New hubbers - STOP IT! Old Hubbers - YOU KNOW BETTER!

1. 88

   GA Andersonposted 10 years ago

   subtitle: MY rant on social media HUBSPAM!
   
   You hear it everywhere - Social media is where it's at! If you want mega traffic you have to look at using social media!
   
   But for you hub dummies out there that prompted this tirade - THAT'S JUST THE HEADLINE!
   
   You need to understand the details!!!!!!!!!!!
   
   They call it social media for a reason - it's where you socialize and interact - not just drop linkspam!
   
   It's not the "old" Google anymore. It's not how many links you spam around - it's about the quality of links to you!
   
   So guess what - when people's social feeds start reading like the hub list of your account status page - you get unfollowed - uncircled - an un-friended - BECAUSE THAT'S NOT WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA IS FOR!
   
   Do a little research - there are lots good how-to's to show you the right way to do it.
   
   Maybe I am the only one that feels this way, (but I doubt it), but I NEVER EVER click on a post  that is nothing more than a hubspam link - no conversation, no interaction, no nothing except: "Hey! Here's my second hub - How to roast turds - I hope you like it"
   
   Here's what I like - hitting the unfollow - unfriend - un-circle button for YOU!
   
   You may think you are accomplishing something because of all the hubspam links you have out there, but it's like fishing with an un-baited hook - it doesn't matter if it's 1 or 100 hooks in the water - because with no bait, nobody is interested.
   
   VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE
   If you want people to click on your links - get them interested in you FIRST! Then discussions and interactions will afford opportunities to place links. Otherwise - YOU ARE JUST HUBSPAMMING!
   
   In the new HP G+ community I tried to offer friendly tips and nudges to all you folks that joined - just to spray your hubspam. But you didn't listen, and now the only thing you see in that ghost town community is 20 miles of highway billboards proclaiming:
   
   Here's my latest hub - How to scratch your behind from the front.
   Here's my second hub - My gloriously orgasmic cornbread recipe
   Just finished my newest hub - How to trim your toenails with the opposite hand.
   etc. etc. etc.
   
   want to see for yourself? https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities … 1295766925
   
   ps. of course you know I don't mean you, because your writings are better than Hemmingway's, and more informative than all of wikipedia, it's all those other people I'm talking about.
   
   Guess what, you are wasting your time!
   Those links have very very minimal Google ranking value.
   And they piss-off most members of a social community.
   
   Your hubspam has driven everyone, except other hubspamers, out of the community.
   And you have squandered any goodwill and tolerance you may have received from other hubbers interested in who you are and what you write.
   
   Do you think other hubspamers are there for the social stuff, to meet, greet, and read? Just drooling as they wait for your next hubspam so they can read it because you're so great? Or are they there for the same reasons you are - to spray all their spam links too?
   
   As someone said, "There's no there, there anymore"
   
   Sorry if my position isn't very clear on this matter. If you are interested in following the discussion regarding the death of the HP G+ community, here's a thread about it.
   https://plus.google.com/u/0/10361373191 … K4CYrXX6C4
   
   GA

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   1. 0

      SassySue1963posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You didn't like my hub on "How to Slow Roast Turds to Perfection"?  Man, some people are tough critics.
      
      Social media has become a monster. We need some minimizing spray I think.

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   2. 74

      cheaptrickposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the great hub ideas!...except the corn bread one...a bit to weird for my *Taste*...I'd rather have something with a pulse for that.

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2. 59

   MelissaBarrettposted 10 years ago

   I'm not sure what it is you are hinting at GA.
   
   I hate it when you beat around the bush.

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3. 84

   Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years ago

   Wow - I had not been on the G+ site for many months, and I see what you mean.  It's a constant stream of 'Here's my latest' links.  There are several FB groups where people post links, too, and some are more spammy than others.  When you can look at a week or two of posts and see a huge ratio by one or two people, there's a problem.  You're right about the urge to unfollow people or even block them (on FB).  I've done that in extreme cases.

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4. 87

   TheKatsMeowposted 10 years ago

   GA Anderson, your faux hub titles had me laughing out loud! I have not been to the HUbpages google + site before so I do not know from personal experience about this issue, but I do agree with what you have said. Social media is social, so it means you need to interact with other people. The same goes for other places such as twitter, if you only post your own links on twitter, no one is going to want to follow you. It's better if you interact with other users.

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5. 93

   wildernessposted 10 years ago

   You just may not have to see it too much longer.  From a blog on constant content:
   
   https://www.constant-content.com/blog/2 … trategies/
   
   Rumor has it (rumor only) that google may address social site abuse in the near future.  It makes sense; google wants to find quality, not thousands of backlinks from an author proclaiming their own work.

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   1. 84

      Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      This is probably a dumb question, but when someone posts a link in a FB group, does that count as a back link in Google's 'eyes?'  I had somehow assumed FB links were in a closed environment and did not factor in for page ranking, etc.  You're right - the ax will fall one day, big time.  It will be as bad as Panda for some people.
      
