Do you read everything you share online?



Contributing Writer
Photo: Fashion Woman Credit: Bruno Perez


When I first started blogging, it seemed like I could not buy a comment or a tweet.  In fact, I knew something really crazy was going on when I got a comment and about three shares one day (it turned out Chris Brogan had tweeted out my post, which was 100% surprising!).  I started joining the Twitter chat #blogchat every Sunday to see if I could untangle why I wasn’t getting anyone to take action on my posts.  Everyone who did read my blog said it was really good and they liked it a lot. So what was I missing?

I’d love to say that as time evolved and things got better it became clear what I had been missing. When I first started I was on Blogspot. Things got better when I moved to WordPress.com and then I really saw a traffic jump when I moved to a self-hosted blog. My very first few posts were all over the place, not focused, and to be honest, not very good. It was all a journey, all a big learning curve.  But the carrot – getting people to read your post and then inspiring them to say something about that – that really got me excited. I couldn’t believe I could have a conversation with literally anybody about anything I wanted to write about (well, within reason).

I thought I had everything figured out, and I was pretty happy with the Blogosphere. But now something strange is going on, and it’s really bothering me.

But you didn’t read it…

Because of sites like Triberr, which makes it easy to tweet out posts from the Triberr interface, it is no longer necessary, in the minds of a lot of people, to read posts before they allow Triberr to tweet them out. In fact, you don’t even need to click to a person’s blog site. You can go down your list of tribe mates, click “approve” 27 times, and your content sharing is set up for the foreseeable future. It’s easy, it’s efficient, and from a sharing perspective, it’s awesome. But, well, I’m a purist. I don’t write posts just so they can be broadcast out into the ether. I write posts because I want to share ideas. I write so I can start conversations. If nobody is actually reading posts, my favorite part of blogging has gone by the wayside.

I had a chance to talk to Dino Dogan and Geoff Livingston about this a bit in the Twitter stream. Dino, one of the co-founders of Triberr (and a mighty nice guy) said that if people aren’t reading your posts before they send them out, it means they trust your content enough that they aren’t worried about sharing it. While I think that’s a great vote of confidence, it also troubles me. From the very start, I’ve only shared stuff I’ve read because I want to be accountable for ALL of the views I present online. I could completely adore you and yet completely agree with something you write on one of your blog posts. What if you have written something that is the polar opposite of the post I just published?  To me, that means my credibility could be called into question. At the very least, it signals that I either didn’t mean what I said in my post or that I didn’t read your post.

Sharing without merit

I know what you’re going to say. Even if the person who tweets out your post didn’t read it, they’re exposing your content to people you might not be connected with, and maybe those folks will read it. I get that, and that is a great value. But to me, shares without true merit just aren’t as worth much to me.  If you share my post, I want to know that you at least skimmed it to make sure you really think it’s worthy to share. I’d rather have less traffic and more comments than the other way around.  Anyone can click “approve.” Reading and THEN sharing requires some thought and discernment.

So what do you think? Do you care that people seem to be sharing posts without reading them? Am I just once again too far behind the times?  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Margie Clayman

Margie Clayman

Margie Clayman is the Director of Client Development at Clayman Advertising, Inc., her family’s full service marketing firm located in Akron, Ohio. Margie is the third generation of the family to work there. Margie blogs at www.margieclayman.com and has authored an e-book called The ABCs of Marketing Myths, which you can read about here: http://www.margieclayman.com/the-abcs-of-marketing-myths-a-new-e-book

Margie Clayman

@margieclayman

VP of Client Dev. @ Clayman Marketing Communications, a full service marketing firm in Akron, Ohio. Everlasting gobstopper of nice. ~Sean McGinnis

@MarshaCollier Hey Marsha – sorry for the belated reply – weekend was great :) Thanks for asking! – 21 hours ago

Margie Clayman

  • http://twitter.com/WineEveryday Eileen Gross

    Margie, I completely agree with your sharing philosophy. If I tweet out a post from a blogger-friend (but haven’t read it) and my twitter followers start asking questions about it, I’m looking pretty foolish & with nothing to say but ‘great, glad you liked it” (lame response)

    If engaging is what you are after in the social-stratosphere, then you must read the content you are sharing.

