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Gevril and Haurex Italia dinner during Baselworld in March 2011 with Larry Brauner standing in the background.
Baselworld 2012 is right around the corner!
Mar
21
Posterous vs. Amplify vs. Ping.fm My Favorite Syndication Sites
Filed Under Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning Sites, Social Media and Social Networking Sites, Twitter
Can 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 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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Tags: aggregation, online social networking, social bookmarking, social bookmarking sites, Social Media, social networking, social networking site, social networking sites, syndication
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Thanks for the great informative post about these new flashes of light and excitement in social media, Larry!
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.
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.
I use Posterous.. Here’s how: blog.cankoklu.com/how-i-use-sharing-socialmedia-and-microblog-s
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!
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
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.
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
@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.
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.
I’ll join those sites, since you said that they will help me Larry. Thanks.
@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.
Is posterous dofollow?
Great and timely article and comments. Is Shareaholic considered an aggregation tool or only a bookmarking tool?
@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.
We also like these sites and the time they save when posting.
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!
I love ping.fm. I can get my message out to a wide audience really quickly.
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.
I use TweetDeck, but have recently been trying out the new Seesmic Desktop 2. It doesn’t work with Blogger, that I can see. So, tonight I signed up for Amplify in the hopes that I can fill that gap.
I’m also using Posterous via email for long posts (such as Facebook) but prefer TweetDeck or Seesmic for short ones (such as Twitter).
Thanks for the evaluation notes … best comparison and details on Amplify, PIng.fm and Posterous I’ve seen so far. Have used Ping.fm and starting to use Posterous and your info (and the responses) help clear the mental clutter.
Now, who’s written something similar comparing Hootsuite, Seesmic and Tweetdeck?
I just came across this post. One tool that I don’t see mentioned (unless I overlooked it) is dlvr.it, which is designed to be a content syndication platform. Essentially, it’s plumbing. You can set up and customize “routes” that delivers different content sources to different destinations. You can mix/match in any number of ways. Plus, there are good analytics as well.
I’m currently experimenting with Amplify and finding it to be a useful, fun and engaging tool. I really like the community-focused nature of the platform. To actually get comments on blog posts I write is refreshing.
Let me be the one to break it to you, but this article reflects serious misunderstanding of social media.
You have confused aggregation (pull) with re-posting/repeating distribution (push).
Amplify, Posterous, and Ping.fm along with Pixelpipe are content repeaters. These vehicles PUSH content toward other vehicles. These vehicles do not aggregate content. Friendfeed is a prime example of a vehicle that aggregates.
As designed, Amplify and Posterous seem to be next generation vehicles that lean more toward the Mobile Age of Computing (aka smart phone age).
Amplify replaces all first-gen sites in bookmarking (e.g., Delicious) and news reading (e.g., Digg, Mixx, Reddit) as well as all second-gen sites in both categories (e.g., Diigo, Newsvine) while striving for stickiness.
Posterous is a multi-media content repeater à la Pixelpipe, but with a Tumblr like front-end for stickiness.
Ping is least like the others in that Ping does nothing toward fostering communities for stickiness. Stuck in first generation design thinking, Ping repeats status updates and links.
There is much more to go into, but I share that with paying clients.
Thank you for your great input Smack!
Very informative! I use Posterous. I have tried Ping and found Posterous has more functionality.
I`ve been using PingFM to send the articles that i write for my sites to all the different web 2.0 sites its been so helpful i can post my article to 8 or 9 web 2.0 sites and as these sites have already have lots of quality articles aand backlinks i get a surge of traffic. I have never used Amplify but will now add it to my sites to post to and just for anyone interested Tumbler has now shut down.
Thanks for a great article , Jim
Thanks, Larry! I’m on my way to check out Amplify!
I’ve used Ping.fm, but I don’t like how it shortens the URLS, changing them from my own. I will check out the others you recommend, starting with Amplify. Thanks.
I’ve used Posterous in the past, but recently moved over to Ping.FM due to the ability to post w/ less hassle on my smartphone. I tried Amplify, but for some reason when I tested it (on 2 different networks), it wasn’t syndicating it to the specified accounts I listed. Are there ways to take advantage of multiple syndication sites (ex: Ping.FM & Posterous) by linking one to another? Thanks in advance. - R
The answer is yes, but it may be overkill.
Hey Larry, great article! I had not heard of Amplify before, so that’s another great tool to add to the toolbelt. I’m currently experimenting around with Ping.fm and Posterous to see which one can distribute content easier. I’ve actually recently ran into a few problems accepting posts from Posterous, so the job of multiple network distribution may be leaning towards Ping.cm