10 Dos and Don’ts for Being a Good Social Media Citizen

Posted by ShawnHessinger under Social Media
From http://www.bizsugar.com 5128 days ago
Made Hot by: hamed1 on November 10, 2010 9:58 pm

Social media sites like BizSugar.com and others are amazingly powerful tools helping to gain visibility for your business, product, service or topic. But first it is important to know the basics of being a good social media citizen. Here are 10 dos and don’ts to be sure you give your social media community as much value as it gives you.

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Comments

Written by saraib820
4882 days ago

Wow Shawn,

You have an anniversary coming up next week too. One year since "the memo." CONGRATULATIONS on your social media citizenship! And thanks to all of the "voters" who abided by the memo for all of your support this past year!

Rivkah

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Written by yoni67
4875 days ago

Wow Shawn & Co.,

Is it really a year? Thanks for some great lessons in professionalism, ethics, standards and power!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

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Written by saraib820
4882 days ago

Unfortunately my real untamed feelings would probably get me kicked off of the site.

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Written by businessavante
5124 days ago

I'm very sorry to hear that Yoni is back in the hospital. We're all rooting for a speedy, complications-free recovery!! Get Well, Yoni!!!

businessavante (aka Duncan)

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Written by profit613
5125 days ago

SmallBiz trends, I sure do have the same IP as I have mentioned quite a few times that I am the exchange student they are sponsoring for the year. Is this relavant in any way except for the fact that I have voted almost 800 times and am a very active member?

Excludiding the votes for my generous host of who I am a very big fan I have voted for almost 700 other submissions. I'm not sure I understand the original point of the IP?

Rochelle

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Written by smallbiztrends
5126 days ago

I can tell you that the real problem is not the vast majority who are lurkers and people who submit and read without voting. That behavior is consistent with every community I know. So let's stop throwing the blame on them.

What is far more disruptive to the community is those who constantly submit their own articles and always find themselves/ their sites on the home page, in the newsletter and in the Top Ten widget. That has a chilling effect upon participation by others. By grabbing those top spots consistently, week after week, they keep others out of the top spots.

My suggestion: give others a chance for the limelight. That is what we mean by being a "good social media citizen."

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Written by saraib820
5125 days ago

SBT, Yoni67, my husband, whose IP address for the next 4 days at least will be one from Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital where he is again hospitalized. No doubt by tomorrow he will start supporting his fellow BizSugar members with comment number 806 and vote number 1906. It is very disheartening on his behalf to read the last comment. If having built up a loyal following, including an exchange student who is staying with us and who has voted very generously for all posters is a crime, then I guess he is guilty.

Rivkah

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Written by smallbiztrends
5126 days ago

Profit613, I find it curious that you have the same IP address as Yoni67. Just thought readers would want to know that.

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Written by profit613
5126 days ago

Small Biz,

The thing I find most worrying as an observer for a while is that there has become a movement, almost four months ago to not vote for certain members who succeed too much. One person in particular. It was clear when it was happening and it is still clear now.

In the past month or so there have been close to twenty newly created profile voters who have adopted the exact same voting patterns. Although they are new, somehow each one knows which submitters to skip over and which ones to pile votes onto. It seems either ESP or directions. It is very strange and I believe harmful. It is in my view a system of welfare to give to the less successful members. The result I see from one person who has now been on the Hot Topics page three or four times now is this. He has received a ton of these types of votes and well over twenty comments. He has never thanked anybody for his new success and has never responded to a single comment. He has also never voted for anybody else. If the voting is being done to change people's attitude I think it is having the reverse effect. I think in some cases it is creating monsters.

Rochelle

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Written by saraib820
5126 days ago

smallbiztrends,

Being that this is your site, I want to stress the word "respectful" when I say I "respectfully" disagree.

I think that most people who succeed on BizSugar consistently have done so by submitting quality work and by building a following of readership on their sites and here. As people do this, more and more people who read their posts are inclined to vote.

If I was somebody who was not succeeding, I would take a good hard look at those who are and see what it is that is allowing them to succeed.

People who do well in school are not discouraged from doing so and those in general who succeed in life are not discouraged. They are called role models.

Again, I want to remain respectful for the opportunity you give, but I have to say that I disagree with the use of the word "disruptive".

When my husband Yonatan first started submitting here, he didn't realize the great value of Biz Sugar. He submitted his work and that was all. He took a good look after seeing others on the front page. That's when something clicked and he started participating.

I think with all of my heart that everybody has a chance for the limelight but to reward those (in some cases through artificial means( does not change peoples' behavior. It really only makes it worse.

Rivkah

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Written by m4bmarketing
5128 days ago

Hi Shawn,

Regarding the question, just to find out more about the subscribers, the site, competitors, opportunities etc to grow the business. Same as you would with any product or service.

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Written by businessavante
5128 days ago

Minor technical point about BizSugar specifically - when a post is submitted, the contributor has automatically "voted". i.e. They don't actually even vote for their own article - if they've submitted 150 articles & have 150 votes, they've never voted.

businessavante

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Written by amabaie
5128 days ago

I second Yoni's "rant". I am wondering if his "3000" figure is the same person I am thinking of. Bottom like, walk the talk and be social.

