SEO Igloo: The Dark Side of (some) Social Media
By Matt McGee on Jul 3, 2007 in Social Media
Social media marketing is the Hot Thing these days, but is it all cookies and milk for marketers trying to use those tools to their clients benefit?
Miriam Ellis — a small business web developer and search marketer whom you should recognize as a regular commenter here on SBS — dipped her toes into sites like Digg and Reddit and wasn’t impressed with what she saw, specifically in the discussions that take place on those sites.
Miriam emailed me a couple weeks ago to compare her experiences with mine, and did the same with a handful of other search marketers, too. Those conversations led to her post on SEO Igloo:
The debate is about the often gutter-like commentary that happens on those sites, and whether they’re an appropriate marketing venue for small businesses. I like what Barry Schwartz said best:
As a marketer, SEO, SEM or whatever you want to label yourself, you can look at Digg or Reddit as pure business. It is a great tool for link building and viral marketing. Disassociate yourself from the community and consider it business.
That’s pretty much in line with my comments in the article, though I didn’t put it quite so eloquently. 
It’s an interesting discussion and well worth a read. Thank you, Miriam, for letting me share my thoughts with your readers.
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3 Comment(s)
By Miriam on Jul 3, 2007 | Reply
Hi Matt,
Thanks so much for participating in this post. I really appreciated your input! It’s such a help to talk things over with others, eh?
Have a happy 4th of July!
Miriam
By Matt McGee on Jul 4, 2007 | Reply
Thank you, Miriam — and Happy 4th to you, also.
By bhartzer on Jul 5, 2007 | Reply
You’re right–there’s definitely an issue with some comments on the social networks. There’s definitely a different type of crowd that does the commenting.
If you’re going to participate in the social networking and social media communities, you need to do some “online reputation management” so to speak to make sure you’re aware of what’s being said.