Participation
58Social Media and Participation
One of the biggest trends HubPages rides is the democratization of media. The web makes it possible for just about anyone to have a voice. To publish their opinion. Now, not all voices find an audience. Similarly many experts willing to share their knowledge find little demand for their hard earned knowledge.
Which I believe contributes to a false theory of many people on the web which is , if you write it they will come.
Watching HubPages for two years it's often difficult to predict who will gain an audience, but I think we have learned a lot about what gives people the opportunity to have a voice in a world with a lot of talkers and few listeners.
Add to the Conversation
Like having a conversation in your living room, no one enjoys the loudmouth jerk that talks soley about themselves. Instead, good social ettiquette is to contribute, to ask questions, and to share the stage with everyone that is discussing a topic.
Social media is similar. The best way to start is not to write long pieces tooting your own horn, but to leave thoughtful and insightful comments on others blogs and hubs. If I could give anyone some advice with starting with HubPages is I'd say, sign up, read lots of Hubs and leave comments. Engage the established authors with well thought out comments. You can skip the "Great Hub" and go straight to "I disagreed when you said this, and have you ever thought of that from this perspective." Or, comments like "I work in that industry and there is an exceptional opportunity to do..." Comments that engage help build your social media reputation.
After you have comments down, and it's time to make your first Hub, make it short and link to other people's Hubs. If you're a knitting enthusiast, link to great hubs on knitting. This is a continuation of adding to the coversation. Many blog platforms support trackbacks. Trackbacks are another way of adding to the conversation.
Why Participation Matters
Like many things in life, you can sit on the sidelines, or you can get in the game. Social Media allows anyone to get in the game. To touch others with their thoughts and expertise.
The more we share in a positive and informative way, the more we help eachother and empower others to spread the knowledge that is good and helpful. In short, participation is an opportunity to do a small part to help others.
When to keep your keyboard shut
Putting yourself out there in a very public way can be difficult. The top two reasons I hear why people don't make Hubs is that they don't want others to know their thoughts and interest. This saddens me. Especially when good people feel this way. Usually it's because they have had a bad experience of putting themselves out to be shot down or critized. Just for being complete, the second reason is people say they have nothing to share. No ideas, no expertise, nothing that anyone else would want to read - This topic can be a whole Hub in and of itself.
But, getting back to keeping your mouth shut. Since Hubbing is so open, no doubt that you will get a comment or feedback that is unnerving. When this happens, you have three choices. To delete the comment, to leave it and not respond and to engage. Just like other conversations, you have to pick. When it's well thought out, I engage. If it's mean spirited and nothing useful, I delete, and when it's useful to some degree - like an opinion that is different than my own, I leave it.
Signal to Noise
Just a few closing thoughts. Social media requires responsibility. It's up to all of us participants to add to the conversation, to keep our community clean and to help others. To help others by teaching them, by engaging them and by listening to them.
What each of needs to avoid is adding to the noise. To refrain from spam, from being overly critical, and not helping each of us improve.
-Good night
PrintShare it! — Rate it: up down flag this hub
Comments
@Gregory - Thanks for the comment;) First thing I did was head to your profile and see what kind of Hubs you make. Looks like you have it down.
Nice job on the sex and the city review. Looks like lots of good discussion on the movie...I'm going to head over and drop you a comment.
Paul, I appreciate your analogy of "to have a voice in a world with a lot of talkers and few listeners," but I think there is a fallacy here. People who write to express themselves are different from people who talk to expess themselves. Few people write. When people have committed something to print, either on paper or electronically, for others to read, they have gone way beyond the talker. Readers can go back and reread to make sure they understood, use a quote from the writer, as I just did. (In conversations, especially recalled conversations, someone will often say, "You said . . . ." which will be followed by a denial. Even my most unpopular Hub has been looked at more than once. I consider the writer the talker, and the readers the listener. So, with Hubs, as with other types of writing, there are more "listeners" than talkers.
Hubpages is the first social site I've actually joined. And I must say, the experience has been well worth the effort. I agree completely with your position on being a active part of the community. You can translate active participation everywhere you go. Networking in life is extremely important; especially in our modern, information-rich culture. I'm still learning this internet thing. So far so good. Thanks for such a wonderful site.
