As you probably noticed, I am a big fan of interviewing others on my blog.
And why not? Aside from the fact that I get to exchange ideas with brilliant people, it gives the blog a different, more conversational flavor. Here are 10 reasons why you should think about doing blog interviews, too:
1 - Mix things up. It is difficult to be a news beacon, constantly finding the latest of what’s going on before others. Even if you’re great at it, you have to sleep sometime. Someone else may have the inside scoop.
2 - Create a real conversation. Some of the top diggers have done a good job of every post being a conversation in their weekly podcast, the Drill down. They make a point to have regular guests as well. Social Blend does a fine job of this as well.
3 - Paid reviews seem cheap. It comes off as more believable to have an interview over a paid review any day.
4 - Interviewing will get you links. You’ll get links from the interviewee at a minimum, potentially along with part of their audience as well.
5 - Other people will get the idea and interview you. Since you will now serve as a forum for others to get noticed, people will want to interview or quote you as well.
6 - Become an influencer. If you interview a software company, you should be on their list of private beta testers. This will allow you to get a head start in the next new new thing.
7 - Bring in a new discipline of expertise. No matter what your blog focus is, you can bring in folks from all sorts of disciplines. Squareoak had a good example of this recently, considering that they write a social media blog and interviewed an economist.
8 - Freeze writer’s block in its tracks. Can’t think of anything meaningful to blog about? A good back and forth interview will not only produce a sweet piece of content (the interview itself), but will also get you thinking about follow up questions and new post ideas.
9 - Beef up your journalism skills. Show the world that you are more than a borderline crazy person / ranter with some solid journalism skills. Doing some background on the interviewee and verifying sources goes a long way, and shows that you know your stuff.
10 - It helps you get new gigs. Regularly doing interviews brings such a fresh source of content that you will reach your blog goals more easily, be it RSS subscribers, consulting, or new blogging gigs.
NowSourcing has been featured as the first ever special guest for a weekly podcast called Social Blend. The show features some of the best names in Mixxers, featuring Greg Davies (cGt2099 from The-TrukstoP.com), Joe Fowler (SilentJay74 from JuicySnake.Blogspot.com), and Brian Hill (Bdog2g2 from MixxingBowl.com) have come out with their second ever episode. Topics included social media, New Year’s on the Internet, and the Iowa Caucuses. Have a listen and let me know what you think - this show was a lot of fun to do, and hope to be on again in the future.
Thanks for spending the time to interview with us.
You’re welcome my pleasure.
1 - We had a chance to catch up with Greg and talk to him about life after Digg. Greg, do you think that you’ve been given a fair shake? Especially considering the content that got you banned was front page on Reddit?
That’s a loaded question. Digg has terms of service, which I, like everyone else agrees to when you sign up. I had been banned a couple of times before, for stupid mistakes, and so the guys behind Digg must have believed, “enough is enough”. It’s their playground, and they set the rules; so I’m fine with that.
On the other hand, there didn’t seem to be any consideration into the fact that I was an extremely active submitter at Digg. I’d posted 1800+ stories since June 2006; and they didn’t seem to consider that I was observing the TOS a majority of the time. Consider also, that some diggers have been banned in the past numerous times also - some of them banned for infractions such as accepting payment for submits/Diggs - the consequences I faced at Digg just didn’t seem to be consistent with the repercussions that had been dealt out in the past.
2 - Digg has really done its fair share of changing the way people look at news. Social media can now deliver the news faster than a lot of traditional media. What did you think of the whole Blu-ray controversy where Digg banned several users and the whole community revolted?
The HD-DVD Riots of May 2007 started out as a valiant effort by some users - but turned into a joke. It caused a huge influx of users to join up just so they could act like Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew. So, while I could understand and see the initial point of standing up for yourself and your friends; it turned into something ridiculous. Many regular users were glad once the issue was resolved.
