If you’re on Facebook then you are well aware of this problem. Remember how we used to be able to check pending friend requests in our friends list as indicated below?

Not anymore with the new personal profile.

If you think there may be a hidden feature for this then sorry to disappoint you again. Here’s how Facebook responded about tracking pending friend requests:

Unable to check pending friend requests is a huge disadvantage for Facebook users, especially if you are warned for overusing the feature (sent too many requests in a short period of time), reducing the request quantity may be the way to go. Currently the only known way to track pending friend requests is by visiting the person’s profile with a ‘Friend Request Sent’ icon at the upper right corner:

Imagine we have to memorize ALL friend requests we ever sent then return to each profile, EVERYTIME? Obviously this isn’t effective enough. Now wouldn’t it be great if there’s a list for that… that’s right, a LIST!

Recently, I was inspired by how useful a Facebook list can get, including tracking our liked pages in News Feed. So I thought why not utilize Facebook lists to track our pending friend requests as well? Of course there may be plugins or apps for the same purpose but if you are skeptical towards third party apps, Facebook Lists is a much safer method to use. Here’s how:

Step 1: Build Your ‘Pending Friend Requests’ List

1. After logged in your personal profile, go to this link: https://www.facebook.com/bookmarks/lists

2. Click ‘Create a List’ and name it ‘Pending Friend Requests’.

3. You won’t need to add anybody to the list yet but whenever you sent a friend request, be sure to add him/her to your ‘Pending Friend Requests’ list.

4. From Home -> ‘Pending Friend Requests’, you can see profiles that had been added to your list. In order to follow up the list regularly, add it to your ‘Favorites’.

Step 2: Manage Your ‘Pending Friend Requests’ List

Unlike any Facebook applications, you need to update this list manually whenever a friend request is accepted. You can easily aware who just accepted your friend requests via Facebook Notifications or email alerts. After that, remove your new friend from the ‘Pending Friend Requests’ list.

Now, what if you missed the notifications and forgot all about the list after sometimes? Fear not, there are ways you can modify the list after several accepted friend requests.

Bear in mind, the news feed of your custom list will be consisting of updates from both your new (accepted) friends and non-friends (their public stories). Therefore you need to make sure the correct profile been removed from your ‘pending friend requests’ list, but how do you determine that?

Method #1 – Update ‘Pending Friend Requests’ List in News Feed

a. Open your ‘Pending Friend Requests’ list and scroll through your news feed. Hover over the profile to reveal his connection with you: If he/she had accepted your friend request, the ‘Friend’ button will appear. Remove everyone who established the ‘Friend’ connection with you, leaving the actual pending requests remained.

Method #2 – Check if Someone Had Accepted Your Friend Request

Instead of visiting the person’s facebook profile, you can check this within your custom list:

a. In your ‘Pending Friend Requests’ list -> ‘See All’ (upper right corner) to load the popup menu.

b. From ‘On This List’ you can have an overview of the people you sent friend requests to on Facebook. The unanswered/unaccepted friend requests will not appear in your ‘Friends’ list. For example, if Ron had yet to accept my friend request, his name won’t appear in my ‘Friends’ list. That’s how you know if a particular friend request is still pending or accepted.

These methods can only assist you this far in monitoring current and future sent requests but not previous ones. If anybody knows how to track back old (unlisted) friend requests, be sure to drop me a message!

Now Is Your Turn…

How do you manage pending friend requests before this? Do you think it’s necessary to have a checklist for it on Facebook? Kindly share your thoughts.

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You should know by now how much of a facebook fanatic I am.  Since last year, I have not been blogging much about other social media apps except facebook. Well this week, I decided to do them justice by introducing you some of my favorite social media applications that got my attention long before 2011. Some of them may not be new to you, but they are all ‘love at first sight’ to me.

10 SOCIAL MEDIA APPS TO WATCH IN 2011

If you are expecting something grand, complex then it’s not the purpose of this post. These social media tools impressed me with their simplicity and best of all, they are cost free.

Twitter:

#1  Formulists

I remembered how tedious it was to group all my twitter contacts MANUALLY into Twitter lists. When I first heard about Formulists I was overjoyed! It is exactly what I needed to manage and reach out to other Twitter users based on our recent interactions, direct or indirectly. For example, I have an auto-updating list for ‘Thanks-For-Listing-Me’ generated by Formulists. Not only I can return the favor, knowing which lists I belong to but at the same time getting to know these kind people better:

Formulists also gives you filtering options such as bio and location so you can better customize your lists for targeted contacts. This video explains it all:

Remark:

What I love is you can keep your lists in Formulists even though you deleted them from your Twitter account, a good way to refer back or exchange lists whenever necessary. Formulists provides a sidekick account if you used up all 20 twitter lists (limit) but till now I have yet gone into that so unsure how that works.

