Social Media Regrouping

"Don't put all you eggs in one basket." Sure that you have heard this phrase many times over and over again. It is true that when you are working with social media, you should always have a backup plan. There are many social media groups online that you can join. Some promise money for your hard writing work, while others may be for recognition. The recognition part would be your way of advertising yourself and your businesses. Many people join social media groups as a combination to become recognized as a writer, make money from the website/social network or lead people to their own sites and shops. Joining more then one social writing group is important. This means to not to put all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.

So when should you start to regroup?

A person needs to regroup when there are too many baskets and not enough eggs. This means spreading yourself out too thin that you are not able to keep up with refreshing, adding new content and interacting with other members of that site. These writing websites are constantly changing. What was good one year may not be so good this year. It could be a time to reevaluate the social media site that you are on. Is it working for you?

 If it is not then it is time for a change.

 Personally for myself, I have spent time expanding to many writing sites. I have not been able to keep up and their changes. So now it is time to regroup. Here are a few that I am on. As for Bubblews, wait until August because they are having growing pains with many errors. In July they promise many changes and hopefully fixes. But they are not saying when in July.

  Join Squidoo here
  Join Hubpages here
  Join Bubblews here

Own Part of This New Network, Zurker

The last thing that I want to do is sign up for another social network. But this one caught my eye because it's a new concept, new company, and by joining YOU own a share of the company. ITS FREE! It started Beta testing in Dec so its not open to public yet, you have to be invited, so I'm sending you the Invite link. I noticed a lot of Squidooers and Zazzlers on there already. Here is the invite link Visit Zurker by clicking here.

And here is some info they sent me when I joined. What is Zurker? Zurker is a third-generation social app released into private alpha testing in December, 2011. It's special because it's owned by its members. This unusual DNA will help Zurker develop the best social app available, which in turn will propel Zurker to becoming the dominant social network in the coming decade (and beyond). Who owns Zurker? Users like you and me. Here's a list. Why hasn't anyone done something like Zurker before? The idea of a cooperative isn't that new. However, it probably hasn't been implemented on the net yet because entrepreneurs who found startups tend to want to retain as much equity as possible. There probably will be a lot more sites run on the "community equity" principle after Zurker shows that it is a powerful and fast way to build a valuable enterprise. Is the goal of Zurker to unseat Facebook? Not specifically, but social networks do work better if they are bigger.

If, in ten years from now, Zurker isn't the biggest and bestest social network in this end of the galaxy, it will probably have failed. What is the difference between Zurker and Facebook? There are a number of differences, but the key difference is that Facebook is owned by a select few investors, whereas Zurker is owned by a large number of members. This means that decisions about how to develop the site are driven with the users' best interests in mind, rather than business development decisions. Is Zurker open source? Not yet. Bear in mind, we just entered alpha testing in December, 2011, and at this stage the risk and security issues outweigh the benefits of releasing the source code. But open source is definitely the direction we want to move in. Running an open source project is actually quite complicated - there is a huge amount of coordination involved.

What's the point of Zurker since we already have Facebook and Google+? Zurker is fundamentally better than FB. FB and G+ are driven by corporations with their corporate goals. Zurker is owned by its members. Its product is designed to do just one thing, work well for the members, and corporate revenue is passed on to the members. How can Zurker succeed with Facebook dominant globally? Facebook is dominant right now, but it started off as a small start-up nobody had ever heard of. Facebook had a clever strategy for growing quickly, and replaced the dominant social networks of the time (MySpace and Friendster). Zurker is starting off as a small startup nobody has ever heard, but we have a clever strategy for growing quickly and developing an awesome product until we replace the dominant social network of our time. Owning Zurker How can I own a part of Zurker United States? Sign up, refer your friends, or buy vShares. (United States residents only.)

