploiting. This scorched-earth (or, perhaps, kudzu) approach has gradually fallen out of favor as social bookmarking communities have fought back -- not just socially, but through site scripts that make those links nearly useless as backlinks.
   
   I say again: Social bookmarking sites are communities. The community depends on members reading each other's posts, responding to one another, and making a conscious effort to contribute and be a part of the group.  It requires steady participation.... and no, just sharing links to your own stuff does not count.
   
   If too many outsiders barge into social bookmarking communities for the purpose of self-promotion, it changes the community from a group of people talking to one another to a bunch of individuals wearing earplugs, each trumpeting on a megaphone, "Look at MY stuff! Look at MY stuff!" At which point the community is destroyed.
   
   That is why nearly every online community bans or limits self-promotion in its TOS.  It's why Digg, Reddit and similar sites have made links nofollowed unless lots and lots of members "vote up" a link. (Nofollowed means search engines won't count the link as a backlink.) It's also why members of Digg and Reddit react with hostility when they think someone is using their community mostly for self-promotion. They are protecting their home, just as you (I assume) flag spam and plagiarism on Hubpages to make sure it doesn't get devalued by search engines.
   
   Note, however, that there are two different types of social communities. The older kind is social bookmarking sites: Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious. On them, you tun into trouble with excessive self-promotion.
   
   Twitter and Facebook are different. People can opt in to your channel. Unless they choose to subscribe to your account, they will not see your link drops. Therefore, you can link drop on those sites however you wish. People can then decide whether your links are interesting to them, and whether it's worth their time to follow you. That kind of social traffic is valuable, because followers who genuinely like your stuff are liable to share it. The catch: you must earn people's interest and attention with your content. They won't follow you unless you give them something worth following.
   
   The web is infinite.
   
   What have you got to offer, that's worthwhile enough for people to look at your stuff instead of the rest of the web? The bad news is, they have infinite choices. The good news is, you are unique, with your own knowledge, interests, and hobbies. Share those. Your passion and knowledge will win like-minded followers, although it does take time for them to find you.

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