This is a guest post by MikeonTV, an intrepid and prolific social media user. His tech opinion blog Fashionably Great launches Jan 1st 2008.

Here’s a what if for you. What if the infamous Digg algorithm just one day up and went open source?!

It is the intangible looming force that keeps every Digg users from burying all submissions above and below their own. It keeps us from installing crazy Greasemonkey scripts and going down the list of our friends submissions - Digging forty posts a minute. The algorithm (or as some call it - Diggbrother) stops me from burying every possible duplicate every time I submit an article. I want to ask the algorithm exactly why the last three news stories I posted made it to the front page - but were submitted by some other users.

If that presence were open source I could put it under the monitorscope and give the answers to all the other paranoid users out there. Questions like, what exactly is my karma at? Does constantly hitting F5 on my own submission lower its chances of becoming popular? Does my vote actually count? The algorithm has been discussed by its creators and deconstructed by the experts, yet I’m still impressed by it all the time.

Lately I find myself frantic, trying to sleep, thinking about my most recent submission. Questioning why I didn’t submit that article on The Ultimate Leopard Tweaking Guide? It was promoted in less than ten hours! Maybe my submission on Composting the Dead didn’t go front page because it’s Saturday. Maybe I pissed off some users in the past and they automatically have me on bury! The algorithm could tell me, if it were open source.

Of course that is never happening. The verb gaming (meaning to cheat) would replace digging in this world of social media if we knew how Digg ticked. The walls would come down and the Viagra-deal pushers would finally know how to bypass that spam prevention shield that every honest Digger wears so proudly. This secretive program is the impalpable energy that keeps the highest rated content flowing organically and it is what so many try to conquer. Few have it down to a simple science. Others, like myself are still puzzled and nervous. Many are ignorant of its power and are just passing by - unaware of what is forcing us to submit what they read.

Oh well. Let the mystery and bureaucracy continue. One day I’ll crack it.

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Interesting concept, isn’t it? For me, it is one of the best times to blog. Granted, I usually get up early and it means that I lose sleep, but with everything going on in the world, sometimes this is what needs to be done. Don’t recommend doing it too often, or you’ll be heading for social media burnout. The middle of the night is a source of ideas for me, when all is quiet in the world.

While what seems most of the world has been caught up eating and shopping and having a grand old time (not that there is anything wrong with that, and hey, some even have Boxing Day to look forward to!), I’ve been coming up with some exciting new things, namely:

• Ramping up with some very interesting new clients
• Going to be more active on Twitter after seeing some fun with data mining (Terraminds)



and analytics (Tweeterboard)


• A follow up to my 7 Reasons Why You’ll Click on Everything I Post: more fun with influential avatars
• Prepping up a great story on the value of customer service
• Deciding on the next round of social media ninjas. What? You didn’t enter? Last chance saloon…
• Last but not least…watching interesting people. For those of you that haven’t seen him, Loren Feldman of 1938 Media is very interesting. I really enjoyed his post about A-Listers and people the fanboys that cry about not being A-Listers. Well put by Loren, they work harder. Loren, I for one, am blogging at 3 in the morning

A preview of things to come. Stay tuned.

It’s all about the avatar, baby. Don’t believe me? Well yes, content is king, but it needs to be noticed. Your diamonds are trying to stay afloat in the cesspool of spam, viagra, forex, and all sorts of other trash. And yes, killer titles are also a part, but a crappy avatar can ruin all the time and effort that went into the otherwise compelling piece of content you’re oh so proud of.

So, here is a list of 7 suggestions I have for having a compelling avatar:

1 - Don’t be the tool that uses the community default icon.
This one should be a no brainer when engaging in any community. Why get lost in a sea of default icons? Tamar “Schwagwhore” Weinberg wrotoe a good piece on Digg default icons making the difference in the upcoming section of Digg.

2 - Big or Small?
Some like to take up the whole 120×120 box, while others like to overpixelate. Some like tiny, but my opinion is the bigger the better.

3 - Seasonal?
Sure, why not. I personally don’t, but here’s an entertaining one:

vs. (MrBabyMan)
4 - Company Logo? Sure, but maybe just the icon. People aren’t going to squint to try to read your whole company name at 120×120.

5 - Attractive People.

People like to see attractive people. But don’t go overboard like sexyseo, or you might get your avatar yanked off mybloglog.

6 - Just Plain You.

Folks like Digidave (Propeller admin / citizen journalist) just have an avatar of themselves. Plain and simple. Then, people even recognize you at events. Good show.
7 - NO copycatting. Seriously. I will smack you personally.
Ben Yoskovitz of Instigator Blog will probably smack you too. He had a good post about having an avatar so good that others try to steal it. Again, if you copycat an avatar, you are a moron.

Ultimately, how do you choose? try an avatar and see the response you get. See if you get an increased number of friends and votes. Ask others. The Thinking Blog went so far as to asking its audience which of 5 avatars they should use in a poll!

After a read of Copyblogger, one my favorite blogs, I came across some great info on productivity / time management for creative work, which blogging and social media is a big part of.

Anyone that tries to balance an already full work/life schedule can relate to the need for being as productive as possible. This 32 page eBook, entitled Time Management for Creative People by Mark McGuinness, is very helpful - even if you only have time to skim it, given your busy schedule

I’m a big fan of productivity in blogging and creative works and feel that it is important to share this message so that you do not hit social media burnout.

The eBook goes on to give a listing of effective ways to focus on doing what’s important, taking a page from Getting Things Done, as well as illustrating the buckets to place thoughts to de-clutter your mind. Delegation may also be necessary to keep you on task.

Do you hate that cluttered feeling? Me too. I’m the sort of person that can’t stand a stack of papers, inbox full of emails and the like - and every so often I really have to purge it. Otherwise, my creativity feels stifled.

So, I went on a little purge of blog clutter. Skellie had a wonderful visual for the usability impaired representing the real value of simplicity on your blog:

That being said, here are some ideas on how to clean up your blog:

1 - Kill the badge clutter. Only put out the badges that are really relevant that you’d like the user to invoke some action on. For example, I killed the Blogrush widget (which they suspended my account for), since it was not driving any real traffic to speak of, and it did not enhance user experience. On the other hand, My StumbleUpon badge is useful for people to see the different site that I recommend. An added bonus of removing some of this junk is that your page will load faster.

2 - Remove footer junk. On the same thread, do you really need to have another bunch of RSS icons and links to Wordpress? Don’t be a packrat, throw it away.

3 - Reduce and organize your categories. As you post over time, you’ll be amazed at the number of categories you’ll make up along the way. I just reduced my list by half, and I’ve set it up hierarchically for faster navigation. How do you do this? Simple.

(Note: Wordpress only)

• Log in to your admin section and click Manage -> Categories
• If you think you can consolidate into a hierarchy, click Edit
• Find the category parent from the drop down and save
• To change categories on an existing post, just edit the post and change the category

4 - Shorten the number of blog posts. I recommend no more than 5 posts on a blog homepage.

5 - Remove under performing ads. If you have Google Adsense plastered everywhere and wonder why you get buried on Digg, get rid of it. Especially not in the middle of the content area.

6 - Use of the More tag. When you write significantly long posts, try to put in a more tag to allow equal room for several blog posts on your homepage.

7 - Update your blogroll. People like to see who you’re reading up on. Be conscious of this.

Simplicity doesn’t just mean taking away, so what’s new?

• Updated about page with a little bit more about me
• Added a contact page

Was also considering a redesign of the site. Do you think the site needs a redesign, or should it stay as-is?