Want me to follow you on twitter?…10 Reasons I Won’t !

 

Hello Friends, Today I will let you all know why you are getting failed in twitter…You are too active, yet you are not getting followers…Why? Just go on and revise your twitter tactics…and bang on…

 

Let me begin with an example…You have been to too many parties….hosted by that one close friend, and populated with the best of your mutual circle of friends. The atmosphere is almost carbonated with excitement; the guests’ personalities flawlessly compliment each other; and the conversations that around are infused with intelligence, caustic wit, and a wide variety of knowledge that ensures the complete absence of any pregnant, awkward pauses. Then, it happens: someone appears who just doesn’t…fit. Am I right? No! then your visit seems to be over..You can check more great articles by our fellow bloggers…If Yes, Go On…

Yes! that’s exactly what is happening with twitter…

You’re having conversations with your established Twitter friends, you’re broadcasting useful information, news, or links to your followers, and you’re “engaging your Tribe,” etc., when suddenly, someone begins following you who, much like that previously referenced party guest, just doesn’t fit. This is the person whose follow on Twitter you simply cannot bring yourself to return.

This is the known as follow fail attempt on twitter.

Run any number of searches on Google and you will arrive at a veritable host of articles offering endless lists of tips on “how to get more followers on Twitter.” What you will not find are lists compiled by Twitter users regarding the major reasons why they will or will not return a Twitter follower’s follow when it happens, so here’s my gift to you: “Want me to follow you on twitter?…10 Reasons *I* Won’t !.”

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1. Gosh!, you are not using user avatar

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…or your user avatar is neither a personalized photograph nor reflective of a brand.

More important than whether or not your Twitter profile background is “designed” is how you choose to present yourself in that seemingly insignificant 48×48 pixel square. If that square is empty, impersonal, or otherwise lacking any qualities that will immediately allow me to visually associate it with you, my immediate response would be “Who the F**k is that”. If I am going to build a Twitter relationship with you, I want to see you, or your brand.

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2. You list no location, no website, or no bio

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Clearly, Twitter is all about brevity. So how difficult is it to provide a few additional characters of information that may offer potential followers more impetus to follow you in return?

These fields take two seconds to populate; it would behoove you to take those two seconds to populate them.

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3. Your “website” listed is a MySpace profile

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…or, far worse, an AngelFire “page.”

I’ll admit it: I had a MySpace profile…until I deleted it when it became obvious that only teenagers and musicians were still using it. If the Twitter user in question happens to be an actual teenager, or musician whose MySpace presence truly works for them, then fine. But I tend to pass over those users whose proffered web presence is, well, clearly doing it wrong.

It doesn’t take much these days to establish a web presence that seems genuine and thoughtful, and appears to intend to attract and build an online community based on the content it provides. so go on have your online presence, rather then just a profile.

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4. You’re following over 1,000 users, have 20 followers, and no updates

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…or, worse, one update that includes a shamefully ill-constructed mention of Jason Calacanis.

Who, aside from those running Twitter apps that automatically follow and unfollow followers, would add these Twitter users? While I may every so often and uncharacteristically give these users a chance, simply to see what sort of content, if any, they may eventually provide, the gratuitous mention of any higher-profile Twitterer or web-famous personality means little more to me than that you were properly able to spell “Calacanis” or “Kawasaki.”

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5. Your profile features any variation of “Internet expert”

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…or “social media expert” and you have very few and/or insubstantial updates.

While I generally loathe any mention of the word “expert” in a Twitter bio, it is particularly egregious when paired with a Twitter stream of only five updates, or one with a plethora of updates that make me question your “expert” status. You’re an “expert” who is only now tweeting about a Twitter app that everyone else was tweeting about two months ago? How awesome for you! #and you want me to follow you on that? Huh! Jerk…

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6. Your updates clearly indicate that your Twitter activity is always, only, about pushing your own service/product

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So, you have decided to use Twitter as an online marketing tool in order to sell your amazing service and/or product, and you make this glaringly obvious. I find this fabulous, because not only must this tactic be working for you, but it also allows me to immediately decide whether or not I want to follow you in return.

