SOCIAL IMPRESSIONS

Greg Davies aka cGt2099 is a social media addict, who first jumped into social news at Digg. In September 2007, he was permanently banned from Digg, and made the move over to Mixx. Since moving to Mixx, Greg has developed a following of Mixxers and he also co-hosts the Mixx-related podcast Social Blend. He is often in touch with the crew behind the scenes of Mixx, providing feedback and consulting with suggestions for future improvements on the social news site. Greg Davies has graciously agreed to speak with me about best practices and how to promote solid content on Mixx.

Tell me a little bit about why you started using Mixx.

For me, it all started when I was permabanned from Digg. Despite my appeals, Digg wasn’t interested in hearing me out, so I began heading out to look for a new playground. I had visited Mixx before, and started there after my ban. I was blown away by how awesome it was. That’s where it really began for me.

The number of social news sites has seen significant growth recently. What makes Mixx “awesome”?

Well, everyone is going to have a completely different answer to that question. For me, it’s two things. Firstly, it’s the personalization of Mixx, with the “Your Mixx” section. I can customize My Mixx by adding tags I’m interested in, users I’m following, groups I’m a part of, and sections/categories of the site. It completely revolutionized the way I looked at social media. Back in my Digg days, it was all about competition and getting to the front page… with Mixx, it was more about serving the content and checking out the content you were most interested in. The second awesome aspect is the crew behind the scenes of Mixx - they’re so receptive to user feedback, and answer any questions the users have - which is mind blowing; I cannot think of any other social media site that has that much support from the staff. Their support is second to none.

Why should online users be active on Mixx?

Besides the reasons I outlined above, I think the more appropriate question might be, “Why should Diggers try out Mixx?” I’ve heard a lot of nasty comments from Diggers about they way they feel about Digg right now; and a lot of their grievences are really and truly addressed by Mixx. For example, when everyone was still screaming for an Images section at Digg, Mixx had already deployed one upon launch. With Diggers continually asking for more feedback and interactivity from the Digg crew, we Mixxers are already getting that with the crew behind the scenes at Mixx: your emails get answered, and they genuinely want to hear from you. There’s so much that Mixx has to offer that it’s only going to benefit the site and Digg Refugees as well if they swing by and give it a shot. Seriously - there’s already people you Diggers know over there - so why not give it a shot?

Many social news sites do not have “Groups”. What are the benefits of being part of a group and how would a new user become a member? Can any one create a group if there isnt one in a particular niche available?

Anyone can create a group at Mixx, with any theme they want. You can have it as private as you want, or as public as you want. Basically, the benefits of groups gives users a specialized focus on specific topics. For example, my professional background is in education; and as you would imagine, not many educationally related topics hit the front page, because it’s a very specific topic targeted at teachers and educators. So, I started a group called “Education for Educators“. It’s only very small, but it will grow, and we have a whole bunch of submissions in there related to education. Another example is the KISS fans group, or the Mixx Metal Heads - they’re very specific groups set up so you can zone in on the stuff that you’re interested in the most. A new user can become a member of any public group on Mixx. If you hit the GROUPS link, you can browse all the groups that are available publicly and join whatever ones interest you the most. Just let me add about this aspect - Groups at Mixx will become a lot more popular as the site grows. The more users you get, the more generic popular content; thus there will be a need for users to zone in on their interests.

Users can post their submission to many groups and general categories. If people vote on all of the groups and categories, how does it affect the total votes? Do the votes aggregate in one place?

Groups are separate from public stories. So if you vote on a story you find in a group, that vote does not automatically carry over to the public one. The reason for that was to see what stories would be more popular within a group without outside public influence. Let me give you an example. I’m a big Star Wars geek. What might be a popular Star Wars story to fans, might not necessarily be popular to the general public and vice versa. For example, a story from CNN about the upcoming Clone Wars movie might become popular publicly; but Star Wars fans have been aware of that news for weeks… they might be more interested in spoilers and reviews. The other reason they’re separate was because there was an element initially of people gaming the system… the more topics they would submit to groups, the easier it was for people to go to the public story and boost the public one to become popular. That’s since changed, and so you now have focus of like a “mini-community” within a group; and then a more wide-ranged focus on the popular page.

What if you aren’t a member of any groups, but a submission is posted across several categories? Do they all aggregate then?

Yes, though it might take a different threshold for say, a movie topic, to become popular in the MOVIES section, than what it would across the board on the main popular page.

Many people ask about the Karma points concept. How do users accumlate karma points? Is there a specific equation and is there a lag of when the Karma points reflect your activity on Mixx?

The Mixx Lounge, and your Karma points, can sometimes be a few hours behind - it’s not a “realtime” thing, so that it gives other users a chance to pop up and stay in the Lounge for a while. People accumulate karma by basically participating at Mixx - submitting content, voting on stories, commenting on posts, etc. I am sure there’s a specific equation or algorithm for karma, though I wouldn’t know for the life of me what it is. I know some people have speculated in the forums at MixxingBowl and in the Mixx Help Group, so people might want to check those resources out for a better idea of what the algo may possibly entail.

Can your Karma points decrease?

