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hi guys,
Back before I got burned I was planning to make an app based on this game which would actually get you followers, help your retweet automatically, etc. Thats actually why I started it, just to test things out. Thanks for doing so.
Feel free to abandon the game. I have my account running on the symbiostock “app” and I’m already up to 470+ followers since this thread started. It follows, favorites, retweets, etc. Runs hourly…
I get retweeted by non-symbiostockers too. When / if I get around to it I’ll restart this game with an on-site scoreboard and everything. Will be fun 😀
For now I’m doing the vat-tax app and doing my illustration sites/work.
Unless I missed something, it appears that images must be removed 1 at a time? This would take ages, unless istock shuts down your portfolio by request — which it seems they are not doing very quickly right now.
I wrote a small program to have my browser automatically cycle through each image and deactivate it! If I did it myself it would have taken at least a day or two on almost 1000 images. I pitty those who have more.
Just a disclaimer — I’m doing this as my own decision and I’m quite familiar with things. I wouldn’t advise anyone follow this course of action unless you have reason to think its better for your situation.
If someone could ask at MSG I’d love to know how to get this process done. In my case I do not want to delay — every day is more risky.
I don’t feel like making a new account at MSG either — I’m glad to be out of that place.
I submitted a ticket a few days ago to remove my portfolio but I haven’t gotten a reply yet. In my case I have to scramble to recover that income.
Here is an example of a tweet formated for this project:
This game is being moderated at this thread to start:
Alright! I’m GONE. Let the tweeting begin!
Also I’ll be checking into the Symbiostock twitter account to retweet you guys freely 😀 every day or so. I might just automate it to retweet you hourly
Original poster: Feel free to swipe the text from this page and place it in your original post if you wish.
So as not to overwhelm, we are dividing this post into two parts: The Activity and The Explanation.
The Activity
We are going to combine our efforts to get our images to go viral on Twitter. This is a two-week experiment to see the effectivness of promoting our images through the "retweeting" method.
If its enjoyed and we see success to a good degree, we will automate this process via an application on the main website and you can just enjoy watching the promotional system on autopilot with minimal interaction.The FunQuote:The Experiment
Go through your promoted keywords list and choose the ones that reflects your target audience. Example: "Travel", "Nature", "Business", "Design", "Web"
First, post your best images:
- Open up your Twitter Account (set one up if you do not have one).
- Choose a few of your *best* images you wish to promote. 3 or 4 to start. (Use the watermarked ones from your site)
- Determine a short, interesting phrase to accompany each image. It can be descriptive, catchy, cute, funny... use your instincts :)
- Upload the image, and post a link to the page where it can be purchased.
- Add #RETWEET #SYMBIOSTOCK, and the target hastags you've selected (example: #PEOPLE, #ANIMALS, #DESIGN)
- Post the tweet.
Double check - the tweet should contain:
- A viewable image.
- A Link back to the purchase page.
- The tags #retweet #symbiostock
- The target market tags you choose #mykeword1 #mykeword2
Now ever day or so:
- Sign onto twitter.
- Do a specific search for #retweet #symbiostock. You will find the images of those participating in this experiment.
- Retweet each image you like. (Note, you may wish to post more or less depending on your own audience. 2 or 3 is fine. 5 or 6 is great! Your choice completely)
This is very purposeful, but lets face it, we've already got enough work to do. The fun here is watching your image travel through different audiences as its retweeted. When you log on and find your image is retweeted 10 times, that will be awesome enough. But when you start seeing how many people saw your image - even better! It becomes like a high-score game.
+ --- + --- + --- + --- + --- + --- + --- + --- + ---
The Explanation
But its not a game - its serious.
Social networking is a very misunderstood art when it comes to marketing. And for a business / website owner it tends to be a time-sucking labyrinth of confusion. Why? Because what we are told is different than the reality of how things work. I could go into detail, but perhaps at a different time.
Symbiostock is about networking and automation. For instance, when you choose your promoted keywords, may may be unaware just how this is causing your search results to pop up on completely different sites based on searches. But it does happen, and its purposeful.
Question:
"Even if my image is retweeted 10 times among Symbiostock network associates -- what is that doing?"
The answer:
Giving you a technical and substantial boost into viral exposure.
The initial entry into viral mode will occur between Symbiostock network retweets. However, twitter is populated with bots everywhere looking for emerging popular content. This is giving you a significant boost in getting found. People tend to retweet things based on existing popularity. You'll be surprised that your image will start traveling twitter accounts (some having thousands and thousands of viewers) based on it's initial boost given through this network.
Marketers are aware of the science behind viral messages, and are constantly working with it. In many cases, they are running numerous systems, great and small, to harvest popular content and retweet it. Why? Because when their followers retweet the given message, their name shows up and potential exposure.
This is the proverbial snowball effect we are after, and its largely experimental. Think of a slightly controlled butterfly effect. We are using our greatest strengths of network coordination to help eachother get exposure.
In Summary
We emphasize again this is an experiment. Symbiostock's initial theory was success through symbiosis - working together. To a large degree this is still evolving and success varies among people. If this experiment shows results that translate into sales and paying traffic, we'll be adapting this system to an application found on http://www.symbiostock.com, and it will automate itself requiring less interaction (work) from you. Overall though this is not very demanding and should be fun.
If successful, the app will auto-follow network members as well as manage retweets based on criteria you set in advance. The goal: A continual stream of viral exposure originating from the Symbiostock network on twitter.
[attachment=1]gephi-retweets.jpg[/attachment]Here is an example of a tweet formated for this project:
Dennis I’ve just updated your post with the explanation/tutorial leading into the activity. Thanks a lot.
Oh good, it took off. I’ll get it started for you and migrate this thread over to it.
That was HORRIBLE! 😛
Humans are the most confusing creatures.
Made me LOL a few times. (I have yet to literally ROTFLOL like many claim they do, but that was funny IHMO)
I’ve always wondered how these giant agencies can afford ads at the exorbitant click rates – and most of those clicks are false.
I’ve looked at this one multiple times.I think I have to get rid of the content filters to make it go away (yellow, green, etc) since it alters the query/results.
Yeah, I’ve been meaning to fix that. Silly wordpress! They change their style faster than REM albums. (well, maybe not…)
Update:
This project is going to be the renewed “cart manager”, since so many of these functions are related.
Thought you might enjoy the happy news 🙂
As promised, its going to install with the premium version, but its also going to be available as a separate upgrade for those who need it alone.