    It takes me forever to get thru my triberr stream & wordpress notifications because I read each post.
    Cheers Margie!
    Eileen Gross | Wine Everyday

  • http://twitter.com/danasitar Dana Sitar

    Great points! I agree; even though the exposure is nice, it’s disappointing to think people are just going through the motions and using my articles to pad their Twitter feeds. I also don’t share articles I haven’t read, for the same reasons you mention.

    Thanks for starting the discussion!

  • Jay Oza

    Good post, Margie.

    Unless I like something whether it is a blog, an article or a book, I will not recommend it. Unless I am ready to give it a 5 on whether it was worth my time reading it, I can’t recommend it to to others so they can waste their time.

    It is that simple.

  • http://twitter.com/rdopping Ralph Dopping

    Linked here via Facebook. Not sure you are tracking how peeps get here but hey, there you go. I agree wholeheartedly and I simply need to ask myself why I am here. It’s an age old argument I love Triberr too but I find without discipline I sometimes litter my stream with stuff that I wouldn’t normally support. I tend to go back to my Reader, Facebook and LinkedIn for more “organic” searches. Sure, it takes time and of the time I allot to myself to search content I get less done but hey, at least I feel like I am sharing stuff of value, to me.

  • http://barrettrossie.com/ Barrett Rossie

    Margie, this topic — specifically as it relates to Triberr — has been bothering me for some time. I am guilty as charged. I need to figure out how to use Triberr responsibly. I feel a twinge of regret every time I Tweet without having read the post, and I need to listen more closely to that little voice telling not to.
    Triberr is a good tool, but I need to draw the line somewhere. So I really want to hear people’s ideas.

  • http://www.martinamcgowan.com/ Martina McGowan

    Margie, I think many of us are troubled by the points you bring up. Ultimately what each of us does, like how we choose to share must jibe with our consciences and values. Yes, being in large tribes does bring a lot of blogs to my screen, and I make an effort to scan all (and what else is on the page), read most and comment on a few. This means that they may be delayed when they come to my timeline. One of our tribemates recently stated in his post about not sharing more, “we must keep faith with those who follow us.”
    Another aspect of this has begun to bother me lately also. As I look at the main TL for twitter, increasingly the posts are being generated by Triberr or other conglomeration. So, we must ask, are we still writing for our main audience, or only for each other?
    Good points, good post.

  • http://www.cendrinemarrouat.com Cendrine Marrouat

    Hello Margie,

    You raise some very interesting questions and points. I absolutely love Triberr, but I don’t share everything I see in my stream. First, if the title doesn’t jump at me, I usually pass. Then, I skim the content to see if something pops up. If it does, I read.

    If it doesn’t, I might still share, as some of my followers might find something they like. I’m pretty good at knowing what is relevant for them from the get go.

  • http://twitter.com/TheMarkRMorris2 Mark Morris

    I think you do what works for you. I don’t complain about how, or who shares my content, but I am also mindful that I want an audience of my own, one that trusts me. I do not always ready 100% of every post I share, but more often than not I do. In many cases I can pretty much guess what the writer would say, having read their content previously. This is an excellent question. Sometimes, I think, is anybody actually reading any of it, or are we all just passing it aroiund?

  • http://twitter.com/anitahovey Anita Hovey

    Good questions Margie…obviously I’m reading this one before I let Triberr send it out :) I do read most of what I send out…there is an occasional time where I just let it go because I trust the person who wrote it and I don’t have time to check it out right then.

  • Tom Ledford

    I agree Margie. You are accountable for what you post and what you recommend. I try to check the link in a tweet before I retweet it, not just to see if it works, but to see if I want my name associated with it. I also try to look at the tweeter’s profile and past tweets. When you retweet their tweets, you’re associating yourself with them too. I admit I don’t always do this, especially with those I have come to trust, but I have made many mistakes by being in a hurry. Your followers’ trust is hard won.

