Posted by randfish
I"m barely qualified to bring up this subject, as SEOmoz has certainly had our fair share of asking a friend to submit something to Digg, give us a boost on Reddit or add a tag at Del.icio.us, but I was pretty surprised to see the level to which social media manipulation has been taken:
Go visit the freebies section at Digitalpoint, and you"ll see one of the most active sources of social media manipulation publicly available. The crowds are Digging, Redditing, Del.icio.using and Stumbling every few minutes. The timestamps on the 30 entries I viewed on the front page was less than 30 minutes - more than one post per minute on the topic of trading votes at the social sites (and this is late at night, PST).
Obviously, manipulating social media content, particularly the front page of Digg/Reddit has significant benefits, but to have a popular forum with people abusing the system out in the open like this seems almost bizarre. The sites and people who attempt to game the systems are putting themselves out there where anyone can find them. I wouldn"t be surprised to find quality control teams from these sites monitoring those threads to help identifying and defeat spam.
What do you think? Is it OK to trade favors at social media sites? Is it wise to do it in a public forum? Is this a center for abuse, or simply the tip of the iceberg? And, maybe most importantly, how much of the content that gets voted up, thumbs up"d and tagged is organic?
Do you like this post? Yes No
>>Source Link
>>Blog: SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog
>>Publish Date: 8/16/2007 7:01:25 AM
>>Keywords: social media
Related Posts
>>Two Minute Social Networking Primer #
Social media marketing, social media optimization, social bookmarking, social networking, social, social, SOCIAL. It"s everywhere and yet, many people are still having a hard time understanding exactl
>>The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media Optimization #
As an average Web user, you don"t have to be a fan of social media optimization. However, as a site owner, you do need to know that it exists and be aware of the effects and potential benefits it coul
>>SEW Experts: Can Social Media Work in Big Business? #
In today"s Big Biz column, "Can Social Media Work in Big Business?," Aaron Shear reviews various social media strategies and offers advice on justifying it to VPs in the boardroom.
>>A Rebuttal to Neil Patel"s Social Media Landing Page Article #
While I"ve always found Neil Patel"s insight into the Social Media landscape to be pretty insightful, I think his latest Search Engine Land article about social media landing pages completely misses t
>>Social Media Marketing as Part of B2B Online Marketing Campaigns #
Online communities have taken on lives of their own, often playing integral roles in vendor-to-consumer relations. But what impact does social media have on B2B transactions? How can B2B advertisers
>>Do it Yourself Social Media Marketing - A StepForth Whitepaper #
A key concept to social marketing is that it is not designed to immediately provide business but instead it provides the visibility your brand needs to ultimately convert fans into buyers. (skip to "D
>>MySpace Planning Social News Site #
MySpace seems to be the next site to join the social news trend, according to media analyst Terry Heaton. Heaton reports, based on inside sources and Fox Interactive Media"s own marketing materials, t
>>Social Media Backlash Continues #
Sometimes it"s good to know that you aren"t the only dissenter in the crowd. While I"ve mentioned that Kim Krause Berg and Alice Seba aren"t as enamored with social media marketing as some of the othe