Archive for the ‘Sphinn’ Category

TheNanny612 and the Three Avatars

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 |

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I wrote a post regarding my avatar change on Collective-Thoughts. This post is a continuation of that. The avatar I had chose at the end of that post didn’t work out. And since my 6 year old daughter helped me come up with my final choice for an avatar I decided to write this post in the form of a Child’s Story, "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".

 The Avatar Story
Image by Super Dave Chen

TheNanny612 and the Three Avatars

TheNanny612 was a Young Lady who spent much of her days Social Networking. She had her own land in her part of the Web 2.0 World.

Normally this Social Media Lady would had been content to go about her usual Social Networking, but on this day she chose instead to cut off her long curly hair. Knowing that once she did this she would have to perform the duty of choosing the right avatar for her part of the Web 2.0 World named Social Desire.

It was on this day that TheNanny612 Avatar Journey began.

TheNanny612 didn’t think the duty of choosing an avatar would be a difficult one. After all, what is the big deal, really? An avatar simply is a picture to help members of Online Communities know who you are…. is that really such a big deal?

So, TheNanny612 simply had her picture taken a few times with a cell phone. She chose the best of the batch of pics, cropped it and sized it perfectly. She made each picture into different sizes to easily accommodate the different requirements at different Social Networking Communities. The smallest Avatar size is 50×50 for Sphinn and StumbleUpon uses a 475×475 on its About page.

TheNanny612 Avatar #1

475 x 475 50 X 50
TheNanny612 Avatar #1 475x475 TheNanny612 Avatar #1 50x50

She really liked this picture, but it was so dark. She didn’t realize how dark until she had it resized to fit Sphinn’s 50×50 Avatar requirement. The size Avatar for Sphinn is so small & so dark that it is terribly difficult to recognize who the picture is of….. That will never do.

TheNanny612 sighed as she really thought this was going to be simple. "Oh well.", she said as she moved on to the next stop.

She took a look at the first picture to see what the problem was and came up with a few of things.

  1. To dark.
  2. Little Contrast. TheNanny612’s dark hair against the dark chair. There was absolutely no contrast.
  3. The picture was taken with a Cell phone. The quality of cell phone pictures aren’t always good enough to work with.

So, TheNanny612 decided that she needed to do things differently. She decided to do everything completely opposite from what she did last time.

She dressed in a white blouse and sat on a light rug in front of a cherry stained door. This is how the picture looked in its largest and smallest forms:

TheNanny612 Avatar #2

475 x 475 50 X 50
TheNanny612 Avatar #2 475x475 TheNanny612 Avatar #2 50x50

TheNanny612 was initially happy with this photograph. She likes the black and white look and the contrast is nice. But, notice how the picture changes when it is made smaller. The change in size makes it difficult to recognize that its TheNanny612 at all. She began to think that there will be no 50×50 avatar that will be easy to recognize, but she knew that wasn’t true. After all, her last 50×50 avatar was easy to recognize.

So, TheNanny612 went back on her search for the Perfect Avatar…. the Avatar that was "Just Right."

The problems with the 2nd Avatar?? There were a few…

  1. It’s a lovely shot large, but when made smaller it is difficult to recognize.
  2. The picture is simply to light. The black and white look washes TheNanny612 out. She will not stand out compared to others which is very important in Social Networking.
  3. The contrast problem in the 1st photograph caused TheNanny612 to dress in light colors, but this did nothing for the photograph either.

TheNanny612 was truly frustrated. She asked out loud, "Why is this so hard?" All of a sudden it came to her…. she needed to figure out what made her original Avatar Memorable.

What made the Original TheNanny612 Avatar Memorable

TheNanny612 Original Avatar

  1. An Unusual Head shot
  2. Sepia - I didn’t use Black & White….. Sepia added a bit of color.
  3. Side Angle
  4. Not the entire head
  5. Nothing much else in the background.

More determined than ever TheNanny612 decided to stick with what seemed to work with her original avatar. The most important thing to her was that the avatar needed to look just as good small as it did large. And, up until this point that had been TheNanny612’s struggle. She needed to stop posing so much & get back to basics…. get back to what worked for her in the past.

TheNanny612 decided to hand the camera to her 6 year old daughter and allow her daughter to snap a few random shots. Little did she know the perfect avatar would be taken by the young child.

TheNanny612 went through all the photographs taken by her daughter that day. She came across one that she felt would be a perfect fit if cropped just right. This is what she came up with:

TheNanny612 Avatar #3

475 x 475 50 X 50
TheNanny612 Avatar #3 475x475 TheNanny612 Avatar #3 50x50

The first first Avatar was too dark, The 2nd Avatar was too light, and the 3rd Avatar was just right!!