Since I do not use Twitter in this manner, I rarely follow any of these users in return, unless said product or service genuinely piques my interest/desire to support it.

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7. Your following and my return follow result in a poorly-constructed auto-DM reading, “Thx for the follow! How can I help you get to a 4-Hour Work Week?”

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I’ve several Twitter friends who employ the automatic direct message tool upon any new follows, but their messages are carefully crafted and, well, thoughtful, and go far beyond the garden variety “click my junk” automatic direct message. As I am an intelligent, savvy, thinking Twitter user, I am more than capable of reading all about how you can help me get to a 4-hour work week by consulting your Twitter stream, Twitter background, or website. An impersonal automatic direct message from you along these lines does not impress me, it insults my intelligence.

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8. Your most recent updates make references to any need to achieve “more Twitter followers”

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…or “enough new followers to reach 10,000 followers by midnight!”

For me, Twitter is not a shallow popularity contest, it is about forging interesting connections and conversations with other people. My Twitter followers are far more to me than a simple follower count: they are friends, they are colleagues, they are collaborators, they are peers, and they are sources. To follow someone in return whose only intent is clearly to acquire more followers would be to devalue the esteem with which I hold my other followers.

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9. Your Twitter stream indicates a propensity for consistent arguing

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…with your followers/random Twitter users/really anyone.

I am all for intelligent debate on any topic, and I’ve been lucky so far in meeting Twitter followers who are still able to politely debate about a variety of passionate topics without constant and vitriolic argumentation. If your Twitter stream is filled with nothing but mean-spirited opinions and argumentation that only advance your own beliefs and allow no consideration of others’ views, then my Twitter stream is definitely not for you. Got That…

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10. You do not engage your Twitter followers

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Probably the most important reason why I will not return your follow, though, is if it is glaringly obvious that you do not engage your Twitter followers. Here I suppose I need to make a distinction between those Twitter users who use Twitter to broadcast their content, as opposed to everyone else; these broadcasters, in my experience, are generally the ones who are followed, not those who are following.

Obviously, engaging their followers is not a priority. Twitter is a major platform in social networking and social media, and they aren’t called “social” networking and “social” media for nothing. There are other people out there, and if you are not engaging or interacting with those users who take the time to follow you for whatever reason, that is a huge follow fail in my book.

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Ok Let’s summarize….

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but before that, let me tell you that my reasons are definitely personal and therefore biased, but it is a start toward exploring the differences between a successful Twitter follow attempt and an outright follow fail attempt . In the end, I think there are really only three tenets that should be followed should you desire to build a successful and quality Twitter network:

1. Present a cohesive personal brand, or, if presenting a brand is too much for you, simply present a cohesive sense of yourself.

2. Always be consistent in your use of Twitter, i.e., become known for the unique ways in which you use Twitter, and stick with what works for you.

3. Engage with your network. Genuine engagement with your network of followers will ultimately ensure that your contact detail is retained, and not “lost,” at the end of that fabulous party, and it will ensure that you don’t (too often) commit any serious follow fail attempts.

Want me to check your twitter account…just let me know your twitter profile and if you are lucky enough, you’ll get my follow…

Time for me to pen down now…happy Tweeting…..Oops…Happy reading…see you soon…

Social Media Optimization – A Beginner’s Guide

Hello Friends, before I begin, First of all I would like to Thank all of you for making my last post such a success…Its still Hot…Wasn’t thought of getting this many readers…Thanks to all of you…

 

Ok so lets start today’s topic…So far I was sharing social sites with you all which are necessary for you to have a profile with, and to build your own social network. So just continuing my view, I though of sharing a guide…well…a beginner’s guide(Expert’s-Please forgive if I commit any mistake, Request you to correct it by putting in your comments and letting me and reader know of it..), which should be helpful to those who are fairly new, though they are very few (Count me as one of them 🙂 ), in the field of social media optimization. So, without taking much time, lets start with it…

Social media optimization has become the hot new buzzword over the last year or so, similar to the way "the long tail" dominated conference speak before that. If you’re a frequent blog reader or conference attendee you’ve probably heard about sites like Wikipedia, Digg, and del.icio.us, but you may not know why getting there could be crucial to the success of your site. Who cares about Furl and Reddit anyway? Huh!, Well, your customers might. And if they do, being there will keep your brand name in the front of their mind and could send you thousands of new visitors (Isn’t this is, what matter’s most.)

