Last week an email from my buddy Duncan came in. ??BTW, do you guys have del.icio.us accunts for sharing links??
I didn??t. Now I do. I had always meant to set this up, but never really fully got into it. Now that I have an account, I??m fully into it. Of course, it??s only been a week, but it??s been a great week of learning and enlightenment on many levels.
As far as I??ve figured out this week, here??s why you should dive into del.icio.us:
? It??s an information-based social network. Jump in and look around. Find the people you??re familiar with, maybe ones you??re not so familiar with and add them to your network. The second you do, you??ll have access to all the articles and pages they??re bookmarking. Subscribe to your network??s feed or just follow along online and you??ll see what interests them enough to want to save it. It??s really a powerful way to get to know people on an intellectual level.
? It??s a gold mine of smarts. Starting with your network, you??ll have such a wide range of information always just a click away. But that??s only the start. Click around your friends?? networks and you??ll find a whole new world of resources. When you bookmark something, look to see the other people who??ve bookmarked the same item. Check out their items and try to figure where they??ve come from to want to link to the same item you have. It??s an endless cycle of smarts.
? Send links to specific people. Collaborating on a project and want to push links to certain people? No problem, just tag the people who you want to send the link to and it??ll be waiting for them. This feature is great for sharing content among very specific people or groups.
? Subscribe to tags. Want to know everything there is to know about a certain topic? Then subscribe to its tag and you??ll have access to everything anyone has bookmarked using that tag. Think about how powerful a resource that is for a second.
? Facebook integration. Let your network on FB know what you??ve been bookmarking. Add the del.icio.us application and your tagged items can show up on your profile page and in your friends?? news feed.
? Daily blog postings. There are a few options to integrate your bookmarks or tags into your blog, including network badges, tag rolls and link rolls. However, as you may have already noticed, I??ve elected to go with the ??Daily blog posting? option. As I??ve come to figure in one short week, there are many different reasons to do so:
- Most important reasons:
?? Excellent way to share information and resources relevant to your message
?? Shows your readers that you??re keeping up with what’s going on at all times - Most obvious reason:
?? It helps keep your blog active - Most selfish reason:
?? Links out bring traffic in, helping you expand your readership and exposure
I??m not advocating using daily links to replace the content you??re already posting, quite the opposite. What I am saying is that they can be used to fill the gaps, point people to more great content and ?? here??s what it all boils down to in my mind ?? tighten and enhance the connection you??re building with your readers.
So far, I??ve read or watched every single one of the pages or videos I??ve linked to this week. And I plan to keep that up. And why not? It??s opened my eyes and given me lots to think about. Hopefully, it’s given you a lot to think about too.
One more thing: While the links during the week will be kept industry-relevant, I??ll try to have a little fun on Saturdays and point to some videos that may or may not be related. Keep checking in.
If you want to add me to your network, look for me here and I’ll add you back.
If you want to subscribe to my network, here??s the feed.
Link you later.
