Self-promotion: Where do you draw the line?

Update: The email which I mention in this post was intended to have its address list BCC’d and hidden. Please bear this in mind when reading, and definitely read through the comments people have left.

I’m a big fan of Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. I think she does a fantastic job of generating conversation and I consider her to be an expert in community building. However, that being said, something she did recently kinda sorta rubbed me the wrong way and brought to my attention an issue that has been on my mind increasingly lately.

We all want our online activities to be successful, and most often ’success’ is defined by traffic (visitors/reads) and interaction (comments). In order to increase those numbers, it’s not unusual at all for people to do some level of self-promotion, which often includes promoting oneself on other social networks like Facebook or Twitter. In fact, there are several plugins that have been created expressly for this purpose. More and more often, I see posts on Twitter saying “New Blog Post” followed by the title. I’ve toyed with such a plugin myself although I have it turned off at the moment. I posted a quick Twitterpoll about this topic, and the very unofficial results are that most people don’t mind, with the next largest group saying that announcing a post is fine, so long as it’s hand picked and hand written. Auto-posting gets on several people’s nerves, particularly if there are several posts in a row.

Another common way of promoting your blog or website is to leave comments on other people’s blogs (hopefully on related blog entries) with links back to your own site and an invitation to come visit. This is fairly common practice and so long as the post is related to the post they left the comment on, I usually follow these back and will often participate on their blog as well.

Businesses are in the habit of sending out an email blast to bloggers as a form of marketing now, letting them know about new products or changes to existing websites in hopes that bloggers will pick up on the story and do some free advertising for them. With few exceptions, I delete the vast majority of these, unless the email itself was addressed to me personally. If someone takes the time to write me personally, I’ll take the time to follow up.

This leads me to the email I got from Sheryl this morning.

Please come converse with me about the future of reading through my most recent blog post on TechLEARNING. It was inspired by recent conversations on TLN and includes a deep dark confession. I’d love to read your comments as we discuss these important concepts…

If this were a personal email to me, I’d have no problem with it. However, this was sent to 422 people. I’m not sure where she got the list from, but for some reason it feels like it’s crossing a line to me. If she had sent it to 4 or 5 people, it probably wouldn’t have bothered me at all. If the email had been personal to me, it definitely wouldn’t have bothered me. But sending it to 400+ people out of her address book certainly feels like spam in my book. I’m not sure where the line gets drawn, but sending a mass message to a group of people who did not opt-in seems to be pretty close to it.

I’m sure that she feels this post is especially relevant for people, but don’t most authors feel the same way about the majority of their posts? Would you condone everybody sending out a blast to the EdTech community at large whenever they write a blog post? Yikes. Would get messy awfully fast.

I understand why the email was sent. And it’s actually a post that I’m interested in and will probably comment on. However, the way that I learned about it rubs me the wrong way. Sure, it’s an effective way to generate some conversation. After all, would that blog post have 12 comments on it already if the email hadn’t been sent out? Who knows… I’m guessing it would, but it probably would have taken more time to get there. A well written post tends to take care of itself, and this certainly qualifies.

Am I against people promoting themselves? Definitely not. I fully recognize that due to the nature of the blogosphere, you HAVE to do some self-promoting in order to make your mark. That being said, I’m seeing more and more often what I consider to be fairly blunt tactics that turn me off. For example, leaving links on a blog post that is completely unrelated to the post they are commenting on (unless there is no other manner of contact available on the site). Or leaving mass-comments in MySpace that aren’t personal at all, the equivalent of targeted email spam.

I don’t want anyone to think that I’m just launching a volley of stones here. I’ve used Twitter to promote the heck out upcoming webinars that I thought people would be interested in. I can imagine some people getting fairly irritated by that, and if people have I’d want to know. I consider there to be a fine line between such actions taking place in the Inbox vs. taking place on a social networking site. At least there is in my mind.

I’m really curious to hear what you think. Would getting an email like that bother you as well? Why or why not? Also, do any self-promotional tactics get under your skin?

