20
2007
Pownce versus Twitter: And the Loser is MyRagan
The decision has been made, and a little earlier than expected. Specifically, it’s time to fulfill the promise to cut a social network from my regular repertoire.
There are too many of them. With a business to run, a book to promote, and a life to maintain, balance required a change. There have been many entries about the social networks, and the corresponding fatigue they can cause, etc. No one summed it up better than Valeria Maltoni in her great article, “Facebook ain’t about Face time.”
The surprise is that I’m keeping both microblogging profiles, Twitter and Pownce.
Why? Pownce is an absolute blast with great conversations. And Twitter really seams to be the pooling place for communication bloggers. Further, since adding a Twitter badge to the blog Twitter readership has doubled.
Why Cut MyRagan?
In the end it came down to statistics. In the past month, Google Analytics reveals that the Buzz Bin has received 209 visits from Pownce, 68 visits from Twitter and 4 visits from MyRagan. We did receive over a hundred visits from a Shel Holtz mention in the Ragan eNewstand; however, this is a separate entity from MyRagan.
This type of traffic clearly reveals which communities value my participation and time. The decision was easy. A contributing factor made it happen sooner than the promised end of the month.
The Contributing Factor
Originally, this decision was not going to be made until the end of the month. However, Rich Becker and I were trying to launch a forum on MyRagan to help new bloggers get their legs. After getting sign-off from Mark Ragan, we suddenly could not get the forum launched… And there was not a straight answer on why the forum was stalled.
In the time that we got the forum approved by Mark, MyRagan instituted a new approval policy. Unlike other social networks like Facebook, MyRagan has closed forum development, requiring interested users to suggest a new discussion topics to MyRagan management. In essence, they are controlling which discussions can occur…
Controlling content directly contradicts the spirit of social media. Further, who are the judges of what content should be discussed? I would like to know who is so qualified to determine what kind of conversations should occur in a social network.
This is not the first time MyRagan has come under fire for controlling content. Mark Ragan specifically got drawn into a very public incident with the Social Media Club. The control issue plus, to be frank, this incident annoyed me after all of the effort put into the concept. So the decision was hastened.
That being said, when Mark saw my premature Twitter post intending to “ax MyRagan” (nice word choice on my part - head slap), he said in return, “Interesting comment, Geoff. Only I can ax MyRagan. And why would I? It’s more successful than I ever dreamed possible.”
MyRagan is a great concept for communicators. It should experience continued success, and perhaps in the future it’ll make sense to participate. After all, we must continue to Think Liquid. But for that to happen, MyRagan will need to loosen it’s hold on content and community development. In the interim, Rich and I intend to launch the effort publicly on the Internet soon. More details are forthcoming.
One Footnote
Much hub-bub about Facebook and LinkedIn. I have profiles on both (hyper-linked) if you want to “friend” me… I’m not sure how excited to get about either of these networks as they seem to be glorified contact managers with bulletin boards. Of the two, Facebook is more robust. I am always open to participation and conversation on either network.
Valeria Maltoni Says:
July 20th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Geoff:
Thank you for the hat tip. I like the idea of taking metrics and measuring against return on involvement occasionally. Granted, some things we do for fun. When you’re feeding a family though there is a limit to how long you will dilute resources to experiment. I did not know about MyRagan (I know Ragan) although I am a member of all the communications professional organizations. Interesting.
Mike Whalen Says:
July 20th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Regarding the following:
>In the end it came down to statistics. In the past month, Google
>Analytics reveals that the Buzz Bin has received 209 visits from
>Pownce, 68 visits from Twitter and 4 visits from MyRagan.
[snip]
>This type of traffic clearly reveals which communities value my
>participation and time.
I can appreciate that. Is it possible, however, that Twitter and Pownce are currently hot flavors? Right now, people are clamoring for invites to Pownce and “friending” every one in sight. Certainly that must lead to some bump in statistics?
m
Geoff Livingston Says:
July 20th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Mike: All of these services are new, with the exception of LinkedIn. I concur that any of them could be flashes in the pan, and that’s why the mantra for this firm’s social media strategy has become Think Liquid. Think Liquid logic is available at http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/07/16/think-liquid/
Valeria: Always welcome on the Bin. Thanks for your excellent contribution to the conversation.
Ianternet Says:
July 20th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
interesting….I think pownce has twitter hands down - interface and usability
Chris Abraham Says:
July 20th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
Marketing Conversation is a new blog. So not too much traffic.
