How Some People Are Using Triberr To Kill Blogging

14465793773_6b031426a4_k

Don’t make the monkey mad.

 

Some my fellow tribesmen are using Triberr to kill blogging and it is not because your content is horrible, even though some of it truly is.

Stop using hashtags in your headlines.

What makes you think that sending out headlines populated by hashtags is a good idea, because it is not.

This is me shouting INCONCEIVABLE!

Those headlines look like hell and read worse.. It is alphabet soup and simply horrid. If you are going to pump out gibberish you might as well have fun.

Why not try one of these:

  • Flying Butt Monkeys Attack Squirrels
  • Spicy Food Hairy Nuts
  • #^$@^$^Y#%%^^
  • 123 Uses for Viagra and Female Alligators
  • Your Words Make Flames Shoot Out of My Derrierre

I’ll lay odds that one of those five will be as effective as sending out “Toms, Drums and Mud #music, #drums.”

It is time to return to regular headlines and to stop the madness. Don’t make the monkey mad because believe me you wouldn’t like to fight with the mad monkey. You’ll lose.

And if by some chance you defeat the monkey in single combat you’ll feel badly that you beat up a monkey and even worse because the crazy people in PETA will sue you on behalf of the monkey.

What will your children say about this. How will you explain that you lost your house because you went bankrupt trying to prove you had the legal right to defend yourself against the mad monkey.

Besides the monkey has friends. You don’t want to face the monkey’s friends.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Change your ways or risk the wrath of the mean monkey and the scary clown.

P.S. If I share your post I am probably going to strip the hashtags out anyway because they really do look like hell.

(Visited 1,269 times, 1 visits today)

51 Comments

  1. Kris Olin July 4, 2013 at 6:59 pm

    Good onya for this post, Jack!

    There’s a lot of crap floating around on Triberr nowadays. When I joined my first tribe, Anubis more than a year ago the quality of posts was very high. I actually had to change my blog format in order to get in! Now, all you have to do is look at the headlines and you’ll see how much hard sell, badly configured hashtags and gunk are used there. I think Dino should use his powers for good and clean it up a bit, eh?

    Cheers,
    Kris

    • Jack July 5, 2013 at 7:32 am

      Hi Kris,

      Yeah, Anubis and the rest have changed a bit. It is not like it used to be. There is a lot more noise and the quality is questionable more often than it used to be.

      But I still come across some very good posts, so not all is dead, just changed.

  2. Aaron Brinker April 8, 2013 at 9:11 pm

    Jack,

    I have used a hashtag in the title only a few times. Every time I have used one in my title it has been at the request of a sponsored post of some type. My personal opinion is that I think it would hurt your google ranking if you continued to do it. I think the spiders would read them as partial gibberish….just my opinion of course.

    Aaron Brinker aka DadBlunders

  3. Karen Maskall April 5, 2013 at 1:50 pm

    I’ve only just joined triberr today Jack so I’ve got lots to learn about it yet. I arrived here because I was doing a search on triberr to see what folks had to say. Seems like the consensus is that it it a very good place to be as long as people stop spamming ( not unlike any other place where self promotion is allowed hmmmmmm)

    Looking at that mean monkey friend… I am NOT going to risk his wrath ho ho

    • Jack April 6, 2013 at 11:16 am

      Hi Karen,

      Triberr is a wonderful tool and its usefulness has quite a bit to do with how you use it. I say that often but I have really found it to be true.

  4. Shonali Burke November 2, 2012 at 6:20 am

    You SO made me laugh! So… this is an interesting conundrum to me; are people using Triberr to kill blogging, or has Triberr so enamored people that they’re losing commonsense? I used to really like Triberr but I’ve been feeling more and more uncomfortable about it… not enough to quit it yet, because I have to figure out my discomfort more clearly. But part of it is that it feels like it’s contributing to a lot of shouting, over-sharing & less engagement. Ooh – I think I just found the premise for a blog post I’ve been wanting to write!
    To your point about hashtags; same thing with @ names in the title – again, they’re doing it because it makes the most instantly shareable without you (anyone) having to go in & edit the title (which most people don’t do anyway, from what I can tell). Me, I’ve used hashtags in titles when they’re relevant (eg if it’s a #measurePR recap, or if it’s an event like #give2max or whatever). Not otherwise.

    • Jack November 2, 2012 at 10:14 am

      Hi Shonali,

      Common sense does seem to be missing. The methods we used to use to communicate with people are evolving and not everyone is keeping up.

      Twitter has become much more of a broadcast channel than it used to be. Time was that you could tweet a link and your followers would go check it out but I don’t think we see the same sort of response to CTAs anymore.

