Friday, 21 March 2008

• How Xanga can assist sites in gaining traffic

  About a year ago, xanga moved away from using a link that was called "Featured Content."  The "Featured Content" was a link that showed all the most epropped sites for the day.  To make "Featured Content" was a status symbol for some bloggers.  It was a way to generate traffic for others.

   

  I think Xanga needs to use a new system that uses the best of what "Featured Content" provided while removing some of the flaws of the old "Featured Content" system.

   

  Why would xanga want to use an improved "Featured Content" system?

   

  The first reason is it would help the most popular sites on xanga.

   

  Have you noticed how so many of the sites that used to be on the old "Featured Content" system are either gone or significantly smaller?  There is a reason for that.  Under the old "Featured Content" system, Xanga fed more traffic to the sites that were performing the best by a measure of eprops.  Xanga was rewarding the sites that worked the hardest for the traffic.

   

  If you think about this for a minute, that was smart.  It only makes sense that Xanga would reward those who worked hardest on xanga.  Xanga would want to assist those sites in doing well. 

   

  Let me point out other sites that do the same basic thing.  I noticed that myspace has a system in place for bloggers.  The system looks oddly like xanga's old featured content.  In fact, for all I know myspace stole the idea from xanga.  Their system is based on "Kudos" but it operates just like the old "Featured Content" system.

   

  The sites that get the most "kudos" get more traffic.  I have actually ran a side site over on myspace and I was able to get to the top of their "Featured Content" on my first try.  (That would not be possible now sense it has grown).  I noticed that I received over a hundred friend request for my efforts.  With a little time spent over there, I could have easily been at the top right from the time I posted which I believe would have gotten over 200 friend request in a rotation.  (Now that would even be bigger because myspace has more traffic on their blog link now).

   

  One small difference in the Myspace system is some sort of bias to the most popular sites.  In other words, even if a site doesn't have the most "kudos" (eprops) they can get to the top quickly.  I noticed that bands with hundreds of thousands of friends or really popular bloggers like Pink or others can go to the top group very fast even if they don't have the top "kudos."  The best I can tell is that this is based on the amount of traffic that goes to their site when they send out a mass message or it is based on the amount of friends they have.  I would guess it is the traffic issue.

   

  In other words, myspace rewards a site based on how much (kudos) they get with some sort of traffic bias.

   

  But Myspace doesn't just provide the blog link on the front of their page.  Myspace actually has that link on every page of their site.  That link at the top marked "blog" is on every page no matter where a person goes on that page.  On xanga you will actually only see that link on the front page of xanga.  That gives a blogger on myspace an advantage that is huge.  It shows a huge commitment by myspace to assisting the growth of their blogs with the most "kudos."

   

  What happens if a person hits on that "Blog" link at the top of the page?  If they are not signed in, it takes the person to the most popular blogs of the day.  So a link at the top of every page links to the most popular blogs of the day that is determined by "Kudos" (eprops).

   

  If they are signed in, it takes the person to their blog.  But if you are signed in and you hit "blog" what do you see at the top of your page?  You see a link to the most popular blogs of the day.  So every single site on the front page of their blog has a link to the most popular blogs of the day.

   

  So we will recap what myspace does to assist its most popular blogs.  They have a link from the front page.  But more importantly, they have that same blog link on every page of myspace.  In addition to that myspace links the most popular blogs from every person's blog page.  Myspace is helping their top blogs that are putting in the most effort get even more popular.

   

  Now the thought going through your mind is probably "Yeah, that is myspace but they just post photos and write dumb blogs anyway."  I don't know what day anyone may be reading this but I am going to take a risk.  I am going to make a prediction.  Read the 50 top starred sites on xanga.  Go ahead and do it.  You back?  Now go read the top 50 "kudos" sites on myspace.  What did you find?  I have checked this a few times but myspace has at least the same quality of posts in their most popular section than xanga does with its most "starred" section.  In fact, I bet myspace has a higher quality of content.  Go and look.

   

  So the kudos (eprop) system does not produce a lower quality of content.  But myspace is doing something that is smart.  They are feeding those who are already getting the most traffic.  It only makes sense that a site would feed its most popular blogs and reward them with more traffic.  It motivates the blogger to get more traffic, more comments and more kudos (eprops).

