Triberr, Twitter & Blogging

Triberr is one of my favorite social media tools.  I have been a part of it for close to 18 months now, give or take a few days and can say that it has been amazing. It has been exceptionally useful in providing introductions to some great people and it has enriched my blogging experience.

However a tool is only as good/useful as the person using it and I think that I have screwed it up a bit.  Let me explain how and why.

The concept behind Triberr is that you build a tribe of like minded individuals and work together to promote each others posts. If you do it well you increase your reach exponentially and good things happen for everyone.

So now 18 months in I have a reach that exceeds a million people. Let me repeat that, my reach exceeds 1 million people. That is tremendous and would be truly remarkable if it worked that well. The thing is that I know it is not.

My traffic goes up each month and engagement in all areas has increased but I am not seeing the kind of results I could or should. I attribute that to a few things.

  1.  Twitter has turned into more of a broadcast channel than it used to be. It is harder to get attention there.
  2. Not all of my posts are being tweeted.
  3. I am part of the problem and I have solutions.
I’ll probably address this in more detail in a different post but here is the short version.  Some of my tribes are too big and I don’t want to tweet everything that comes through my stream.
  1. Not all of it is relevant to my readers.
  2. I can’t do it without turning my Twitter stream into something that looks like I do nothing but broadcast. Lack of engagement kills your ability to be effective.
I am in the process of modifying how I use Triberr. I expect that when I finish making some of my changes it should have a very positive impact.

Blogging

Overall I am pleased with the move back to Livefyre but there are some hiccups that irk me. I don’t like how it failed to import some of my comments and I hate the way it duplicated others and that brings me a post I want to revisit Your Perception of Me Is Not My Reality.

It is one of my favorites.

“If you ask my children they will tell you that I speak with them about perception. We talk about impressions and how they impact how others treat us. They know that I am relentless in teaching them to make decisions about others based upon actions. It is the only way to truly know who a person is.

But the contradiction of life is that sometimes you never get the chance to show others who you are because their perception prevents that experience from taking place.

It is not nice, it is not fair and it is not reasonable- but it is reality. And through the years it is going to be a recurring topic in some manner or another.

The one thing that I can tell the kids that has always worked for me is the reminder that “Your Perception of Me Is Not My Reality.” You can have your ideas, your thoughts and your beliefs about who you think I am. But those thoughts, beliefs and ideas don’t have to limit or define who I am.”

I might have to incorporate pieces of that post into the one that I am going to write about Triberr. We shall see. In the interim I am going to work on making the changes I mentioned earlier.

The chance to experiment and shift gears mid stream is part of what I love about blogging. What about you?

Comments

    • says

       @JessicaGottlieb It could be. The best way to use to Triberr is to be part of a tribe composed of people whose content you love and trust. That is still not a guarantee that you will like it, but it goes an awfully long way to making it so.
      Twitter:

      • says

         @TheJackB  @JessicaGottlieb Amen, brother Jack. Thats exactly the spirit in which Triberr was created.
         
        But you would know that since you were one of the earliest members brought in by me. As we grow, it becomes more and more difficult to impart that spirit on newcomers. 
        Twitter:

        • says

           @dino_dogan That is the great challenge of every group. Once it begins to reach a certain size it becomes harder to maintain the message and philosophy of the founders and original members.
           
           @JessicaGottlieb 
          Twitter:

  1. says

    Hi Jack, I am a huge fan of Triberr. I joined in July and got in a tribe that ended up being a power tribe. My traffic soared. In July I had my interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer and showed them my numbers. I got the gig. 
     
    Since then I have joined other tribes. I’m not going to join any more without a good reason. I’m in some great tribes with a reach of > 5 million. I’ve met some fantastic bloggers and made great connections. My tribal stream is pretty much my RSS feed now. I get quality articles through my stream that I read and comment on. 
     
    I follow Susan’s rule too. I won’t tweet anything I don’t think is quality. I’d rather drop out of Triberr all together than pollute my Twitter stream. But because I am in truly great tribes, I don’t have to weed out too many posts. I am on Twitter a lot otherwise engaging so my followers get a lot of content and interaction. 
     
    Jack, I don’t see your posts in my feed, though I do see the others from our tribe. I’m not sure why I don’t see your posts, but I subscribe to your amazing blog so I can try to keep up that way.
     
    I quit a tribe once that wasn’t a good fit so I think that Triberr is what you make of it. If you’re in strong tribes with active tribemates who post quality articles, Triberr rocks. If you’re in Tribes with inactive tribemates or content that’s not a good fit, then you’re just not going to be a Triberr fan.
    Twitter:

    • says

       @wonderoftech Hi Carolyn,
       
      It is good to see you. Dan and Dino ought to use you for a testimonial. I hear you about your tribal stream serving as your RSS feed.
       