Twitter is my number one traffic generator in July:
331 http://twitter.com/
Twitter was also my number one traffic generator in June:
94 http://twitter.com/
It’s a big deal, especially when starting up a new blog.
Chris Abraham Says:
July 20th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
PS: I don’t want to play the Pownce and Twitter wars. I have been doing lots and lots of research and what one calls what Pownce is is “threaded persistent IM” and what Twitter is is something else. Pownce isn’t immediate, it isn’t very well suited for the “Chris is doing this…” sort of 160-character play. It is more like BBS 2.0.
I think they’re complimentary. Twitter is now, now, now, now, now…
Geoff Livingston Says:
July 20th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
I completely agree, Chris. When I started this thing,plus the poll I saw them as competing. But now after a few weeks of playing with each the networks operate differently and are complimentary. I do enjoy Powncing more because of the conversation and comradery, but see the value in Twitter.
Pownce : Geoff L. Says:
July 21st, 2007 at 1:51 am
Brian Williams Says:
July 21st, 2007 at 2:06 am
Won’t you bail on one of them eventually? Just based on user experience (cleaner design, more — but not too many more — features, etc.) it seems like pownce could quickly grab attention. The only stick is your friends, which means a momentum shift (a trickle of twitters saying “switching to pownce” snowballing into a mass exodus) could be a twitter killer. Why be loyal? It’s not the app. Only time will tell, and I’m a admittedly a lightweight on both (who has 10 seconds every hour to spare?).
ob81 Says:
July 21st, 2007 at 10:43 am
Pownce is great man! The community (now at least) has a mature feeling, and people REALLY do help you out over there. I know crap all about coding, and Pownce friends helped me get a site upb from scratch!
It always comes back to the numbers though. Bad MyRagan!
Geoff Livingston Says:
July 21st, 2007 at 11:08 am
Brian, I think you are right. I eventually will move over to Pownce in full, but right now feel that i can’t. With a book coming and so many PR and marketing blogger friends preferring twitter, it just seems hard to drop. Like OB81, I really enjoy the community on Pownce.
Kevin Dugan Says:
July 21st, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Geoff - I do not disagree with your choice to pull from MyRagan. But why pull the profile off completely and not just simply stop visiting and participating (assuming you were).
Devoting the time and energy to the networks that bring you the most traffic makes good sense. We have to draw the line somewhere. To that end I’m glad that my IT folks at work block some of the sites I would otherwise spend more time at. :-)
That said, I think the marketing bloggers immersed in the latest and greatest are not getting much out of myragan. But I think there are some folks out there that might prefer the walled garden it offers.
Geoff Livingston Says:
July 22nd, 2007 at 5:42 am
As of 5 a.m., the MyRagan profile is still there, it’s just fallow. If it disappears, it won’t be because I deleted it.
Poll: Jaiku Wins, But Twitter & Pownce Take the US » The Buzz Bin Says:
July 26th, 2007 at 11:16 am
[...] This should not be a surprise as I have 4 x as many Pownce friends as Twitter “followers,” but Twitter absolutely dominates the marketplace. So I pulled from Pownce, and non Pownce readers favored Twitter. And that my readers really don’t like Jaiku that much. This validates the recent decision to continue using both Twitter and Pownce. [...]
Copywrite, Ink.: Creating Conversation: BlogStraightTalk Says:
July 31st, 2007 at 2:05 pm
How to Drive Traffic from "Twitter"? Says:
August 4th, 2007 at 5:37 am
[...] Twitter The Next SEO Haven? : The Blog Herald 45. Is Twitter Twittering Out? - The Viral Garden 46. Pownce versus Twitter: And the Loser is MyRagan » The Buzz Bin 47. web.aan.org » Tech to Watch: Twitter 48. web.aan.org » Use Twitterfeed to Automagically Send [...]
Leave a Reply
Categories
Recent Comments
Showing Personality is Great, But Sharing Too Much Information Isn't :
Buzz Meter: PitchEngine:
Attitude and Actions:
Keeping a Cool Head and Maintaining Employee Morale During Tough Economic Times:
Recent Posts
Resources
Archives
About this Blog
The Buzz Bin offers readers musings and analysis on marketing, buzz, PR and Washington, DC from the team at Livingston Communications.Read more about us ...
» buy the book
A primer on New Media for Executives and Entrepreneurs.
Copyright © 2008 The Buzz Bin, Livingston Communications
Site by Viget Labs