#2  Mentionmap

Fear not, you’re not in Charlotte’s web but a twitter conversation web to show you relevant people to follow on Twitter. Back then it was all about people and location search, now Mentionmap makes it ‘visually’ capable in discovering who our friends talk to recently and how we can expand our network through these potential contacts.

Remark:

Best of all, no Twitter authorization is required to compare your map with friends’, something a lot more relevant comparing to Twitter’s very own app called ‘Who to Follow’.

Blogs:

#3  Apture

Apture is a must-have if you are all about twitter and facebook sharing. Besides the catchy Twitter and Facebook share buttons, the search bar is equally impressive by offering results from your blog and Google. Your readers don’t have to leave your site in searching for ideal content. It works the same when someone highlight any phrases within your blog post,  just click ‘Learn more’ and the search results will show up before you :

Remark:

Apture bar occupies the top spot of a blog. However, it moves following the reader’s scroll bar to encourage social sharing after reading! Pretty neat, huh?

#4  Hellobar

I was having my regular blog visits when I found this app on a friend’s blog. It is no Apture but a ‘notice’ bar for specific call to action.  Let it be a simple greeting, your latest blog post (via RSS setup) or even your latest tweet. Unlike Apture, it sticks on top of your blog and doesn’t move along with the scroll bar.

Remark:

All is well except newly registered users may wait a day or two before you’ll get the Beta key emailed to you.

#5  BlogPulse

BlogPulse is all about discovering what’s hot and what you think matters in the blogosphere. You can find out who wrote about your brand and offered a link love! For instance, Evelyn mentioned my site in her post last year which I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t check with BlogPulse. I hurried over for a comment, praying she wouldn’t mind my delayed thank-you. Imagine how many more blogs had slipped under my radar!

Remark:

BlogPulse can be very helpful for bloggers. Apart from Google Blog Search we need a focused tracker that not only about hottest trends but to discover potential bloggers we can network with.

Forums, Discussion Boards:

#6  Omgili

Someone said to me earlier that forums are outdated. I don’t quite agree with that. Forums may not be the mainstream but they have their own impact in shaping a community. Forums are ideal for detailed, in depth discussions. We should not neglect them when it comes to brand-monitoring. Omgili is perfect for the job in discovering what people are saying in message boards, discussion threads about any topics at all.

Remark:

Forum used to be the major ground for bloggers to interact with one another. Thanks to Omgili, I was able to track a discussion thread in which my Twitter account was mentioned. When participated in the discussion, I remembered how forum is still playing the role in building trusts and knowledge-sharing among the members. You’ll never know who you end up meeting with along the path.

Expanding Social Connections:

#7  Rapportive

Rapportive is a nifty tool that shows you more than just a plain email address. Based on the sender’s email, Rapportive is capable of pulling in gravatar image, LinkedIn profile, Twitter updates, Skype account and many more. You can follow up (I prefer not calling that ‘stalking’) your potential clients/readers closely on various social media sites. If you wish to check on other recipients in the same email, just hover your mouse over the recipient’s name or email address will do.

Remark:

Absolutely loving it! Highly recommended if you are hoping to extend your social network in 2011!

#8  Qwerly

Qwerly helps you to discover where your Twitter friends are ‘hanging’ on the social web. Type in the twitter username like this ‘@wchingya’ and it will give you an overview of who your twitter contact is and how you can connect with him/her other than Twitter. Exactly why it is referred to as the ‘whois for Twitter’.

Remark:

You can verify and claim your profile by signing in with your Twitter account. It’s that simple to claim your vanity URL with Qwerly.

#9  About.me

Props to Mari Smith for this handy tip. About.me is a custom profile and a dashboard for your personal analytics based on your social accounts like Twitter and Facebook. Create an account via your email then select your username. Add in as many personal details so others can reach you from your about.me account. It gives a huge interface up to 1680×1050 pixels but it’s advisable to keep the size optimum. Feel free to check mine out.

Remark:

It’s all about SEO benefit, whether you’ll be using the analytical tracking or not. I’d love to grab my vanity URL whenever I can. Another thing I love is other people can reach me by ‘Email Me’ button without having to disclose my email address publicly at all!