Good insights. Making money is far down the list of motivations for participation for most people, I suspect, although getting an occasional check is nice. HubPages for the most part is one of the friendliest sites in which I've participated. I usually don't find exchanging insults much fun. Although I do get personal once in a while, friendly and respectful disagreements are more fun. Of course, favorable comments are nice also.
Good morning, great advises on how to participate in every online comunities and get good feedback in return. I loved to learn more about trackbacks and pingbacks, thanks ;)
Definately I find it useful
Good take on this topic. Choosing when to, when not to, and how to use my voice online has been something I've thought a lot about lately. Oh yeah, and thought I'd let you know you misused your "theirs" and "theres" though.
Paul,
Great talkers are always recorded. Great listeners are always rewarded. You remember the old phrase "You can learn a lot from a dummy" this is so true. I have noticed from being in a few social networks that there is a certain misuse and abuse that goes on. Surely I have been guilty of such and will be again. I commend you for your hub and your view on participation. I think the watchdog theory is sickening. I believe that spammers and negative people take care of themselve. If you give someone enough rope they will eventually hang themselves. Socially inept ofline usually means the same times 10 online. Thanks for being here. I believe that HubPages just like every other thing on this earth needs a balance...the good and evil thing...it makes it fun and non-conformist....just like me
Paul this should go in the faq page on the forums, it covers a host of questions i get asked often by new hubbers, thanks.....jimmy
Discussion and conversation, Paul, is what life is all about. HubPages gives everyone an opportunity to participate with fellow members around the world. By participating in the conversation, we all learn from one another. I joined HubPages because I wanted to share my opinions, through my writing, with others. This is implicit in your comments about conversation. I hope to have some influence on the opinions, and even the emotions, of other hubbers and all those who read my scribblings. At the same time, I hope to learn from others -- and, indeed, I've learned quite a lot from other hubbers. I am very impressed with the quality of hubs published on HubPages. I've learned over the years that most people are quite intelligent, and that's been proven to me here on Hubpages. Some hubbers are proficient writers while others prove their intrinsic value through their sincere, personal and wise commentary on a wide variety of topics. All of us, I think, appreciate the opportunity you have provided us. Thank you.
great hub, it's written really interestingly. i've been less active these days but definitely will still be coming in from time to time to see everything that's been happening.
About keeping your keyboard shut...Too many of us were raised to be seen and not heard, and I think I'm safe in saying *especially girls*. There's nothing like that kind of upbringing to quash what could be a resounding and spirited voice.
HubPages makes it worth taking the risk to exercise a reluctant voice for two reasons: you can be anonymous if you want to, which can give you freedom to exercise that reluctant voice (who is going to tell your ex what you said about him on HubPages if no one knows who you are?), and, more important, HubPages is an incredibly supportive and respectful community. If you reach out by writing Hubs, engaging in comments and forums, and becoming fans of others, Hubbers will reach out to you.
If you should read something directed toward you that is bothersome to you, follow Paul’s advice. You don’t have to give anyone undeserved attention, or stifle your voice because of someone’s needy or mean-spirited comments.
The fear of being shot down is a big contributor to the belief that one has nothing worthwhile to say. You are right, Paul, that's a Hub in and of itself.
@Sally - One of the goals of HubPages is to connect people that don't know each-other around common interests. Your point on anonymity is an important one. Since some people want to share their thoughts, but don't want to be known. HubPages affords them this opportunity.
The downside of anonymity is that people do inappropriate things that they never would if they were known. In the end, we thing the benefit out weighs the downside. Excellent point.
Being relatively new to Hub Pages, I have made some observations. First, I am impressed with the overall quality of writing. Better than most content sharing sites. Secondly, how supportive the community is as a whole. It seems that many members are more than willing to enter the coversation. Colin Mecdougall, of "Fly On The Wall" Club fame, has written an excellent book on the whole subject of proper and stimulating posting.
Gregorythompson says:
2 years ago
Great hub...:) I mean very insightful because I value those comments that go beyond the "great hub" or "good job" and hope that the next time I write a hub those same people will leave more comments, whether good or bad.