Larry BraunerCan social aggregation and syndication websites make life online easier?

I wrote in Hubze is a New Business Site for Personal Branding and Social Media Aggregation that “the aggregation of social websites will be a major focus of 2010, as enabling technologies like semantic web come to the forefront.”

Social Networking SitesSocial media enthusiasts who regularly cross post on multiple social platforms use aggregation and syndication sites and tools to simplify simultaneous cross posting across those platforms.

For example, I often want to share a link, an idea or content on all of the most popular social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Ning sites, such as inSocialMedia).

Since I don’t want to work through a complicated or tedious process each time I do that, I rely on syndication sites such as Amplify, Ping.fm and Posterous to help, depending upon the type of information I’m sharing.

Posterous vs. Amplify vs. Ping.fm

I prefer syndication sites over desktop tools, since I can access those sites from any computer wherever I happen to be, and they also help build my web presence. These are my current favorites:

  • Amplify - A social bookmarking site. You add links (along with article snippets if you like) using a browser bookmarklet, and your entries are posted to all the social networks you’ve specified. Amplify also has a strong social element and is a useful online social networking resource.
  • Ping.fm - A micro blogging site (a little like Twitter). Your posts can have pics attached, and can be distributed to a large variety of pre-specified social websites. You can conveniently submit your posts to Ping.fm by email.
  • Posterous - A blogging community to which you can post pics, video and text. Your Posterous posts are shared on a variety of pre-specified social websites. Posterous, like Amplify, has a strong social element. As with Ping.fm, you can submit your posts to Posterous by email, and as with Amplify you can create posts using a browser bookmarklet.

Hubze, now in testing, may be another important aggregation and syndication site in the future.

However, there are many syndication sites and tools that are already being used successfully. Which social aggregation and syndication websites and tools do you like to use — and why?

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19 Responses to “Posterous vs. Amplify vs. Ping.fm My Favorite Syndication Sites”

  1. Lee on March 21st, 2010 11:29 pm

    Thanks for the great informative post about these new flashes of light and excitement in social media, Larry!

  2. Dawn Pigoni on March 22nd, 2010 6:56 am

    It will be interesting to see what Hubze has to offer.

    Currently I use Hootsuite and ping.fm together and am currently looking into Posterous. Haven’t checked out Amplify.

    There are just so many options, you just have to pick the ones that work best for you and your business.

  3. James Mann on March 22nd, 2010 7:02 am

    Hi Larry, spreading the word is most important.

    I use Ping.fm but I have never heard of Amplify or Posterous; thanks I have them open in new tabs and will take the next little while learning more about them.

    That is one of the main reasons I work from home. I can drop everything and learn about new sites to help me spread the word.

  4. Can on March 22nd, 2010 8:55 am
  5. Chris Boyer on March 22nd, 2010 9:14 am

    Aggregation sites are very important, but it’s also important to note that people consume content differently on social networking sites. What’s appropriate for a blog (like Ning) might not fit well in Facebook, or Twitter.

    So, while spreading the word is very important, it’s also important to respect your audience. And what’s most important is not to only spread the word on social media, but to listen and interact.

    Great post, again, Larry!

  6. Kurt Lawton on March 22nd, 2010 9:37 am

    Larry

    I’m truly bothered by Twitter posts and twitter language showing up on my Facebook page and now my LinkedIn status update. In fact, I’ve gone as far as dropping/hiding those who practice this cross posting. It is very annoying, and I suggest to those posters to stop.

    If aggregation sites will expand this practice, I will lobby against them. Your thoughts?

    Kurt

  7. Cheryl H. on March 22nd, 2010 11:03 am

    I haven’t tried Amplify but it looks like one I might have to look into. Personally right now I use HootSuite, I love their bookmarlet and the fact that not only do I get to choose the networks I’m posting to, but when, which is fantastic when I’m looking to share something to mark a particular event or occasion.

  8. Welkin Capital Group on March 22nd, 2010 12:36 pm

    I understand why it makes sense to belong to various popular social networking sites. Your followers on Twitter, for example, may be different than your friends on Facebook, Ning, etc.