What are vShares? vShares are stakes of ownership in the corporation which will be incorporated to own and operate Zurker, once enough vShares have been allocated. Here's our page about vShares. Why should I invest in Zurker? It may turn out to be quite the shrewd business decision. Venture Capital investors are some of the wealthiest people in the world. Most people never have the chance to invest in start-ups, and wouldn't know how. Here at Zurker we have a product you can use, and if you like it, you can easily invest a modest sum. In addition, note that Zurker relies on small investments from many users for funding. So please do invest even if it's just a few bucks.

Could Zurker be a scam? Just about every new start-up is potentially a scam. A bunch of entrepreneurs with varying degrees of technical ability somehow secure funding from Venture Capital firms. Many start-ups burn through the funding, spending money on things like fast cars, without ever turning a profit. The Venture Capital firms are OK with that because the few that do succeed, bring phenomenal return on investment. At Zurker we practice Open-Book Accounting so at least you know we're not buying Maybachs.

Does a vShare in Zurker United States mean I own part of Zurker Australia etc. as well? No, each Zurker is owned by its members only. Where will Zurker be incorporated? Ideally each Zurker will be incorporated in the country it is associated with, the exception being Zurker Worldwide which may be incorporated in the US or off-shore. In some cases, specifically India, government red tape may mean that it will make more sense to incorporate off-shore. There are numerous complex legal and financial considerations which will drive decisions such as this, and when the time comes we hope to have the expertise available, within the Ideas secion of Zurker, or in the form of counsel and consultants, to make an informed decision.

Can I sell my vShares? A vShare is an agreement between the co-founding developers and yourself that you will own a stake in the venture to be established. An agreement between two parties can't be sold so our understanding is that it would be odd, and potentially illegal, to allow the trading of vShares. However, Zurker is a democratic, member-led platform. If the demand is there, we'll look into it further and possibly enable vShare transfers. Using Zurker Why can't I have more than one account? Because we are currently giving out complimentary vShares to new members and those are limited to one per person.

Why is Zurker for the United States only? This is a good question, and the answer is complicated. Zurker is currently available in the following countries. Each Zurker accepts only members of that country. United States United Kingdom India Philippines New Zealand Canada Australia Residents of all other jurisdictions become members of Zurker Worldwide. Zurker Worldwide For several reasons, the developers have decided to release Zurker on a country by country basis. Each country's Zurker is an independent entity owned by residents of that country. Having users from other countries own shares in other countries would be excessively challenging for technical, administrative, operational, and financial reasons. Note that you CAN connect and interact normally with members on other versions of Zurker. A member of Zurker UK can subscribe to a member of Zurker India, for example. I am a resident of the United States but I am traveling.

Can't I sign up? Focus on enjoying your trip, and sign up when you get home. And don't forget to take lots of photos you can upload to Zurker later.

Why doesn't Zurker have this feature? That feature? And the other feature? Zurker was developed by a small (but dedicated) development team with limited funding. Don't expect it to be the most awesome platform just yet. As of December, 2011, Zurker is a starting point. Buy a few vShares, and your investment will go towards more features and all manner of good stuff you'll like.

Should I "connect" or "subscribe"? Connects are two-way connections, so a connect must be approved by the person you are connecting with. In most cases, a connect is great because you find out what they are doing, and they can keep up with what you are doing. Anyway, I took a chance and bought some shares which are $1 a share right now. You can receive shares by referrals too.

I am hoping that it will turn into something big, since it is on the ground floor. BTW, it is free to join. Send sandyspider a note after you join.

 Some of my sites:
Sandyspider Gifts
ebooktreesaver
Sandyspider Website Directory
Giftsyoubuy
Sandyspider on Squidoo
Sandyspider on Hubpages

Will My Traffic Be Lost to the Ever Evolving Squidoo

My 3-year anniversary is coming up on Squidoo, I joined on July 4, 2008. This is an easy date to remember, since Americans celebrate Independence Day on that particular day in July.

Squidoo has evolved more than any social network that I know.