So What Is Social Media Optimization?

Ok, Social media optimization is about knocking down site walls so content can be easily found, distributed and shared by the community. This process may simply mean embedding a "Digg This" or “Share this” button on your site blog or it may mean spending hours to create a piece of compelling content, aka linkbait, that could either drive thousands of visitors to your site or have no effect at all.

The key to social media is knowing how to leverage it. And your ability to leverage it depends on your ability to attract, engage and convert new visitors. For a company just starting out, getting on the front page of Digg can offer instant visibility and credibility. For an establish company, it can strengthen your brand and turn you into a household name.

Reaching out to social communities to bring attention your brand isn’t a new concept; however, thanks to today’s technology, when done right, the power, effect and benefit of social media optimization is huge.

Ok, I Understood, so What’s the benefit to SMO?

The benefits of social media vary depending on what you’re looking to do. For some sites, the greatest benefit to SMO is the instant exposure and load of inbound links it creates. if Lucky enough, a significant portion of your new links will might be coming from quality sites in your field. However, if not, these effects are often short-lived and traffic alone doesn’t equal conversions and increased revenue for most sites. You need to be able to capture those first-time visitors and convert them into loyal site community members.

The real benefit to optimizing your site for social media is it inspires you to create excellent, keyword-rich content, which in turn can help build your online and offline brand, increase quality inbound links over time, make you a subject matter expert, and expose your content to thousands of new visitors. It reinforces what you should be working towards through your search engine optimization campaign.

Hmmm……So how to Get Started and Establishing Goals?

social media optimization strategy needs to be designed to compliment the specifics of your site.

When determining which site/s are right for you, you need to consider the type of site you’re trying to market. If you’re a technology company with a great blog, submitting posts to Digg may be beneficial for you. However, don’t assume Digg is automatically a match simply because it’s the only social media site you’ve heard of. (and please don’t even think that ways, I have already shared a list of 50 social sites you can use) If your Web site specializes in customizable baby apparel, the college-aged, tech savvy crowd at Digg is not your core demographic and your post will be buried. In this scenario, you’re probably better of tagging your content at one of the social bookmarking sites or creating a community profile on Flickr.

Knowing your audience helps you to offer them a great tool or a compelling piece of content. You need to consider what actions will produce the strongest reaction and use the least amount of resources. Take into account what your desired outcome is. Are you looking for increased conversions, traffic, links, industry credibility, brand recognition, etc…etc.. All of this will be vital in helping you plan your attack.

Ready to Plan Your Attack!

Once you know your goals you can start deciding which sites are best geared towards helping you meet them. Right now the three sites that seem to be driving the most traffic are Digg, StumbleUpon and del.icio.us, respectively. Take time to understand the focus of each individual site. It’s often better to create campaigns geared toward one social media site rather than create one campaign and shoot it over all over the Web. If you’re looking for links and your content fits with their audience, submit to Digg. If you’re looking to create some sort of viral marketing campaign, MySpace may be more effective.

Here is a very short list of some of the most popular sites for social media optimization: (once again 🙂 )