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Written by alastair
5128 days ago

Lol. I just wrote a whole essay commenting on this and it turned out it's too long so it got deleted.

I like your tips and Bizsugar will be a better place if people follow them. There seems to be a lot of concern about users who submit and do not otherwise engage.

I frequently vote for content submitted by users who, as far as I can see, neither comment nor vote and only submit their own articles. If they submit good content I will vote for it.

There will always be people who are playing the game. They want more links and more exposure for their content and presumably want to use the least effort possible to get it. I have no problem with that. Bizsugar needs to be bigger (which will raise the bar for getting exposure) and it needs to make sure that poor content can't get exposure through voting manipulation. After that, if the rules aren't producing what Bizsugar and the community want, you change the rules to incentivise the behaviour you need to see.

I have always been fairly impressed with the standard of the content that rises to the top here and it is one of the reasons I use Bizsugar, despite it being quite small.

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Written by ShawnHessinger
5128 days ago

Well put, Alastair,

Thanks for the comment. (Sorry about the length thing. Maybe it's time for another blog post? :)

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Written by ShoshFromJobShuk
5128 days ago

Good comments. Anything is only as strong as the weakest links.

Shoshana

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Written by lyceum
5128 days ago

Yoni, Thank you for your input. I say that you have to understand the trader principle and create an exchange of ideas and stuff on a voluntarily basis. The guy that you mention could be well worth the 3000 votes according to my view, if his entries are valuable according to the supply and demand of this kind of material. But he should know that one day he could sit on the other side of the table... It is me talking as an experienced purchaser. ;)

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Written by lyceum
5128 days ago

Shawn,

Good pointers. My take on this issue, is that the participants have to learn the meaning of being a "trader in matter & spirit." The social media citizen has free will and have to decide what to do with his / her time spent on a social media site. The community forum is evolving by its participants. You could probably apply the 80/20 rule on this phenomena too and find that it is a small group of individuals that is representing the most part of the content, comments, voting, etc.

As one of the moderators of BizSugar, I spend a big part of my time online with "cleaning", i.e. getting rid of spam entries so the site will look good for the real participants. You have to stop the parasites, so the content creators could work on a productive marketplace. After I have removed spam entries, I go through valuable entries for me and then vote and comment on the stuff that I could add my two cents to the conversation. From time to time, I submit my own entries.

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Written by yoni67
5128 days ago

Martin,

Excellent points. I think one of the things that bothers me most is how many posters submit articles like "The Value of Comments in Social Media," yet they neither leave comments nor answer them. Then there's the old "10 Ways to Succeed in Social Media." They talk about being an active member, yet they aren't active here. Then there's the oldie but goodie "How to build a Business Based on Respecting Others. They talk about listening, empathizing and communicating with others. Yet the second their submission is in, they log out only to return for their next submission.

Where is the follow through and where is the old "Pactice As You Preach?"

My contention, cynical as it may sound, is that people want to take without doing too much giving.

I've counted one guy's votes. Never voted for anybody else, yet he's received over 3,000 votes from others. No excuse.

Then there are some who are "spared" votes so they don't get too many. Gotta give the slackers a "fair" shot. I'll call it "Social Media Affirmative Action."

Yoni

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Written by saraib820
5128 days ago
Show / Hide

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Written by yoni67
5128 days ago

I agree about preaching to the choir. The people who don't actively participate will never even see the contents of an article like this.

The only...ONLY thing that I think would work is making people read an article about participating. How? Write an article that is a little bit more stern and direct. "We Expect Participation at BizSugar."

Next. Create a redirect link. The next time each and every member attempts to submit an article, they are redirected to the article automatically; AKA: "you can't make another posting until you read and acknowledge this."

The article can contain forthright messages. This IS a community. You are expected to give others the same things you expect: the same courtesies. Instead of a "Karma" score, start a participation score system based on a minimal system of votes (not just for their buddies) in which they must maintain a certain level as determined by votes, comments and answering comments. If the score is not maintained, they can't continue to post.

I think members that are just posting need a little lesson in "Tough Love."

They have a "balloon of expectation." Sometimes in life it takes a sharp needle to pop that balloon!

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Written by yoni67
5128 days ago

Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. ~Aldous Huxley

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Written by m4bmarketing
5128 days ago

Hi Shawn,

Just out of interest have you ever researched your subscribers what they think, do and why?

Susan

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Written by saraib820
5128 days ago

Hi Susan,

Great point. Without seeming to cynical I truly believe that most subscribers want votes. They want the tweets and traffic that come as a result.

I can see right now from the stats a member who has submitted 200 stories. he has voted 200 times, all for himself. It's sad. It's obvious what he wants.

BizSugar has the potential to be a great community. It will be sustained though by a small core group of involved members and by the generosity of the votes of the staff.

Rivkah

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Written by ShawnHessinger
5128 days ago

An interesting question, Susan. In what respect?

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Written by businessavante
5128 days ago

Great Points, Shawn! I might add that I've also voted for well thought out & well presented articles when I personally disagree with the author's point of view, because their point of view is as valid as mine - or anyone else's.

businessavante

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