News Source: http://www.johnon.com
Published: Aug 08, 2007 - 06:00 pm
Story Found By: johnandrews 2116 Days ago
Category: Sphinn Zone
Sites like Digg show hundreds and sometimes thousands of votes because their members participate and exercise their voting rights. Sphinn is young, but more than a year old already and yet most posts have 10, 20, or 30 Sphinns. Why not more?
When this post first went "hot", it challenged Sphinn’s membership to "prove themselves" as marketers. The most number of Sphinns for any post at that time was less than 70. Since the users pushed this to 100, then 200, and now over 400, Sphinn has grown site wide. Many posts see almost a hundred Sphinns.
More Sphinns reflects more participation, and by increasing participation we not only prove ourselves as marketers but help keep Sphinn alive as a viable community.
Let’s go to 600 but continue to pace of voting to Sphinn up what deserves to be Sphunn, site wide!
96 Comments
Comments
Oh my, really, the first serious Sphinnbait. And so deserving of a Sphinn. C’mon, let’s kick John up to 100.
funny stuff.
I assume you are going to make 100 Sphinns, top the "Greatest Hits", and then quit, correct? Don’t be a "One Hit Wonder", John.
Way to go, John. However I hope all this fun stuff won’t crowd out the quality content.
This is just a demonstration of the mob mentality within the business. Well, I won’t sphinn it. Nope, I’m not falling for it. Not this fella. must.... resist.... sphinning....accckkkkk
I tried to read his blog but after looking at it... decided wasn’t worth trying to decipher. But I was thinking his idea is SphinnSpam Say that three times real quick.....
This is a perfect example of linkbait. John caught my attention just like he said he would...through my logs. Way to go John, you got my Sphinn.
I found out through my log too. Clever strategy. Was that a typical get-rich-quick looong sales letter or a post? The only items missing were the red bold letters, big headings, testimonials and his signature ;-)
good lord.. that blog is about 10 minutes away from MFA land... no sphinn for you! I am the sphinn nazi!
John gave me some great advice a few months ago about where to go in my business. I’ll gladly Sphinn this. It’s now Sphunn. This is fun. Now, I’m done.
It’s just one more Sphinn. What could it hurt? I promise I’m quitting tomorrow. This is seriously the last one. Well... I’ll have to Sphinn once tomorrow morning... just to get the day started off on the right foot. But then I’m done for real. Yeah. Tomorrow is the day. That’s the plan for today anyway.
John ... love it. Making Seattle proud. You get #1, Rand gets #2, and then we all bump one of mine up there and Seattle owns the Top 3. Sound good?
I did sphinn it for the record.. was just trying to make a bad seinfeld joke. sorry :(
Threw a link on the SEOmoz blog to hopefully help you out. Good luck.
Heh. I’d kill for a link - sphunn, and great job John!
Okey dokey. I’m a sucker. Sphunn and contact made.
Sphunn, more to see whether driving traffic to his page will drive it on to our site which is on the list - nowt as yet... It’s bloody hard reading though, isn’t it?
Sphunn, love it.
moved finger on mouse downwards
Sphinn to Win. Legendary work fella.
alright. why not.
I’ll give this a Sphinn, though it sounded as though we’ll later lose the ego-links he’s got to our blogs? Worthy of a Sphinn, regardless. "...watch their referrer logs like hawks..." Yeah. I guess I resemble that remark!
sphunn....
Sock it to ’em, John - always good for pinpointing the latest coolest buzzy trends from Absurdistan.
It can be done.....one step closer to 100
Back in the day, I spun pressed vinyl and got David Cassidy and the Partridge Family in return... Then the Berlin wall came down, vinyl became a sofa cover that my legs stuck to on humid days, and I found myself thrust into the exciting world of SEO. I’ll sphinn to say I was a part of history!
part of me says no, don’t do it...but i couldn’t resist.
damn fine idea
@Jill, see, at first I thought John’s mug was a Borg from Star Trek -- which alone would have been sphinn worthy. Then I realized it was a camera! Great post about taking photos about the surfers and bringing that back to search privace, by the way, John: http://www.johnon.com/380/google-privacy-2.html
Booyah...
Wonderful...in addition to the link-for-Sphinns approach, I think gift certificates for sushi in San Jose should be distributed to those making colorful comments.
I guess sphinning this makes me a dirty dirty link whore
wow that was my first sphinn!
Okay, I’ll bite and make this my first Sphinn. Your strategy worked, I tracked a link to my Big Oak SEO Blog and found the article.