Let me know your thoughts on the matter.

22 Comments

Chris Craft
11/26/2007

Hey Steve,

Well penned post, sir. Just a quick point of clarification. It needs to be delineated that there is a distinct difference between adding a link to a comment and the link that is automatically generated, such as the one that will invariably show up when I press submit. That’s different from me adding a link at the bottom of the post.

To be honest, I wonder how traffic really affects the average blogger. Why do we want traffic? So folks click on Google ads?

I probably should care more about my blog, but hey, life gets in the way.

I’m guessing you understand that now more than in previous years, eh?

Glad to see you back at the helm of solid writing and thought-provoking material. I’m headed to click an ad or two to keep you going!

Chris

Alfred Thompson
11/26/2007

I agree with you and think that type of email would rub me the wrong way as well. I try to always write about things and in a way that add value. I think most bloggers are the same. Of course some posts are more important than others but sending out an email that says in effect “hey people this time I wrote something important” just feels funny to me. A small select email, perhaps something along the line of “you and I were talking about such and such so I blogged about it. Please join in with your comments” might be just fine. But probably not to more than a hand full of people.

Tim Childers
11/26/2007

Steve,

I posted a “cool!” response to your unofficial Twitterpoll about automated blog update links. However, that was before I actually read your blog. I think the email you got definitely crossed a line. It was the “deep dark secret” line that did it for me.

However, on Twitter I’m following these people for a reason. If they’ve updated a blog I probably want to read it. If I don’t like what I read, I don’t follow them anymore.

I recently quit following someone from Australia because of some very unflattering political opinions directed at our President found in a linked blog on Twitter. I try to take great pains to keep my political opinions out of my professional blogs (and mostly out of my private ones).

I guess there are all kinds of ways to cross the line. The difficult part, as you talk about, is that everyone has their own line and they are all in different places!

Steve
11/26/2007

I think that when you receive something that you did not choose to receive, a line has been crossed.

With twitter, RSS readers, and social networks you the user choose to receive that information. It may not all be flattering, but at some point you chose to allow that access.

With the e-mail that you mentioned it seems almost commercial and that, in my opinion, shoudln’t be the message. I know there are great resources out there, but I want to choose them or discover them on my own.

Dean Shareski
11/26/2007

Mass emails border on spam at times. Not sure it rubbed me too badly but mass emails definitely has an impersonal touch.

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
11/26/2007

Ok. As I told Steve in the email reply to the note he sent telling me he had scolded me in public on his blog- I deserve it.

However, not for self-promotion, but for making the mistake of putting the emails in the to: line rather than the blind CC line. I too feel dirty when I get an email like that. I even teach others not to do it. The truth is it was a mistake. I was on the phone and didn’t pay close enough attention. As soon as I hit send I screamed an explicative. Something else I am not proud of..

Let me react to some of what Steve wrote above.

1. My intention wasn’t self-promotion or trying to get hits and ratings. If it was– I would have sent folks to MY blog where I have cross posted the same piece. I stand to gain nothing by techLEARNING getting ranking through hits.

2. Every two weeks,(sometimes I forget and it is longer) I post something at techLEARNING. I always send out an email letting my email list (that is where I got the list Steve- from my email client) folks know I have posted. For the record– I never do this for my OWN blog. NEVER– and that is where ranking and self-promotion would count.

3. I do this because I have been encouraged to do it. Folks have told me that often they do not get to their aggregator and it is helpful to be notified that I have posted, since it isnt a daily kind of thing.

4.Also, I am trying to bring readers who are NOT part of the blogosphere to read and comment on a blog that is neutral. Purposefully taking them to a collaborative blog where so many brilliant writers post. If you look over the emails you will see that you do not recognize 2/3 or more of them.

5. As to would that blog post have 12 comments on it if I hadn’t done that? hmmm trying to get your inference here. To begin with several of the 12 posts are my replies. And one is my daughter and another is Miguel and Miguel’s daughter who posted comments before I sent the email, so that accounts for half. Is it somehow cheating to get comments when you have let folks know you have posted? I thought conversations on blogs through comments was the point?

