Apparently the angry rhetoric of the election has impacted my choice of headlines or maybe it is more accurate to say I am testing out linkbait that isn’t tied into sexual innuendo.
I don’t know how many of the Triberr gang will choose to share this post but I admit to being quite curious. If you are in a tribe with me and want to feel better about this post let me provide you with some reason to nod your head.
Honey Boo Boo, Snooki, Kate Gosselin, The Real Housewives are sucking the life out of all of us. This post is really a call to arms and a request for a return to the intellectual honesty of yester year when men were men and women met their husbands at the door wearing pearls and holding a stiff drink for us.
Did that work? Did I sell you on the merits of this post?
What About This?
Or maybe I should try to tie this into social media and some sort of lesson about how to become slamming social media ninja. How Some People Are Using Triberr To Kill Blogging and How I Used Bad Headlines and Jedi Mind Tricks To Make A Billion From Blogging might do the trick.
Or if you are unwilling to read those let me summarize:
- Don’t use hashtags in your headlines.
- Headlines are overrated, many people won’t do more than skim.
- We’re killing Twitter by using it as a broadcast channel and not engaging more with others.
- I love to write and take joy in the journey.
Did You Know I Write A Serious Newsletter
Did you know I write a serious newsletter? Really, I have an outstanding newsletter in which I share useful tips and information that you can use to improve your writing and social media efforts.
But what I like best about it is that it has served as a great springboard to building relationships with readers. I have made friends and learned so very much because of it and am so very grateful.
I am less grateful that Jetpack decided to act up again and is impacting my ability to insert links and pictures. I would defenestrate it, but I don’t know how to do that to a WP plugin and something tells me it just wouldn’t be afraid.
BTW, you really ought to consider signing up for my newsletter. I have a goal of gaining 1 million subscribers and I am only many hundreds of thousands of subscribers short.
Nanowrimo
I need to start putting the words down on paper for my Nanowrimo effort. I am thinking about a story about two boys floating down the Mississippi River who are captured by slave traders and then placed in a ring where they are forced to fight other children to the death.
Or maybe we’ll do some sort of celebrity MMA battle, like Lurch versus Herman Munster. And now you know why so many people wonder why Hollywood hasn’t signed me up to write the next 5 blockbusters to come out in the coming year.
Hell, it could happen, I didn’t say what year now did I.
Goodnight
Be excellent to each other and prove the social media mavens wrong by leaving lots of comments in the comment section.
You’re title is awesome! What a great way to attract readers… I’m glad I am not too stupid..
Umm those show are a bit of a brain killer. I am not sure why the US doesnt show more engaging, not completely stupid reality shows. I recently worked on a reality show in bangkok involving tuk tuks racing across three countries…sadly it will probably on air in Europe.
Sage advice on the hashtags. #lol
The joy of reality television is simply indescribable. 😉
Good luck with the book. A seriously daunting effort to be proud of… Not sure I could do it myself.
Hi Geoff,
If you can do Tough Mudder I am sure a book is well within your reach. My initial goal is to write and publish it.
Not going to worry about who reads it until after that, of course if no one does I may hide under the desk, but we shall see. One step at a time.
Stupid is, as stupid does…
I like the direction of your newsletter.
Make it a great weekend, sir!
Hi Mark,
Thank you. I have a good feeling about the newsletter. It is work, but something tells me I am starting to get the hang of it.
One time my husband’s friend Joe said,”Wouldn’t it be great to have a tv show where different species fought each other? Like Bear versus Tiger or Alligator against Crocodile. You could just put them in a ring together and let them fight it out.” I thought he must be on crack. Then about a year later, that exact show appeared on Reality TV. God save us all.
Hi Julie,
I always liked the show about which animal would win the fight, it was really interesting to me. Most of the time there was no way to see what would happen in nature so we needed the computer simulation- it was neat.
Bottom line? There are a ton of good writer/bloggers out there. I’d love to support them all. But to do so honestly through Twitter, I want to read them all and get to know the author. And that takes time.
I’m open to reading all kinds of posts, just like I read a lot of books in different genres. But I can only enjoy one at a time and am very uncomfortable telling someone else to read something I haven’t read.
So, even if the hashtag or headline is intriguing, or I’ve joined a tribe and feel a sense of commitment to tweet all of the members’ posts, THAT is not what will work online in the long-run to create places for people to grow. We can’t deny that.
If, however, your name and work is well known and speaks for itself, I can share automatically. But I also admit that you’re to big a personality (too busy, not arrogant) to invest time in a one-on-one, community centered relationship. That’s big business. Blogging is small business in my mind.
Maybe I have lots to learn! 🙂
Hi Betsy,
That is a very reasonable approach. I have tried reading everything and I have tried the other side too. I was curious to see what would happen.
I prefer to tweet posts I am familiar with, but it is hard because time is limited. You can’t visit everyone and you have to make choices so I choose to be particular about it,
If you produce quality work and I think it adds value I might choose to push it out via my social channels without reading, but that is a not a guarantee,
There aren’t many rules out here, but credibility is always important.
Well the title of your post, Jack, just draw me in, to see if i would be stupid (I would call that intellectually challenged) enough to read it. I did.
I don’t know what that says about me as a person. Normally the ‘sexually flavored post titles’ draw me in, but hey, that’s just me.
Over spamming yourself, ideas, thoughts or ramblings can backfire sometimes, but hey, it can be fun! I know I’m guilty of doing that.
Good work on the self promotion on here. 😉
Hi Jan,
I try not to take it all too seriously and to most of all have fun. Intellectually challenged is a good way to put it- I probably should have used that instead. It still makes the point, but it is a bit friendlier.
Some bloggers do a fine job of over spamming themselves. I am consistently amazed by how clueless they are regarding how obnoxious it is to keep telling the world about how smart they are. Oy.