      It is really important to take care of your stream. I do the same thing. If I see a post that I think is not going to work for me I just won’t send it out. It is not worth the hit.
       
      I am not sure what is going on with my feed in our tribe. I know that it is being seen by the people in my other tribes. I’ll have to check on it.
       
      We are in agreement about Triberr in general. So much of the value of the tool lies in the ability of the user.
      Twitter:

  2. says

    I’m not a big fan of Triberr because it does exactly what you pointed out – turns Twitter into a broadcast tool. Sure, you can achieve a reach of 1,000,000 people, but how many of them really care? (How many of them even saw your post get tweeted in the first place? I roll my eyes whenever anyone talks about Twitter impressions, since those assume that you’re not reaching bots, but instead reaching active users who scroll through every tweet in their feed.)
     
    Overall, tools like these will come back to bite people in the back. They are effective for falsely inflating your numbers (just like following 50K people on Twitter will get you around 50K followers) but they do very little to give you a qualified, interested audience. 

    • says

       @AdamBritten Hi Adam,
       
      It is nice to meet you. We are going to disagree about some of this. Triberr isn’t the sole reason, if at all for the broadcasting that is taking place on Twitter.
       
      Go through Twitter and you’ll see endless numbers of people sharing quotes, promoting their products/services and just using Twitter in a way that makes it less effective.
       
      Does Triberr contribute to this? Absolutely, but it is unfair to paint with a broad brush or to suggest that there are no benefits.
       
      The people that follow me on Twitter tend to fall into one of three groups, Parent bloggers, Marketers and Writers. If am tweeting out posts/information that are of interest to these groups they are happy and more importantly responsive.
       
      We can have a whole debate about demographics and what sort of people we are reaching. It happens all the time and it is an interesting discussion.
       
      But I can tell you that since I joined Triberr every part of my social media experience has been enriched. There has been growth and candidly speaking I have made more than a few bucks and I have to attribute much of that to Triberr.
       
      If I had the time I could easily make my current situation work. Social media is about people and every time I focus my energies there I see nothing but good things come from that.
       
      My advice for most people on Triberr is to spend more time building smaller, more focused Tribes. I expect we will see bigger returns that way.
       
      Just ask Dino Dogan and I expect he will share similar thoughts.
       
      P.S. @NinaBadzin I love the way Livefyre lets you “call” out people in comments. It has really helped facilitate comments.
      Twitter:

      • says

         @TheJackB  @AdamBritten  Dino Dogan  @NinaBadzin Of course, I agree with you Jack. Going for numbers is really the wrong impulse many embrace initially. The they reel it back and focus on more relevant, tightly knit, tribes which consist of class A audience builders. 
         
        You get few people like that into your tribe and you’re pretty much set :-)
        Twitter:

        • says

           @dino_dogan  @TheJackB  @AdamBritten  Dino Dogan  @NinaBadzin Dino, great to see you here:) I’ve put in several requests to figure out why my tribemates’ posts aren’t appearing in my stream. It’s very wonky, and usually only two of the 7 show up regularly. Hope you can solve this. I know Shonali asked the same question, as we’re in the same tribe.In any case…love the concept of triberr, agree that keeping to tribes that share common goals and interests, so I get disappointed when I know that people must be posting, but they’re not showing up in the stream. Hope we can work this out (hey! A Beatles song just came to mind:)
          Twitter:

      • says

         @TheJackB  I certainly didn’t mean to say Triberr is the only reason Twitter is turning into simply a broadcast tool – it’s one of many tools/tricks that people (who are going to be annoying and broadcast anyway) are being annoying and broadcasting.

  3. NinaBadzin says

    Hey Jack! I’m working on a new blog–self-hosting and what not. Any advice? (I know that’s a broad question. Anyway, I’ve posed it on my blog for people like you who have done it before me.)
     
    As for this post, you know my feelings on Triberr. Of course my bad feelings are as someone who has never used it but is on the receiving end of a barrage of broadcast type tweets. You said, “Twitter has turned into more of a broadcast channel than it used to be. It is harder to get attention there.” I really think the tit-for-tat nature of the Triberr system has created that feeling on Twitter. Maybe the problem is, as you say, that the tribes are too big. Hopefully that tweak will do the trick. 
    Twitter:

    • says

       @NinaBadzin Hi Nina,
       
      I absolutely have advice and am happy to lend whatever help I can. Feel free to email me, but the brief answer is this:
       
      I have used Thesis, Headway and Genesis for my themes. Genesis is my favorite, this the Prose child theme. It is pretty easy to learn how to use it.
       
      Don’t go crazy with plugins but don’t be afraid to experiment. and like I said feel free to email me.
       