   

  Do you see the problem with stars?  It actually gives traffic to people that have gained not one comment.  That is like giving a raise to the lowest performing employee in the business and stiffing the guy who is performing better than anyone.  It doesn't make sense to drive more traffic to people who have shown no ability to retain it.

   

  Something funny happens when you reward sites that are driving the traffic.  Everyone learns from them.  They realize the name of the game is to gain traffic, comments and eprops.  It will get them more traffic, comments and eprops.  They watch the sites that are performing and they try to do what they are doing.  They try to get more traffic and comments.  But if a person sees that xanga is rewarding the person with the most stars, they will learn that the name of the game is to get more stars.

   

  Another thought, what is easier to manipulate?  Is it easier to manipulate eprops or stars?  It is easier to manipulate stars.  Why?  Because eprops are what the whole xanga community uses and stars are what a small portion of the community uses.  Eprops represent the will of the xanga community more clearly than stars does.  Stars represents the will of a few.

   

  Here is the problem with stars and boost.  The elitist and those who manipulate control it.  How many people were participating in stars?  Actually a small group.  Most of the top starred people were getting fewer than 5 stars without manipulation.  So five people were controlling the content.  While 100 people may be saying something different five people were able to control the content.

   

  Now the same problem existed with boost.  Boost was controlled by a small number of people.  The smaller number of people controlling it will lead to weaker content and more manipulation.  I am sure at this point xanga may be thinking about boost and stars and thinking that another system should be put in place.  The thinking will be that this system will be easier to use and will have more people rating other blogs.  The question I have for you is "What can be easier than starring someone?"  Nothing.  It is the easiest thing to do.  But yet only a few people participated leaving it up to manipulation.

   

  So xanga can put a stop to this and say they will ban the people who are manipulating the system.  That will not work either.  Then the top sites will stop manipulating for fear of being banned and the smaller sites will gain even more control of the system.

   

  Another rating system will not work when no one is using it.  No matter what system xanga puts into place, they will not have more participation than what they have with the eprop.  The eprop system had its flaws but those flaws should have been fixed intead of pitching the system.  We don't need a system that a few decide but instead need a system that the whole community decides.

   

  Youtube also supports its most popular sites.  They let the community pick the content.  They control their front page just like myspace and xanga.  But their main default video page is set to most viewed.  The name of the game is that the community decides what should be viewed.  If you look at the most starred section of youtube, you will find it is the most spammed.  Stars does not work there either.  People are willing to create a few hundred sites in order to get into the most starred section.

   

  So instead, youtube drives traffic and has its default for the video link set to most viewed.  In other words, the community gets to decide what is most popular.  Youtube does very little manipulation of that link.  They only remove videos that are copyrighted when someone complains and only remove videos that are manipulated to the top when it is pointed out to them and it is obvious.  Besides that, the community gets to decide.

   

  In addition, youtube drives more traffic to the most viewed section.  No matter where you go on youtube, that video link is typically on the top of the page.  The default for that video link is set to the most viewed videos of the day.  What is youtube doing?  They are sending traffic to the most viewed sites.  Youtube is letting the community pick traffic.  The community gets to decide who gets the most traffic.  Once again, Youtube has that link on every page through their site.  That is a huge advantage.  Xanga actually only has that link on their front page.

   

  But Youtube does something else to support the most viewed sites.  Go to the front page of youtube.  Look at the top.  Do you see what youtube does?  They play videos on the top of their page that are some of the favorite videos of the day.  You know where that list comes from?  Most of those videos come from the most viewed section.  I have been or assisted someone who has been on the front page three times now.  It is a lot of work to get there.  One of those was a lady that I told what she should do and she ended up being featured by Youtube.  She just got to the most viewed section and youtube featured her.  How many views did she get?  600,000.  I then worked with someone else and we got to the most viewed section of youtube on the forth and fifth page.  Youtube put both videos on the top rotation of videos.  How many views did we get for our efforts?  We got over 200,000 views on each video. 

