August 22, 2012

Is there value in self-promotion?

I'm trying a small non-scientific experiment tonight that you're a part of.

I've been struggling with the question of the value of linking to my blog posts on twitter.  It feels narcissistic to me to post every link on twitter.  Isn't anyone who cares about what I've written going to find my stuff in their RSS reader of choice or come back to the blog periodically anyway?  If my posts are good, they will get shared on twitter and/or facebook naturally, so I shouldn't have to link to them myself, right?

My primary audience is myself, so I shouldn't have to link to anything.  But, I do hope that somethings I say are useful, or else I would not bother to put them online. Plus, I know many people don't use RSS readers, and in lieu of the feed readers prefer to use twitter to discover blog posts.

So, I'm looking for thoughts from my loyal (also smart and attractive; did I mention I don't mind kissing up?) audience.  How do you prefer to find out about my blog posts?

Since this is a non-scientific experiment I am conducting, I will do the most non-scientific thing I can think of: state my hypothesis that I am testing.  ;)  My hypothesis is that my audience is too small (and smart, attractive and polite; there is no adulation I will not give out to you; I have no shame here, only on twitter) to give me any meaningful results of this experiment.

If I'm wrong, though, please feel free to leave me feedback via your preferred channel.

Thanks!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I think you should do it. I have your blog in my RSS feed, so I rarely miss a post, but it helps me to see posts that people I'm interested in following on twitter since I can catch them one at a time without having to wade through a pile of posts on google reader.

rallain said...

I have had this discussion before. I agree that it feels weird to post links on twitter to your own stuff, but I have come to accept it.

I think there are many many people that just don't use rss at all. For them, they only get new stuff from twitter. Also , once it is on twitter it is easier for someone to rtweet it and share with their friends.

I don't think there is anything wrong with posting your own stuff.

H said...

I agree with the above as well. I read your posts primarily through RSS, but twitter reminders are always welcome and not seen (by me) to be pushy.