  • http://e2csoftware.blogspot.com/ Alex Joseph

    Thanks for sharing your views that I have often struggled with. I think authenticity is still crucial and stick to the rule of sharing only the content that I really like and resonate with me. It comes at a price, as some Tribemates could be upset for not ‘reciprocating’. I hope the goal of social networks is still to find people that share your interests and connect than blind reciprocation. Otherwise, there’s a risk of the entire social media world being run by robots!

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Thanks Tom. I don’t worry about Twitter as much although that’s a good point – in fact, sometimes I’m shocked to see great posts come from Twitter profiles that don’t look put together. Some people excel at different things. But yes, you are what you share. Better be sure you’re okay with that :)

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    That gets tricky – even if it’s someone I trust, I don’t tweet it till I read it, and I tell you why. Sometimes when you tweet a post out someone will come back at you with questions (as if you wrote it). At that point, you either are going to have to read it anyway or you’re going to have to BS that person. Might as well read it on the front end :)

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    That’s the real crux of the issue, right? If you share it, then you get retweeted, then that person gets retweeted, do any of you know what information you are distributing? At what point does your responsibility for sharing that content begin? For me, I hold myself 100% accountable for anything that leaves under my handle. But yes, there is no “right” way to do things :)

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Titles can be tricky. Just like sometimes a great post will come from a person whose Twitter account looks shady, sometimes a person can be a great writer but they can stink at those titles. In fact I often struggle with titles myself. I give posts a chance, but I find if I can’t stay interested past the first paragraph, that’s probably a bad sign!

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Not only that, but Twitter has become, increasingly, just a broadcast channel for Triberr, Buffer, and other automated systems. Someone might respond to you but if your shared blog is being sent when you’re asleep, you’ve missed that chance to interact. To me that’s always been the fun part of sharing posts. You never know when you’re going to share someone’s content (or your own) and suddenly get inundated with questions that create a great conversation. If you haven’t read the post or if you aren’t around when that conversation starts, are you really doing social media anymore?

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    I allot 20 minutes a day to going through my Triberr stream. That’s not a lot of time, but it’s a reasonable chunk. If I tweeted a person’s post the previous day I might skip their post that day so I have time to read someone new, or someone whose posts I haven’t shared for awhile. Normally I can read and share five-six posts in that time. If the blogger is someone who I know puts out really good content, I may not read word for word but rather will get their jist, and if I agree, I will share it. But I really do not want to risk sharing something I normally would not share. That means I don’t share overly promotional posts, I don’t share posts that are poorly written, and I don’t share posts that i disagree with, no matter how much I like the blogger. Triberr, if its mission is to bring true traffic to your site, should not be about a feeling of indebtedness. It should be about helping cream rise to the top, right? That’s how I view it.

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    I have several blogs that I’m not connected to via Triberr that I still go and visit as often as I can. I try to do that at least once a week, because even checking Triberr 20 minutes a day can become sort of an automated process. I like to understand and absorb what I share. It’s important to me to do so. Sounds like it’s the same thing for you.

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Exactly. Sometimes I see people I really admire sharing posts that are horrible, and it makes me sad. It really makes it seem (though I know it’s not REALLY the case) that they’re phoning it in. That’s a bad message to send out.

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    I’m not sure people do it for malicious reasons like padding their Twitter streams, although I’m sure that’s out there. I think it’s more, “I’m in a tribe so I better share your stuff.” When that carries over to people you may not know, or people who just plain might not be good writers, it can become a problem.

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Thanks Eileen. Yeah, I’ve been cornered a couple of times with questions about posts that I read, but not as carefully as I should have. Those experiences alone have taught me you’d better at least have some reason for sharing the content. If you have been working on establishing your presence online and you are tying yourself to content, people can get awfully confused if what you share does not mesh with everything else you are doing or have done. It’s too big a risk for me to take.