#10  Wordle

I HAD to include Wordle because it’s so much fun!  Wordle is basically a toy to generate word clouds based on the URL you provided that contains RSS feed. A good way to find out what is the site mainly about. See how it describes my blog, do you think it’s accurate?

Remark:

Its visual effect is compelling! You can randomize, change the fonts or colors. So much you can do with it, it’s time to get creative with your site.

Now Is Your Turn…

What is your favorite social media tool of all time? Which application above you’d like to try best? Tell us.

SPECIAL GUEST NEXT WEEK!~

Don’t forget we have a special guest blogger next week to talk about social media for the first time on Social @ Blogging Tracker! Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it.

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Online content theft is not a new problem. We are so used to it that sometimes we chose to be ignorant of it. Can you imagine the time and effort we could spend on dealing with scrappers? Endless. Even so, does that mean it’s ‘okay’ to let it happen?

So obviously I have a good reason to blog about it again. It’s not the first time my article was scrapped by someone or autoblogs, but this time it has gone a little too far! I’ll explain why in a minute.

How Did I Found Out About the Content Theft?

Two ways, basically. Coincidentally I was running a duplicate-content-check of my post about 16 Facebook Applications to Boost Popularity of Facebook Fan Page, interesting finding:

1. Google Search


- I posted a random paragraph on Google Search and found out a site that ranks higher than mine in the results (possible more popular too):

2. Copyscape


- Copyscape is a free duplicate content detection software that helps to monitor and check for duplicate entries. I double-checked the results and they matched, of course.

More Detection Software to choose from: Detecting & Dealing with duplicate content

Now How is This Particular Case Upsetting?

It is not an autoblog and particularly ‘well-planned’. Despite the fact that I had spent the entire week working on the post, what upsets me the most is the lack of ethics from this scrapper – he sent in the stolen content as a Guest Post! This is serious, not only he jeopardizing his very own image but threatening the other site’s reputation as well! He modified the title, relocated the facebook app sequence and replaced my graphics with his. He removed all the backlinks to my site which is why I was unable to found out earlier. After all the ‘effort’ he left the sentences as they are, word for word. So, need I say more:

• No notification to re-use the content
• No link back or credit given to the original content
• Assuming the article belongs to him based on the way he responded to comments
• Getting link love and credit for his own site and service with stolen content
• Hurting another site’s reputation that published the stolen content

What to Do After Found Out about the Content Theft?

1. Inform/write to the site owner who published the content

Several ways to reach :

a. Email
b. Contact Form
c. Comment Section
d. Social Media Profiles

I wrote an email to the site owner reporting the case and requested for post removal. I had a good look at the site and the services it is using, so just in case the site admin decides to ignore me, I will know whom shall I report to.

2. Request for Opinions from Friends

I had requested opinions from fellow bloggers and friends, most of them agreed on reporting this and standing up for justice. I’m on their side 100%, and it’s a relief to see people are still valuing original content in the internet. Some suggested to request for credit instead of removal, that has to depend on how the discussion goes afterward.

Join us for the discussion at the fan page if interested, we’ll be happy to see you there too.

3. Write to Google and Inform about the Duplicate Content

a. Spam Report – Google Search Results
Request Google to remove the specific web page from appearing on the Google Search results with the keywords used. Stating your content is the original.

If you own a Webmaster account, you will receive a sent report to be followed up if needed.

b. Google AdSense DMCA Complaint Form

This is particularly useful if the site is using Google Adsense. By filling up this form Google Adsense will be notified about the suspicious act and review the troubled site whether their account should be blocked or fail to meet the requirement as a trusted site for publishers’ ads.

4. Other DMCA complaint form/methods for your reference:

Search Engines:
Yahoo: http://info.yahoo.com/copyright/us/details.html
Bing: http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyrtInfrg.htm

Blogging Platform: Blogger

More DMCA Contacts: Hostings, Social Media Sites, Hostings etc (some info may require updating)

What is the Situation Now?

From the Site Owner:
I received a response from them, requesting to grant a few days to sort things out. No specific date given but I hope they will look into this matter seriously and asap.

