I've been trying to figure out an easier way for things like quick Q&A and my everyday finds to be posted. I want to keep a steady stream of larger posts on here, but would like to keep from cluttering up the blog with multiple posts every day. And doing Q&A in the comments isn't very effective, since most people probably don't seek those out. I posted a poll about this yesterday, but after only getting one response I figured I should explain what I meant a little better. So, the poll is back up now. Please PLEASE vote. There were 32 people that looked at the total, but only one vote!
I'm looking at Twitter, Facebook, and Formspring. If there's anything that might serve the purpose better, feel free to suggest it. While a forum would be nice, there's already a number of those around and they aren't terribly active.
And just a hint to the sort of day-to-day thing I'd like to put up, I'm in the process of making a Polonaise Jacket from cotton dimity.
Facebook is the only site among those that I currently use, so that's what I voted for. But I'd even prefer multiple posts here - sometimes I try to avoid FB because it can be a timesuck with no purpose, but I would hate to miss your posts on there!
ReplyDeleteHi Nicole -
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend Facebook, HIGHLY. You get a surprisingly higher number of fans that you can communicate directly with, and there's no question of whether your readers are on FB or not...they are. I use my American Duchess facebook page more than my personal page and news feed, and it's a fantastic micro-blogging venue. You can easily post links to things you find, things of interest; you can ask questions, post photos you might not normally post on your blog.
For having too many posts in a day, I recommend going ahead and writing them, but scheduling them for publication for the next couple of days. I never post more than once a day (it seems to work for Tumblr, but not so much for blogger) because inevitably the top content is what gets read and seen, and everything under it is less likely to be looked at. If you have one big, awesome post a week, fill in the rest of the week with the smaller stuff, scheduled to publish on those in-between days. You can schedule a post at the bottom of the blogger text box, under "options" I believe.
Hope this helps! I would love to see more and more and more posts from you, and a FB page to stalk, too :-)
I like my informative, interesting, personal, and educational stuff in my RSS feed, where it comes directly from blogs. Facebook has too much junk in it, and is too hard to search for something you saw previously. I don't use any of the other sites mentioned. I love your blog, keep it here please!
ReplyDeleteI second Alena. For me facebook is not a feasible way to connect to the kind of content I enjoy so much from you. I too, read blogs in an RSS feed and I would much rather have more content directed there.
ReplyDeleteWhat about another blog specifically devoted to answering questions, posting random updates, etc.?
ReplyDeleteDon't worry! This won't change the blog at all. It's mostly for discussion purposes, since things get lost in the comments on here. And, honestly, I don't receive very many comments either, so I'd like an easier feedback method.
ReplyDeleteIt'd just be an "add-on", and if anything interesting occurs I'll make sure to post it here as well. I just seem to get a lot of "I didn't know where to comment, but" insert specific question. Polls are only so useful in discovering what you guys want to read about.
Although maybe I will start posting smaller things every day in between the usual research/construction.
(Poor Formspring! No love.)
ReplyDeleteI put "other," because I totally wouldn't mind you doing a lot of posts! For the questions, you could wait for a particular number of questions to get posted and then do a cumulative answer post, or a once-a-week answer post. And Livejournal is pretty good with organizing comments.
I also depend on my RSS reader to compile the blogs and such I'm interested in. As such I would prefer twitter or tumblr since I can use my reader to follow them without actually having an account at either. I can't say the same for the other sites.
ReplyDeleteI'm firmly in the Facebook camp, but only because I am a bit of a luddite, and I would likely never actually SEE the additional commentary and materials if you chose another platform. To be honest, I would prefer you to make multiple posts here or perhaps have a committed weekly day of Q&A topics so that everyone would know "what," and when to look for it.
ReplyDeleteAre you seeking a more interactive experience with your readership? Speaking only for myself, the relatively low number of comments could be due to a general awe of your research and creative abilities rather than a reluctance to utilize the blog itself.
If you are looking for more of a community atmosphere with your readers, then a social networking site is the logical starting point. You may eventually outgrow a subsidiary Facebook page, but at least the experiment would cost you nothing and the potential for positive exposure is enormous.