5. When I drive traffic to a community blog like techLEARNING I bring people to read your posts there and all the other great contributor’s posts. Maybe I am missing something — but traffic on a blog, if several people post there, and I personally do not stand to gain any rankings is called community building.

I know many bloggers who announce their personal blog posts via Twitter and listservs and that is broadcasting it to many more than 4-5 people. Is it email you object to?

Bottom line- I screwed up by not blind copying everyone. I publicly apologize for you and any of your readers for having to receive such an annoying email. I will take you out of my email list so it will not happen again.

Steve
11/26/2007

First of all, let me just say that this is something that I struggle with personally. What’s kosher, what isn’t, where the lines are drawn and so on. I didn’t mean to infer that Sheryl was going over the top with the promotion thing, far from it. I think most bloggers do some level of promotion, innocuous or obvious, and it’s tricky to know what’s ok and what isn’t.

My point about traffic and such was that it’s human nature to want people to read the things we write. Which is why most of us promote ourselves in SOME way at least. Putting a link to your blog in the comments here promotes yourself. That may not be your overt goal, but there is SOME motivation there. That was meant to be a related comment, but in no way directed to Sheryl or anyone else in particular. Heck, if you want to consider them directed at anyone, consider it directed at me. I’m talking from my own experiences!

Re Point 5 from Sheryl’s comment: I didn’t notice that half of them were from or family, and think it’s irrelevant. If that part of the post sounded sarcastic, it wasn’t meant to be. Many of your posts generate a ton of comments because they’re genuinely though provoking. LOL, looking through previous posts of yours there, your posts are averaging about 20-30 comments apiece. Point being, you obviously don’t need an email blast to generate conversation, but perhaps its simply an effective way to jump start it.

Never meant for this post to be personal in any way shape or form against Sheryl. The issue of self-promotion is a very real issue though, and the email just brought it to the forefront of my mind.

Many apologies for not making that clear. Here’s one last thought though. Seeing the huge list of people definitely rubbed me the wrong way. However, if they had been added to BCC instead so they’d have been hidden, it would have felt differently.

Does it make any difference to you? Same situation, but the email list hidden… Curious to hear how that changes things in your opinion.

Bud Hunt
11/26/2007

Hmm. An interesting issue. I get Sheryl’s e-mails, and I’ve always taken them as “ah – Sheryl.” Delete. Move on. I usually encounter her work in other ways and places and I don’t think much more about it (the e-mails, not the work – I learn from her). If anything, such e-mail lessens the impact of seeing her name in my Inbox. The same is true for other folks who send out mass mail like that. Over time, I quit paying attention. Just like with Google Ads – I almost don’t see them anymore.

I don’t know that it makes any difference whatsoever that she usually BCC’s folks – why is the act different if it’s done without your knowledge? I usually assume that personal-ish sounding e-mails with no people in the To: field or no personalized salutation are mass mailings. And I delete them and move on.

I also don’t know that we’ve a right to not ever receive anything that we didn’t ask for, as one of your commenters says above. There’s a wonderful serendipity in the occasional e-mails I get from folks who need something or want me to see something or know something – I’d hate to lose that.

And as for the self-promotion – I struggle with that. I figure, though, that people who are subscribed to me via Twitter or another RSS feed have opted-in to what I’m writing, sending or saying. If they no longer want what I’m offering, they’ll unsubscribe. And I try to keep the “hey I just wrote a blog post”-type tweets to a minimum – although I do admit that I’ve done them.

Barbara Bray
11/27/2007

The power of all of these tools is that you can read what you want when you want and from whomever you want. I know about your posts, Steve, because I subscribed to Teach42 and saw this post. I would not have known about Sheryl’s on TechLearning without her email. I learn about what people are doing on Twitter – some irrelevant, some interesting and very helpful, but that’s what Twitter is all about. I have been connected to LinkedIn accounts with people I know and don’t know. Must be a reason! I have been emailed newsletters, I send out newsletters, and people read and delete. I hear back from a few how appreciative they are on receiving them. A few unsubscribe.