From the Scrapper:
Just out of curiosity, I ‘visited’ the scrapper’s site and after I ran a check on Google, no surprise he also scrapped from other sites for his own posts as well. Unsure if he is aware that scrapping is harmful to both his site and his service, which brought me to another major concern about:

Autoblogging: NO WAY to Build Brands & Provide Value

If you’re a new blogger, avoid automated blogging at all costs. Blogging is not a get rich scheme where you can trash other people’s work for own benefits and it will eventually hurt your site and own reputation in long term. If you cannot respect people’s work, how do you expect people to put trust in your service as well? Same as in real life, why would you steal to gain publicity at all? That’s not right and not worth to risk for it. Hesham has very good points stated in his post about Automated Blogging Plugins are no way to create a successful blog, and how it will destroy the value of internet. If you need more confirmation, kindly refer to these 6 reasons why you should avoid automated blogging tools.

Do Not Stop Caring about Content Theft

Yes, there is no way we can stop our content from being scrapped/stolen, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore this completely. Continue to report, inform your blogger buddies if you ever came across their work on other sites. If you decide to let them be, at least request for a link back with a mention to the original author. People say there is no more originality in this world wide web, but I do think it’s necessary to respect other people’s work after all. It’s about ethics, asking for permissions, respect and care about Copyright Infringement issues.

Also, always be careful with guest posts from unfamiliar senders. Check them thoroughly to avoid becoming the victim.

Now Is Your Turn…

Did you ever encounter content theft? How do you normally deal with such issues? Kindly share in your comments below.

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Discussion board can be one of the most underrated applications in Facebook Fan Page. It is a mini forum for fans to interact with one another; an excellent area for admin to collect feedback, answer requests and bond with fans in discussions.

However, most of us have neglected its importance due to a huge setback - Facebook does not provide notification for new responses. Fans can either bookmark the thread to check back regularly or have the page admin to send weekly reminders for unanswered threads. Inconvenient and time consuming. Your fans will eventually lose interest and move on.

Why Don’t Just Let the Fans Post on Wall instead?

No doubt we are encouraging an open-posting fan page. However, allowing fans to post on Facebook Wall is a complete different issue than owning an active discussion board. Not only it’s an added value but also a perfect section for new fans to blend in with others. You can easily monitor and trace back the discussions without worrying they be swallowed by busy stream of updates.

While we earnestly hoping for a solution from Facebook, I’m going to share with you how I keep up with the discussion threads:

Google Reader to Track New Responses in Facebook Discussion Board

The main idea is to create a feed from the existing thread and have Google Reader track for new responses. Here are the configuration steps:

1.  Identify the link location for the particular thread you wish to trace.

2. Click ‘Add a Subscription’ to reveal the link box. Paste the URL, click ‘Add’ and a new feed for the thread will be generated.

3. Rename the feed and repeat step 1-2 for other discussion threads. Manage them in a folder for easy follow-up.

4. Once a fan has responded to the selected discussion topic (for example: Fan’s Profile), within an hour Google Reader will retrieve the update as any other regular feed from your subscription.

Now you can head right back to the discussion board and welcome her!

Is it Possible to Receive Updates via Email or Desktop Notifier?

Email notification is not possible for Google Reader. Some third party feed generator services, however, come with delivery options, for example  Page2RSS.com combines with notify.me (email alerts); Feed Notifier is a desktop application as you can see in the image below:

I do need to remind you that time of delivery may differ from one service to another. Google Reader is still by far, my top pick for reliability.

Bonus Tip :

For feed delivery services / notifiers that are unable to recognize / generate feed straight from a discussion thread, you can retrieve the Atom Feed URL for the entire folder which consists of all the discussion threads by following the below method:

1. In Google Reader, go to Manage Subscriptions.

2. Go to Folders & Tags (publicize the feed) > View Public Page.

3. Copy link location for Atom Feed and use it for any feed delivery service preferred. (Make sure the folder feed is ‘publicly viewable’ at all times for the application to work)

Now Is Your Turn …

Do you have a better way to track new responses in Facebook discussion board? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

~Check out the Latest Review of MarketMe Tweet V2 or MarketMeSuite here: Tweet Branding, Scheduling and Reply Campaigns with MarketMe Tweet V2.~


_________________________________________________________________________________

Remember Tweetbrand that wowed us with the tweet-branding feature awhile ago? Since then, I have been captivated by the branding concept that made me all the more interested in the release of their main product named MarketMe Tweet.

Just a few days ago my wish fulfilled by an email announcing the big launch of MarketMe Tweet along with a download link. I knew the best way to satisfy my curiosity is to give it a complete run through. So I did. What you’re about to read next is the review of MarketMe Tweet based on personal experience and has nothing to do with any sponsorship by MarketMe Tweet whatsoever. Feel free to comment on the features as we go through them.