But the key thing about the revolt is that the power of Digg doesn’t truly lie in the hands of Kevin Rose, Jay Adelson et al… the power is in the hands of the users. THEY decide what makes the front page. They’re in control. So while the greatest aspect of Digg becomes raising awareness about certain issues the mainstream media isn’t covering; it’s also it’s greatest dictator: don’t be surprised if another riot happens there one day.
Yes, that’s very true. The power of social media is in the hands of the users. I recall hearing about the Virginia Tech shooting through social media, so it is a very real and powerful force.
3 - You’ve had over 1,800 Diggs submitted and over 30,000 stories Dugg in your Digg career. about how much time would you set aside a day for such activity? Also, how do you view Digg changed over time as it grew in popularity and underwent more social networking changes with the new profile and shout options?
It’s never really been a case where I would “set aside time” to submit stories and Digg stuff. I would just take it all on a “take it as it comes along” basis. So, it would be too hard for me to put a number on it. I would just somewhat integrate Digg into my regular internet surfing and online work. The new profiles at Digg were fabulous, and I really enjoyed the change. It took a little getting used to, but I found it a very valuable tool in being able to connect with others easier. All of a sudden; more diggers were accessible - and with something like Digg, the more networking you have with others, the better.
The shouts, on the other hand, are another story altogether. It seemed that from the get-go, shouts were perceived very differently among different users. Some saw them as great opportunities to share stories; others saw them as just a reprehensible method of spamming others. I honestly did my best to give a chance for the shout feature. If someone shouted me; I’d shout ‘em back. But it just became overwhelming and way too time consuming. I ended up having to turn them off on my profile - it was just too much.
4 - What advice do you have for Diggers just starting out? What do you view as compelling content, and where do you think people should go to be on the lookout for good content?
If you’re starting out, don’t dive into the submissions straight away. Seriously. Take the time to just lurk, Digg, read, and even comment. Get a feel for the place first. That’s usually a good method of learning what kind of material has the tendency to become popular. Also, if you only just registered recently; don’t set yourself an unrealistic goal like becoming the number one Digger.
Getting to the top takes time and patience. A LOT of time and patience. When looking for content to post to Digg; I found that the best place is usually with what you are already doing online. In other words, take a look at your regular surfing patterns. Are there any good sites you’re visiting that you don’t often see on Digg? Submit the content from them - others may enjoy it.
One example I can give you is the heavy metal site Blabbermouth.net. When I started submitting content to Digg, I NEVER saw that site there. So I started posting content there. I was surprised to find out how many Digg geeks were also metalheads such as myself. Also, get into RSS feeds, and check out what other social news / social bookmarking sites are making popular. There’s a good chance that if it’s popular at Reddit or del.icio.us or StumbleUpon, then there’s a good chance it might become popular at Digg too.
A handy resource for that is popurls.com. Also, don’t just submit any old thing just for the sake of submitting something. Submit something that grabs your attention. If it grabs your attention, then it’s possible it’ll grab the attention of others too.
On a side note, if anyone is just starting out on Digg and is curious as to how to get on Digg’s front page, you might find this article I wrote about it of some help.
5 - I can’t imagine that you would want to be done using social media just because of what happened with Digg. There has been lots of activity on Digg surrounding your ban, and many are wanting you back. What communities do you think you will explore?
I’ve always bounced around different social sites, be it social networking (MySpace/Facebook) or social news/bookmarking (Reddit, etc). At the moment I’ve crashed the party over at Mixx.com. It’s similar to Digg, but it’s new, fresh and just starting out. And since starting out over at Mixx, I’ve been posting quite a lot. I’m hoping the community grows over there because it has a lot of potential.
On a related note, I’d like to thank those who’ve been sticking up for me with the whole “permanent ban” issue. Your support is very much appreciated.
6 - Have you closed the book in your mind about Digg? Or would you get right back into it given the opportunity?
If my account is ever reinstated, or if I’m ever allowed to re-register (they permanently banned via IP also, so I haven’t bothered even trying to set up a new account), I would probably submit content to Digg still. But I’m very comfortable with Mixx at the moment, and would love to be more proactive in that community to help it grow.
