Listly Blog Audit

We recently begun the debate by distinguishing between Social Networks (Facebook, Twitter, G+ & LinkedIn) and Content Networks like YouTube, Slideshare, Soundcloud and Listly. According to our research, there a 6 types of shareable content: Beyond these 6 (video, audio, slides, lists, graphics, & docs), " social updates " may well be a 7th category - you can embed updates from Twitter today.

This week we released the ability to customize images on Listly (prior to this point we simply reused images from the web. First let's explore the 8 reasons that images matter: Here's the Coles notes of what's new on Listly. It's very simple, yet very powerful.

We also reveal who are the kings and queens of video, slides, audio, lists and graphics plus explore some key learnings from 70 top blogs.

Today, we perform a content audit on 22 top blogs. What can we all learn from CopyBlogger, Problogger, KissMetrics, BufferApp & 18 more Social Rockstars?

What makes content social? It takes two types of network: Social networks are well understood and symbolized by the likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and G+. Content Networks are an emerging category that each focus on a specific content type. YouTube, Slideshare, Soundcloud, Listly, Visually and Scribd are all examples of content networks.

Social Media and our new sharing habits aren't just changing conferences, they are changing how we experience and integrate events into our lives. Events are landmarks on our journey through life. Events are turning points where you meet potentially amazing people, discover great content or simply change a perception or have an epiphany.

We love everything in serial form these days: books, movies, TV shows. Our life is becoming serialized. Series simplify our choice to consume content. We've learned from repetition that " series trump movies ". There are many parallels between serial/episodic content and blog post series. Have you ever written a blog post series?

Three things. There is something magical about three. We love to hear stories told in threes. It lets us pace ourselves. Threes have a rhythm. We've come to expect to hear things in threes. We count down. We stay focussed.

Who doesn't want to be a leader of something? We all love to be recognized for our achievements. Leaderboards have grown in this world of social participation. Social networks are driven by leaderboards whether we like it or not. Leaderboards don't have to look like leaderboards to be effective.

I thought Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter don't have leaderboards. That thought lasted about 10 seconds. Leaderboards don't have to be ladders to be effective.

You can't beat learning from raving fans. The ones who just do stuff, no questions asked. The ones who just make stuff work because of their unbridled optimism and passion for your product or service. Tools say things to people. Some people see ways to combine and apply tools that can literally change lives and reinvent business models.

I was going to write a blog post, but I thought this video says it all. There is nothing better than people talking about what matters to them. Kevin is a brand new to Listly, we'd not spoken before I saw this video. I love Kevin's focus on just how much time Listly saved him.

I mentioned "celebrate your achievements" recently on my blog. I spoke at Social Media Camp in Victoria in May and I'd listened to CC Chapman's keynote. He made a big deal out of celebrating victories. Funny thing is, I don't think I really took his message on board.

A group of HR professionals that leverage social media and blogging are all coming togetherSunday, June 16th to play a friendly game of kickball. Why? It's the start of the annual conference for SHRM (Society of Human Resource Management) and what better way to start a conference than with some fun, some networking, and most importantly making a change.

There is an art to collaborating on content creation. If you want to be successful when crowdsourcing and collaborating to source and create content you need to think about the problem from the perspective of the contributor. Participation happens when you remove friction and when you provide all the right motivations.

Recently I've been thinking startups are like building a machine. There's parallels to board games like Settlers of Catan, Power Grid and Dominion (aka Euro Games or Designer Games). These games feature sparse resources and tough/fun choices. Fair warning - this is an epic (aka long) post.

We get the idea that list posts are rewarding, and we keep going back for more, but why? What is the human motivation story behind the appeal of lists and list posts? What is the psychology of lists? I've broken down the motivations into four core reasons:

So how do you curate content sourced from your community? In more blunt terms, how do you reject people's suggestions without feeling bad and without offending anyone? Sometimes people will post spammy, self-promoting content, so you have to reject it Some people will submit multiple suggestions that you just don't like.

We're pleased to announce that Marie Ennis-O'Connor is the winner of a Listly premium 12 month licence. Marie is relatively new to the Listly community, but has made lots of lists. Best of all she's been a tireless promoter of her work, and her fellow participants, contributors and collaborators.

We have been listening closely to user feedback and based on what we heard, we are releasing two features that we think you'll love: Custom Profiles - Setup a profile list you can use on Listly or elsewhere Quick Add Items - Add multiple items to a list quickly Custom Profiles Custom profiles is built using Listly lists.

Here at Listly, we clearly love lists, including simple HTML lists. But we feel that Listly lists trump HTML lists in the following three ways: Go ahead and try clicking on the "Add To List" button, Embed, and Share icons to experience the three ways you can engage your readers with your lists using Listly.

As part of a minor update since the release of Listly V3 we updated the embed preview screen, added Author Rank integration and revised the bookmarklet. Enjoy

Our location defines us in so many ways and connects us to our friends, family and our community. Local issues are emotional because they impact us directly. Local issues stir people to act. We've seen this many times on Listly [ 1] [ 2] Sourcing and aggregating opinion on fish and ship shops in Lincoln is a great example from this week.

Everyone can have a voice today, which is why its hard to get heard if you work alone. Harmonize your voice and your actions with other blogs and bloggers and you stand out from the crowd. Acting together works. It's the difference between singing a solo and singing in a choir.

There is no doubt video is the communication tool of our generation. They enable us to deliver a message, or entertain, in an engaging manner. Yet, as the volume of available video content skyrockets, so does the challenge of finding engaging video content to share on any given topic.