I have a problem. I love social media. I love its democratic nature. I love the fact that I can support sites that deliver me valuable content. And as a new blog owner, I love its ability to generate targeted traffic to my new articles. But here’s my quandary… I wonder to what extent social media communities will accept an element of self promotion from their newer members.
You see… Sphinn is my favourite social community. It works just like Digg or Reddit, but is focused solely towards online marketing news. Thus, it’s the ideal playground for someone like myself. I’ve been a member for about 3 months and I like to think I’ve been a pretty solid contributor. I’ve voted on almost 100 articles and I leave comments whenever I have something relevant or valuable to add to the conversation. But here’s the kicker… I don’t submit a lot of articles, and those that I do tend to be my own.
My problem is simple. I keep up with my reading on a daily basis. But I limit my blog subscriptions to less than 15 major sources. I do this for a specific reason. If I see more than 100 articles a day in my RSS reader, I’m more likely to close it than read anything… 
Furthermore, I prefer to catch up on my reading at the end of the day. So by the time I get to the articles they’ve been Sphunn and Stumbled hundreds of times already. Thus, I rarely have the opportunity to submit original work to Sphinn.
Hence, my submission rate for Sphinn tends to be skewed towards self promotion. Indeed, from an outsider’s perspective it may even seem as if I’m a social media spammer (God forbid!). But with my blog now just 3 weeks old, the simple reality is that if I don’t submit it, no-one will. And while I’ve had brief but pleasant interactions with Jeff Quipp and Maki from Dosh Dosh in my short blogging career, I’m hardly going to hound recognised industry experts for support. The recent case with Nicky Cakes makes me wary of self promotion via Sphinn. And articles from respected commetators Tad and Patrick advise against social self promotion.
So… if you are out there fellow Sphinners, let me know what you think. Does ongoing participation via voting and commenting compensate for the occassional self serving submission.
Am I a sinner… or a (tained) saint…?
{ 2 trackbacks }
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
In my case, it was made clear to me, albeit not in a nice way, that it wasn’t because I submitted my own article, but that they thought I was trying to game the system with proxies (which I wasn’t).
When in doubt, just have someone else submit it. That ads credibility anyway, so it’s never a bad idea.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head Nicky. Now if I could just find someone who would submit my darn articles…
Sphinn is of course special, here you can submit your own stuff. Nonetheless self submission is always like inviting yourself to a party. Do you know what I mean?
I dont think there is a big problem with sphinning your own articles.
You could play the game the other way around if you want by asking a friend to submit one of your articles to sphinn on your behalf.
Its all a matter of perspective.
I know what you mean. It’s hard to get your content out there without first sphinning yourself. But then if you don’t sphinn yourself, no one else will see it to sphinn it to begin with. What a dilemma.
This is an ethical problem that I believe everyone has to work out on their own. But in my opinion it is no worse than running for president and promoting yourself. If you don’t promote yourself then who will?
I don’t sphinn myself nor do I have the widget in place to be voted on. I currently do not publish my ground breaking perspective! I really don’t know how to write about the practical applications of my finds.
I have submitted a few articles at others request. Since asking someone else to share the link is the same as voting for yourself I say go for it. Do it…
As with anything else use moderation.
Tad – I know exactly what you mean…I feel a little like the uninvited guest invading a great party. Hopefully I’m good enough at mingling to score an invite next time…
Ashwin – Thanks for the feedback. Getting a friend to submit has been a popular response to my open question.
Internet Marketing Strategy – It is indeed a chicken and egg scenario. I’ve bitten the bullet and submitted my own content. And the overwhelming response has been positive. We are all marketers after all…
It is ok – I do believe after submitting this story that my popularity is higher than Obama’s… so the presidency seems to be the obvious next step…