7 - Any closing comments?
I’d like to say cheers and thanks to all my friends and fans I networked with over at Digg. It was awesome, and the interaction made it all worthwhile. Also, take heed to what you are posting on Digg. Just because it hits the front page on other sites, doesn’t mean that it will fly at Digg - the admins have itchy trigger fingers…. but if you do fall into the ban clan like myself, come on over and help me shake up Mixx.com a little bit.
[Editors Note: If you're wondering what got Greg banned for the 4th and final time, he speaks about it at length in his personal blog here (h/t: Lyndon)]
Update: looks like support for Greg has really been taking off - check out this parody video of Chris Crocke’s leave Brittney alone:
1 – What made you decide to go out and write an E-Commerce plugin for Wordpress?
Years ago I wrote a WordPress wish list on my blog. One of those wishes was for a Shopping Cart plugin - months later when a client asked me to build them a shopping cart application for WordPress I positively jumped at the opportunity. The only other option at the time was EzStatic Micro Shop and that was not a plugin - i.e. too hard for me.
2 – There are lots of good Wordpress themes out there, but I haven’t seen a lot of them that are geared for E-Commerce sites specifically. What is your favorite Wordpress template for E-Commerce?
At present K2 because it is easy to use - even then though it has its quirks and a lot of my developers find it difficult to customize I still like it because it is quite powerful as far as themes go - especially when coupled with the modules plugin (which extends the widgets functionality).
I think the simpler the theme the better - people want to be able to customize their sites as much as possible which is why it makes sense for us to make as many widgets and tag includes for WP e-Commerce as possible.
Back to the point though. I don’t think that there are any really good themes designed specifically with e-Commerce in mind. This is something we have recognized and it is something we’re working on - we’re especially excited about the next generation of DropShop that we are working on with Nick La from n design studio - here is a sneak preview:
3 – Looks like you guys have been rolling out some nice new features (for those of you that haven’t tried out the drag and drop shopping module, try it out here). Care to tell the audience about any upcoming features?
Well if you like the live search feature in the Apple.com website then you’ll like the new enhanced search form coming soon. DropShop is about to get another visual overhaul, product tags are on the way in, product zooming is being planned, and future versions will be heavily optimized and we know that the next version of WP e-Commerce will load more then 70% faster then before.
Of course. This is very important to us and we have already integrated WordPress Permalinks with WP e-Commerce to make URLs more human readable and search engine friendly - plus we are about to release the new product tags feature.
I’m not sure if this is the right place to mention it but the ’share this’ social networking feature is also integrated with WP e-Commerce and we have RSS feeds for all products and product categories.
5 – I’m under the impression that blogs are overtaking the web by force. They are indexed by search engines faster, can be a news authority, have most all of the features that a content management system (CMS) has, and now they also have the ability to do E-Commerce. How to you envision the future of blogging?
Funnily enough I was thinking about this today.
You see I use WordPress for everything, there is not much that it can’t do (and if you can think of something it can’t do then I’m sure you can make a plugin to make it do it) and so it struck me that I haven’t refereed to or even thought of WordPress as an actual “blogging tool” in years - so although you are right in that blogs are taking the web by force (I think that they always have been) I think that in some funny way the word blog is becoming synonymous with the word website. Strange huh…
But you asked about the future of blogs not WordPress. Blogs are here to stay. It is as simple as that.
Here’s a thought. When I was studying New Media one of our tutors told us that the porn industry drove website design and technology I think that now possibly it is blogs and blog developers that are changing the face of the internet. We are the new driving force…
6 – Since your E-Commerce software is a plugin, are there things that you think you will never want it to do as compared with a full scale E-Commerce system?
WP e-Commerce is becoming more and more full scaled all the time - we have OS Commerce, Zen Cart users, and e-Junkie users migrating to us all the time. I think this is because the first two pieces of software are legacy (old school) and e-Junkie users would prefer an all in one WordPress experience.