At present, as far as I know, there is no decrease in karma points. Of course, Mixx would obviously reserve the right to make any changes at any time; it is their site after all. The only time I ever noticed a decrease in points was early on in the early days of the site - some new users were accumulating karma like CRAZY; and it was really distorted - what was clear was that the algo they had in place for the closed beta, wasn’t working as well now that Mixx was open to the public. So they adjusted the system, and everyone’s karma was adjusted accordingly.

Personally speaking though, I try not to pay too much attention to karma. My main focus at Mixx is always in submitting content and checking out what’s in My Mixx and what my friends have been submitting… I very rarely focus on the Popular page (though I know a lot of others do), so half the time, I don’t even know if anything I’ve submitted has hit the front page or how it’s affected my karma. I’m more interested in the content, and interacting SOCIALLY with other Mixxers.

How can a user tell when their submission goes popular? Is there a certain number of votes that determines that a submission went popular?

Yes, there is an algo or threshold that promotes submissions to the popular page (it’s a lower threshold for photos and videos than what it is for stories). There is no set number of votes though, but it’s unclear what the secret sauce is for promotion - as with all algorithms, it’s like the Colonel’s secret herbs and spices - nobody knows but the crew behind the scenes. I’m guessing that promotion is often based on how many users are using the site at any given time, as I’ve noticed on heavier traffic days, the vote numbers are higher for stories being promoted. As traffic and memberships at Mixx increases, I’m sure that trend will follow as well. At present, there’s no direct way of a user knowing for sure if their story goes popular, except maybe through some comment notifications through e-mails… but as time goes on, I am certain that Mixx will add this feature to the site at some stage; because I have read people talking about it at MixxingBowl and I know the crew checks out the Bowl for any and all interesting feedback from Mixxers.

I have noticed that “Share this” changed to “Email This”. They added another type of “Share This” feature where you can virally promote your submission across many social networking sites. How does this change affect users? How should these features be used?

The crew behind the scenes of Mixx are very aware that many people use a whole wide range of social media resources; whether it be networking through MySpace or bookmarking through Delicious (they’re dropping the dots apparently). It just helps expand other people’s awareness of Mixx, which in my opinion is great. “Email This” is basically the function that you can use to share submitted content internally with other Mixxers via email. I use it often, and it’s a really handy resource - particularly if I find something of interest someone’s submitted. Sharing is good, but oversharing is tedious - I would recommend Mixxers not be concerned with the quantity of what they’re sharing, but the QUALITY of what they’re sharing. If the content you’ve submitted or found at Mixx is exceptional and exciting; go ahead and share it.

I have noticed that some of my awards have dropped off. Is it because a submission has been downmodded or is there a revolving cycle that occurs?

No, it’s a revolving cycle. The awards temporarily stay on your profile. However, people have been requesting a history tab where people can see your history of awards and the content it was awarded for… and that is definitely in the works and coming soon at Mixx.

You are one of the hosts of Social Blend. What do you hope to leverage from this podcast?

Social Blend was a podcast started by myself with Jay Fowler aka SilentJay74, and Brian Hill aka Bdog2g2. We knew that Diggers had Diggnation and The Drill Down, and we wanted to do something that was related to the tagline of the Mixxing Bowl, which is “Made for Mixxers by Mixxers”. So we really set about doing the podcast not only to give Mixxers a podcast of their own; but to help promote Mixx. The focus of the cast is always on Mixx news and Mixxers themselves. We do delve into content and stories of the week, but we really try and focus on users first and foremost with the podcast.

Mixx offers a Help Group and the Mixxing Bowl to all users. Can you tell me more about them?

I started The Mixx Help Group as a means by which other Mixxers could help new Mixxers, or anyone experiencing difficulties at the site. It’s become reasonably popular, and people go there for any hints and tips. The Mixxing Bowl is the site that was set up by Bdog2g2, Brian Hill, to give Mixxers a place they could gather and hang out - a place where they could not only talk about Mixx, but also anything else they wanted. It’s become a really cool place to hang, and we try and encourage more Mixxers to swing by, register, check it out, and participate. We also do something called Friday Fest every Friday night at The Mixxing Bowl forum, where people can post ridiculous and funny stuff - it’s all just for fun, so swing by and check it out. Oh, and also, aside from the forum, MixxingBowl also has other features - besides being the host for Social Blend, it also hosts the minicast I do with Mr Baby Man called THE ROUND UP, and we also post a regular comic strip by Honest_Ape called SOCIAL MEDIACRITY.

Some people have some negative criticisms about Mixx, such as some people saying, “it’s too PG-13″ or “it isn’t very intuitive”. What’s your take on that?

I would respectfully disagree; it can take any time to adjust and get used to the feel of any new site. Think of how different it was for people who were using Twitter and moved over to Pownce. Or those from MySpace to Facebook - and vice versa. The feel of each site is different and each has its own uniqueness as far as intuitiveness is concerned. I also disagree about the PG-13 criticism. There have been some submissions that would be more MA at times; but it’s really no different than what other sites like Reddit, Delicious, and Digg have on offer… For example - the post I got banned for at Digg was submitted by someone at Mixx - and it frontpaged. Same thing at Reddit as well.