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.
10 Dos and Don’ts for Being a Good Social Media Citizen
Posted by ShawnHessinger under Social MediaFrom http://www.bizsugar.com 5078 days ago
Made Hot by: hamed1 on November 10, 2010 9:58 pm
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Comments
4832 days ago
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
4825 days ago
Is it really a year? Thanks for some great lessons in professionalism, ethics, standards and power!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
4832 days ago
5075 days ago
businessavante (aka Duncan)
5075 days ago
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
5077 days ago
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."
5075 days ago
Rivkah
5076 days ago
5076 days ago
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
5076 days ago
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
5078 days ago
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.
5078 days ago
businessavante
5078 days ago
5078 days ago
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.
5078 days ago
Thanks for the comment. (Sorry about the length thing. Maybe it's time for another blog post? :)
5078 days ago
Shoshana
5078 days ago
5078 days ago
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.
5078 days ago
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
5078 days ago
Show / Hide
5078 days ago
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!
5078 days ago
5078 days ago
Just out of interest have you ever researched your subscribers what they think, do and why?
Susan
5078 days ago
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
5078 days ago
5078 days ago
businessavante