Category — Digg

Every so often one of my marketing friends will ask me, “How big is your subscriber list.”

I used to answer, “I don’t have any subscribers, but I do have friends and contacts on the sites I’m on.” (Although I recently discovered I actually have quite a few e-mail subscribers…Thanks guys!)

But, when I’d answer this, I’d throw my marketing friends into a tizzy. “You have to have subscribers. How else do you let them know you have something new to share.”

Which of course, I’d answer with, “The same way I always do. I’d share it over the social media sites.”

When we arrive at this point, it’s a perfect time to explain about Reach.

Reach is the number of people I can potentially reach out to on a site (not counting others sharing my info).

One of the great things about Reach is that it can even be explained mathematically. And of course, anything that can be explained mathematically has now grown exponentially in how important it really is.

So, here is my basic equation for Reach:

Reach = Number of your subscribers x site’s retention rate

For example, twitter’s retention rate is about 40% according to the latest Nielson survey (which included twitter app users if you were wondering). Since I have around 800 followers on twitter (rounding it off to make the math easier), that means that my Reach is:

800 x .40 = 320

A few sites don’t just send things you share to your followers.

For those sites, the basic equation is added to the number of non-followers that receive your posts. StumbleUpon is a great example of this.

For StumbleUpon, the equation looks more like:

Reach = (subscribers x .35 (+/- .3)) + (subscribers x retention rate)

I can’t find a record of SU’s retention rate, so just judging by my subscriber list (which SU posts in order of Online Now - Hasn’t Been On In Forever) I’m going to be conservative and say a 50% retention rate although I’d guess it tends to run a little higher. The non-follower half of the equation depends on what category you choose for your post (a more popular search category will raise the number significantly) and possibly how many followers you have. So far it’s drawn only from my experience. I’d love to hear your numbers to help make the equation more accurate.

So, my average Reach on SU looks like:

(600 x .35) + (600 x .5) = (210) + (300) = 510

At which point in the conversation I can easily explain why StumbleUpon is one of my favorite sites, since the numbers have already told part of the story for me.

So, what’s your Reach?

Photo by i33

If it isn’t bad enough that the economy is in disaray, or that gas prices are skyrocketing, or that natural disasters are constantly knocking at our back door, now I HAVE BEEN BANNED ON DIGG!

I have been a member of the Digg community for over a year and just in the last few months have really tried to boost my presence and utilize Digg as the great social media tool that it is. A good friend suggested I use the Greasemonkey Script to help in Digging my “friends” submissions. Sure, it made for faster and more convenient digging; but then, Digg changed their minds about allowing their users to use this kind of tool……

“A few folks have been discussing the use of scripts on Digg recently, so I wanted to jump into the conversations that happened this weekend. Scripts/bots place additional load on Digg servers (slowing things down for everyone), so using them is a Terms of Use violation that will result in losing access to your Digg account. We are currently looking deeper into recent script activity.”

As of today, there have been about 500-600 accounts banned from Digg and those that have e-mailed their apologies to Digg Support are being turned away with more than a slap on the hand………

“The account has been banned permanently, and will not be reinstated. Because we must be vigilant in protecting against activities that compromise the Digg community, this decision is final and irreversible.”

Wow! That’s harsh. My question is, why no warning, like if you are spamming? Why no e-mail letting us know of the changes to the terms of service so that we might have the opportunity to adjust to their rules? This type of behavior is just going to frustrate Diggers even more, because not only are accounts now banned but many have lost a lot of their friends.

How am I handling my particular execution? I’m hurt, offended and angry but be that as it may, it won’t bring my account back, so I guess I’ll just settle on being an example to all Diggers and say “Don’t use Scripts!”

Do you remember that book, The Digging-est Dog? It is about this sweet dog, named Duke, that was adopted from a pet store and had no skills what-so-ever, for doing what dogs do best–digging holes. His friends rejected him because he could not dig and he ached and ached from trying so hard. But Duke’s determination finally paid off one day when he gave digging one last try….

“Sammy Brown looked out at me. He saw me digging happily. ‘Good for you Duke’, Sammy cried. ‘I knew you’d do it, if you tried.’ So I dug further. I dug faster. I dug and dug to please my master.”

The story goes on to say the Duke got quite carried away with his digging. So carried away, in fact, that he was labeled a Digg Spammer. He began to “shout for friends” all the time to digg. He stole a top digger’s icon for extra diggs and began leaving threatening comments to those that would not Digg his shouts.

There are many reasons the Digg Community may perceive Duke and others, a social media spammer and Greg, over at 10E20, has a great checklist that everyone should consider when determining whether or not you are seen as the positive social media maven you think you are.

So ask yourself this, do your actions depict you as a nuisance like Duke, or are you keeping your digging under control? After all……..

“Digg is about community participation, NOT about forceful promotion. So take some of these spammier tactics into consideration and help keep the community (and your account) clean.”

Yesterday the social networking site, Digg was down for a “brief period” while they performed some type of maintenance to the site. Rather than just posting a “down, come back later” message to diggers, Digg decided to list a few sites that they recommend.

“Digg will be down for a brief period, while we make some changes.
While not digging, the digg crew recommends:”

• Amar Grow-a-Brain
• Anton Escher and the Droste effect
• Beth TechCrunch
• Brian L Rush
• Brian W khaaan!
• Chris Hockey Rodent
• Dan Black Crowes
• Daniel Top Left Pixel
• Dwayne potrerohillsf.com
• Eli GeeksOn
• Isabelle I Love Bacon
• Jay Revision3
• Jim Byelp
• Joe Cautionary Tales of Swords
• John paidContent.org
• Kevin Purple & Brown
• Kurt MovieLens
• Maggie The Sartorialist
• Matt E xkcd
• Matt VH Zimride
• Micah SuicideGirls
• Mike M Atom Films
• Mike N They Might Be Giants
• nbwt BBC News
• Nicole The Bastard Prince
• Ron MadSciNet
• Scott RouterGod
• Stephen C woot!
• Steve F pearljam.com
• sbw Eve of Understanding
• timeless Kuro5hin
• Will F Machine Thinking
• All Digg the Blog

Is it just me, or are these sites lacking something? You would think that with a site like Digg and the qualtiy content that comes in, the “crew” would have some inspiring recommendations. As it is, one site hasn’t even been updated since October 15th, 2007, one site is a an album of scantily clad women with tattoos and body piercings, one link is to the landing page of an actress up for an award for a movie from 2006, and one site has a video on YouTube that satirizes the use of swords.

Note to Digg:

If your site is going to be down for any length of time and you deem it necessary to give your users a list of sites to check out, let me make a suggestion: Take a few of the top 100 users and list some of the sites they author or like.

Did anyone else happen to check out any of these sites while Digg was down? What were your thoughts?

According to the Marketing Pilgrim, rumors are spreading that Digg is looking for a buyer. Of course, the rumor that Digg is going to sell has been around for months, but this is the first time that the founders have actually hired a bank to find the best deal……

"A
reliable source just confirmed the company’s plans, noting the
company has hired Allen & Company, a tiny but influential private
investment firm, to help broker a deal. The asking price is still $300
million, the source said.

This
will come as no surprise. Rumors of a sale have been rampant for
months, although until now we hear co-founder Jay Adelson has been
trying to muster up interest in a sale. This is the first time Digg has
hired a bank to shop the deal, we’re told."

No comments from Digg founder, Kevin Rose, but if you ask me, it could just be a marketing move to gain more exposure in the growing social media realm. Digg selling? I’ll believe it when I see it.