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    That’s something I really still don’t like about Triberr – I think a lot of people do feel like if you’re in their tribe, you should automatically share their posts. But sometimes you get invited into a tribe thanks to one friend and don’t know anyone else. Should you still feel obligated to share those posts automatically? I’m sure I have ticked people off with my lack of sharing, but I do not feel that sharing things automatically is a compliment anyway. If I share stuff, you know I read it and thought it was well-put and thought-provoking. The fact i don’t share everything means when I do share, I really mean it.

  • http://joshuawilner.com/ Josh

    Hi Margie,

    I think about all of this quite often. It starts with an internal conversation about what my goals are and what I hope to accomplish because without answering those questions I can’t develop any sort of actionable plan to make that happen.

    I have noticed a strange correlation between the amount of traffic/comments I generate relative to the amount of content I produce and share.

    What I haven’t been able to ascertain is how much of that is related to trust build over time and how much is related to having done a good job of building my network.

    In a perfect world it should be related to trust built upon faith and experience that there is reason to follow whatever is sent out.

    After more than a year of being part of Triberr I can say it is a very useful tool for building exposure and connections and that I have people whose content I trust to send out without being read, but I don’t like doing that because we all have bad days and we don’t always agree with everything someone writes.

    It would be easy to go on, but I always come back to the same place. Why are we here? What do we hope to accomplish? What are we willing to do to make it happen? Is it worth it?

  • http://twitter.com/gonzogonzo Frederic Gonzalo

    A very timely post, Margie. I also struggle with this aspect about Triberr. I usually read most posts before I ‘approve’ them, I’d say in 95% of cases. And I do feel weird when I do approve a post without actually reading it, but often enough it’s from someone I read often, and I know I may eventually come around to read it later, really.
    Truth is, ever since I joined Triberr, I’ve been seeing lots more sharing regarding my posts, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect into increased traffic to my website. I also blog in French, and I’ve been seeing organic growth much stronger than with my English blog, despite of networks and things such as Triberr. Needless to say, it gets me thinking. And your post resonates with concerns I have as well.

    Food for though, as they say…
    Cheers,
    Frederic

  • Sydney Aaliyah

    I had this same issue with Tribber so for my self, I only approve post I have already read. It doesn’t make me the best tribe mate, but it matters to me the type of content I share with people who so generously follow me.

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Hi Frederic,

    I would imagine for bi-lingual bloggers like yourself (and I know many others) this is particularly pressing. If someone who speaks no French is still tweeting out your posts, you really have to wonder what they’re doing :) The devil in me would want to hide nasty stuff in those posts to trick people, like, “Aren’t people silly who tweet out French posts when they don’t speak French? What dweebs…” ha :)

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Well said, Josh. Even for people who are trying to drive traffic because they use advertising or affiliate links, I’m not sure Triberr is doing them much of a favor. You aren’t getting the traffic from the people in your tribe if they’re just clicking “approve.” I almost wonder if Triberr should become a plug-in so that people have to go to your site and then they can click “approve” from there.

  • http://releasingmetoday.com/ Deone Higgs

    Great approach to this article, Margie. I have often thought this same thing about my own content. Which is the main reason I am focusing on my book more and more these days. I don’t write just to have it tweeted or shared. I write to impact the lives of other people and also have their insights impact mine. Although, I know that my followers and readers are reading my material, and they also know what to expect from me. Hence the reason, I am here leaving a comment on Jim’s site. I’ve known of Jim for quite some time, but hadn’t heard of you or read any of your material. Therefore, I felt it was necessary for me to come over and check out the content I would be sharing. I enjoyed reading it. You mentioned rather great points here. Thanks for sharing.

  • http://www.douglaserice.com/ Douglas E Rice

    I bought into the philosophy for a while of automating sharing if it’s from a source you trust. And I still don’t think it’s necessarily bad. Even if someone I trust writes something I disagree with, what’s so bad about that? I want the things I share to start conversations–not just high-five my personal values.

