FPettit.com

You may have heard of Joe the plumber and Joe Sixpack.  I want to speak directly to Joe Blogger.  This post is for the average Joe or Jane Blogger.  It pays to diversify.

There are plenty of life streaming venues around.  FriendFeed and other lifestreaming services allow submission of your blogs RSS feed.  When I blog post the post gets pushed via RSS to FriendFeed, Twitter, Facebook, and Social Median to name a few.

It pays in page views to diversify.  I am also a member of Strands, Plaxo, and MyBlogLog.  Making content available via full text RSS and submitting to multiple services gets your content out into the wild.

From a personal standpoint I mainly see traffic being driven by FriendFeed.  Yesterday I posted what I thought was a great post titled “Leaders In Internet Social Networks” that subsequently bombed page view wise on FriendFeed.  It really is ok.  I do not blog for traffic but it nice.

Anyway today out of nowhere I was on the front page of Social Median and as a result have had a very successful day (for me) page view wise.  There are no blogging formulas but it pays to diversify as a new blogger.

Be an active participant in Social Media and submit your blog postings to every stream you actively participate in.  It pays to not put all your eggs in one basket even if it is a great basket like FriendFeed.

When you gather people together in any sort of group, a social structure most always arises. Leadership is something that comes natural to some, and others have it thrust upon them.

A small group may never appoint official leadership but receive leadership in some form from one, two, or a few. Unofficially or not, leadership roles are filled.

Leadership is defined by Wikipedia as the…

“process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.”

As I began to write this post, I thought about several things. First, my assumption was that leaders definitely exist in social networks. Next, I believe leaders have certain responsibilities within the social setting. I have an expectation for a leader. Is this unrealistic or just simply unfair? These are some the things I want to discuss.

Do leaders exist in social networks?

Large scale social networks are filled with many groups, cliques, and small pockets of users. The users may have affiliation with each other via real life or only online relationships.

Often groups or cliques are simply people of similar interests or some similar trait that draws them together. Even in a group of peers, someone will inevitably stand out for their leadership qualities.

In an online social network, often this is seen by their popularity. In real life popularity is certainly not a determination for leadership or intelligence. In an internet social network, often we perceive the popular as leaders of the community.

This may or may not be a good method for finding leaders. The popular may be power users, but are they leaders?

Do they portray leadership qualities? Did they gain popularity from expertise? Are they an ambassador for the service? Do they wield power over the herd of users? Do they have a large sphere of influence?

If the answer is yes, I believe you have found a leader.

Is leadership expectation unfair?

What do you expect from a leader in real life? They obey the law of the group, the law of the land, and adhere to the accepted code of conduct. It is very easy to transfer these same expectations to a leader of a social network.

Unfortunately, a leader in this situation is, number one, not formally recognized. Second, they are certainly not compensated directly for their service to the organization.

I expect a certain decorum and behavior from a leader. The leader has the ability to incite riots, lead the herd in a way of their choosing, and generally abuse users in any way they see fit. Are my expectations are simply unfair?

How can we fix leadership in an online group?

One of the things that makes a social network work is the open format. The lack of rules and organization often leads to unique collaboration and an exchange of ideas.

Limiting user freedom and independence would be method for site admins to tighten control over their network. I am not for tightening control.

I am against formulas for processes that are informal. Formula or function where, by definition or inception, there is no formula or function. Freedom of expression on the Internet is great and can lead to innovation and invention.

These processes include all methods of communication, collaboration, and speech on today’s Internet. These creative processes can largely be stymied by rules, order, and unnecessary constraints.

However, the point of this post is power. In a social group, whether informally or not, someone gains power. The power to lead. To lead for the good and bad of others. Should site admins constrain users?

When power users lead the herd abusively, what action should be taken?

I love FriendFeed do not get me wrong.   I mean it is the premier life-streaming service.  I have tried others and found them all lacking.  FriendFeed is a great place of news, research, and generally friendly smart ideas.

But, over the last few months I found myself participating less and less.  The bad taste I gained for FriendFeed still lingers.  These negative feelings arose in the weeks preceding election day.

FriendFeed was not friendly.  It was totally pro one candidate.  Dissenting opinions were not only frowned upon but some users were verbally abused by the herd.

The abuse was even supported by members of the frienderati pushing their political views.

You know how when you see celebrities on television at some awards show being very political just because they can.   These celebrities have no more intelligence or insight than you or I.  The person with the spotlight simply pushes their own agenda or beliefs.

The Frienderati acted in the same way.  They decided that since they were popular they would use FriendFeed as a platform to push personal political views at the expense of whoever disagreed.

That practice is not Friendly.    That I believe is blatant abuse of the service.

Look just because you are popular does not make you God’s gift to politics or God himself.  Opinions as we know are like arm pits, we all have them and they all stink.

I will not name the Frienderati members fearing backlash.  I do not wish to start a meme.

I have been back on FriendFeed post election from time to time.   But, unfortunately the bad taste is lingering.  Every social network ever formed has changed over time.  The bloom goes off the proverbial rose eventually.

FriendFeed is a great product used by many friendly smart people.  The bad apples made this user take a step back.

The purpose of this post is to clear the air.  To rinse the bad feelings away.  I have been back to FriendFeed lately and find it relevant, fun, and just as lighthearted as I remembered.

FriendFeed is again the friendly place for news and information.  I will just remember to take off around August of an election year and return in December.

Merry Christmas and see you on FriendFeed!