In all of these situations, I have the option to read, post, ignore, delete, or unsubscribe. I write because I feel I have something to share. If no one reads it, I still write because I have something I want to write. For some, it is important to have the numbers, followers, linked in connections. I appreciate hearing about new ideas, strategies, and people’s concerns because I am so busy just like the rest of you. Numbers are great but it is more important for me to reach my target audience and hear back from the few who really are impacted and want to comment.

I feel that many of the people in EdTech are doing self-promotion because they have to. Many depend on their audience to help them get the word out. Many people including you and me, put up links or embed code to our other sites. And even if it is self-promotion, I enjoy reading what you write.

Ben
11/27/2007

And that is why Al Gore invented RSS…er, the Internet…um…whatever!

The point being, If I want truly meaningful discussion and input from my readers, I rely on the RSS feeds that I’ve published, and the e-mail subscription on my site to bring those that are interested to me. Most of the times it works pretty well, and recently received a nice handful of suggestions and thoughts after a particularly trying day with my 3rd graders.

I’m not about to go bothering people with “shotgun blast” e-mails hoping to get a few people engaged. It’s the equivalent of a List-Serv…you know, those e-mail things that no one pays attention to anymore because somebody decided to starting blasting everyone on the list serv with silly jokes and mom’s apple pie crust recipe.

Ben
11/27/2007

Oh man, I completely forget!!!!

For more inciteful commentary from an actual teacher about educational technology, come join the discussion on the Tech Savvy Educator (www.techsavvyed.net)! Lots of great resources, websites, and FREE PUPPIES!

Chad Lehman
11/27/2007

When I first started blogging, I got excited about comments people made. At first, I wondered how they found me. Since then, I figured it was because I commented on other posts I’ve read. I figured this was the best way to “spread the word.” It seems there are not many other ways to promote blogs – some seem fine, while others may cross an imaginary line. I guess it’s up to each of us to decide and if someone does something we don’t agree with, we can either let them know about it or simply ignore them.

sylvia martinez
11/27/2007

I got the email and it didn’t bother me. She apologized for the slipup part, and I’m sure we’ve all been there, watching your finger click the mouse as your brain screams NOOOO!!!!

I think you overestimate the RSS-driven blogosphere. It’s just not that widespread. I bet 80% of my friends in my very techie-laden address book don’t subscribe to blogs regularly. For Sheryl, I’d imagine that many people receiving the email passed the email on to other friends. Seems perfectly reasonable to me and not something blogs do well.

We are in a tiny slice of a small minority, so I think we have to make allowances for the rest of the world.

Steve
11/27/2007

Sylvia, you hit on something that I thought about quite a bit yesterday. I bet if I created an email newsletter, something that went out once per month and had snippets of blogs, Web2.0 recommendations, and other such things along those lines, that the number of subscribers would leave Teach42 in the dust in short order.

Simply, more people are comfortable with email than blogs. Fact of cyberlife right now.

That being said, am I being foolish by not letting friends and family know when I write a blog post I consider to be significant? I’m assuming that everyone on the list is someone that Sheryl knew somewhat personally (even if not F2F). So what’s the harm? It really isn’t anything more than taking advantage of the resources you have available to you.

I’ve been going back and forth on this one quite a bit, as you can probably tell. As I said, my gut, initial reaction was that it felt ‘icky’ for lack of a better term. And yet, so long as it’s done with discretion is there any harm?

Pamela Carr
11/27/2007

To me the whole thing seems a bit too commercial. I’m sure that was not the intention, but it is the perception (of some) that the email reached. Too bad.

sylvia martinez
11/27/2007

Whoa! You are giving me whiplash watching you flip flop!

And yes, you may be leaving some potential readers on the table by not doing a newsletter or emailing them about a blog post every once in a while. On the other hand you might have a different 10 people think you are full of yourself. It’s sort of the penalty for living some of your life online in semi-public.