      Since I like to experiment I joined some more tribes and now have a reach of about 6.5 million or something like that. It sounds great, but I know I am not seeing the kind of response I would like to get from that many.

      If ten percent made this blog part of their daily routine…

      So I am trying to figure out how to rework and adjust how I use Triberr to see if I can make it more efficient and effective for me. I am still a fan, but just need to tweak it.

      BTW, I edit headlines. I will strip out the hashtags and change the titles. I don’t do it every time, but it has happened more than once.

    • Saul Fleischman November 20, 2012 at 12:38 am

      While I know full well that people can be spammy, I must agree with Shonali. Far worse than the blog article with a title littered with long, chcaracter-eating hashtags is the one that aims to get the guest author (or even the author and an organization – two @mentions) Twitter mentions by injecting their Twitter handle in the post title.
      In fact, hashtags can be a very good thing, for organization, for reaching far beyond your/our own followers because they can assist in reaching those actively and passively following tags – who may not be following us in Twitter.
      I’d like to show you my own private-beta stage hashtags optimization tool, sometime, and how people put it to use to do non-spammy things. Connect in G+ and Hangout soon?

  5. Si November 2, 2012 at 2:02 am

    I agree, mate. Let’s ban hash tags in titles! It makes for terrible reading and it’s and so unimaginative and lazy.

  6. jetts31 November 1, 2012 at 9:01 pm

    Its the curse of the Internet. We’ve learned a hashtag might just make a post visible to more people so titles are littered with #’s and content is forgotten about. I think we all know what sort of shameless shills people are on the world wide web and anything (in their minds) to push a post a little bit more, they’ll try.
    I don’t know that I ever used a hashtag as part of the title to one of my posts? I don’t think that I have. And if I did, the monkey would kick my ass.

    • Jack November 1, 2012 at 11:36 pm

      Hey Jimmy,

      Yeah, I think most of us are “guilty” of trying to promote our posts through multiple methodss, some not as clean as the others. I certainly have been a part of it.

      But I am working hard on balancing the “need” as best I can.

      That scary monkey and his clown friend are intimidating.

  7. Julie October 30, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    If you want to know who wins, the monkey or the clown, just watch Cabin In The Woods. It’s the be-all-end-all of which scary freak ghost clown psycho wins. OK I’ll tell you – no one. The Demi Gods come back and destroy the Earth. Same thing for Triberr or maybe just lotsa traffic.

  8. Tim Bonner October 30, 2012 at 7:49 am

    I’ve not seen too many headlines with hashtags to be honest but I’d probably remove them too. Maybe the Triberr company I keep are more discerning. 🙂

  9. Stan Faryna October 30, 2012 at 7:35 am

    There are several schools of thought regarding packing hashtags in headlines and whether triberrites should be doing it. I belong to the one that says it feels mad money awkward but it may be necessary on occasion. [grin]

    • Jack October 30, 2012 at 4:30 pm

      Hi Stan,

      Well I like to argue as both anarchist and purist but from a practical POV I understand it might be worth trying out. I probably won’t but it would be sort of interesting to see what happens.

  10. Craig McBreen October 30, 2012 at 6:37 am

    Everyone mentioned the clown, but what about the f*ing monkey? I hate monkeys.

    Hashtags are evil. Makes me think of hashmarks in your undies every time I read the term.

    And isn’t “Spicy Food Hairy Nuts” listed on Copyblogger’s “How to write awesome headlines” post?

    • Jack October 30, 2012 at 1:54 pm

      Hi Craig,

      How can you hate monkeys. They are kind, gentle creatures. Well, most are the guy up above was abused by the organ grinder and is mad as hell.

      Hashtags, hashmarks- both can be stinky.

      Can’t say if the “Nuts” headline was stolen by Copyblogger or not. Might have to send the monkey to speak with Morrow and Clark. 😉

      • Eugene Farber November 1, 2012 at 8:20 am

        Seriously, how can someone hate monkeys!?

        I have to admit. I would be tempted to click on that headline.

        There’s a great post on ConversionXL that talks about which headlines work, and which don’t. Copyblogger is specifically brought up as an example. They tell you to do one thing, but the headlines they actually use to sell products are completely the opposite of what they teach.

        • Jack November 1, 2012 at 5:24 pm

          Hi Eugene,

          I ask that very question all the time. 😉

          You have intrigued me with the story about that ConversionXL post, I Am going to have to look it up.

  11. Kristen Daukas October 30, 2012 at 4:19 am

    I’ve gotten to the point that I hate hashtags. They are one of the most abused and overused things ever. I get it – you want your post, photo, tweet whatever to show up in every single search known to mankind. Write better content and it will show up regardless.

