Last week Leeuh posted a thread in the forums asking BloggingTips members what Social Networking sites they use. My reply was honest yet kind of embarassing for someone who blogs every day :
Social networking is something I know I must do more often but I find it difficult to find the time. I’d much rather spend my time researching a topic or writing a post however I am aware of the traffic benefits of using social media so I need to try and use it more
Looking back at this reply, clearly I have been looking at this the wrong way. I was quick to say I don’t have the time yet I still manage to check out 3 or 4 webmaster forums on a regular basis. I’ve been using discussion forums for years and you know the old saying, old habits die hard.
Of course, I have used social media but I have never really got into it. For example, I use StumbleUpon quite frequently but never stumble a page (including my own) and I have a Twitter account but hardly ever use it. I have been reading a lot of social networking related posts in the last week and made a conscious decision to participate in a good social media site.
The one which I believe suits my interests is Sphinn. Sphinn is an internet marketing discussion site which was launched last year and is a great example of how Pligg should be used. It is used by a lot of great bloggers and doesn’t seem to have as many trolls and members who use black hat techniques to get to the front page.
I hope to :
- Network with other bloggers : There are a lot of great bloggers who use Sphinn on a regular basis.
- Participate in active discussions : A big part of networking is taking part in active discussions and giving your view on the subject.
- Improve my overall understanding of social networking : One of the reasons I have not personally written a lot of social media related posts on BloggingTips is because I have not used it enough to give advice to other people. I do understand how social media works however clearly a deep understanding and appreciation for the medium can only come from using it on a regular basis.
- Submit great articles I find to Sphinn : I love seeing good articles getting the recognition they deserve so I plan on submitting great posts I find. This will send traffic to the author, create discussion on Sphinn and perhaps even give me a little traffic along the way.
- Use Sphinn as a good inspiration for posts : I have been browsing Spinn a lot over the last few days and it’s a great place to find hot topics. I’m sure over time they will inspire me to write a lot of great posts.
Ramkarthik is planning on covering both Digg, StumbleUpon and Sphinn on BloggingTips over the next few weeks so it will be interesting to see how he rates it next to other social networking sites.
If you use Sphinn please leave a comment with your profile details so I can add you. If you haven’t came across Sphinn before, I recommend checking it out 
Link : Sphinn
Here's a link to my Sphinn profile Kevin.
I agree social media is time consuming. I try not to spend all day with it, but rather pop in and out of different sites during the day. I'll participate briefly and then get back to what I was doing.
That way I can remain active most of the day, while still having the time to work on the things I need to do.
I'm still experimenting so I can be more productive. I marvel at how some people can seemingly be everywhere all the time.
Yeah I don't know how people find the time to be active on digg, twitter, sphinn and other networking sites. My plan is to use Sphinn around the same time I check my newsreader so that I don't waste too much time on it.
I've been checking out lots of profiles to see what the concensus is for submitting posts from your own blog. It's not something I'm setting on doing but I'd like to know incase I have a newsbreaking post in the future. I just came across a sphinn member (i won't name names!) who seems to only submit his own posts. The ironic thing is, none of the posts on the blog had a sphinn button!!
I use Sphinn in conjunction with my reading too. As I go through my feeds and come across one I think worth submitting I do. If it's already been submitted I vote for it. Then I continue reading.
Later in the day I might go to Sphinn and click on the What's New Tab. Most of what you'll see on the first few pages under that tab is what you read earlier in the day. It's quick and easy to vote for the ones you liked since you'll still remember them. I'll usually find a few new posts and even new blogs as I read through the submissions.
Some people will submit their own posts, some don't. I usually don't submit my own, but I'll vote for them if someone else submits. I think it's ok to submit your own content every so often. When I see someone doing it too often I tend not to vote for their posts any more.
Yes I don't think that I will put forward my own posts. I have to admit I'm beginning to be a big fan of sphinn so I'll do my best to encourage bloggingtips readers to use it. I like how it shows the members who have submitted posts which are hot. I'd like to think that those at the top are the ones which are submitting great posts on a regular basis.
Overall, it seems that sphinn suffers less from the problems that have hurt other social media sites.