• Digg: Digg is a user-driven content site where members can vote, bury and comment on stories submitted by other members. Getting onto Digg’s front page often results in thousands of visitors flocking to your site and can have lasting ranking effects.
  • Digg Tip: The same story can only be submitted once, so craft your titles carefully. Also, don’t forget to embed the "Digg This" button on your site so users can easily submit content for you.
• Del.icio.us: Del.icio.us is a Yahoo-owned social bookmarking site. Del.icio.us allows members to publicly save bookmarks using tags. Don’t be afraid to tag your own content.
  • Del.icio.us Tip: All links are nofollow so you’re not getting link juice, but you may get click throughs and direct traffic when users find your del.icio.us bookmarks through the search engine’s index.
• YouTube: Well-known video upload site. Recently acquired by Google, so look for YouTube videos to start appearing in Google’s index.
  • YouTube Tip: The five sites that bring the most traffic to YouTube receive a link back from the site. This probably won’t help with your Google rankings, but it may help your rankings in the other engines.
• Newsvine: Another social news site where members can submit news stories, comment on other popular stories, create connections with regular users.
  • Newsvine Tip: Your Newsvine user name becomes your own subdomain, so make sure to use keywords in your profile.
• StumbleUpon: StumbleUpon acts as a discovery/recommendation engine and match users with Web sites, videos, images, etc. based on their interests that they may have been previously unaware of.

Other social media sites to consider utilizing are Wikipedia, Flickr, MySpace, Reddit, Spurl, Blinklist.

Don’t forget to Be Linkable

Part One: Once you know your goals and where you want to submit, your next objective is to be linkable. This is by far the most difficult and the most important step in any SMO campaign. To be linkable, you must create content that is worthy of being linked to and make that content accessible to users.

One of the quickest ways to make your content more accessible is to allow tags and to add a "Digg This", "Add to del.icio.us" or Technorati chicklet to your Web site and RSS feed. By making tagging and bookmarking easy for users, it encourages readers to submit the content for you. This not only helps to increase readership, but it also builds your site-wide community.

Part Two: The second part of the linkability process is the hardest part of SMO. You must create something unique, compelling and worthy enough of being submitted and linked to. One reason why this is so difficult is because you can do anything. There are no boundaries.

Whatever you do, resist the temptation to spam the social media sites. The only way your SMO campaign will be successful is if it’s genuine. Don’t submit content that doesn’t fit with the community you’re entering. Make sure you’re offering a clear benefit to the community, otherwise prepare to be flamed and tossed out. The backlash from "abusing" a community like Digg could turn into a PR nightmare for your company, completely voiding any goodwill you had hoped to create.

If you’re going to submit content to sites like Digg, Reddit or Newsvine, write a personalized email to a dozen or so relevant bloggers before you submit in order to get some early links. A little work upfront could help get the ball rolling and have a big impact on your overall success.

It’s also recommend that site owners use a common username among all the different social media sites. This helps establish yourself in the various communities and makes it appear like you’re a trusted member and not just out for quick links, even if you are.

Don’t get pissed by Failure, Stand up and Try Again

The truth is, even after you’ve followed the rules faithfully, your first dozen (or two) attempts probably won’t work. It takes time to create the momentum you need to establish yourself in the various communities. However, once one of your items does hit, you’ll understand what all the fuss was about and why social media optimization is worth all the hard work.

You also can’t let up once you get that first taste of success. If you want to maintain the traffic you are receiving, you have to continue to participate. Your success in social media will wholeheartedly depend on user engagement.

That is all…

Yeap Folks, that’s it for now.., Hoping that I had made some contribution to ever growing world of Social Media Optimization…

Note – This is my first attempt and I am still learning…Request you to please comment and let me and the reader know of anything i skipped…looking forward to hear from you all…

What’s Next…

May be another post showcasing my view for my readers…or something that my readers want…choice is in your hand readers…let me know what you want to read here or just live with what I am providing…HA HA HA…. 🙂 Just kidding…Thanks for being their…Happy reading…

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50 Social News Websites You Can Use

Hey All, My last post was on Social Media Sites you should know about… and as i said, that this isn’t finished yet, here I am back again with a list of 50 Social News Websites you can use…

There are a great deal of social news sites on the internet, sometimes too many. Most of them are dormant and are no longer active, largely because they were poorly marketed and hence, never had an active community of users in the first place.

I spent some time going through hundreds of articles and sites {Now you the reason of my delay in the post. 🙂 } and came up with a list of sites which I think are worth exploring.

Some of the sites on this list have a broad topical focus while others are created to cater to a specific niche. Hence I’ve divided the list into two portions: General Social News or websites which cover a wide variety of news and Niche Social News which refers to specialized sites that only focus on a limited range of niche topics.

