392 – Social Media
The overall result is that there isn’t a social media outlet that I think works well for small content creators. Many of these sites work very well for large companies, but it doesn’t feel like social media is the “great equalizer” that it’s billed as.
“Going viral” is not a controllable phenomenon, it’s a matter of luck, catching the zeitgeist, and stumbling upon a single link from a major social hub.
If you make your own content, and want to expand your readerbase, then the only real approach is to implore your readers to spread the word through word of mouth. Genuine recommendations from people you know are worth way more than social media posts.
very nice
I use rss too. BTW, what about stumbleupon? I think I remember you saying on IRC you had an influx of people from that shortly after I suggested your page to it (but then comics stopped for a while.)
I don’t know a lot about StumbleUpon, maybe I should poke it?
RSS – tells me every time you update. But is very much informing the choir of upcoming services.
Yes. RSS is really great for people who already read the comic and want to read more of it :)
On Google+ you should create an account with your name and then create a “Socks and Puppets” page.
I think social media is great for those sites that make it big, but not so much for people who haven’t hit that level yet. Of course, it can only take one thing going viral to make that jump. Arguably still better than traditional publishing methods, where you maybe couldn’t get anyone to take you seriously enough to look at your work at all.
Also, I was wondering about timing. What are the most recent “big” webcomics to appear, and how did they become so big?