      I guess there's no real way to know how Google views those things.  But I do wonder if they're not 'onto' the groups on FB and elsewhere that click on each other's articles (either here or on other sites).  That is not organic traffic, and I am fairly certain it's not the best way to get views.

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      1. 72

         livewithrichardposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         You're not going to like this but the answer is yes, and no.... links posted in groups and business pages are public but they are no-follow.  Links posted on your personal page are private and are not searchable and do not pass on any value for the page but may attract a few of your friends.
         
         Groups and Pages, though no-follow, can help in the SERP's but not with page rank, but even then it depends on the popularity of the Group or Page.  If you post a link on a Group or Page that has a couple hundred likes, you're not going to get much of any benefit.  Post the same link on a Group or Page that has 10's of Thousands of likes and you may get a small boost.  The bigger the number of likes the better the boost.  But don't go out looking for pages with those high number of likes to post links to a hubpage... the owners of those sites get $1000's to advertise on them.

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         1. 84

            Marcy Goodfleischposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks, Livewithrichard - I think that helps clarify how that works. The 'groups' I know of on FB are not public, usually, so they may not even get picked up by Google.  And I have wondered why people try to get a ton of 'likes' for their FB pages - I don't know how the page owner gets revenue, but there's got to be some sort of ad connection.  Any idea how that works?
            
            This is what I get for focusing more on being 'social' on those sites rather than on using them for 'other' motives.

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            1. 73

               Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Marcy, The owner of the page gets nothing. I have a Facebook page for my crochet site. It is profitable in that people join the page to get updates to my site. There is no ad income or anything like that.

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               livewithrichardposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Page owners can earn revenue directly through potential advertisers.  There was a local story here in Chicago about a 15 year old kid that made a fan page for a pro sports team here about a year ago.  This year that team had an extraordinary season and the fan page grew to over 50K... the kid was approached by Coca Cola and other High End brands to place ads on his page.  It wasn't disclosed how much but the news report eluded that it was enough to pay for college.   There is no official ad revenue program but just think about the reach a person has when they can get a message in front of 50K people all at once.  Of course these fans aren't going to unfollow his page because he has engaged them and keeps them coming back for more.

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               1. 88

                  WryLiltposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  They would have had to cut a special deal then - till last year it was against Facebook rules to pay for shoutouts.
                  
                  Facebook has now replaced that rule with the more enigmatic:
                  Third-party advertisements on Pages are prohibited, without our prior permission.

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                  1. 72

                     livewithrichardposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     You know as well as I do that there are creative ways around any roadblock....

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                     1. 88

                        WryLiltposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        Hehe true, true.

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               2. 73

                  Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  I'll need to tell my daughter about this. She has over 4000 followers.

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                  1. 72

                     livewithrichardposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     If it's a personal page, I wouldn't bother, but you could get her to like some of your hubs... 4000 followers can give her a reach of 10 times that amount.

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6. 74

   WriteAngledposted 10 years ago

   I am not surprised. People either use social media to interact with people they know in real life or at least people who have very, very related interests, or they use it to spam.
   
   I do not believe there is a middle way. On one unique occasion, a friend of mine on FB posted a link to a product he found very wantable. That product tied in extremely closely to the topic of a lens I had published on Squidoo (not a sales lens BTW).
   
   This is the only time ever that I have felt justified in commenting on FB with a link to an article of mine.
   
   I look forward to the day when Google removes "social" from its algorithm, having finally caught on that people do not actually want to be spammed by their contacts.

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7. 74

   WriteAngledposted 10 years ago

   In all fairness, I should also say that I have never found a convenient way to follow Google groups. I've accepted invites to several, but never know when anybody messages on them.

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8. 86

   IzzyMposted 10 years ago

   When I first started writing on the web, everyone said to promote your links to Facebook, Twitter etc, but I got a reality call one day when a very good friend of mine in real life told me apologetically that he had 'unfriended me' because he was sick of seeing links.
   
   Since then, I hardly ever 'promote' anything I have written.
   
   If you are not active in communities, it just pisses people off. Even now, I can see my mail-box filled up with 'links' promoted here, there and everywhere by people I have chosen to follow on certain social networking sites.
   
   I don't read them.
   
   Strangely, I still get views from the likes of pinterest and Facebook, but on hubs that I never shared.
   
   If you have all the time in the world to write hubs, be active here, there and everywhere online, and are nice to everyone, it might work.
   
   Otherwise, forget it.
   
   Write your hubs, then move on.
   
   But if you read what you consider to be outstanding work by a fellow hubber, then by all means share. I do, just not my own stuff anymore.

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      wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Izzy, I will share hubs, either mine or someone else's, ONLY if I think my family (which are the only real friends I have there) might enjoy them or find them useful.  Mostly recipes - many are accomplished cooks.  I shared on FB the one I wrote a while back on gun controls as most of my extended family hunts and has already spoken on the matter. 
      