This list purely consists of English social news sites. There are no social bookmarking or social network sites included.

Here’s a brief definition of social news sites, in case you’re unfamiliar with them:

Social News websites are communities which allow its users to submit news stories, articles and media (videos/pictures) and share them with other users or the general public. Some of these articles will be given more visibility, depending on various factors such as the number of user votes for each item.

Apart from counting registered user votes, some social news websites employ human editors to determine the visibility of each news item. Certain stories will be removed from the website while others may be given a ‘featured‘ position if the story is highly relevant and news worthy.

General Social News Websites

1. Reddit: Popular social news website with a large user base. Covers a wide range of news. Includes several topical sections called subreddits, which focus on specific topics like programming, science, politics and business.

2. Digg: The largest and most popular social news website on the internet. Covers all topics including politics, entertainment, technology and general news. Includes a separate video and image section.

3. Propeller: A social news site that covers all topics from technology to politics and entertainment. Operates in a similar fashion to Digg.

4. Fark: A community news site which allows users to comment on news articles. User submitted links will be posted on the main page once they are approved by the administrators.

5. Slashdot: Primarily a tech news site, Slashdot also covers topics like books, games, politics and entertainment. Users can submit stories and they may be published after editors approve it. A popular site that can send a large amount of traffic.

6. Metafilter: A community weblog which allows users to share links and discuss interesting websites/topics. Moderation is done through editors as well as peer pressure in order to prevent gaming.

7. I am bored: Covers general topics with a strong focus on weird and offbeat news. You can submit a link which may be posted after the editors approve it.

8. Mixx: A general social news sites which has a category for all types of news. Topics covered include business, entertainment, sports, health and tech. Includes the ability to create groups to share news with other users.

9. Shoutwire: General news site that is well populated with a loyal group of users. Topics covered include technology, politics, entertainment, lifestyle and sports.

10. Newsvine: A website consisting of community-driven news stories and opinions. Users have their own blogs and can write articles, save links to external content and vote/comment on other user stories.

11. IndianPad: A general social news site that with a large indian userbase. Topics covered include entertainment, sports, videos and tamil news.

12. Linkfilter: Covers all sorts of news. All links are posted and moderated by users. Links can be ranked on several levels: clicks, votes, age, or a combination of all three called points.

13. NewsCloud: A general social site with a focus on news in all topics. Similar to Newsvine, each user has their own blogs and can publish content to be voted up by other users.

14. Hugg: Hugg is a social news site with a strong focus on environmental issues. Also includes other categories like politics, science, fashion and technology.

15. Plime: A general news site which features a wide variety of topics ranging from religion and sports to technology or business. Odd news performs best in this community.

16. C2NN: An active social news site with a variety of topics including environment issues, business, politics, animals and offbeat. Similar to Hugg in focus but much more populated and active.

17. Kirsty: A general news site with a focus on fashion, entertainment and design on top of other topics like technology and food. Has a strong female user base.

18. Nowpublic: A participatory news network which focuses on citizen journalism. Each user has their own individual profile blog/page and can upload videos, images and news stories.

19. Stirrdup: General social news site with four broad categories: politics, technology, news and entertainment.

20. Searchles: A hybrid social news sites which covers all topics. Includes a video section and offers personalized filtering features and the option of joining groups made up of other users with similar interests.

21. Linkinn: A social news site that specializes in pictures and video. Covers a broad range of topics, particular offbeat and weird content.

22. Earthfrisk: Covers topics like humor, politics, entertainment and business. Combines a social network and group features with digg-style news voting.

23. Truemors: A social rumor news site which focuses on the publication of “true rumors that are relevant, informative, and interesting.” Users can post links anonymously via text, voicemail, web or email. Editors moderate content.

24. StumbleUpon: A social network and browser toolbar which allows users to channel surf the internet. Technically not 100% a social news site, although users can submit webpages to be rated by other users. Here is a guide to StumbleUpon.

