NH Web Design Blog

Technorati Authority

I confess. I am a left-handed blogger with no authority and few followers in the blogosphere. I guess that makes me a little different.

I recently signed up for an account at Technorati.com and claimed my blog. I wanted to discover other blogs and find out what other people are blogging about. At Technorati, you can see what and who is most popular in the blogosphere. That’s when I realized I have no authority.

Technorati authority is a number. It shows how many blogs link to your blog in the last six months. Ouch! I feel the social pressure.

So I decided to see if I fit in better at Twitter.com. Maybe there are left-handed twitterers. I will be able to identify with them.

Twitter Followers

I really liked Twitter at first. It was easy to sign up. Twitter is a micro-blogging space that asks you to answer the question, “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. You keep a mini blog and you can “tweet” about anything as long as you keep it short and sweet.

I learned How to Get Started on Twitter at Ehow.com

Twitter can be used to develop relationships and even build a business. It’s also a great place to find folks to help with things. The point is to get involved in a conversation and provide interest to your followers. Wait a minute. Followers? How do I get those?

Apparently, you can choose to follow others and they decide if you are worth following. Again, I was given a number. My number of followers is displayed for everyone to see. I have one sympathetic follower right now. Thank you.

Also on Twitter, you have to be careful not to offend people with off-the-cuff comments according to Miles Burke of the Sitepoint Tribune Tip: Think Before You Tweet. Now I’m starting to sweat!

With no Technorati authority and only one follower at Twitter, I decided to explore Digg.com. I heard that it would be good if I was Dugg and that my husband probably wouldn’t mind.

Digging into the Social Media World

Digg is another social media website. It is made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet. People submit links and stories. They also vote and comment on submitted links and stories. That sounds like fun.

I learned How to Digg an Article at Ehow.com

Social Media Mistakes

I was starting to make some progress. Then I learned about etiquette in the social media world. Justin Wright from Bloghelp.org wrote an article called, 5 Social Media Mistakes to Avoid. According to Justin:

Many bloggers sign up for the various social networks only to promote their blogs. This is the biggest mistake of all. The point in social media is to build networks and relationships with others.

And Ron McDaniel put it even more bluntly in his blog post 7 Stupid Social Media Mistakes – Are you making them?

Social media is about making and sustaining connections. The only way you can grow your influence is long term. Stop crying – if you do not like the fact that it takes time, don’t do it at all.

Okay, it is all starting to sink in. After wiping my tears away, I felt ready to make some social connections on the internet. Even though my BlogCatalog Recent Viewers Widget is yet another indication that I am not connected, I feel more prepared now.

Left-Handed Leaders

On this journey, I also discovered that I may have some outstanding qualities as a left-hander. According to Left handed? You’re on the Right Track, I realized that I may be more gifted at sports and quicker thinking than the average right-hander.

Apparently, there’s also a growing number of left-handed leaders in the United States. Barack Obama and John McCain are both left-handed.

I confess. I am feeling a bit smug now. I can accept my abysmal social media figures. They are temporary. I will “digg” a little, connect with other bloggers, and “tweet” the best I can. I will also explore my left-handed leadership qualities. If I have any, I am sure to attract followers some day.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 8th, 2009 at 12:25 pmand is filed under Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.