Haha...I had to register just so I Sphinn this. I’ve been reading Johnon since Threadwatch closed down...nowadays it’s the best place I can find for snarkyness. Hmmm...maybe I should go check out what Thatgirlfrommarketing is writing - without Threadwatch I’m snark-deprived :-(
I do believe I’m the 100th sphinner! :)
Wow... I went biking this morning and just checked back in to see 98 sphinns! Awesome.. and certainly gives me more to show off to the domainers next week at DomainRoundtable. Now, who will be Sphinn #100 of the first post to Sphinn up to 100? I’ll get the linking updated... lots of work to do :-)
I believe the answer is, ME :) Wow, that was more exciting than sniping an Ebay auction :) Maybe I should get out more...
Sphunn ... and I subscribed to your feed, John. Double whammy.
101! Way to go John! Way to knock off Rand! (no offense Rand, seomoz = still super cool)
102 and still going...
No offence to rand but I’m glad he’s not up there anymore :D
Since we’ve now delivered on John’s objective, perhaps we can now get back to Regular Programming. :)
Regular programing... this is a marketers community! Oh the drama, the intrigue, and mine is bigger than yours.
Nice ping list for this one ;) toprankblog full list pinged ?
Only the first 400 entries ;-)
i joined sphinn because of this article. it is good and made me want to join.
Hey, I joined Sphinn because of this article, too. John, they should pay you! You’re the best marketer of the week.
done
I regret that I only have one sphinn to give.
I’ll give it a shot.
Sure, I’m in!
Another one signed up because of John’s article...
145, baby. You make some good points.
Just one more Sphinn and it’s the double century. I’ve helped already so it can’t be me.
lol.
go John go!
Good technique to get some backdoor sphinns.... always smile at your methodologies... keep it up mate
I did my job john :)
19 to go....
18 to go :)
So now we’ve got de-sphinners, on a Sphinn-zone post. Gimme a break. If nothing else, this thread is PROMOTIONAL and FEELS GOOD for Sphinners who participate. I can see desphinning news items that don’t make the grade, but desphinning a Sphinn-zone discussion? Sounds like sour grapes to me.
Sour grapes it may be, but it doesn’t add any value to the Internet Marketing community in my opinion. Come on, you can handle it.
Very good post you wrote about barter: http://www.johnon.com/528/google-paidlinks.html
Well thats all done then309
Little late to the party here, but this whole thread reminded me of phrase that starts with circle and ends in jerk.
Sphinnbaiting...I like that word.
80% of the way to 400 sphinns...
just added 0.25% ;)
I have to say this is lame and reminds me of when Digg started to go over the tipping point and then became super lame. I’d rather see a story with 30 sphinns than a story begging for votes. I mean seriously folks... what’s in it for us? Nothin’.someone needs to start a campaign to desphinn this one... lol?
welcome to the party.. a bit late. But thanks for the comments anyway. There were links involved, just so ya know, but the management has put the kabosh on saying that so it isn’t said any more. Nope. No one is saying anything about back links for Sphinns. Why go to 400? Well, why leave it at 100 where it was.. or 200... or even 300? Now whether or not this is "lame" has not been addresses here, but you could always start a thread about "Sphinn is a popularity contest" or something like that. The whole idea of votes for stories you didn’t write... well that could be debated too if you want. But not here.Now if you have something helpful to add, perhaps regarding what should be up here, that would be great. It’s all about the Sphinners... and this post started because there was another old, boring, useless post sitting at the top at that time.