With each Avatar mistake TheNanny612 learned something and the final Avatar was the nicest in all the Land.

The Moral of this story…

Sometimes things don’t go well the first time around or even the 2nd. But, as long as you make each a learning experience then the outcome is usually good one.

The End.

Social Media Karma – What Goes Around Comes Around

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 |

This Featured Guest Post is by James Duthie of Online Marketing Banter

Social Media Karma
Image by dmax3270

Do onto others as you would do to yourself. It’s a fine philosophy to live by. The laws of karma state that our personal actions & behaviour influence future experiences. In other words, we’re responsible for our own destinies and the ultimate happiness & success we achieve. I can’t think of any other environment in which karma is more relevant than social media…

Free is the new currency of the Internet. Social media is a perfect example. How many people make real money from blogging? Very few. Yet every day millions of bloggers produce content for free distribution. Why? Because they believe in karma. They believe that giving their content away will lead to positive future outcomes, whether they be business or personal.

Social news communities such as Digg and Sphinn are even better examples of karma in action. A selfless attitude is expected within social news communities. Good karma can only be earned by dedicating free time to positive community activities such as:

  • Submitting content that the community values
  • Creating relationships with other community members
  • Contributing to blogs of community members via comments & guest posts
  • Reading and voting for your friends’ content
  • Adding meaningful insights to conversations within the community
  • Asking for nothing in turn for your positive contributions

People who succeed in social media embrace the principles of good karma. They don’t ask for support from the community, but they receive it anyway because of the positive contribution they make.

Newbies in particular need to display the strongest faith in social media karma, because the karmic circle takes time to turn. In my case it has taken months of participation within Sphinn before the good karma returned some personal rewards. But good things come to those who wait…

Social media karma in action

About a month ago I crossed paths with a blogger named Robin Cannon. Robin manages Fog of Eternity, a blog dedicated to web design, social media and online marketing. Like me Robin is fairly new to the game, and is still establishing his blog and audience. I liked Robin’s work and quickly subscribed to his blog. I also began to submit his work to Sphinn and StumbleUpon because his stuff was well written and deserved a broader audience.

According to Robin, it was my social media support that helped give his blog the kick start it needed. A number of my Stumbles helped him generated thousands of visitors a day (who ever knew my Stumbles were so powerful…?). Before long that momentum grew and he was averaging over a thousand visits a week. In fact, in just a couple of weeks he had far surpassed my own traffic levels.

Robin has thanked me a number of times for the social media love I gave him. He didn’t need to. After all, social media submission also shines the limelight on the submitter if it goes hot… But despite that, Robin made me a special offer recently. Noticing that my own blog design was a little uninspired, Robin offered his design skills to help give it a little spark. As someone without an iota of design experience or skill, this offer was like gold to me!

And that, my friends, is the circle of social media karma in action.

Robin never asked me for social media support, but I gave it anyway because his work was great quality. I would never have dreamed of asking Robin to redesign my blog, but he offered anyway out of goodwill.

If you’re not succeeding in social media, perhaps you should take a look at your own behaviour… Are you exuding an aura of good karma…?


Author Bio:

James Duthie is an Australian digital marketing expert. He writes on all things social media, blogging, SEO & digital marketing at his blog - Online Marketing Banter. Subscribe to hear more of his ramblings here.


The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain Caught my Brainwaves!!

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 | The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain
(The following story is a teeny tiny made up)

This morning as I was surfing my usual Social Media sites I took notice to something that was very familiar. It was my avatar. The avatar I use on all of my Social Networking sites. But, it wasn’t on one of my usual Social Networking sites. Then I took a closer look and I saw that the Title of this particular post was called, "Q&A With TheNanny612". What?! I didn’t agree to any interview!! I didn’t answer any questions!! Oh, Wait! Did I? Oh, no….. wasn’t last night just a nightmare?!

As I was sitting quietly Sphinning and Stumbling as usual. This crazy, freaky looking brain guy kept popping up on my laptop asking me questions. I was nice to him the first few times he appeared. I simply said, "No thank you", "Not interested", "Don’t want any". Finally, I screamed, "Leave me the F**K alone and get the H**L off of my computer!!!". I thought that did the trick because I hadn’t heard anymore from him, until……my computer crashed!!

"Damn it!!" I hate when this happens right when I’m trying to Sphinn this Rock’n Search Engine Journal post!! UGH, now Marty is going to get it first!! He’s always up my butt to sphinn things before me!!"

As I was working on trying to get my laptop back online it appeared to be juicing itself to come back up again, but instead that freaky brain guy is back on my computer again. This time I couldn’t get rid of him or turn the computer off at all. And, he kept chanting, "I’m going to catch your brainwaves, Nanny. And, there is nothing you can do to stop me!! I’m going to catch your brainwaves."