    • Jack October 30, 2012 at 1:50 pm

      Hi Kristen,

      You’ll get no argument from me. They are abused and they get to be obnoxious. Some people are under the mistaken impression that they’ll serve as the bump that makes their content explode.

  12. Bill Dorman October 30, 2012 at 4:05 am

    Don’t make the monkey mad, and don’t spank the monkey………….at least in public…….

    I have noticed lately when I approve a post in Triberr but don’t do anything else, I don’t think it is going out. Have you noticed that?

    • Jack October 30, 2012 at 1:49 pm

      Mr. Bill,

      Hope you and your son are enjoying the new time together. I have noticed that Triberr has been a bit wonky lately. I am sure the “boys’ are working on fixing that.

      And if not I expect they will be soon.

  13. Jens P. Berget October 29, 2012 at 10:20 pm

    I agree. I usually either remove the hashtags or don’t share the posts. But, on the other hand, if the headline is really awesome, I’ll probably end up sharing anyway. It comes down to the discussion of how important headlines (and link bait) are.

  14. Amanda Blain October 29, 2012 at 9:52 pm

    My blog posts are auto imported via Google Plus. They include hashtags that work well in the twitter space… and on my blog. I’m not exactly sure why you think this is a blogging killer? O_o

    • Jack October 29, 2012 at 10:10 pm

      Hi Amanda,

      It is not really a blogging killer, that was linkbait and is tied into a discussion I have been having with several people about headlines.

      However the hashtags are problematic for myself and some others. Don’t know how many people dislike them, but outside of Twitter I find them disruptive.

      There is something about placing them in the headlines that sets me off. If I share the post I usually strip them from the headline because that is not how I like to share.

      People can do what they want. I am not saying that it is wrong to put them in there, just that I dislike it and that it sometimes impacts my decision about whether to read or share.

  15. DJ Thistle October 29, 2012 at 7:50 pm

    Who would win the monkey or the clown?

    I honestly think twice about sharing articles with hashtags, especially multiple hashtags.

  16. Trey Burley October 29, 2012 at 6:17 pm

    Side note. I do like your headlines. One of the things I like/don’t like about Triberr is that it educates you as a writer. I’ve discovered that a good headline is mandatory and a great headline can make a post. Because of Triberr I’ve become more aware of what my weak spots are and my ‘crutches’ that I use.

  17. Trey Burley October 29, 2012 at 6:14 pm

    Your title made me laugh. I also like monkeys.

  18. Ralph October 29, 2012 at 1:57 pm

    Jack, check out Triberr. Your post populated 3 times in my Tribe (Globespotting). Not sure why. That is one scary clown, dude!

    • Jack October 29, 2012 at 10:01 pm

      Hi Ralph,

      Don’t know why it did it other than Triberr recognized it as being 3x as important as other posts. 😉 Beats me, I am just your every day writer.

  19. Carolyn October 29, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    So true. Those hash tags are a blight on blog titles. You can always add hash tags to the tweet later.

  20. Mark October 29, 2012 at 12:28 pm

    “Spicy Food Hairy Nuts”

    Hey, I just got a new blog post idea – haha!

    Peeps better stop monkeying around 😮

    Happy Monday, Josh : )

  21. Kate Finley October 29, 2012 at 11:12 am

    All you really had to do was post a picture of that clown. Eek!

  22. Mark October 29, 2012 at 10:17 am

    While I agree that it looks bad, I don’t agree that they are killing blogging. I wonder, are they editing these titles just for Triberr, since the primary share there is through Twitter? It’s a smart idea, whether you think so or not, it can attract a lot of attention. My issue is not with how it looks for them, but how it looks in my Twitter stream. I usually just avoid sharing those titles, then it doe not effect me either way. BTW, if their content is crap, don’t syndicate them. It’s your Twitter stream they will be infecting.

    • Jack October 29, 2012 at 5:10 pm

      Hi Mark,

      Nah, not killing blogging at all- I went for linkbait and it worked quite well. Haven’t had a ton of comments but the traffic has been steady and heavy.

      In concept I agree that it is a smart idea but I am not sure if it works out the way they want it to. It doesn’t make me want to read the posts, if anything it is off putting and that is not a good thing.

      I don’t share everything that comes through because I don’t want my stream to look like hell. It is not as clean as I would like it now, but there are compromises we make to generate the additional promotion of our own material.

  23. Erin Feldman October 29, 2012 at 9:29 am

    Ugh…That clown! That clown! I’m going to have nightmares.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You may also like