   

  Youtube feeds more traffic to its most popular videos. 

   

  Xanga should be feeding traffic to its most popular sites.  I appreciated the thought that went into boost.  I appreciated the thought that went into stars.  I appreciated the effort that went into "recommend."  But the problem with each of these systems is that they can be manipulated.  Recommend is a good feature and xanga should keep it.  But it will not give us the best content.  Instead it will be manipulated if xanga puts the top "recommended" on its default weblog link at the top of the front page.  Don't take my word for it.  Give it a few months.  As soon as the xanga leadership ignores it, it will get spammed. 

   

  Plus there is a fundamental problem with stars, boost and recommend.  The average recommend post will only get about 5 recommends.  Even if xanga can get that number up to 10 recommends, it still reflects what a small portion of the xanga community wants.

   

  What should xanga do?

   

  They should create a system like the old featured content with a few adjustments.

   

  1.  There should be 50 sites on the front page of the video link like the old featured content.  It should not be like the front page of the star system and have only 10 sites on it.  The more clicks, the less traffic goes to the other pages.

   

  2.  Xanga should have multiple pages on that link and list everyone like myspace does.  Myspace actually allows thousands of blogs in order and people can click through and see all of them.  By the way, this would make it easier for xanga to find good content for their front page.

   

  3.  Xanga should make it so a site only appears once on that link.  I think we all know the problem of one person being able to dominate stars or the old featured content.

   

  4.  Xanga should separate the traffic of the chinese sites and give them their own link from the front page.  The chinese people will appreciate this and we will also.  (By the way, xanga had a few stars on xanga and their sites have actually went down in traffic since xanga did away with featured content.  Mandystarz has gotten less comments since xanga did away with it.  Xanga would do well for themselves to feed these Chinese sites with a link to the front page).

   

  5.  Xanga should allow this link to update more than the old featured content did.  It should update every hour.

   

  6.  Xanga should make the rotation time shorter than the old featured content.  In other words, xanga should make the rotation time 24-26 hours.  (Youtube has a 49 hour rotation.  A longer rotation works for videos.  Just like a photo rotation could be as long as a month or two).  *Hint, hint xanga should extend the rotation of the photos and rotate them*

   

  7.  Xanga needs to do more than just create a link off of the front page of xanga.  Xanga should drive traffic to those links just like they do with the featured posts on everyone's private page.  In other words, the link really does very little.  Xanga needs to commit itself to driving with force traffic to those most popular sites.  This will cause everyone on the page to get traffic.

   

  8.  Xanga should program the system so that as soon as a person updates, the old posts falls off that link in two hours.  This is better for all of us.  But if a person updates then their most current post is the one that shows up.  This is good on a few fronts. 

   

  9.  There is a reason I mentioned a 26 hour rotation.  Lets use Cakalusa and DMV for a few minutes.  Say Cakalusa updates his blog every day at the same time.  He updates every 24 hours.  If the rotation lasts 26 hours, his old post has a two hour overlap to get comments before his new posts gets to the top.  I actually like the 24 hour system better but the 26 hour rotation actually leaves it open for those who update every 24 hours so that they still have a link to the front page.  This may not be possible but it is ideal.

   

  10. Xanga should put a link on everyone's private home page to the most popular link of the day.  In other words, I am asking that xanga doesn't just make the weblog a default for most eprops.  I am asking that they drive traffic to it.

   

  11.  I think the page should be unedited.  But if xanga will not allow for that, xanga should put an 18+ next to those blogs.  This would actually drive more traffic to those sites and not hurt them.  If xanga can't add the 18+ label, they should add a link that they drive traffic to that is labeled as 18+.
  
  Take a look at a site like Drakonskyr.  Xanga does not currently have a system that drives traffic to his site.  Take a look at Cakalusa.  Xanga does not have a system that currently drives traffic to his site.  Let bloggers get away from boosting, starring and recommending and get back in the business of focusing on their sites and commenting.
  
  This would put the selection back in the hands of the xanga community.
  
  By the way, recommend this post since it is the current system.  Just hit that heart at the top of the comment section.
  
                                                                      
  

  • 4:33 PM
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