WriterRiver.com is a social news site intended for technical communicators. If you’re familiar with Digg.com, it works in much the same way. Users can submit news articles (called “stories”). Newly submitted stories initially appear on the Upcoming Stories tab. When five people float the article, it moves it to Front Page Stories tab, which is the default site view. You float the article by clicking the Float link on the blue Vote button to the left of an article.

This site is powered by Pligg.com, which is a Digg.com clone. As a long-time fan of Digg and the Diggnation podcast, Tom wanted a similar site for technical writers. He also wanted to highlight the many excellent blog posts that are being written by 200+ technical writer bloggers, and enable a news mechanism where anyone can discover cool content on the web.

Below is a little blurb about the man who created Write River Tom Johnson:

“This may sound a bit boring, but really technical communication touches many areas, such as usability, marketing, information architecture, content management, XML, Web 2.0., management, graphic design, web design, and of course just plain writing. Technical writers are often learning and working with the latest technologies. I touch upon many of these topics in my blog.”

If you would like to know more about Write River or Tom Johnson just visit his personal blog I’dratherbewriting.com.

Written By : Michelle Amos

Maximum numbers of businesses today have an online presence as the Internet has grown to be the new rage in the communication world. The online presence (social media) can really create wonders for your company as well as business, provided you promote it using certain methods. One such key method for endorsing your website to the world is by making the use of the famous public media platforms or social bookmarking sites. Some of the more noteworthy websites like Digg, News vine and Reddit have been viewed as the prodigal son sense the rebirth of bookmarking. These platforms allow you to build back links, create and encourage your website popularity and bring in tons of new traffic.

One of the more recent booms in the social scene is the growing popularity of Facebook. Myspace was the forefather of social websites, before the social bookmarking renaissance. Myspace was the place to be, given its popularity Myspace became the target of SEOs, Internet marketers and spammers alike. But like every Gold Rush, people see new opportunities…enter FACEBOOK.

So as you can see there is really no time to sleep in the social marketing scene if you want to stay ahead of Johnny come lately spammer.

Israel F. Swanson

Community Development

It seems that the small blogger is stuck in his cubicle unable to climb the corporate digg ladder. Why?
Day to day the digg top stories come from the same blogs and websites with very large existing communities. Will there ever be a Cinderella story for the little guy and Digg?  Honestly, my gut says no. Even if you reach the top, you run the risk of a ‘front page fascist’ reporting you as spam.  My blogger conspiracy theorists think that the large existing community doesn’t want the small blogger to climb the digg ladder and destroy their reputation.
My advice is to find other avenues. Other social media and bookmaking sites such as “STUMBLEUPON” can drive as much if not more traffic than digg.
From one blogger to another your biggest concern always needs to be quality, regardless if your golden piece of content reaches the front page or not.

Israel F. Swanson

Community Development

Yovia.com 

This is a little piece of advice for the people who don’t promote themselves.  If you have good content, and you know it, it is ok to promote yourself some.  There  are numerous people out there who seem to feel like promoting themselves is wrong.  This is not the case,  it is perfectly  fine as long as you don’t cross that line into “shameless self-promotion”.  As long as you aren’t the person who introduces themselves and begins pushing their stuff  without regard for tact or decorum, you’re fine to do a little promotion.   It is all about the conversation.  It is perfectly fine, if in the course of a conversation, be it online, in person, or wherever, to tell someone else about what you are doing or what you are excited about. 

So how do you apply this to marketing or traffic driving?  Go ahead, take the first step and digg your own content.  Give your article a Thumbs Up in StumbleUpon.  It is MUCH more difficult to get an outside person to give the first digg  or thumb than the second.  It requires much more work to describe the article, select a category, verify the entry, and finally submit it than just rating it.  By adding the first one, you are giving your approval, saying you like the content (which hopefully you do since it is yours) and adding a “face” to the piece.  You could also think of it as asking for feedback so that you can improve you content.  Getting the initial momentum will place the piece in front of a few people, and hopefully, if the content is good enough, approve it so that others can pass it on further.   

Here is an example of someone trying too hard to promote their stuff, and coming across as shameless self promotion.  This is at the top of many of their articles:

Hey, Stumbler! Don’t forget to look around before hitting the Stumble! button again
http://www.holycool.net/2008/03/gun-egg-fryers.html

I looked around, it wasn’t that interesting.  Since I gave them the benefit of the doubt and was let down they got a thumbs down instead of just moving on.  In addition, this tactic is a little misguided.  A ThumbsUp is more valuable than the two or three pageviews you will get from a new visit because  a positive review will put the article in front of more people.  It is the difference between three  pageviews, or six more new visitors (and however many pageviews they visit). So, it would be more beneficial to say something like:

If you liked this post, don’t forget to digg it or give it a thumbs up. Thanks.

The reminders and mild self-promotions work, you just have to let people decide what they like.  Don’t be afraid if people don’t like it that just means you need to change something, and try again.  Eventually something will take off.

By Mike Palmer
Analyst