Instigator Blog

MindValley is a San-Jose based company run by Vishen Lakhiani and Mike Reining. Yesterday, they launched SocialRank, along with 30 niche websites. The websites run the gamut of possible content, from more obvious niches like gadgets (GadgetRoll.com) and celebrity news & gossip (GossipStrip.com) to the more obscure, including MathBloggers.com, ChallengeReligion.com (for atheists), BikingCircle.com, TheLibraryShelf.com (hot stories from librarians?!?!) and KnittingFriends.com.

I’m particularly interested in StartupSignal.com because it’s focused on entrepreneurship and startups. But they’re also launching a number of related sites that tie very well into this blog, including: ProductivityZen.com, MarketingLens.com and MightyBlogger.com.

The folks at MindValley asked me to participate early on with StartupSignal and vote for my favorite startup-related blogs. As a result, I was able to interview Vishen Lakhiani about SocialRank, how it works, what their plans are for taking over the niche blog aggregation world and a bit more. The interview follows.

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The biggest downfall of anyone getting involved in social media and social networking is the Social Media Scoreboard.

• The Scoreboard only cares about numbers.
• The Scoreboard is used to rank us against one another.
• The Scoreboard provides no actual value.

The Scoreboard is a master seducer. It whispers temptingly in your ear, “You need more friends. Add more friends. More, more, more.”

What the Scoreboard fails to tell you is that it could care less what you do with those friends, as long as you’re piling them up.

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No amount of effort with social media sites and tools like digg, StumbleUpon, MyBlogLog, Propeller, etc. can make up for a bad blog. A lack of focus, poor writing, over-advertising and a lousy design will sink your blog each and every time, regardless of how much effort you put into social networking and social media promotion.

The flip side is also true, in that you could have a focused niche, write well, limited advertising and a beautiful design, but still find it hard to build an audience. So you shouldn’t be ignoring the opportunities that social networking and social media provide.

In a recent post I wrote about linkbaiting and guest writing on other blogs, James Chartrand left a comment that got me thinking:

What about when you don’t have the time to surf all the social networking sites? It seems ridiculous. Just after I tell someone we have a LinkedIn page, they ask me if the business has a MySpace page. Then a Yahoo page. Then a Facebook page, a Digg page, and so on.

Not only am I expected to have a page on every social networking or media site or blog possible, I’m expected to surf and browse all these sites, comment, keep in touch and be active.

It goes on. I still have to visit relevant blogs to my subject area and target audience, reading, commenting, etc. Plus there is my own blog, of course, and I do have to work for a living as well…

Stop the madness is a phrase that comes to mind. What’s your solutions to this “be active everywhere at once” problem?

This is an extremely common problem. And it’s getting worse. James didn’t mention Twitter or any of the people search engines like Xing and Spock that have emerged recently.

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Most social bookmarking, social media and social networking sites allow you to include a thumbnail image (or avatar) to go with your profile. For example, when you submit a story on digg, your image appears with it.

The best example is MyBlogLog. It grew to huge success, in part because it showed people’s faces. For the first time you could see who was visiting your blog.

Most people take a thumbnail image of their face and use that as their avatar. You can see mine to the right.

But as Cheezhead points out, those images are essentially small banner advertisements for you. He provides an example on his site, where The Employment Guide uses a small logo instead of a face. It’s a great example of trying to differentiate oneself from the crowd.

In the past, MyBlogLog allowed animated avatars, but a few months ago those were removed. They became too distracting and annoying.

But lots of people are getting creative with their avatars. And we’re seeing more people talk about standing out with unique ones.

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They’re professional.

There are plenty of social networks designed for personal use, but they all have professional implications and opportunities. And to ignore those issues is a mistake.

Your “Stuff” Is Exposed

Most social networks have some level of privacy to keep prying eyes away from your profile and content, but don’t assume it’s full proof. It’s safer to assume that anything you put on the Internet is public and always will be.

You can’t completely control who sees what you put online. Employers and potential employers can do a quick Google search and find out all kinds of things. The same holds true for a host of other people: law enforcement, creditors, business partners, etc.

But There’s Gold In Them Thar Social Networks

On the positive side, business opportunities abound on social networks, even if they weren’t designed for business. It’s simple. You put people together bound by common interests and get them hooked on participating with one another, and presto, business opportunities emerge.

Since starting on Facebook a month ago I’ve connected with numerous people from a business perspective, which may lead to future opportunities for Standout Jobs. I could have connected with those people via email, but social networks like Facebook (or tools like Twitter) captivate people’s attention; so it’s easier to reach them. When it comes to email, people are overwhelmed and generally hate it. So they’re slower to respond. But send someone a “friend request” on Facebook and they’ll answer almost immediately.

Regardless of whether you’re connecting with people online over your shared love of dogs, photos or cartoon dolls, you’ll build real relationships that can lead beyond the original purpose of the social network.