When I first joined, Squidoo had groups. It took me about a year to discover this. I joined every group that I could, hopping to bring more traffic to my lenses (articles). I even listed these groups on my lenses for backlinking. Those groups have dissolved since then.

Moving modules on Squidoo was a little difficult to do. A vast improvement has been made since that time.

Many other changes that I liked and didn't like. One of the latest, which we have now been given a little more time to fix is the page breaks. I believe firmly in the KILL system. Keep It Long and Lengthy. I found these page breaks very helpful to some of my lenses.

I have fixed a number of my lenses on the page break thing. This one took me more than week to finish and I wanted to publish my new lenses all at the same time.

Why?

Because they all tied into one another with my Internet Addiction lens, which I broke down to 5 additional lenses. Theses are the lenses plus the new and improved Internet Addiction lens. Please, please visit and add to the plexos.

Are You an Internet Addict?
Blogging and RSS Addiction
Addiction of Facebook and Other Social Networking
Websites and Internet Addiction
Shopping Online Addiction
YouTube Addiction

Now I am wondering if all this work is worth it. Hardly anyone so far has been to these new lenses. The Squidteam has made it harder yet to get traffic. Custom bios, fan club and Squidcast were taken away a few days ago.

What is a Squidooer to do?




Note: At the moment this lens still has page breaks on it. I still don't know what to do with it. Sandyspider on Squidoo.

Seek and You Shall Find Seekyt

Seekyt is a backlinking, revenue sharing, social network site. It is (I believe) less than a year old and is already doing well in Google search engines.

The article editor is rather plain and you will not find all the widgets that other social networks have. But it is a growing site with friendly members and admin. As long as you can wite a quality article with at least 400 original words and no spam, this is the place for you.

I find that it is easiest to write out my article with photos on word first then add it to the editor. I explain how to do this in one of my articles. Once you get the hang of it, you can produce some attractive looking articles.

Seekyt offers Adsense (70%) and Amazon sharing revenue. I still have not been able to get many followers yet, but I am sure that will come in time. Moreover, you are not writing for the members of the site that you are on. You are writing for a much larger audience on the internet.

Unfortunately, you have to be a member to leave a comment. After corresponding with admin, he did have it opened for everyone at one time. But a lot of spam came in. This is something that he is working on.

Here is a list of articles that I have on Seekyt. You can join off any of these article links too.
Sunshine Cheesecake
History of the Easter Bunny and Gifts
Design Your Own Keds Shoes on Zazzle
How I Add Screenshots and Photo Images on Seekyt
Picture Collage Maker Pro Review

Make a Lens a Day

Not keeping up with this blog, at the end of 30 days I had made 12 lenses. Making 30 a day was a little hard to do. Though lensmaster vallain made the 30 in that time frame. I congratulate her.

I have added a plexo to when I do follow any of the assignments afterwards. You can even vote which lenses you liked the best. Visit the lens Make a Lens a Day and Not Go Insane To see what lenses I have made. I even added a few Zazzle products that were used within these lenses. Below are a few shown.

Arch Rock, Mackinac Island by Sandyspider
Browse other Arch rock mackinac island Postcards

RocketMom Session 3 Graduate

Oct. 12, 2009 is the RocketMoms graduation day for Session 3. Unfortunately I missed out on Session 1, but was lucky enough to be invited for Session 2. RocketMoms is a social network club from Squidoo. This club has the smartest, brightest and most creative women. I am proud to be part of it.

Rocketmoms is an invite-only club. To qualify you have to be a mother, step-mother or grandma and a Squidoo lensmaster.

Each session contains several weeks of intense lessons. They have us grow into better writers, lensmasters and learn how to make money online.

When I agreed to continue on with Session 3, I decided to be a part-timer. But since I don't really do anything part-time, I finished all 8 of the assignments. Working with the RocketMoms has helped me achieve my Giant 100 Club statics.

Session 4 will begin Oct. 26, 2009 on how to make money on our Holiday lenses. I can't wait.