If I worry about what 20 edubloggers think, I can’t even imagine what it feels like to be in the public eye for real, where 10 million people know about your latest liposuction or court ordered visitation.

But email your mom, at least!

PS Hey, i hear there’s a cool new tool you could use to get the word out …called Quetchup

Freetard
11/27/2007

Personally, if I get an email from someone who doesn’t use the Bcc feature of their mail client, I go utterly mental. Then I send them a nice short terse message asking if they did it on purpose or if it was, like Sheryl’s slipup here, an honest mistake. If they come back all “WTF U loser its impornat for poeple to no this stuff” then I nuke them. If on the other hand they say “Sorry, I screwed up” (and maybe send out another message to that effect using the Bcc: field, I am willing to forgive and move on. If they do it again, though? Ha, it’s War, Baby! Say hello to your new listserve subscriptions!

As for the shameless self-promotion, that’s not such a big deal. I think bloggers do need to do that now and then (go to http://www.freetard.com for a more concise explanation of that theory, ha ha). I often hear of cool shtuff out there in the blogosphere that way- but I am deadly serious: ignore the cardinal rule of the bcc and the Inquisition will have their Way with you!

Jethro
12/12/2007

I have a problem with a lot of people knowing my email address. I guess I don’t worry about that as much with GMail’s rockin’ spam filter, but I use my email address for a lot of stuff. Our email addresses are becoming almost like a social security number. If it falls into the wrong hands, it can be dangerous. That is my biggest problem with this situation. I have a blog, but I think my wife is the only regular reader.

Dale Basler
12/18/2007

Just read the “Self Promotion” post by @teach42 http://tinyurl.com/3c8jkf – I use twitterfeed to tweet my blog posts – is this bad?

Miguel Guhlin
12/20/2007

Steve, transparency is key when folks are sending emails out–whether they are vendors or fellow bloggers like Sheryl. As you say, Sheryl happens to provide an example of an email…this some perceive may not convey her desire to share as well as it might; consider it a work in progress?

I’d like us all to evaluate the email you received–which might be compared to the multitude of emails we all receive on a daily basis–for transparency and openness.

When a vendor or someone is trying to sell something, they have to share WHY they are doing it. Sometimes, it’s as bald as, “I’m selling this product, but I want you to know, I’m selling it to you because it’s something that I think will meet your needs. If I’m wrong, let me know. I apologize if I come across as pushy.”

Again, a human being’s voice has to come across that is authentic, relevant to our message, etc.

Grateful for the conversation and the opportunity to share my 2cents,

Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner-MGuhlin.net
http://mguhlin.net

Frank
1/31/2008

Actually, a competitor of mine (university, languages department) mistakenly sent an email to all his clients with the email list as cc not bcc. I was very happy to receive this particular email as I picked up some new leads. However, I do dislike it when I see my email on a list of 100’s too. I guess it just depends on the situation.

I found out about this post on Twitter. I wasn’t following you, but someone that I do was … so because of that I got to visit this great site of yours. But, the difference was that the link was dropped in the context of a conversation (sort of) … one that we choose to participate in.

Anyway, I take the good with the bad on the Internet as it’s part of the game. I take what I want and disregard the rest and move on.

And, thanks for letting us drop a link here, hehehe. Really .. your blog is very nice, both design and content .. so glad about that. I’m just a little guy n the blogosphere .. but that is the great thing about the Web, everyone has a voice. I love diverse voices! But, No mass emails please (unless they have potential clients listed).

Frank
Faces of Web 2.0
http://franksblog.edublogs.org

Recent Faves Tagged With "mguhlin" : MyNetFaves
1/27/2009

[...] would usually find their mates locally. Now, one … First saved by omegaminus | 1 days ago Self-promotion: Where do you draw the line? (Teach42 – Education and First saved by cirisme | 13 days ago Latest Diigo Bookmarks (weekly) First saved by vchr3 | 15 [...]

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Leave a comment