    But I don’t understand why you would need more than one aggregation site. It seems like Hubze maybe be different because it will be more about personal branding along with aggregation.

    But why use Hootsuite, Amplify, Posterous, etc. when I’m already posting to the social networking sites I’m on through Ping. fm?

    I guess I’m missing something, but I don’t know what. Is is that I would also have new and different followers on those aggregation sites as well?

    Jack Goldenberg

  9. Larry Brauner on March 22nd, 2010 2:10 pm

    @Lee @Dawn @James Thank you.

    @Can You’ve got a good system. Now feed it good and relevant content. :)

    @Chris @Kurt I agree with you completely.

    I have two Ping.fm accounts, one for very businesslike posts and the other for lighter or more personal posts. Each works with a different aggregation of social networking sites.

    This morning I posted to Amplify but turned off Twitter and Facebook dissemination to avoid creating duplicate content on those sites.

    The aggregation of conversation using RSS and aggregation sites such as Friend Feed is something I plan to write about in the future.

    @Cheryl Thank you for the recommendation.

    @Jack Yes, the social aspect of these sites is an important factor.

    Another important factor is that each site works differently and accommodates content in a different way.

    Posterous is a blog, while Amplify is a bookmarking site. Ping.fm specializes in spreading the word, and Hubze will be a branding site.

  10. Stephen G Barr on March 22nd, 2010 5:54 pm

    Very timely post. I’ve been using Posterous now for a bit over a month and like it very much and just registered at Hubze last week and trying it out.

  11. Latief@AnotherBlogger on March 23rd, 2010 5:34 am

    I’ll join those sites, since you said that they will help me Larry. Thanks.

  12. Lara, The Data Digger on March 23rd, 2010 8:24 am

    @Kurt Lawton if seeing one person post the same content across multiple social networks bothers you so much why not follow that person on one network?

    When broadcast sites i.e. Hootsuite, Ping.fm, etc first starting appearing I resisted using them for the very reason you stated. It would irk me to see the same post from one person on all the social networks

    However, I recently read a post on Techcrunch or Mashable that has shed a new perspective on this issue. The author stated that they used a broadcast site because then users can decide which social network they want to use. For example, if the author posts a link to this article on Ping.fm and it hits all their social networks, the audience is going to vary. Some people who love to use Facebook and only want to use Facebook will see the post. While someone else who loves to use Twitter and only wants to use Twitter will see the post.

    This is in line with how I cultivate my social networks. The connections I have on Facebook are quite different then the connections I have on LinkedIn which are very different from the people I connect with on Twitter.

    If I do not want to see the same post by one person on all the social networks, then I only follow that person on one network.

    I still do not use a broadcasting service to hit all my social networks. I use Amplify to hit specific social networks, Clipmarks, Delicious, Twitter and one other site depending on the content. I customize my posts for that social network audience.

  13. Realtime rss feeds on March 27th, 2010 2:47 am

    Is posterous dofollow?

  14. Jamie Gorman on March 27th, 2010 5:07 pm

    Great and timely article and comments. Is Shareaholic considered an aggregation tool or only a bookmarking tool?

  15. Larry Brauner on March 27th, 2010 9:07 pm

    @Realtime Posterous seems to be dofollow as best I can tell.

    @Jamie Shareaholic is a browser add-on, not a website like those I compared. It is an aggregation and bookmarking tool.

  16. leapbrowser on April 9th, 2010 10:09 pm

    We also like these sites and the time they save when posting.

  17. peter marsden on April 21st, 2010 7:22 am

    interesting post, i’ve been looking for a tool like this. I didnt realise they were called social aggregation sites. Submitting manually is so tedius and time consuming!

  18. Shaun Taylor on May 28th, 2010 9:43 am

    I love ping.fm. I can get my message out to a wide audience really quickly.

  19. Joseph Boylan on August 13th, 2010 4:23 am

    This is one of the backbone services that we don’t speak about too much. How ever it’s part of the Net’s life blood.

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