      Like you, I started out sharing every hub and it didn't take long to get complaints so I quit doing that. 
      
      I also do pin my hubs, but only if I have a great photo for them.  That one works to a small extent as I get a couple hundred views per month and people are re-pinning my stuff.  Pinterest seems more like a site designed and expecting to see links - when I can couple that with a nice pic it seems reasonable to pin a hub.

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9. 72

   livewithrichardposted 10 years ago

   I'm not seeing much of a problem as long as the links are posted where they are allowed, the "Showcase your Hub" section.  Good communities self-police so the best approach is to comment directly to the offenders and also to the moderators.

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   1. 88

      GA Andersonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Greetings Richard,
      Your point has some validity.
      The problem with the HP G+, as I see it, is too many categories. It's either "All Posts" or clicking on each individual category to seek discussion.
      
      I made that suggestions to the mods (publicly) - two categories only: General Discussion and Showcase your Hubs. But it appears the mods left town too.
      
      If that were done, then it would be an easy choice to follow discussions without the spam, or click on the "showcase" if you want to see hubs.
      
      But even so, that still doesn't deal with the misunderstandings of new hubbers. Social media links that aren't pertinent to a discussion, or aren't from someone you subscribe to, are practically valueless ranking-wise, and potentially negative reputation-wise.
      
      I stand by my points that social linkspamming is a problem in social communities. And in the case of Hubspam links - I really think it is a counter-productive effort. What is the upside? I have al;ready stated the down-side.
      
      GA

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         livewithrichardposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Agree, nobody likes linkspam.  The problem is that not all social media/networks are the same. There are different rules of etiquette for every network.  I haven't been part of the HP G+ long enough to have any complaints but I do see it as a benefit to hubbers so that we can share tips in a forum manner without being bombarded with religious and political junk. 
         
         On the HP G+ community page, just below the main image, there is an "Actions" tab where you can filter the community posts from bleeding into your home feed. I do this for all the communities I have joined so I have to go to each one to participate.
         
         This will not solve the problem but it will reduce the spam on your home feed.

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10. 88

    WryLiltposted 10 years ago

    This is the same thing I say to Facebook page businesses who do nothing but spam their likers with their products.
    
    You need to build up trust by interacting with your fans - then when you show them a new product, or article or anything else you want to promote, they'll believe that it may be worthwhile, as opposed to you wanting to promote yourself without any thought for anyone else.

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11. 92

    agilitymachposted 10 years ago

    I have two Facebook pages.  One is my private page.  Here is my family, friends and large dog agility community.  The other is my articles and blogs page.  Here, I post links to articles and blogs I have written.  I sometimes post the links on my personal page, but I try to be very limited about that.
    
    People joining my articles and blogs page are doing so simply because they WANT to be notified when I publish a hub.  That's why they are there.  They don't want to join Hubpages and follow me here.  It's easier for them to get it on their FB newsfeed, so they join there.  My followers there are very niche.  They all do agility.  That's what they want to read about.
    
    When I publish a hub, I post it on my FB fan page.  I try to only post one a week.  I don't have time to write one hub a week, so I'll post an older hub that hasn't been posted in a long time for my newer followers on the page. I try to post on Monday or Tuesday afternoon.  My community is busy on the weekends, and my traffic falls off drastically from Thursday through Sunday afternoon.
    
    My followers then share and like my hubs.  Their friends share and like, and the love spreads.  They also then post the links to the hubs they like the most on their blogs, websites and groups.  This gives me the backlinks.
    
    My niche market is all on FB.  That's where we gather.  I've been a part of that community for years, so plugging in was a breeze.  I'd already built up the "social" side of it.  My big issue is how to plug into Google.   FB I've got down.
    
    If you want to use FB, build a fan page.  Be honest and tell people the page is where you will post your latest articles and blogs.  Those who join know full well what they're getting.  Then be sure not to post every day.  Once or twice a week is more than enough.

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    wrenfrost56posted 10 years ago

    LOL! Feel better after that? Joking aside I know what you're getting at, there is a difference between a little self promotion and spam. The most profitable traffic I find is organic anyway.

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13. 74

    NC4Life078posted 10 years ago

    MelissaBarrett gave me a good laugh with her reply. All in all, I understand how irritating Hub Spam can be for your friends. What I find is when you "sell" a good article to 1 person who can distribute it like wild fire. It keeps you from spamming and generates a large amount of short term traffic (300+ views in 24 hours depending on the content). Though I'm not so familiar with Google + I can see what you mean by the link.
    
    I would have to agree with Wrenfrost that the best traffic is Organic, because as quickly as the "wild fire" starts and spreads it will soon die out leaving you with 0 traffic. I'd take a Hub that generates 5 views a day opposed to one that receives 500 views once.

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