MackCollier.com

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Are Your Owning or Renting Your Social Media Presences?

iStock_000015529331MediumThe last few weeks I have been thinking a lot about this.  It seems a lot of the free social media tools that we are ‘renting’ have come under fire, or disappeared.

Google Reader went away, disrupting how readers subscribe to and receive our posts.

Twitter suddenly changed its API rules or some such for 3rd party sites that many of us were using to follow Twitter chats such as TweetChat and TweetDeck.

Rumors are that Feedburner will go away soon.

It’s more important now than ever before to make sure that you are creating and distributing content via tools that you own versus rent.  This is a big reason why I have always preferred a self-hosted blog over Facebook or even Twitter.  Because you have control over what happens on your blog far more than you do on other social media sites.

For example, for the past few days, the #Blogchat hashtag on Twitter has been overrun with spammers.  My only option really is to ask Twitter to please do something about it.  Which I have, and still the problem persists.  Because it’s a problem that’s happening on a site that I don’t control.  I’ve already started thinking about ways that I can bring more of the #Blogchat conversation here, where I have more control over it.

With Google Reader going away and Feedburner likely following soon, I’ve shifted my focus away from trying to get subscribers of this blog, but instead to building my newsletter list.  I can own that list and have control over it.

So when you start using social media, especially as a channel to create content, think about the tradeoffs you are potentially making between reach, and ownership of that content.  It’s always a good idea to have your ‘homebase’ for your content be a space that you control, such as a self-hosted blog.

For the rest of you, what changes have you made in light of recent changes to Twitter and Google Reader going away?  Has it made you re-think where you invest your time with blogging and social media?

About Mack Collier

My name is Mack Collier and I am a digital marketing and content strategist located in Alabama. Since 2006 I've helped companies of all sizes from startups to global brands such as Adobe, Dell and Ingersoll-Rand, create customer-centric programs, content and experiences. A long-time internet geek, I've been online since 1988 and began using social networking sites in 1991 when I joined Prodigy. Today, I help companies understand how new technologies like web3, crypto and artificial intelligence can integrate with existing marketing strategies to lead to exceptional customer experiences.

Comments

  1. Nick Stewart says

    I think one of the best things you can do is move conversations to your blog or something else that you control.
    Maybe there’s some open source software that allows you to have your own Twitter and run blog chat on your own domain so you have control.

    • Mack Collier says

      Hey Nick, I have been playing with Twubs this week and it looks like they will let you embed the tweets here, so I will try that this Sunday and see how it works!