The Value of Reciprocity in Social Influence
In the digital age, reciprocity has never been more essential and evident than in the development of communities. Whether it’s digging a friend’s story, introducing a colleague on LinkedIn or adding a link to a fellow blogger on your blogroll, reciprocity is an integral part of online community development. In our Digital Influence in News and Politics Report, we found those with the greatest social influence heavily relied upon reciprocity.
The 2009 Digital Influence in News and Politics Report illustrates benefits of reciprocity and its impact on social influence in the blogosphere. The main contributor to a blog’s influence is the number of links pointing to the blog. Often times, bloggers use link exchanges as a way to drive traffic to their blog and network with their peers. Link exchanges tie together large communities of bloggers and symbolize affiliation. There is an etiquette involved between link exchanges that is based on reciprocity: if a fellow blogger adds your website to their blog, it’s common courtesy to do the same. As your blog is added to more blogrolls, the greater your influence within the community.
The Digital Influence in News and Politics Report shows of the handful of blogs on the top 25 influencer list, half of the most backlinked sites are blogs. The Huffington Post (2), Daily Kos (3), The Drudge Report (5), Real Clear Politics (6) and Politico (10) are those that made the top 10 most backlinked sites. To illustrate the impact of reciprocity on backlinks and social influence, consider The Huffington Post. The internet news site places number two on our social influence list and features over a hundred links to blogs, news and columnists ranging topics such as politics, media, business, living and the list goes on.
As media transition to more digital formats, reciprocity will continue to increase in value. In essence, even simple link exchanges build social capital between community members. The web has enabled and empowered those without a voice to get up and make their opinion heard. The Huffington Post, Daily Kos, The Drudge Report are all soap boxes constructed from the nails and wood of the web. Other media could take a lesson from bloggers and find new and innovative ways...
To learn more about social influence and reciprocity, go to Sparxoo, a digitla marketing, branding an business development blog.
Questions and Answers
Article Tags:
blogging
,brand marketing
,brand strategy
,branding
,business
,business development
,business plans
,consulting
,digital strategy
,entrepreneur
,growth
,market research
,marketing plan
,social media
,startup
Thinking about writing a blog for your small business or are you a marketer looking to dial-up your clients presence on the web? Paul Gillin’s book, The New Influencer: A Marketer’s Guide to Social Media, offers practical advice for anyone, whether you’re a seasoned marketer or digital novice, to increase brand presence and capture new audiences in the online space. Nearly four years after its publication, it remains relevant and useful to industry professionals and greenhorns…
Finding a job in a down economy can seem overwhelming, endless and discouraging. As opposed to the last major economic downturn, job seekers can tap into peer and employment networks using social media. Not only can one expand their search throughout the country, it’s also…
Along with sustainability and green living, social entrepreneurship is quite a hot topic. One way people can recognize their own potential for social entrepreneurship is by reading and following the works of those who are at the forefront of the movement. Social entrepreneurship is a grassroots effort that has picked up steam with the help of blogs and bloggers all over the world. By using their resources – the Internet and various social media...
Earlier this week, marketing firm Virtue released its annual list of the top 100 most social brands, where Apple and its many products reigned supreme for the second year in a row. Despite holding less than a quarter of market share in the computing world...
Social Capital 101 “Let me introduce you to someone who might be able to help you.” Some people build their entire reputation around this one line. As Malcolm Gladwell outlined in his breakthrough work, The Tipping Point, those who say this line most often are called Connectors. Essentially, Connectors are match makers. They have an enormous amount of…
Recently, Fortune magazine released its annual list of 40 rising business stars under the age of 40. While there was sure to be a few media gurus in the mix, given today’s focus on social and digital media networks, 16 major players from areas of digital media and online technology are featured – making up 40 percent of the list. From Google and Hulu to Facebook and Twitter, some of business’ most...
7 Steps Important to Make Best Strategy Blog to Development for Your Business Online
Getting into social media marketing is a smart idea for any business owner. No matter whether your business is online or offline, this still remains true. With so many businesses reaping the benefits of social marketing, it's a shame to see so many others losing out. Just looking at it from this angle highlights the value of using a blog for your business. A blog can give any business an immediate benefit when it comes to social media.
Getting into social media marketing is a smart idea for any business owner. No matter whether your business is online or offline, this still remains true. The web environment for business is focusing on social marketing so much that it becomes imperative. Just looking at it from this angle highlights the value of using a blog for your business. A blog can give any business an immediate benefit when it comes to social media.
If you want to see real results from your online marketing efforts, a blog for any business is the perfect choice. Seriously, you can build the simplest blog and do well depending on your business. When you have your blog running, you can focus on some serious marketing for it. A blog will support just about any kind of content format, so a video blog will work very well indeed. This article will look at some simple strategies for building up a blog for your business.
Choosing a blog for your business is a total no-brainer for those who have been using them. While that may seem completely obvious to you, it should be important for those who are not sure.
The Sparxoo team recently interviewed Naveen Thattil, an entrepreneur who founded TripTwit, a real-time travel guide. Below is the transcript of our interview. Here are the insights from the interview:
This is the 12th year that the report has been published, and we've often wondered if there are deeper insights that can be garnered from this report. We've analyzed the past 12...
Internet companies can be wildly profitable with operating margins of 35%. It's not just Google that has scaled. 10 years ago, Internet companies went public without revenue. Now, companies such as OpenTable are at 15% + operating margins just a year after IPO. It's not just...
There are dizzying amounts of social networks on the web, so which do you choose? LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, Mixx and the list goes on. Is YouTube most in-line with your brand or should you allocate a...
In the wake of Main St vs. Wall St, large bank executive bonuses, and bailouts, consumers are wary of financial service companies. Lack of confidence in the banking sector contributed to June 2010′s Consumer Confidence report's 9.8 point dip. To win-back consumer confidence, banks need to craft messages relevant to today's...
Discuss this Article