What Is MarketMe Tweet?

MarketMe Tweet is a marketing tool that equips with Twitter management ability. Easily put, the combination of Tweetbrand, basic Twitter client and a marketing control panel presents you the below interface (Adobe Air application):

Who might be interested in MarketMe Tweet:

• Marketers / Promoters / Surveyors for a service or product
• Individuals who are tracking progress and potential audiences based on particular keywords
• Individuals who are looking for Twitter network expansion
• Individuals who are focusing on branding development over multiple accounts

I am no marketer but a couple of its characteristics impressed me. How about a little tour exploring the key features MarketMe Tweet possesses:

7 Features to Brand, Market, Manage with MarketMe Tweet

As of today, MarketMe Tweet is consisting of below key features:

1. Support Multiple Twitter Accounts


MarketMe Tweet allows multiple Twitter accounts be added. Log in the application with your registered details with MarketMe Tweet, authorize your Twitter account(s) integration via OAuth security encryption which is said to be a compulsory for all Twitter applications prior to June 2010. MarketMe Tweet is developed in compatible with the mentioned requirement so it’s a big plus. If you’re interested to know more about this issue, kindly head over to their post about the OAuth security feature.

2. Branding Management


Assign branding to your Twitter account(s) before tweeting. For those who have created the branding applications during Tweetbrand tryout, you only need to copy and paste the Consumer & Secret Key in the fields before clicking ‘Add’. Otherwise, kindly refer to step 3 of branding application setup for details.

To Setup Your Brand: Go to Step 2 ‘Create Your App’ > Sign in to Twitter account > Go to Brand app > Retrieve the consumer and secret key > Step 3 to fill in fields.

MarketMe Tweet has recently reached an agreement with Twitter regarding the branding issue, make sure your brand name does not violate Twitter’s terms & conditions. Here’s what MarketMe Tweet has to say about this:

Extra:

Differ from Tweetbrand, now MarketMe Tweet users can shorten their URL links easily within tweet box (default URL-shortener ~ bit.ly) :

3. Reply Campaigns (Keyword tracking)


I’m sure you are familiar with Tweetbeep or Feed subscription for a particular Twitter search term that alerts you whenever it is mentioned on Twitter. With MarketMe Tweet, not only you can track multiple keywords at the same time (and filter out unwanted terms for accuracy using ‘Negative Keyword’ option), but also include reply templates for targeted users. The replies can be in various forms and randomly picked to be delivered. Here’s the overview:

After you hit ‘Run Campaign’, a display box will show up consisting the people who tweeted the keywords. Hover your mouse over the image thumbnail, the word ‘Reply’ appears; click at it will send out your reply template.

Wait! Didn’t we just go through the discussion last 2 weeks about automated status updates and how much we despise auto messaging? Well, good thing is this option is not compulsory. For those who dislike automation, you can reach out by sending manual, real time tweets while flipping through the list of potential audiences. Bear in mind this is a marketing tool, we all have own theories how things should work around social media but in the end, it’s all about ethical marketing that works in long term.

4. Scheduled Tweets
This scheduler is only available for Twitter updates.

Extra:

While MarketMe Tweet is still working on other network integrations, you can still schedule status updates to Facebook through Selective Twitter Status or Twitter application as shown in the video (Thanks to Tammy):

5. Conversation Thread


The conversation thread keeps track of your recent conversation with selected Twitter user. Just click the ‘Thread Conversation’ button beneath each tweet (in @mentions section) to reveal the thread in ‘Conversation’. For example, if I was to trace my latest conversation with Michelle, I only need to click the thread button and voila! :

6. Follow/ Unfollow Users

Follow – suggesting users to follow based on your keyword campaigns
Unfollow – shows the people who do not follow you back

However, this monitoring feature may requires a long time to load based on your account conditions (number of followers/following etc).

7. Others:

Locations and Languages – to narrow down your results in keyword campaigns and search terms.

Grouping – to tidy up your contacts. In order to group, make sure you are following the user. (Twitter Lists integration is on the way)

Search Flags – to enhance the accuracy to your search terms.

Is MarketMe Tweet the Evolution of Social Management / Marketing Tool ?

Could be. On-going Business competitions and social media time suck challenge marketers to think out of the box. Personally I see great potentials in branding management and keyword campaigns. It’s a relief to see that MarketMe Tweet has resolved a minor conflict with Twitter about branding and maintained the feature as promised.