25. Linkswarm: Covers a wide range of topics from celebrity gossip to funny media, science and politics. Focuses on pop culture and bizarre news as well.

Niche Social News Websites

Here are social websites which focus on a specific niche. For best results, only submit to them when your site falls within the same niche or covers the same topics. Or else you’re likely to be marked as spam.

26. Sphinn: Sphinn is a social site for search and interactive marketers. It’s designed to allow you to share and discover news stories, read and take part in discussions, discover events of interest and network with others.

27. Dzone: DZone is a free link-sharing community for developers. Other topics commonly featured include web design and programming.

28. Tweako: A user-powered site and social network with a focus on guides and tutorials in all categories like computing, technology, and the Internet.

29. Autospies: A social site that focuses on automotive news, car reviews, auto show photos and videos.

30. Design Float: A social news site for design-related content. Topics covered include business, freelancing, advertising, digital art and branding.

31. Ball Hype: A site that aggregates content from thousands of sports blogs. Users can submit stories and votes will determine if they make it to home page.

32. YCombinator Hacker News: A news site that focuses on technology, startups, business and entrepreneurship.

33. SWiK: A community driven resource for people who use open source software.

34. Buzzflash: A user driven progressive political news website that allows you to submit political stories.

35. DNHour: DNHour.com is a user-powered news portal built specially for the domain name industry. Most members are generally from the domain name industry, which includes domain name owners, companies or professionals.

36. PlugIM: PlugIM is a user driven internet marketing community. Topics covered include search engine optimization, products, business and marketing.

37.Showhype: Operates in a similar way to Ballhype. Stories come from two sources — users and aggregated content. Users can also submit a link to a story that they’ve found or write their own article on ShowHype.

38. Small Business Brief: A niche social site which focuses on small business news. Topics covered include marketing and sales, website development, management and entrepreneurship.

39. Hypediss: Social news site with a focus on design, fashion, urban culture and art.

40. Chictini: Product-oriented social site which a focus on new trends and styles. It’s possible to submit news stories although most of the submissions feature products from online retailers.

41. DotNetKicks: DotNetKicks.com is a community based news site that focuses on topics like NET development techniques, technologies and tools including ASP.NET, C#, VB.NET, C++ and Visual Studio.

42. Lipstick: Reddit-style social news site for celebrity gossip.

43. Hubspot: Social news site for marketers, entrepreneurs and business professionals.

44. Winelifetoday: A niche social site for wine lovers. Topics covered included news and opinion articles to do with wine.

45. iliketotallyloveit.com: Allows users to publish and share products with the broader public which they find cool, innovative, exceptionally beautiful, or just weird. Included with every item is a link to an online shop where it can be purchased.

46. Wordsy: A niche social news site for people who love reading and books. Topics covered include small presses, fiction writing, authors, book awards and poetry. (Note: Wordsy has suspended its site since Dec 2008)

47. Value Investing News: A niche social news site that covers stocks and investment news. A small but active community.

48. Teenwag: Focus on celebrity gossip. A hybrid social network with digg-style voting. Users can submit links to be voted up by other users.

49. Muti: Muti is a social bookmarking site inspired by reddit and Digg but dedicated to content of interest to Africans or those interested in Africa.

50. Tip’d: A social media site for finance, investing, and business topics. Tip’d users vote on stories they like by clicking the ‘Tip it’ button that appears next to each story, and then can comment by pressing the ‘Discuss’ link below the story.

This list is not meant to be comprehensive. It doesn’t include every social news website out there but only the ones which I think has potential for providing you with relevant/fresh news while giving exposure to your ideas, brand or website.

Wrapping up…

Phew ! – A huge post for a beginner like me… 🙂 thanks readers for being there..I think this is enough for now…Next time I should also let you know the importance and type of Social Media…Hmm…Right, Ok then , see you soon…

Psst:- Don’t forget to add your views, that will help me in publishing the content you desire and wish to read on…so start commenting and encourage me to publish more and more. Bye for now…See you all…

Psst Again – Check out my “Who Am I” page to get along with me on other sites as well…

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