    For a while, then, I used Dlvr.it to automate all of the feeds of people that I followed. The problem I ran into, though, was unexpected. People would reply to tweets asking me questions about the articles I had shared. I would then have to go back and read the article (if I hadn’t read it) before I could respond. And, even then, I felt like I was being a little sneaky–making the person think I had read the article when I really hadn’t gotten to it yet. I ended up having to do this A LOT.

    Finally, I went back to Triberr.com. I now use Triberr as a Stage 1 Reader–it has the sources I trust the most. I browse the feed, read the articles that I think may be interesting, and usually add a comment to let people know I’ve read the article and given it some thought. I then go to Google Reader and do the same thing–adding those articles to my Bufferapp.com.

    I can only tweet out about 20-25 articles per day instead of 80-100, but I feel better about reading what I share and it keeps more involved in the conversation. After much deliberation, I think I’m with Margie on this one.

  • http://www.engag.io/Abdallah Abdallah Al-Hakim

    “I’d rather have less traffic and more comments than the other way around” I completely agree with this line. I actually prefer to read comments and get more value from them than caring about how many times a particular post has been retweeted or Liked. I typically start my social media activities on engagio (www.engag.io) which zones in on the social conversations of people that I follow from across the social web. This usually leads to good discovery of new content (Full disclosure: I work for engagio!).

  • http://twitter.com/TheGrok Bryan Eisenberg

    I am a purist like you. I won’t share anything I don’t read first. However, there are people I trust their content enough that I will glance at it and then share. But few reach that status. This is also why I never worry about the number of tweets or likes but look at the actual engagement on the post itself.

  • http://twitter.com/KDillabough Kaarina Dillabough

    Despite the challenges it poses, I read (almost) everything before I share. On triberr, I always click to the post first, and if I don’t read the post fully, I’m sure to scan it. It’s becoming more difficult as the number of tribes I belong to has increased, and the number of blogs I read is beyond scary. But I still maintain that, unless I’ve read the post or scanned it sufficiently to know what it’s all about, I don’t “blind” share. I’m with you on this one Margie. Cheers! Kaarina

  • http://twitter.com/richmac Rich McElaney

    You obviously hit a nerve with this post Margie based on the reaction. Personally, it’s a time battle in terms of reading everything I share. I just joined a new Triberr group where there are lots of people in the group so the demand has increased tremendously. In my original Triberr group I’ve come to know each member’s writing style and because of that familiarity (and this group is smaller) I feel more comfortable approving some posts without reading. In the new group, I take the time to at least scan the posts to see if they fit within my sharing preferences. I pay closer attention to the people consistently sharing my posts, but I check everything out to assess value. Plus, I get lots of writing ideas as I scan a wide variety of posts.
    I don’t comment as much as I’d like to – it takes something really good (like this post!) to get that much attention!

  • http://twitter.com/bathbusinessweb Bath Business Web

    Great post, this is an issue I feel strongly about as a blogger just starting that rocky road. I always read blog posts before I share them, mostly because I represent a business! Instant brand-death awaits a casually shared spam post. Equally, failing to read and comment on a post is a missed opportunity to connect with the blogger. In a social media world where the focus for great blogging is all about interaction, missing those crucial chances is like throwing revenue down the drain.

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Yes, that’s a huge point. Moreover, you could end up sharing a post that blasts your type of business or your target audience. That would NOT be good!

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    I definitely don’t comment as much as I used to – it’s still a priority to me to respond to comments I get, and that often eats up time too, which is short these days! However, I would posit that maybe limiting the number of people in tribes would be a good idea. It might make people angry, but it might eliminate some of the time pressures.

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Thanks Kaarina. Yeah, that’s why I decided to base my Tribber efforts around time instead of blogs read. I don’t get to everyone in 20 minutes – not by a long shot. But I get to read a *fair* amount of stuff and do enough sharing to make me feel like I’m contributing valuable content to my online world.

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Yeah, a lot of people are complaining that their numbers of comments are going down. I think there are a few reasons for that, but the Tribber/Buffer factor has to be a contributor. People simply aren’t reading the posts even though they’re sharing them.

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    thank you!

