Social Conversations
I do a great deal of writing, other than just the fiction writing. I’m sure no one is surprised by that. With all my reading online on how to be a better writer and find ways to have my writing help pay for some of my business expenses, I wandered over to ReviewMe, a site that pays bloggers to review sites, products, whatnot. Now, we’re not talking lots of money here, but maybe enough to offset the expensive of your website, or something. It’s is nice because it links you up with other websites and products in your area of interest. I’ve been reading and learning more and more about social media and thought, hmm, time to start checking out other sites online and seeing what they’re all about.
First assignment? Check out Thoughts.com (http://www.thoughts.com/). Website, social media, blog site…sure, right up my alley.
Thoughts appears to be a very active social conversation site with over 200,000 users. (I love the unique name of the site.) Thoughts goal is different than other social media sites…they’re trying to drive conversations and facilitate discussion rather than just building a network of friends. Built like many of the other, more well known and popular social media sites, they have a selection of easy-to-use widgets that give you complete control over how you interact with the community. Good, we all rely a lot on widgets.
Another interesting twist to their community, absolutely no selling or promoting outside businesses, blog sites, affiliate links, or money making schemes. While I’m sure that helps keep the spam at bay, I find that it’s a detractor as most social media sites are built to help us connect through the things we do. Many people have their own blogs and sites elsewhere. Writers, artists, musicians and more might not find a comfortable home here because even in their personal interactions, they might be letting you know about upcoming books, work, gigs…and those are some great ways to keep us all connected.
Current Thoughts Tags
Right now? The user community is talking about things from Anorexia to Writing (one of my favorite topics after all). Thoughts feeds in News as well, helping to promote discussion. And, if things get too slow, it looks like a Thoughts.com team member is there to help the community push the discussions along, reminding users that the community grows with the more comments you leave. And, it sounds as though the development team is working on a notification system for the new Thoughts.
Over all? Beautiful site. It’s well crafted and looks like the user community is adapting to the space as well. It reminds me of Ning, but more caring and giving. I like the idea of focusing on conversations and interactions. Will I be using the site? Unfortunately no…if I can’t post up to my regular blog(s) then adding in another social media site defeats the purpose for all my writing and work. They’ve built a great community and most of it word of mouth! Good job, and a space to get your feet wet if you’re new to social media. Definitely go check it out and see if it would work for you or your family! I can see the draw – it’s robust.
What do you think? Yes? No?
Interesting site. Thanks for sharing! But the last thing I need is another distraction from writing. Facebook and blogging is enough for me. But it would be a great site to connect with other writers when the time is there.