      Triberr is a tool and when it is used well it can be quite effective. I can’t blame Triberr for all of the ills and or challenges that come with Twitter. When I look through my stream I see tons of tweets that have nothing to do with it.
       
      But that doesn’t change my plan either because part of developing influence on Twitter comes from our ability to engage and share cool and useful things. So if we try to focus our energy there we find that we get good results.
       
      I know I did before and I expect that with a few adjustments I will again.
      Twitter:

      • NinaBadzin says

         @TheJackB Thanks for the advice. I think the designer I’m going with uses Genesis and not Headway. I know you didn’t love Comment Luv, but I really like the idea of it. Did you find it didn’t work? 
        Twitter:

        • says

           @NinaBadzin I liked CommentLuv a lot. It worked very well but created a ton of spam that I found tedious to deal with.
           
          I believe that they have since come up with a solution to the spam issue, but had already moved to LF and decided to wait and see what LF 3 would look like before moving again.
          Twitter:

  4. says

    Okay, bear with me. I have struggled for the 2 year (almost) I’ve been online and blogging and thinking about traffic, followers, readers, etc. 
     
    It seems to me that the numbers don’t matter unless:
     
    1. It feeds our ego
    2. We are teaching and leading in our field of interest and believe that our voice adds to the conversation
    3. We are hoping readers click on affiliate links and we make some money
     
    Am I missing something?
     
    In sales, numbers ARE everything….get in front of 10 people, one may buy from you. I understand that. But even if our “causes” fall into the humanitarian/service (not for profit) category, numbers matter.
     
    I don’t understand (but am willing to learn!) why “reach” is important unless it is helping us make friends, drive business, or influence people to join our chosen cause. HELP!

    • rdopping says

       @CrossBetsy Amen sister! I think it is all of the above plus it feeds your ego. I agree that if you are into blogging for business (a tough business to be in) then traffic and numbers need to mean a lot. If you are using the internet as a way to be in business. Same.
       
      If you are a business that is blogging then maybe you are engaging with your customers and hoping they pass on your content to other people or if you are blogging for fun or as a way to learn about your industry then gaining subscribers, followers or friends may remain organic and will grow over time as natural friendships do.
       
      The more you network. The more you gain. BTW, I have seen you around the blogosphere for a long while so i thought I would reach out and say hi! So hi, @CrossBetsy I like your red ball cap….:-) Have a fabulous Tuesday.
      Twitter:

      • says

         @rdopping Hey! Thanks for saying hi. My daughter threw the cap on my head when we were in a bagel shop and I was being stubborn about getting my picture taken. It works. Right! 
        “The more you network, the more you gain.” < The million dollar question> “What do I want to gain?” 
         

        • rdopping says

           @CrossBetsy Well, I suppose that only you can answer that question. Nice to meet you anyway. There, you gained a new “on-line” friend.
          Twitter:

    • says

       @CrossBetsy Hi Betsy,
       
      It all depends on your goals. The main reason reach is important to me is because of my long term projects regarding my writing. I think it will help me with building a readership for my books.
       
      And I do hope that some people use my affiliate links to purchase items as it helps to pay for the basic costs of blogging.
      Twitter:

  5. says

    I have noticed the same thing with triberr. I am struggling to get through all the posts. I love certain aspects of it, but I can’t tweet everything. I am wondering if it would be better to either find/create a tribe where I want to tweet everything (probably impossible) or keep being selective. I made a rule for myself a long time ago, only tweet a post that I would comment on. If I can’t think of anything nice to say, then it probably isn’t a good choice to share. 
     
    I also reduced the amount of variety that I tweet, something I hate. I try not to tweet from triberr more than 6 times a day. I wish I could add them to Buffer, but alas not yet. It would allow me to easily control the timing of everything I want to share

    • says

       @susansilver Hi Susan,
       
      I used to have around 60 bloggers or so in my tribes. I thought that it was a lot, but it gave me a really good reach and I was able to manage it pretty well.
       
      I got invited into several more tribes and joined because I thought the increase in reach would really help. Well, I am not convinced that it has had the impact I want.
       
      And I am not sure that I am really being good to some of the people in my tribes because I find myself refusing to tweet a lot of their stuff. 
       
      I want to be fair to everyone but I can’t do it at my expense. Your thought about not tweeting anything you won’t comment on is a good policy.
      Twitter:

  6. says

    Just joined Triberr a few days back Jack!
     
    One of my online friends sent me an invitation to join it, and I am still trying hard to get the hang of things there. Guess I need to check out some videos or read more about it, to know how things work there. But yes, everything everyone shares in your tribe isn’t what you can tweet all the time, unless they relate to your niche or you know they would benefit your readers. 
     