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Thanks Doug. I have a hard enough time remembering what *I* have said that people might respond to. Keeping track of stuff I’ve tweeted but not read is just too challenging!

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Well said, Deone. I’m glad you paid us a visit. It’s nice to meet you! :)

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    Exactly!

  • http://twitter.com/BethMcShane bethmcshane

    Thanks for this post Margie. I don’t belong to Triberr, but I contribute to a few blogs that are very Triberr friendly, and I’ve noticed a huge uptick in automated shares via Triberr….Frankly it wears me out….am I obligated to thank everyone for auto sharing my blog post? It is the polite thing to do, but it feels so forced, because I’m not sure anyone has actually read my post, but rather has just automatically sent it through the habitrail…..

  • http://b2bdigital.net/ Eric Wittlake

    Margie, I definitely agree. Sharing is recommending (but not necessarily agreeing).

    My litmus test: I only share a post if I would recommend it to someone. At times, I know the person by name (they usually get a DM or email from me too), other times I’m thinking of the type of person.

    That said, I DO share posts that I disagree with. Perspectives that are thought provoking or clearly articulate a different perspective are often “worth reading”. In that case, I’ll comment within a tweet or in the comments that I don’t necessarily agree, but that doesn’t mean I think its junk.

    We all need to expand our horizons, sometimes that means taking the time to read and consider things we don’t agree with. This is the other side, I think, of your argument. And it is where, in the social media blog bubble, if we read first or not, we often just see the same perspectives echoed over and over again.

    Thanks for posting! Now to go share…

  • http://www.margieclayman.com Marjorie Clayman

    That’s another great point. I am fairly religious about thanking people for sharing my posts, but if I see that triberr URL it’s not as much of a priority for me because, again, I have no idea if that person read the post or not. Maybe that’s not the best attitude, but that’s how it’s been breaking down for me!

  • http://brianvickery.com/ Brian Vickery

    I will say that I read about 95% of it…maybe a tad less. In some cases, I agree with Dino’s point – I trust the viewpoint and writing style of the author, I am pressed for time, and I owe their dedication and writing excellence with a share. I also have occasions where I trust the content (after reading a lot of their earlier content), and I know several of my followers are there specifically for that “genre” of shares. I’ve become an influential curator for them even if I do not partake of the content myself!

    Of course, I read all of your stuff Margie – yours is an example that I need to read all of it to determine which networks and profiles I use to share it. In some cases, it may be a personal perspective more suited to sharing on my personal profiles versus our business profiles.

  • http://cirquedumot.com/new-readers/ Susan Silver

    I remember one day I approved a post on Triberr because I trusted the author. But curiosity got the better of me and I double checked. Turns out there was a statement that I felt was pretty ableist. If I had tweeted that people may have thought I agreed with the statement. Instead I educated the blogger on what bothered me so. I know it is silly, but I would rather reduce my tribe membership and read every post before I approve than extend my reach without thinking. Plus, I still read outside my bubble too.

  • http://freetraffictip.com Tinu

    I read every single thing I share, everywhere. Period. I was a speed reader long before I started using social media, Triberr or Google, so I can read a lot more in a few hours than most people. But for sharing, I force myself to slow down and read – not skim – at half my maximum comprehension speed. It used to worry me more that others didn’t and I ranted about that many times.over the years I realized that those who do read stand out.

  • http://twitter.com/BethMcShane bethmcshane

    Me too, Margie! :P

  • http://twitter.com/Olivia_Farnham Olivia Farnham

    Margie, you make some excellent points in this post. You’ve really got me thinking about ethical social media practices. I agree that we all must scan, at least! It just makes more credible. Great work, great thoughts.

  • http://twitter.com/ExtremelyAvg Brian D. Meeks

    I read all that I share, but I don’t share all that I read. Some posts just aren’t that good.

  • http://twitter.com/emerigent/lists/memberships Emeri Gent [Em]

    I think it is one of the freedoms of the internet that one person can treat it as cultural automation and another as cultural growth. We simply have to look at how the new media focuses on “scary stuff” to know that cultural automation wasn’t invented by social media, but inherited from our regular media habits.

