HP a Social Site???

1. 77

   LuisEGonzalezposted 11 years ago

   HP is (and has for some time) being categorized (Google) as being a social site much like Pinterest, Facebook etc.
   Does this categorization hurt HP and its contributors?
   
   
   
                                                                                
   

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      bethperryposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah well, I consider Google a personal information excavator instead of a search engine.

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   2. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      If anything, I think it would help, not hurt.
      
      Google hates "content farms".   Matt Cutts said he was declaring war on them back in 2011 and that hasn't changed.  If Google doesn't categorise HubPages as a social site, then it would categorise it as a content farm.  That would be disastrous!

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         LuisEGonzalezposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks that is what I was thinking but was not too sure about it.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Perhaps it's one reason why HubPages is still surviving while "content farms" like Helium and Yahoo Voices are closing down.

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2. 66

   relacheposted 11 years ago

   Didn't we have this exact same discussion 18 months ago, only the title had two exclamation points and one question mark instead of three question marks?
   
   http://hubpages.com/forum/post/2286579
   
   And then there was this awesome smackdown thread from six months previous to that.
   
   http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/96092

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   1. 77

      LuisEGonzalezposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Since HP is still being considered a social site regardless of how long (two years ago or 18 months ago) I was wondering what others feel about whether or not it is hurting the contributors and the site (today)........
      
      In other words and to be a little clearer..... does this feeling still holds true ? (today);
      
      "HubPages is not a social media site, so if you try to evaluate it as such, of course it will get a bad score! Marisa Wright posted 2 years ago"
      
      Sorry I will only use 1 question mark next time.
      
      
                                                                           
      
      
      
      
                                                                                 
      

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         The Examiner-1posted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Luis,
         It depends what type of social site you consider it. There are basically the insiders (members) who 'socialize' on here; because the outsiders (non-members) that leave comments only seem to do that and nothing else. Otherwise we would be seeing more of them joining, I believe that the ones who do join do so for other reasons.

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         1. 77

            LuisEGonzalezposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            I don't consider HP to be a social site but apparently Google does. Does the fact that Google "thinks" that HubPages is a social site have a negative effect on the site overall?
            I am asking those who know more about this than I do. What is their opinion?

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               galleryofgraceposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               I definitely don't know more about this than anyone else but I do have common sense. Every single page in HP has the "MODE social" tag at the bottom. Therefore Google sees it as a social site.
               
               This may also be why so many are getting "bad reputation" reports from their antivirus software.

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   janesixposted 11 years ago

   I suppose calling it a social site is better than calling it a content mill.

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   msdieliseposted 11 years ago

   I don't mind really... lol. Well I am glad I am able to make some friends here.

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      erinshelbyposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      LuisEGonzalez,
      I find your question fascinating, and I don't know more about this subject than you do. However, I have to ask: what would the **opposite** of a social networking site be, according to Google? Would it have to be a content mill, or could it be something else? HP does have the social aspects - sharing information, user-generated discussion, a membership that is open to anyone - but what is the **opposite** of those things?
      And does the revenue aspect of it impact any of this?

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      1. 77

         LuisEGonzalezposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I think being labeled as a social site is not as good as being thought off as a publishing platform, like Ezine where authors share their knowledge and expertise. But it is Google's decision as to how they place a label on any site.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

            Google regards Ezine as a content farm.
            
            http://www.webpronews.com/ezinearticles … te-2011-02
            
            As a matter of interest, where are you seeing the categorisation?  Are you sure it's Google deciding the category and not something provided by the site itself?

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            1. 77

               LuisEGonzalezposted 11 years agoin reply to this

               I became curious since in Analytics it falls under social (visits)

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         Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Why would it have to be the opposite?   Why can't it simply be something completely different?   However if you look at what HubPages is - a directory of articles by various authors on any subject they like - it does meet Google's description of a content farm so that's likely what it would be classed as.

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5. 65

   Astra Nomikposted 11 years ago

   HubPages is becoming more social, in that it is now more prominently allowing sharing of hubs via social media like Google plus, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.
   
   Does it actually compare to social media as a medium? HubPages is a medium so technically the answer could be leaning towards yes, just as a blog is a medium.
   
   Does it hurt Hubpages?
   
   If I was a person who uses all of the above social media then I would say no, it does not hurt at all. It gets us more attention and more traffic which is not found on search engines, and might actually be a way around any search engine search results.
   
   If you as a hubber don't show up in search engines results but still have a prominent place in social media platforms, them it favors you a lot. It is great organic traffic. As long as you don't over-promote, and find clever ways to get readers like having great hub titles and useful information or entertaining writing - you won't be worse off.
   
   I would also ask hubbers not to ignore LinkedIn as a social media platform. I get traffic from people there who see my work, and find me somehow. If a LinkedIn profile is filled in 100% it becomes a findable link on search engines.
   
   Just keep writing good hubs and people will find you. Remember lots of our traffic is now being sought on mobile devices. People are using social media apps to find us and our hubs. The more online you are with Social media platforms, the better. You will be more findable. I am finding this a lot.
   
   I hope this helps somehow.

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6. 65

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   The thing is, Hubpages *is* a Content site/farm/mill (albeit a good one).  So that is probably what we would get labeled if we tried to move away from the fortuitous but only tangentially correct social site label.

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