Overall MarketMe Tweet has started fresh with innovative ideas, but with rooms of improvements. I’m hoping to see more features be added for advanced network engagement: Facebook/LinkedIn and Twitter lists integration, clickable links in tweet (*updated with ver.1.1.4*), spelling check etc. Also, I hope analytical feature be added so users can monitor the effectiveness of chosen brand name, monitor while making adjustments.

Is MarketMe Tweet F.O.C?

MarketMe Tweet is no free application, currently a 1-time fee payment of $39.90 is needed. According to the latest updates, some added features are on the way to existing users (free upgrades). At the same time, MarketMeTweet offers affiliate program to whoever is interested in promoting the application.

Now It’s Up To You…

What do you think about MarketMe Tweet? Could this be a marketing and management tool of your choice? Kindly share your expectations and suggestions in the comments below.

A lot of resolutions been talked about lately. How many of you have set up goals based on what you’ve learned in the past? Now I must admit, initially I have no intention to do a blog review based on performances in 2009. To dig up old archive seem troublesome and it’s much better to save effort for a much productive work, right? Wrong.

Measuring blog success isn’t just about bragging how good you are, but identify how much you could or should have done to improve blog traffic. Bottom line, if you are serious to increase blog traffic, a review is needed for:

• Periodic goal-settings

• Understanding own potentials and ability

• Measuring current blog status and progress

• Knowing parts to improve and avoiding repeated mistakes

• Following up on lost comments & connections

Based on these 6 ways to track blog success, I can have a general idea how my blog survived all the way from March, 2009 (1st post about social media). During the process, I immediately realized the first and utmost lesson is to involve Analytics and Feedburner more in my planning instead of just a casual check monthly.

Popularity and Blog Traffic Review

Results are ranging from 17th March, 2009 to 6th January 2010 (my 1st day of work in 2010):

What I love about tracking comments is to find out which post type attracts the most discussions; what matters to the readers when they visit and the content that stands out from the rest. Engagement is a big deal here therefore I’m blessed to have a group of loyal readers who are taking comments very seriously! May the spirit continues in 2010. Of course, in order to obtain more accurate results, social media strategies and time factor are to be taken into considerations as well.

Other criteria that helped in commenting: Do-Follow, CommentLuv (Reasons To Love), Blog Promoting via Social Media

Top 5 Famous Posts via Google Analytics:

13 Facebook Applications to Promote Your Blog
How To Pick Up From Your Blogging Downturns
How Seriously Do You Take Blog Comments?
16 Social Bookmarking Plugins to Promote Your Posts
16 Misconceptions About ‘Serious’ Blogging

The results are slightly different but undeniably, Facebook is a hot topic here. The post was only written in October, 2009 but it overtook other posts and came first in Analytics. Also, it made me realized which type of posts are search-worthy; which are favored in social bookmarking sites and so on.

My Top 5 Traffic Source in 2009

I’m only active in Stumbleupon after migrating to wordpress in July. SU brought me a lot of new visitors but its bounce rate was still among the highest comparing to other traffic source. In order to capture the right audience in StumbleUpon, do make sure the submitted post is tagged correctly. Here’s a great post of 5 Tactis to drive in traffic from StumbleUpon, old tricks but good tips. As for Google Search that improves to rank #3 out of no where, no doubt that WordPress plugins such as All In One SEO helped me a great deal.

I believe migrating to WordPress from Blogger is the smartest decision I made in 2009 to increase blog traffic.

Power of Twitter & StumbleUpon in Promoting Blog Posts

Even though I started to blog in August, 2008, I only switched to social media blogging in March, 2009. Between my first and last social media post in 2009, I found 2 spikes happened in May and September respectively. It was during the time when these 2 posts were published:

a) The Best of Twitter Desktop Clients – Secrets Revealed!

- (61% direct traffic while 21% Twitter.com)

I remembered clearly it was the magic of Twitter that drove in the traffic. Loic from Seesmic tweeted about this post and soon the tweet went viral! You may be surprised why Analytics showed most of the visits are from ‘direct traffic’ instead of Twitter.com, this is because some clicks from Twitter clients such as Tweetdeck, Twhirl etc will not be counted in Twitter.com but as ‘direct traffic’ to your blog.

b) How To Pick Up From Your Blogging Downturns – ( 85% stumbleupon)

I was very surprised with this result but I think part of the reasons is the kind support given by my blogger friends. Could it be due to the Su.pr evolution and easy-to-adapt toolbar for browsers which made stumbling quick and easy? I think so too since I’m also an active stumbler in the same way. Everyone can easily participate in more than one social media sites nowadays so it will definitely help if we manage to assist one another in post-promoting. That’s the beauty of integration and networking.

