A friend of mine, Allen Harkleroad, wrote a wonderful article for his website Designer Today. The article, Social Networking - Things I have learned the hard way, does a great job of explaining how sites such as Digg.com and Mixx.com work. As someone who is fairly new to the whole social bookmarking and networking scene, this was a great little read for me.

It explained a lot of things Allen learned from his own personal experiences. The article is straight forward and wonderfully easy to understand. Allen details what makes good content to submit and was does not. He goes into how blatant self promotion can hurt your networking abilities and he explains how participating is the key.

Here is a little part of the article…

Social Networking - Things I have learned the hard way
Allen Harkleroad

While this article is primarily for freelance designers, it is a good read for anyone that participates or is thinking of participating on social news and bookmarking websites.

I’ve been tinkering around with social news and bookmarking websites for about a year now, it seems in just the last couple of months I was able to “wrap my mind” around the way they work and have success at getting attention (and votes) for interesting items I posted. I am no expert but I have picked up a few things that can help you get noticed.

Social networks are a powerful medium, however if used improperly can become a public relations nightmare. This article isn’t about gaming social news and bookmark websites, it is about building visibility and credibility the right way. Before you read too far into this, let me tell you that the advice I give is not a guaranteed instant results type of thing it will take time and some work on your part.

If you are new to social news sites such as Digg.com and Mixx.com, do not jump in with both feet and begin posting content. Register and surf through the site. Vote on items, comment of items you find interesting, add friends as you find others that post interesting content. Interact with your newfound friends it will build trust. Be patient, it will pay off.

Continue reading the article.

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