    Whether we are capable of weening ourselves off those habits, is for me, a personal challenge – especially since I think one of the freedoms of the internet I described above, is that we are in charge of our own media context, content and character.

    If we are not in charge, and we are still led by the mentality of media broadcasting has it is been the case for days gone before, then that is an individual awakening choice, so if people are link happy but don’t read the content they distribute – it is there choice, because it is their life.

    I am not going to tell people what to do, but I certainly understand that my experience of social media will increase when I invent cognitive time, to make smarter choices. What constitutes a smart choice is subjective, but for me, it is learning, it is a feeling that I have not taken the easier way out, that I have not just linked to be link happy, but because those are the links I will want to revisit.

    Ultimately I do believe that those things that add value to one’s own life, is the shared value – not sharing itself. We can share a tsunami of information but that amounts to time taken up doing something most people could do for themselves – curating, cultivating and creating – these activities may take up time in the short-term, but the benefit accrues in the long-term.

    Unfortunately we do live in a world where people judge us by our brand, rather than we decide the standards of our own life – brand is an external judgement, managed well it can pay off big time, but there is a human being on the other side of that brand – one who must overcome our past media nature, and who can create a new type of media nurture – one where media is a vehicle of true personal freedom – those who are link happy, will have chosen to forgo this benefit.

    For computers it is garbage in-garbage out, for human beings the ins and out is this “media freedom”.

    [Em]

  • http://barrettrossie.com/ Barrett Rossie

    Thanks Margie. That’s a sensible approach.

  • http://www.wonderoftech.com Carolyn Nicander Mohr

    Hi Margie, Great question that I have struggled with. I am in the camp that if I trust someone, I will approve their post on Triberr without reading it. My litmus test is whether I think the article will be interesting to my Twitter followers.

    I have no problem tweeting out opposing points of view. I tweet a lot of tech and the articles range from why iPhone is the best to why Android is the best. Either way people may learn something.

    I’m also learning from the people favoriting my tweets that I have a lot of followers interested in marketing so I tweet out a lot of marketing posts even though I don’t have a heavy interest in that topic.

    The way I see it is that Dino and Dan formed Triberr to help spread the word for smaller bloggers. I am eager to spread the word about quality blogs even if I don’t have time to read the articles. I have no problem with others spreading the word about my blog even if they don’t read it. Perhaps they will reach a follower who discovers my blog and becomes an engaged reader. All good.

    Thanks for opening this up for discussion. Great topic.

  • http://www.indigogirl.co.uk/ Kittie at Indigo Girl

    I’m with you all the way on this one. I don’t generally share unless I’ve read the post, which is why I’ve arrived at this particular post two days after it hit my Tribal stream. I enjoy reading through the posts to make sure that the ones I share really do bring value to the table.

  • http://seanclark.com/ Sean Clark

    You’ve got to read before you share, if you don’t someday it will come and bite you on the behind. Obviously there may be some exceptions, but we never agree with someone else 100% of the time and sharing blindly can put you in an awkward spot, especially if your stream is your business.

    This was highlighted to me when paper.li first launched. What a great idea, a source of intelligently aggregated content based on my Twitter stream, made into an online news page and shared automatically.

    A great idea, until that is, one of the people I inadvertently followed also happened to be an activist sharing distasteful (to me) comments and views alongside their normal marketing feed.

    I have never used paper.li again and certainly ensure the content I share is also a view I agree with.

  • http://twitter.com/LovyJones Lovy Jones

    I don’t want to share something I haven’t read since I’m trying to build credibility online. But I can’t read it all and then I’m not sharing much and why would anyone share my stuff:( It’s a dilemma.

  • http://amyvernon.net/ AmyVernon

    It’s funny, because long before Triberr, there were two camps of people on Digg. People who wouldn’t digg anything until reading, and people who’d digg everything from their friends, whether they read it or not. Some blamed the latter for the beginning of the end of digg, and the “gaming” of the site. I can’t say they weren’t at least partially right in that regard.