Now It’s Your Turn…

What is your most popular post and which social media site has been your main traffic source so far? Share your post link and ideas in the comment below.

Just the other day, I received a Twitter DM :

I’m not familiar with the user, also a bit skeptic towards the link. Normally I would just pass but my curiosity prompt me to dig deeper. It doesn’t take long to reveal the actual location, yeah, some money-making site. Not a fan so let’s end the story here. But I got a valuable lesson that day, know what it is?

Spam, Phishing & Malware Triggered Links in Disguise!

Oh yes, malicious sites transforming themselves into friendly little shortened URLs, waiting to be clicked! Have you not noticed the recent phishing and hijacking cases via click-fraud?? Nah.. it doesn’t seem like something that’ll happen to us, right? WRONG! I don’t know about you, but I find myself getting a little too comfortable with the links sending my way. I figured there’s a need to spread a little awareness about such matter.

No Worries! I Know How To Deal With It! (but.. Are You??)

So we were told that Twitter is going to block those bad URLs. Great effort, but doesn’t mean we should take this lightly. If you were like me, once thought the below methods are enough to solve our problems than think again:

a. Twitter Search Expand Feature

We LOVE the ‘expand’ feature! Safe and ease to use. Blame me for being the party pooper but not all URL shorteners could be revealed. Don’t believe me? try them out:

Cli.gs / Tr.im / Su.pr / Digg.com / Ow.ly / Tweak.tk

b. Tweetdeck URL Preview Feature

Tweetdeck allows previewing for the link before navigates. Looks safe enough, but what if the link was converted from another shortened URL? It will be displayed as above, the original site address is untraceable, unless you check it manually.

c. FriendFeed Shows Complete URLs

This is much better. FriendFeed shows the complete URLs for all the updates. But what if the link was sent to you via Twitter’s Direct Message? It won’t be shown in the public conversation. How do you go from there? Obviously we need more help than we think.

12 Ways To Expand/Preview Suspicious Shortened URLs

Call me busybody, but I actually checked these 12 apps for the task with below URL Shorteners, sorry I can’t cover ALL that existed. Here’s the overall results I got:

I grouped the URL Shorteners for easier explanations:

Category A (common) :   tinyurl, bit.ly, cli.gs, tr.im, is.gd

Category B (new/framed etc) :   su.pr, digg, owly, tweak.tk

**well what do you know, seems like my previous blog posts still appear in good old Blogger template **

i) Powerful Pack (GREEN): Detectable for ALL category A & B.

#1 PrevURL

**Update: The domain is no longer available. Service terminated.**

• thumbnail to preview the original web page.
• comes with ‘search plugin’ to be installed on your browser. Just copy and paste the shortened URL in the box and hit ‘search’to be brought to the PrevURL site.
  

#2 Longurl

• thumbnail to preview web page.
• plugin available for Firefox: Long URL Mobile expander 2.0.0 (will be discussed in plugin section later).

#3 TheRealURL

• no thumbnail or plugin yet works like a charm. Simple and easy to navigate.

ii) Medium pack (YELLOW): Works perfectly well with category A; minor limitations for B

#4 Sucuri

• no thumbnail previewing.
• special feature: to check whether the real web page is blacklisted via Google Safebrowsing and Siteadvisor.
• has problem detecting Digg.com-shortened URL with question mark ‘?’  in the midst – for example: http://digg.com/d3ym80?t (10/10 trial attempts).

#5 Unshortme

• Simple page layout without preview.
• Unable to detect Ow.ly.

#6 Unshortn

• allows thumbnail preview.
• bookmarklet available. When clicked, all shortenened URLs on that particular page will expand themselves to original web addresses.



• Minor setbacks: To ensure the link converts successfully, preferably paste the shortened URL on top of your web browser then hit ‘Enter’, instead of the ‘Unshorn it’ box’.For Instance: http://unshortn.com/http://su.pr/2gdfR1
• Unable to detect Su.pr.

#7 Urlsnoop

• simple layout with thumbnail preview. No bookmarklet available.
• unable to detect Digg.com

#8 Unshorten

• no plugins or preview feature.
• Unable to retrieve site shortened by Digg.com

#9 ExpandMyURL

• provides bookmarklet on browser: revealing the traceable shortened URLs with green colour. When clicked will redirect to expandmyurl for URL expansion.
  
