Yahoo! MyBlogLog had been the hottest blog/social marketing widget in my opinion in 2006 and early 2007. Somewhere in between the balance of power shifted to Facebook, which continues to be dominant for heavyweight networking.
Lately I’ve been gravitating towards using twitter, although the lightweight 140-character cellphone text messaging aspect of it, doesn’t feel very substantial, and conversations seems to ebb and disappear in the deluge of public and private messages being fired off every couple of seconds.
For a while, it seemed like MyBlogLog had been in a holding pattern, and I’d been hoping for some integration either with the Yahoo! shopping properties or its Mash social network.
I may be wrong, but it doesn’t seem like social media/social traffic is a major focus for Yahoo! now, and that’s where it might be missing the boat.
The New Face of Yahoo! MyBlogLog: Tilly “Two Thumbs” McClainÂ
Still, it was encouraging to see that Tilly McClain has been named Yahoo! MyBlogLog community manager earlier this week (it’d previously been under the stewardship of Robyn Tippins and Ian Kennedy previously), and perhaps we’ll see some interesting developments in the coming months.
If you’ve been following the MyBlogLog blog and read the entry on the latest changes, you’d notice that the interface has undergone a number of changes:
With the change, MyBlogLog has moved from being a blog aggregator to being a Web 2.0 content aggregator of sorts. It’s supposed to be able to pull in updates from twitter, myspace, jaiku, flikr, linkedin, etc (a total of 43 services) and present them in a “New With Me” tab.
In this edition of the Friday Podcast, I look at how the worlds of work and play can come crashing together in the realm of social networks and social networking. Tune in below…
If you’re using social networking/web 2.0 technologies to generate traffic and you aren’t using the Flock web browser in your efforts, you’re missing out in a big way.
The Flock development team has just launched a new version of their software, Flock 0.9.1.
Here’s a screenshot:
It now sports improved tabbed browsing features, together with integration into web services like the major blogging engines, as well as photo and video services.
Note: If you want to get the maximum benefit, you’d need to (more…)
Each social networking site has a specific purpose and can help you achieve your business goals. Although LinkedIn seems fairly limited in terms of functions, it can be used to enhance your Internet Marketing efforts if you approach it with the right mindset.
Initially set up for the business community to network, share contacts and recommend acquaintances for open job positions, it appears the site has been attempting to expand its scope.
It is a presence on the Internet though, with an Alexa rank of 149 and Google PageRank 7.
Some negative points against it include: Adding Google AdSense ad blocks detracts from its corporate image, as has some discussions in its questions and answers section which seems to have devolved into a discussion of network marketing opportunities and online scams.
Add to that the seemingly limited interaction and communication functions and you might have the receipe for a social network which could be a “killer app” for corporate headhunters, but something that merely stumbles along for the rest of us.
Admittedly, LinkedIn has helped me connect with a couple of university mates, but to squeeze some networking juice out of your profile requires some “out of the box” thinking.
If you don’t already have a blog, submitted articles or press releases or have a Squidoo lens or Hubpage up, perhaps this will help you rank for your name.
Be sure to include your profile details, including specializations.
Instead of “content developer” or “writer”, here’s your chance to mention that you’re a “direct response copywriter” or “advertorial writer” or “technical writer”.
Besides making your profile more relevant to human readers, the keywords will help others searching for a specialist to find you more easily too.
So you might list your specialities and perhaps get a job offer direct from an employer. But more likely a headhunter will be farming LinkedIn’s userbase for specific profiles for their database, such as “Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) markeitng specialist”.
Where I think Internet Marketers will benefit more is to find joint venture partners or collaborators who might fill in the missing piece of the puzzle for a project they’re working on.
From the demographics I’ve seen, I’d expect that LinkedIn users would be (more…)
