Ever noticed how quick your (user)name pops up in search engine results after having registered and posted to online presence services? This is even further enhanced when you actually update the different services regularly.
The option off sharing your online presence is one available with many services and social networks. Not just Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku (that emphasize on online presence with some extras), but also MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook amongst others give its members this 140 character option.
So, how convenient would it be if you could strengthen your personal brand on behalf of these high PR‘ed sites from just 1 location?
Ping.fm
Ping.fm was created for the sole purpose of making it as easy as possible to share your posts with the world. Now you don’t have to fumble around the web in order to post anymore, you can just post once, and be done with it.
The idea came about when making some posts to Twitter and Tumblr. The idea of posting the exact same information in two places seemed a bit tedious, so Ping.fm was born.
source: about Ping.fm
Still in beta, yet already impressive, Ping.fm does a simple job: cross-posting your online presence to multiple social networks with 1 click.
Only live for a few weeks, Ping.fm has developed and expanded quite rapidly:
- It already supports 9 major social networks, as well as Blogger and is (while drafting this post) preparing compatibility with WordPress, LinkedIn and Bebo
- Next to that, it offers the tools to post using AOL IM, Gtalk, Google Gadget, Facebook application, iPhone and a general mobile version.
- It has its API ready for third-party application usage (like the Facebook application is doing right now) and
- Offers customizable triggers to dedicate your postings to specific networks
If you want to give the beta version a try, just browse to http://ping.fm and use beta code “pingfriends” to get an account.
Personal Branding
After reading a few posts on using online presence platforms like Twitter to leverage your personal branding and after finding out about Ping.fm, I took simple action and saw quite immediate result.
Using Ping to cross-post to multiple platforms, my much unused Pownce account came back to life and suddenly popped up on the first page of search results for “ipears”, pushing down other results that not link back to anything related to me.
More activity on plural platforms that have a strong position on the net seems to appreciated by Google (they index sites the quickest, IMHO).
Side-Note: I preferred Jaiku over Twitter for some time, but being able to easy update my Remember the Milk to-do list with a direct command from Twitter, I start to use it more functionally.
Duplication
Only question that remains, from a Search Engine Optimization perspective: How is being dealt with the duplication of those (about) 140 characters all over the net?
Anybody an idea?
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Comments ( 4 )
Dan Schawbel added these pithy words on Apr 15 08 at 2:19 pmThanks for this recommendation. The idea with personal branding is to create a consistent “face” across the internet, which includes your picture/avatar, writing and possibly video. By joining all these social networks you are securing your personal brand, but at the same time you are building a strong and recognizable presence.
jan van iperen added these pithy words on Apr 15 08 at 3:38 pm@ Dan: talking about that, how come I do not see your Gravatar activated?
Thanks for the comment.
jan van iperen added these pithy words on Apr 16 08 at 5:53 amVery well, somehow I did not expect any other picture to show up.