Social Media Marketing is a funny business. Right now, for instance, Tamar and I have been contrasted on the SEOBook blog for our views of Social Media. Tamar is portrayed as all bubbly and optimistic, and I have been described as cynical. Actually, that is a pretty good comparison. But that should not be construed as dismissive. I do not dismiss social... I just dismiss people who have little more going for them than their cult of online friends who vote for whatever they want voted up (or down). I believe in hard work and education. I think everyone deserves a shot, and no one has to do both work and education, but I dislike the players who pull social infleunce to secure commercial opportunity that others have worked hard to earn, through sweat and/or education. Now this comment stream is being "played", as you can see in the comments getting voted down (quietly.. slowly.. every since tamar expressed her self-admitted "sour grapes" above). I don’t corral any legion of followers to click my stuff or vote for me or support my friends... that is what I dislike about "social media marketing". I love the concept of moving the people... I just don’t like the fake, wanna-be marketer stuff that comes out of "come on folks, time to vote this up" (or down). It’s okay... I have always supported Sphinn and although I would prefer to see a positive approach to competing, I understand how certain players may have a limited arsenal of creativity available to them, and may feel they have to resort to negative tactics. Wouldn’t it be great to see someone produce something so Sphinn-worthy it collected 400 Sphinns? When I started this, here was very little comment voting going on at Sphinn, and very little Sphinning compared to viewing. That was a driving force behind my initial "prove yourself a marketer" post looking for 100 Sphinns. It worked. Lots more activity, new members signing in to Sphinn, and mostly positive comments. Somewhere above some people decided they had no hope of overtaking this post at the top of the Greatest Hits page, and things started going sour. Negative comments, down votes, and now... ?Too bad, but perhaps reflective if the players behind some of the Social Media scamminess? No worries... I believe in the power of marketers even if there are a bunch of sour ones. And that is why I offer a challenge... go ahead and displace this post on the Greatest Hits page. Prove Yourself a Marketer, get something else up here at 400 or whatever Sphinns, and I’ll hand over the crown and edit this post so it doesn’t detract from your glory at the top. My initial goal for this was 1 million Sphinns, but I am willing to forgoe that dream if it helps make Sphinn a more positive communty. So there it is... a challenge. We’re on our way to 400, but if you can be creative and get something Sphinn worthy up here close to this post’s count... a respectable challenger so to speak, I’ll defer to your Social Media Genius. Up to it? I hope so. In the mean time, thanks everyone for the votes and let’s keep it positive out there!
394. Yawn and g’nite.
I’m a little disappointed it’s now hit 405! I found it funnier when people left it at 401...come on guys!
@yetanotherben I suppose we now need to go to 499 and let it sit there! That would be even funnier! ;-)
@Johnandrews, OK I’ve finally been suckered in to Sphinning it to help you along your way!Now everyone say after me: "I promise I won’t Sphinn this post past 499" ...great thinking John!!
What do you mean 449... there are only 82 comments!
Quality first IMHO but a very clever idea John...
I added my Sphinn too.
I was only 481 - would loved to have been number 501 to conclude your objective!
I was 487. I would love to see it go way past 500. I would be willing to bet it will go past 500 by more than one voter vying to be number 500 on the spot. Go go go :)Best wishes,Disa
Well, this is my first sphinn and I am #506. I wasn’t sure if you all wanted to keep this sphinning or not. Time to go sphin some others that I have been reading over the past few weeks. Might as well keep it going at this point :)Cheers
lets hope spinn gets there. fingers crossed
Well John’s not doing too badly for himself at a respectable 536 with my Sphinn. ;)Let’s keep "him" Sphinning, and maybe that 1,000 is not so unobtainable...Warm regards,Paul
lol how many times is John gonna be able to change this title? :)
@Gab I could’ve sworn the title was 500 at some point. Thanks for confirming I’m not going nuts. It does seem odd that the title can be updated... I just checked some of my submissions and I don’t seem to have that ability. Or am I missing something?
this is noisy - and unnecessary to the value of Sphinn.
Agreed with billse. I have been waiting for this button to appear for so long to use it right here!
pointless and i just dont see the value in being above someone else by asking for it.
It gets tiring for old Spocial Media gurus like you Brent but "the value" was in getting people to Sphinn posts, comment on them, and vote up/down. In other words, to encourage engagement with the Sphinn system.
It worked, and continued to work.
When this post appeared, the community was almost a thousand in number yet "popular" posts got like 5 Sphinns. The Greatest Hists was under 75 Sphinns, and sat there week after week. I tried to open it up, and encourage "everyman" to make his opinion known by Sphinning. In my eyes, that helps everyone become someone in the community.
You shouldn't have to be social media "cool" to participate in Sphinn. I imagine the same people who comment that speakers at SMX/SES/Pubcon represent an incestuous clique of buddies patting each other on the back, might lurk on Sphinn rather than risk expressing an opinion. I don't think it should be that way.
So everyone should Sphinn and vote. Sphinn this one to 600 to make history, that's what I say. Why not? And if it helps improve Sphinn as a community, and lead the way towards participation beyond false ceilings and virtual barriers, all the better.
It looks like they've removed the ability to advance beyond 600 now, so only 48 to go until someone gets lucky enough to be #600.
Just added one more sphinn to the pile :)
@johnandrews I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about re: the limit of sphinns being 600. There's been no limit put on the number of (legitimate) sphinns an item can get.
Please, this is the worst kind of self-gratification around. I put this in the same category as the tons of spam which flood this site and will desphinn accordingly.
sphinn one... it's near 600 now! :)
great stuff, I have not sphinn one yet,but I will get to it soon.
Not at 600 yet, with just over 2 years...I'll promote it a bit.