    Yes indeed, the best part about blogging is that you have the opportunity to shift gear and find better options. :)
    Twitter:

    • says

       @Harleena Singh Hi Harleena,
       
      You’ll figure out Tribber without too much effort. The most important part of it is to be in a tribe with people who blog about things that you want to share. Otherwise you find yourself in the position of constantly declining to tweet posts or sharing things that you don’t want to.
       
      One way irritates the others in your tribe and the other irritates you. That defeats the purpose of Triberr.
      Twitter:

  7. says

    I know we are in a tribe together; with Jens I think, and I’m not seeing ANY posts from that tribe. I wonder why that is? Also, you touch on a good point about broadcasting; people think I tweet too much but it’s mainly from Triberr posts. Maybe I need to think about how I ‘existing’ inside Triberr as well. I have over 11,000 tweets and I know the majority are Triberr related. The tweets just become noise…….

    • says

       @bdorman264 Are you saying that you haven’t noticed any of the posts from our tribe in your Twitter stream or on Triberr?
       
      That noise factor is exactly what I am concerned about. I think my stream is too crowded with Triberr tweets. I have it set so that they don’t go out 1 after the other but if I don’t insert myself in there you don’t see any engagement and I just add to the noise.
       
      It is not good for anyone when that happens.
      Twitter:

      • says

         @TheJackB I see nothing from Jens tribe; if I RT you it’s after I’ve been to your site. I would have to see who is in the tribe, but I think you and Jens might be the only ones I know. If your posts are in my twitter stream through Triberr I’m pretty sure I’m not seeing those either. 
         
        Do you see my posts from our Tribe? 

        • says

           @bdorman264 I do see your posts from our tribe.. I see Carolyn Nicander Mohr and rzive  and obviously berget 
           
          But I think some of the others have dropped out.
          Twitter:

        • says

           @bdorman264 I’m having the same problem, and despite asking questions of my tribe and triberr, the problem remains. I have to go to each person’s site (other than 2 people whose posts always show up in the stream. Funny that) if I want to be sure I catch everyone, and that totally defeats the purpose. I’m in only 2 tribes, so I can’t imagine doing that if I was a member of multiple tribes. Really frustrating. I don’t get any answers either. (and just as an aside, I often can’t connect to Triberr at all:(
          Twitter:

        • says

           @KDillabough So, you are saying you are in love with it?
           
          I belong to two tribes that I receive nothing; none of their posts (Jens & Stacey). The other two I belong to (Gini & Stan) I see most, but not all because I know Shonali’s are not showing up. Why some come through and some don’t I have no idea and I’m certainly not the one to figure it out. 

  8. rdopping says

    Hey TheJackB I don’t know much about this triberr. I joined up recently but stopped right away because it seems like yet another sm tool that I don’t need. Happy that you have the reach of a million people. Wonder what the coercion…er, conversion rate is on those million people. Anyway, if it works for you keep at it.
     
    There is so much out there competing with out attention that it’s almost impossible to predict what will happen. Just build them one day at a time. Take me for instance I come here regularly now and you know why? Because I like to read your stuff and respond to it. Not sure if THAT’s a plus….;-)
     
    I hear you about twitter. Hard to get heard but that’s pretty much true anywhere, on-line and off. Just a ray of sunshine today, huh?
     
    Love Livefyre when I am using Google Chrome otherwise it’s problematic even on mobile. Hmmmmm…..bitchy, bitchy bitchy….self-host is teaching some things. Back in the yard, so to speak.
    Twitter:

    • says

       @rdopping Hi Ralph,
       
      It depends on what your goals are and how much time you have. Triberr can be a very effective tool but only if you use it well.
       
      The best part about it is that it introduced me to people I never would have met and I am grateful because that is what this is all about.
       
      As for the conversion rate, well it is not good. I don’t know exactly what it is but I know that people don’t always see every tweet that goes out nor do they respond.
       
      Just for the heck of it let’s say that 600,000 people see the tweet and that 30 percent click on it. That is probably too high, but this is hypothetical. 
       
      Anyway, it still puts me in front of a pretty decent size crowd. I break it into bite size pieces. What would happen if I had 5k readers come through here every day. I don’t, but I have had days where I hit over 3k which is still quite a bit higher than what I normally see.
       
      My philosophy says that you have to sustain your effort to be successful so if I keep working who knows where it will go. Ok, I have babbled enough.
       
      I appreciate your coming by. Hope you are good.
      Twitter:

      • rdopping says

         @TheJackB I guess if it works for you. I suppose we are all looking for as many connections as possible. If you are focused on your niche and it brings you the type of engagement you are looking for that is a good thing my man.
         
        No babbling here. So, how do I join a triberr group?
        Twitter:

        • says

           @rdopping You can go to Triberr and search the tribes there to see if there is an existing one that makes sense. You can also ask around and see if any of the gang are aware of one that might work for you.
          Twitter:

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