To be totally honest I believe that the only missing features in WP e-Commerce that would stop it from being called a “full scalle” solution would be UPS / Fedex shipping integration. And these are in the planning stages now. In fact if there are any readers reading this now who have experience integrating UPS etc that would care to lend a hand we would love to hear from you!
However I also think that for the average e-commerce user this does not matter - especially if you are in the business of digital downloads then it does not matter at all.
[Editors note: more product info for the E-Commerce Plugin can be found on Instinct's Wiki located here.]
For those of you that don’t already know her, Anna (Aivsdog) is a power user over at StumbleUpon with over 500 fans and 5,000 pages liked.
Hey Aivsdog, it’s a pleasure interviewing you. Thanks for making the time.
It is my pleasure to do this for you and to let everyone know how wonderful StumbleUpon is.
1. How did you start out at StumbleUpon?
I don’t really remember how I came across it but I do think a friend of mine mentioned it and I thought I would check it out.
2. Tell us about what keeps bringing you back to StumbleUpon.
I am always coming back because of all the new things people are thumbing up and discovering. Also all the wonderful people on the StumbleUpon. I made a lot of wonderful friends. Some of my friends on StumbleUpon are ferusvulpes, FATCATdagg, anahey, StormJosh, zspada15, SantaGauss, pkirsch, and you.
3. Surely, you’ve noticed a surge in users / user activity lately. How would you say that the SU community has changed?
It is such a wonderful friendly community to finding the best things across the web and I think that is what keeps people coming and joining. There are also new sites being added every second. Ways to meet people with the same interest and same website interests. It is colorful and creative. Just a great place to hang out.
4. You’ve really become a popular user with over 125 reviews and 500 fans. And at such a young age, no less. I find that folks that are Generation X and older sometimes have a hard time understanding the latest generation’s success on social news / social bookmarking sites. Maybe it’s just that I’m still relatively young yet, but I have no trouble seeing why. When I was a kid, the Internet barely existed (no www for sure), and my first computer didn’t even have a harddrive (Apple IIc). Today, people grow up with the Internet all around them and with all the tools available. Not that everyone young is tech savvy, but you almost need to go out of your way to at least have some aptitude. What are your thoughts?
It isn’t actually hard to understand. Remember that we young ones learn things quicker and easier and plus if you have a interest in it you will even learn it quicker also. Our young brains are still developing and don’t confuse things as much as when you get older. Also we have better memory. I am an Internet lover and just love doing anything with social networks and finding things that are fun, interesting, bizarre, and anything that catches my eye. I have always had a computer and internet in my life and just you learn more and more every single day you use it. StumbleUpon is actually made pretty easy to understand so anyone can use it no matter what your age might be. Don’t give up if you don’t understand it right away.
5. What other types of social media sites do you like?
I love social networks. Some other social networks that I enjoy are myspace, facebook, and livejournal. There are so many others and always new ones being created.
6. Social Media such as StumbleUpon has become the latest craze in the Internet Marketing industry. Do you see yourself going into this type of industry in the future?
I would love to do something with the Internet and social networking. But my main career idea is something with animals and photography. Like an animal photographer. I will probably do some kind of job on the Internet some time in my life. I probably will have some different small jobs. Maybe sell some things on the Internet.
7. Any tips for those that are just starting out in StumbleUpon now?
Take your time and explore and learn about StumbleUpon. It does take some time to learn how to do everything and get the hang of things. Go to different peoples pages and see what kind of things attract people to your pages. Some people with great things and helpful pages that i visit often are sehsxu, chris789, 7HL, geoff, starspirit, tutto, CherishMe, and lots of others. Keep your StumbleUpon page updated. Come by my page if you need help with anything and check out my pages that are always being updated.
8. How much time do you spend on StumbleUpon?
I get on and off the internet during the day and so I am on it between 2-5 hours is a good estimate of time I spend on StumbleUpon. Usually whenever I am on I am on StumbleUpon and never far from it.