  • http://twitter.com/annelizhannan Anneliz Hannan

    Great post Margie. It has taken me a few days to get to this because I do read every post before I tweet it out or place it on another platform. The downside is I miss a tremendous amount of great content that I would be happy to pass along but simply can’t handle the volume on a daily basis. I also find I am not commenting as much as I would like on these posts or sharing the posts of people whose work deserves to be shared.

    The upside is I am confident that what I send forth has been vetted to my followers whether I agree or disagree with the premise or position of the blog post.

    Certainly by the volume of the comments below, we are not alone in this conundrum but I sleep soundly.

  • http://www.ericpbutts.com/ EB

    I completely agree that if you don’t read it, you shouldn’t share it. You can’t just rubber stamp everything that one of your friends writes. Having all of those automated shares is almost as bad as buying twitter followers or FB likes. All of them provide skewed “social proof.”

  • http://twitter.com/jsncruz Jason Cruz

    I totally agree with you. It’s even more frustrating though when there ARE comments, but these comments have either zero value or are obviously hashed out in order for the comment giver to get traffic to his/her site. As much as possible, I read articles I share and this is where article length comes in – anything longer than 3 minutes give or take, I’ll end up just skimming.

  • http://twitter.com/samfiorella Sam Fiorella

    Yup. I read all the posts I share. I hope that my audience respects my opinion and I wouldn’t want to negatively impact that.

  • http://twitter.com/KateNasser Kate Nasser

    Hi Margie,
    There are many dimensions to the points you make here. I belong to Triberr and am grateful for the concentrated focus it brings to my posts. I think there is an advantage for many who want to schedule tweets in advance to have a few central sources to check for latest content.

    For me I do click/scan on the vast majority of what I post. I have chosen not to “approve/post” content that is very light on content (i.e. might have one small poster with a phrase that could have been easily tweeted as a statement vs. a post or one that is mostly an advertisement).

    One point I would add to this discussion is that people’s writing styles vary and I honor their individuality. Nonetheless for me to be able to scan and capture the points, the writer needs to make sure they don’t bury the lead or write in endlessly long paragraphs.

    If it’s a blogger whose content I truly trust who has more of a prose style (vs. main point with bullet points to support it), I might “approve/post” else I might never get to posting it.

    I do agree with you and many of the commentators here that we are responsible for what we post and that reading and appreciating them are valuable goals. So let’s make it easier for people to read what we write (300-600 words) and if you have more to say — put it into two blog posts.

    Just a thought …
    Kate

  • Mitch Mitchell

    I read every post I share. Sometimes I’ll share after reading & come back to comment, sometimes I don’t comment based on comment systems. But I won’t auto-share anything because you never know if someone’s popping up a post you disagree with.

  • AmyMccTobin

    Wow Margie… you are reading my telepathic brain waves. I’m working on a post about Triberr right now – I’ve been wrestling with some of these questions. I would love to chat with you or send you a barrage of email questions if you don’t mind.

  • Samantha Gluck

    Great post! I like what Brian D. Meeks (below) said. It just about sums it all up for me: I read all I share, but I don’t share all I read. Thanks, Brian! And thank you, Margie, for reminding us that thinking before sharing is important, but it’s also valuable to share content we may not have read (so long as it’s from a trusted source).

  • http://twitter.com/dinodogan Dino Dogan

    This is a convo I had with @onejillian recently. She shares your opinion that one must agree with the post in order to share the post. I hold no such opinion. In fact, I regularly seek out voices of dissension with opposing points of view.

    Also, Margie, being the kind of person that I know you to be. Kind, thoughtful, well-intentioned, I would have absolutely no problem putting your posts to Auto Approve. Why?

    I may not be able to read your post because Im busy at the moment. Does that mean you should lose out a chance and momentum of having your post blow up like I know it should? I say no.

    I’ll get to it when I get to it. I’ll read and comment when I get a chance. In the meantime, why should my audience be deprived of your amazing content?

    So there :-)

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