Sphinn - Baiting The SEO Blogosphere

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Sphinn It!

Baiting The SEO Blogosphere

Went Hot: October 31, 2007 - 9:52 am
Posted By: chriswinfield 345 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.shandyking.com)
Category: Other Social Media

"I don’t know how to put this lightly so I will just come out and say it. Something has changed in the SEO Blogosphere and I don’t think it’s been a change for the better...."

11 Comments

Who Desphunn This (0)

Comments

from tappingcreativity 345 days ago #

Votes: 5 | Vote:

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I was thinking the same thing this morning. I love Sphinn, but it seems to be perpetuating this cycle of miselading headlines, spamming for Sphinns/votes, or posts about Sphinn solely for the purpose of doing well on Sphinn.

I don't fault Sphinn. People have to be responsible for their own actions. This type of social interaction can bring out the ego in some people. I would echo this post, however, and request that SEO blogs and sites renew their focus on creating the informational content that made Sphinn such a great idea, and stay away from the "tabloid-ish" stuff that seems to be gaining popularity.

Big SPHINN on this one.

from Halfdeck 345 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

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"I don't fault Sphinn. People have to be responsible for their own actions."

Google's relationship with SEOs proved you cannot rely on the people to do the right thing or even agree on what the right thing is.

Right now, articles on Sphinn are much less about SEO than about social media for one reason: the dominant Sphinners are social media "gurus." The story that interest them tend to be social media related.

from tappingcreativity 345 days ago #

Votes: 3 | Vote:

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And I have no problems with social media posts in general. There are just a lot of BS posts out here right now written strictly to draw attention...and little more.

Also, it seems that some sites are easy pickings for a lot of sphinns as well. Just wait wait for searchengineland to post something new, then sphinn it right away and - voila - you'll have a hot topic. Not saying those article are bad either, its the predatory nature of some sphinners who clearly piggyback certain sites just for Sphinns.

from g1smd 345 days ago #

Votes: 0 | Vote:

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Once it reaches the perpetual state of blogging about blogging about blogging about blogging, and the majority of the votes are coming from a small circle of friends who IM each other to vote for each other's stuff, someone will wonder where the masses of readers really are.

They will have left.

from SearchBuzz 345 days ago #

Votes: 1 | Vote:

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..."focus their efforts on less suspecting, less 'socially aware' industires"

Regardless of the industry, the same aggregators have to be used to propel those link bait pieces.

Wouldn' t you consider the users of those sites all 'socially aware'?

from JohnWeb 345 days ago #

Votes: 4 | Vote:

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When the headlines that aren't tabloidish actually get sphinns then people will start writing them. Right now, as it stands, only outlandish headlines and/or a popular avatar get sphunn. When that changes the articles submitted and the way they are submitted will change. When "top ten this" and "Rand is a meanie" articles don't go hot, they'll stop showing up.

from corey 345 days ago #

Votes: 1 | Vote:

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that's what you get when there's no bury button. once you reach the magic number you're on the front page, period.

when all there is to do is sphinn, and there's no undo or anti-sphinn, what else can happen?

blog posts like these are the anti-sphinn. "stop spamming sphinn" they say, when in reality this type of story is of little value.

i'll even say that this story is no better than the stories it complains of. something else on the homepage that we don't learn from and can't get rid of.

from dedmond29 345 days ago #

Votes: 1 | Vote:

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I have no issue with people trying to create compelling titles & headlines. This has been a core recommendation for successful blogging, social media for some time now. However, clever titles are just the beginning.

The real issue is when someone spends the time to create a decent title and it leads to a poor piece of information. But ultimately (and maybe I am being idealistic), this type of tactic leads to a drop in subscribers and traffic for that source. And - if people are just voting up these type of articles in community sites and not paying attention to the applicable content, it hurts the community in the long run.

from NickWilsdon 345 days ago #

Votes: 4 | Vote:

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Bottom line, John is 100% on the money. Sensible headlines often don't get the attention they deserve. In some respects I think this problem will be endemic in our circles as linkbaiters often seem the most easy to bait. Maybe we just appreciate the headline construction and sphinn based on that. As John says though, these are the articles that are making the hotlist.

The key though is having the substance to support the headline once the reader clicks through. I tend to think badly of someone's brand if I visit to find 2-3 quick paragraphs and no point. It's wasting my time. Contributers like Sebastian always deliver though and these are the people that build long term value and respect.

from corey 345 days ago #

Votes: 1 | Vote:

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i find it interesting that my previous comment has been voted down and is now out of sight.

down votes on my comment shows that people here enjoy displaying their distaste for content on this site, which is what i was saying is also the reason for all the "stop spamming sphinn" stories.

if i could have voted this story down i would have done so instead of writing that comment--and others could disagree with me by voting the story up.

the inbalance enables only support for stories and not a true reflection (positive and negative) of how the community feels about the content.