The next thing I remember was waking up the morning with a huge headache and feeling a bit violated. But, for the life of me…. I couldn’t figure out why. That is until now……

Mark Dykeman of The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain Blog caught my brainwaves and has plastered my thoughts all over the front page of his Blog.

Okay, okay…. maybe this story is a bit of an exaggeration and maybe I even changed the story a teensy tiny bit. But, I got you reading, huh?!

Anyway, Mark at The Uncanny Broadcasting Brain Blog Interviewed me and the entire Q&A With TheNanny612 is over at his Blog. So, please check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks for the great interview, Mark.

Technorati Tags:, , , , , , , ,

51 Favorite SU, Sphinn, Twitter & Facebook Posts of 2007

Friday, December 28th, 2007 | Social Networking 2007Photo by luc legay

2007 will be ending in the next few days and 2008 will be beginning. It has been an amazing year for me. It was In 2007 I became very involved in Social Media Activity. I am looking forward to 2008 and everything that it has to offer, but before I can simply say Hello to 2008 and Goodbye to 2007 I wanted to list my favorite posts from all of my favorite Social Networking sites…. StumbleUpon, Sphinn, Twitter, and Facebook. *Keep in mind that these posts are my favorites and nothing official.*

Favorite StumbleUpon Posts of 2007

StumbleRank - Ranks the Top StumbleUpon Users.

A Comprehensive Guide to StumbleUpon: How to Build Massive Traffic to Your Website - Maki of DoshDosh wrote this mini guide on StumbleUpon because he thought StumbleUpon has enormous potential in maximizing brand exposure while fitting nicely with a long term site building strategy.

How to Use StumbleUpon for Your Business: The Definitive Guide - Tamar writes this great post for 10e20.com.

The Why, How and Who of Marketing in StumbleUpon - Garrett French writes this very in depth post regarding StumbeUpon and using it for Marketing purposes.

Building Your Blog With StumbleUpon - A ProBlogger Guest post by Skellie showing how to use StumbleUpon to increase your Blog Traffic.

Stumbleupon mathematics for stumblers - Tim Nash gives us his thoughts on how he believes the StumbleUpon algorithm works.

How to Use StumbleUpon to Promote - David Risley of WebbyOnline explains in detail how to Use StumbleUpon.

StumbleUpon Will Love Us Even When Google Doesn’t - Brian Wallace writes about the effectiveness of StumbleUpon.

5 Tactics For Driving Traffic From StumbleUpon - Cameron Olthuis writes for Search Engine Land showing you how StumbleUpon is a great way to bring large amounts of traffic to your site…. at times even bringing more traffic than digg.

How to Set Up a Domino Effect of Traffic - Vandelay Design writes how he greatly increased his traffic by setting up a Domino Effect with StumbleUpon.

25 Reasons You Get Thumbs Up - Andy Beard comes up with a list of 25 reasons why you might get a Thumbs Up on StumbleUpon.

Analysis: StumbleUpon’s Top 50 Stumblers - Glen Allsopp felt there wasn’t a lot of information on StumbleUpon on how to become a Top Stumbler. Glen researched and posted his findings.

6 Reasons to Love StumbleUpon - Marty tells us the 6 reasons he loves StumbleUpon.

Writing for StumbleUpon: High Impact Content “Above the Scroll” in Four Easy Steps - Muhammad Saleem points out that with StumbleUpon having your important content above the scroll is extremely important.

How Important is StumbleUpon? - Rose Sylvia shows us how to use StumbleUpon to its fullest.

Favorite Sphinn Posts of 2007

Sphinn - The Social News Site Every Search Marketer Should Be Using - Rand writes in detail 10 reasons why Every Search Marketer should be using Sphinn.

Please Don’t Ask Me to Sphinn Your Stories (and How to Use Sphinn and Similar Social News Websites) - Tamar writes this excellent post about Social Networking Etiquotte.

Why Sphinn Needs a Dumbass Button - Digg has a "bury it" button…. Greg Boser suggests a "Dumbass Button" for Sphinn.

Fool Proof Sphinn-Bait Tactics to Reach the Front Page - Kelvin Newman writes in detail how to reach the front page of Sphinn.

A 5 Pack Of Sphinn Interviews - Todd Mintz Interviews 5 members of the Sphinn Community.

How to Dominate Sphinn in 4 Easy Steps - David Harry comes up with the Sphinn Domination Plan.

The First (un)Official Sphinn Awards - Day 1 - Jeff Quipp at Search Engine People offers days 1 of the (un)Official Sphinn Awards…. freakin hilarious.