• Unable to reveal sites shortened by Tweak.tk.

** ExpandMyURL has improved their service to enable shortening for : Su.pr, Ow.ly. A fantastic improvement to promote them from limited to medium pack. Thanks to Alex for the updating mentioned in the comment below. Good job. **

iii) Limited Pack (ORANGE): Works well with Category A; Seriously lacking for B detections.

#10 Untiny

• provides multiple add-ons from bookmarklet, firefox plugin to firefox search.
• unable to retrieve sites from Su.pr, Digg.com

Firefox Plugins:

#11 Long URL Please 0.4.1

• once installed and enabled, reveals the actual location for the shortened URLs. Works perfectly in Twitter, Facebook etc.
• mostly it is effective in expanding Digg.com, but occasionally not.
• unable to retrieve: Tweak.tk

#12 Long URL Mobile expander 2.0.0

• when hover the mouse over the link, actual web address will be revealed.
• unable to retrieve: Su.pr, Tweak.tk.

What About URL converted from URL Shortener:

Original URL detectable for most applications above. Except for these 3: Sucuri, Urlsnoop & Unshortn.

For example, I’ve shrinked the URL using :

http://tinyurl.com/kqocvk , then again, to

http://bit.ly/vZpuf

After tested, here are the results:

Sucuri.net shows tinyurl as original web address

URL Shorteners that allowing preview

Some URL shorteners provide settings to enable preview for their service when activated. For instance: TinyURL and Trunc.it.

So What Are Your Takes?

Did you ever experience any click-frauds? How do you normally deal with suspicious links that sent in your way? Love to hear your thoughts.

Locations & User Clicks

Showing ‘Best Guess’ a.k.a visitors

Impressive Chart for Aggregated Visitor Locations

3. Bit.ly

Features:

Apart showing the number and source (location & timelines) of clicks, bit.ly allows you to claim and bookmark your tweeted links upon registering a bit.ly account. Extra features including bookmarklet, ‘Conversation’ tracking in Twitter, FriendFeed & page comment for the link itself. Bit.ly is undoubtedly one of the most used URL shorteners, could be found in various desktop clients (Tweedeck, Twhirl, Seesmic Destkop etc); and also used by the popular Trend-tracker, Tweetmeme!

An overview of the bit.ly info

4. Snurl

Features:

Features:

Cli.gs also requires account setup to enable stats tracking. Private analytic data available only for cli.gs account holders. Referrer stats will show whose link sent you the most traffic. Another specialty of cli.gs is that it provides social media tracking for both cli.gs and destination links, meaning you could monitor the response in terms of backlinks, tweets, link-sharing in friendsfeed, comments etc.

records of shortened URLs in cli.gs account

Number of hits shown in graph

Geographical location of the visitors

6. Ow.ly (Hootsuite)

Features:

Stats tracking for Ow.ly could
be done via Hootsuite. It is a powerful web interface that allows user to handle tweeting with multiple profiles, along with pre-scheduling tweeting ability – Tweet Later! Take a peek at the toolbars, you’ll get what I mean:

‘Send Later’ feature in Hootsuite

Hootsuite to manage tweets as in Twitter official page

The Graph shows the amount of clicks for its shortened-URL (ow.ly)

A Lil’ Piece of Advise…
URL Shortener is our handyman, but don’t get too carry away with it though. In my opinion, it is always better to use the original link in online articles or references for they are recognizable. You may think you’re doing the readers some favours by replacing long address like:

ttp://www.wchingya.com/2009/03/10-blogging-attitudes-you-should-learn.html

with ‘http://twitclicks.com/fecu‘–unknown and suspicious. What if someone never heard of twitclicks and goes ‘What on earth is that??’. They just may skip it for fear it it’s an affiliate link or some sort of malicious site that disguises itself in shortened URL! Also, in terms of SEO opportunies, we wouldn’t want to lose any details the link could provide for the search engines.

Further reading~ Do you use URL shorteners? Maybe you should reconsider

Share with us…
Which is your favourite URL shortener service? What aspects you would consider before making your pick? Do you anticipating any further improvements? Share with us your valuable thoughts.

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Copyright © 2009 by Wong Ching Ya, All Rights Reserved, “‘How To Track Your Retweets In Twitter (pt2): 6 URL Shorteners with Stats Tracking!“

tr.im your URLs
http://tr.im/ [more]

bit.ly, a simple url shortener
http://bit.ly/ [more]