Protocol
Social news sites focus on delivering the latest news based on votes. Bookmarking sites allow users to save links for later reading; the number of saves counts as votes and the most popular links are displayed. These sites all have certain elements that are useful to marketers. This section will introduce you to those elements.
Your Profile
Social news and bookmarking sites each have slight variations regarding user profiles. For those that allow you to upload an avatar image (and most do), you should use the same image across all sites; this should also be consistent across social networks and any other sites where you have a profile. Fill out as much profile information as you can, including instant messenger (IM) names, profiles on other sites, and links to your websites. Some sites also allow you to friend other users, as on social networks; find people submitting and voting on content similar to yours and connect with them.
The more active and consistent you are in contributing to a site, the more valuable your account will become; you'll begin to develop a reputation, and other people will be more receptive to your stories. If you are a regular reader of blogs and news sources in your niche, you'll have the advantage of being the first person to submit major stories.
Figure 6-2. Most social news sites feature embeddable voting badges.
Submitting
To get your content listed ...
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