The (un)Official Sphinn Awards Part 2 - David Harry Holds Part II of the Sphinn Awards at his site and it is equally as funny as Day 1.

A Very Beginner’s Guide to the Sphinn Network : Tips and Tricks - Mack offers up some tips to New User’s of Sphinn.

Sphinn: In Depth Traffic Analysis And Advice - Matt Jones did his research and offers his traffic analysis and some Sphinning tips.

20 Top Sphinners You Should Know - Here is a list of 20 Sphinners and their sites that you might not know, but should.

Sphinn Google Gadget - As if I didn’t adore Pat of SEOish enough he comes up with this amazing Sphinn Google Gadget.

Favorite Twitter Posts of 2007

The Big Juicy Twitter Guide - Caroline Middlebrook puts together a very detailed guide to Using Twitter for Marketing.

Guide to Twitter as a Tool for Marketing and PR - Lee Odden puts together a great post with tips on using Twitter as a Marketing Tool. Lee’s community offers tons of wonderful Twitter Tips!!

The Several Habits of Wildly Successful Twitter Users - Bren at Slacker Manager offers tips and advice for Successful Twitter Wanna-be’s.

Eight Ways Twitter is Useful Professionally - Anne Zelenka offers 8 ways to use Twitter Professionally.

Use Twitter To Boost Your Marketing Strategy, No Really - Chris Bennett offers his ideas to user Twitter as part of a Marketing Strategy.

The Top 5 Ways Smart People Use Twitter - Sharon Sarmiento suggests focusing on these 5 smart uses of Twitter to keep from falling into the Twitter abyss.

Is Twitter TOO good? - Kathy Sierra writes this post showing her struggle with Twitter…. In this post you can see her struggle with Twitter being a waste of time and the rest of the world chanting Twitter’s wonderful goodness.

Twitter vs. Pownce: Who Pwns? - Tamar takes a close look at Twitter and Pownce and compares the two.

Twitter is Paying My Rent - Marshall Kirkpatrick writes how he uses Twitter to come up with stories to blog about. At the time of this post 6 out of his 7 last posts wint to the front page of Digg… the same stories he came up with thanks to Twitter.

Twitter CAN be Useful! Who Knew? - Due to Twitter coverage of the fires back in October Jennifer Laycock saw an incredibly useful way to use Twitter….. Her brother and his wife were able to subscribe to the Twitter Feed and quick and easy access to instant updates as they drove across the country safely.

Favorite Facebook Posts of 2007

The Facebook Marketing Bible: 24 Ways to Market Your Brand, Company, Product, or Service Inside Facebook - If you are looking on exactly how to Market on Facebook this is a "Must Read" by Justin Smith.

12 Ways to Use Facebook Professionally - Judi Sohn explains why Facebook can be a great addition to your web working toolbox.

How to use Facebook to Promote your Blog - Brian Wallace compliles some tips on how to promote your blog using Facebook.

Not many people know this, but I invented Facebook - Lyndon says, Let us all rise up and shout, “I INVENTED FACEBOOK.”

Your Private Facebook Info Isn’t So Private - Lisa Barone shows why adjusting your Facebook privacy settings may not be enough to keep people from seeing inside your Facebook Windows.

Seven Steps to Graphing Your Facebook Strategy - Dave McClure offers an indepth look at Facebook. This is a great post for anyone new to Facebook.

A Successful Facebook Marketing Campaign - Social-Media-Optimization.com compares a successful Facebook campaign (Target) with an unsuccessful campaign (Walmart).

How to Develop a Hit Facebook App: 29 Essential Tools and Tutorials - SoftwareDeveloper.com comes up with Resources to help you build a successful Facebook app that users will love.

You too might be a Facebookaholic, if: - Dave McClure gives us 17 hints that we might be a Facebookaholic.

Who needs Google? Facebook’s stealth ad system - ValleyWag gives us the details on Facebook’s Ad System.

Mash Pets, SuperPokes, Vampires, or Zombies? What are Your Social Network Ice Breakers? - Mark Laymon shows us how he uses certain Facebook applications to "Break the Ice".

A Girl’s First Time….. being Poked - Ok, this post is one of mine. Sorry, I just crack myself up. ;-)

Is The Horde At Facebooks Walls? - Tim Nash writes this post for Clicks.ws. on the how-to’s of Advertising on Facebook.

Web Strategy: What the Web Strategist should know about Facebook - Jeremiah Owyang tells us what we need to know about Facebook as a strategic marketing channel.

Technorati Tags:, , , , , , , ,

Want to subscribe?

 Subscribe in a reader Or, subscribe via email:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Need Creative Inspiration? Search Engine Marketing - Build Static Pages
Find entries :