chrisbrogan.com - Latest Comments in The Power of the Absurd

Re: The Power of the Absurd

micro sd — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 03:43:26 -0000

I laughed my head off because well being both funny, they still had those decent signal - they were not out and out parody. I'd say move on and to hell with those who do not get it. It was funny, but yeah you have an effective style, as I have learned, sometimes people get when you're trying to be funny, but that's an individual thing. It's your fault they do not get it and the people you should not expect to dumb them down is not. A writing style that reflects the skills vary.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Hard drive recovery — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:44:31 -0000

I also want to learn some trick that how to get more followers on twitters,

Re: The Power of the Absurd

paulnorwine — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:05:03 -0000

Hi Chris,

Not that this is information about your "reach" that you don't already know but I did a google search on the top 50 social media blogs to get some advice for starting out. You came up at #1 so I did a little surfing on your site and came across the posts you are referring to. I did think the titles were a little off with your following but was intrigued anyway (you obviously know what you are doing so I was hoping to get some little golden nuggets). So, even though you may not see yourself as an expert, google disagrees :( Thanks, Chris!

Paul

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Pixie Stevenson — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:10:25 -0000

Then I'm an expert in baking chocolate chip cookies. Let me know when you're in Ohio again and I'll bring you some.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

David Criswell — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:55:29 -0000

Chris, outside of some of the other lessons learned from other commenteres, the first lesson I thought of is that it shows the power of the headline. It had the feel of a Cosmo or Enquirer headline, which work, right?!

To back this up it would be interesting to see the bounce rate for these posts compared to others and also the time spent on the site where these posts were the lead in. My suspicion is that those visitors who thought the headlines were serious would quickly leave and not look at any of your other content.

That may give a better understanding for the traffic bump. Could be an interesting analysis!

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Phil Lauterjung — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:42:45 -0000

There may have been some who thought those posts were serious, but I RT'd them because I thought you were spot on. I think there are many of us that really get a little tired of the mindless self-promotion from way too many people. I didn't think you were too snarky or sarcastic - it was "goldilocks" sarcasm, just right. Keep injecting your personality into what you write, that's why so many of us follow you. Don't give in to the vocal minority who may only follow you to find something (anything?) to criticize. With so many following you, you become a larger target; but, that doesn't mean you should change what brought you this far. Your advice has been that we should be ourselves when we use social platforms. Thanks for following your own advice. Keep up the good work, and wear that bulls-eye with pride.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Ty_Walsworth — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:46:48 -0000

If you quit using sarcasm I will not follow you anymore. Kidding. That was sarcastic... and I really enjoy your humor in a world of too much serious. I start every day reading your emails. Don't change. I also enjoy long walks in the park, but you should know I am slightly overweight. Sarcasm. It IS wonderful. Love, @Ty_Walsworth

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Phil — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:19:16 -0000

Exactly! It's NOT about being an expert. It's about being real, connection, authenticty. Follow numbers are about appearence and do not represent the value of the tweet :).

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Trent Hamm — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:59:05 -0000

I get small "Twitter floods" on a regular basis. What I've found is that when one happens, I get lots of "mystery clicks." Those mystery clicks are coming from Twitter apps like TweetDeck and Twitterfon and Seesmic and so on.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Jonathan Rivera — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:21:13 -0000

I think you're right. People probably retweeted that like crazy and everyone thought it was a real post.

As for the walk in the front door traffic, it could be people using twitters API. I've found that people using twitter clients like tweetdeck don't actually register as visits from twitter, they show as direct traffic.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

NikkiPilkington — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:48:39 -0000

Don't forget that a lot of traffic from Tweetdeck and some other Twitter apps will show as direct traffic, not referred from Twitter.

The thing about mickey-take posts is that hey're funny because they're rooted in the truth, and so more people will pass them on - I know I'm more likely to pass on something funny than the same old Socil media stuff all the time that everyone has already retweeted / posted on Facebook etc.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

richlaburn — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:34:03 -0000

Chris, as most of the people have commented, I think the subject lines are the cause of traffic coming through. You can write an attention grabbing headline in a newspaper, book title or blogpost and it is sure to entice some people to take further interest in buying it or clicking through to it.

It would be interesting to see how long people took on the blog once they clicked through it. If they realised it was not what they were looking for and they had once again been caught out by a catchy title, they more than likely would have left shortly afterwards. Nevertheless, their presence still would show up on your traffic rankings.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

richlaburn — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:29:41 -0000

Chris, I think the lesson here is in the subject lines of your articles. So often attention grabbing headlines and quick fix solutions entice people to click through for a read. This can be seen in reality not only in the form of newspaper headlines (think tabloids in particular) but also in book titles, etc.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Alan Skorkin — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:03:13 -0000

From the screenshots it looks like you're using WordPress.com Stats. I believe that takes it's time from the Wordpress installation itself. So if you go to the Settings->General section of your wordpress install and set your Timezone, your Stats will kick over to a new day at midnight (i.e. midnight where you are) like it is meant to. If you don't do this, wordpress might use the same time as the server it is hosted on (not 100% sure about this though), which is probably different timezone to where you are.

Sorry to comment off topic, just trying to be helpful :), especially considering many people have already mentioned what I was thinking in their comments.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Scott Hale — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:49:25 -0000

Are there any relevant search terms that led to these posts on those days? It would be interesting to see if people REALLY thought they were getting the secret to more followers or becoming an expert.

I just read the previous comments...and it looks like everybody else had the same thought.

That's actually kind of sad. I enjoy your satirical posts, and anybody expecting serious posts about how to get more followers should start heading elsewhere. These numbers are indicating that the general public really is looking for quick followers and expert tips - and these satirical items you posted are the things people are SERIOUSLY posting to fill the interest.

As for a comparison to Jay-Z, his fans are loyal because they like his style. If you are the Jay-Z of SM, you have fans because you can joke about ridiculous trends and you are engaging at a high level. I don't go to Jay-Z for his humor and business savvy (though he may have a great sense of both); similarly, I don't listen to Chris Brogan for well-behind-the-curve trends or for an intro to social media.

Keep up the good work,

- Scott

Re: The Power of the Absurd

WarrenKelly — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:57:29 -0000

Personally, I think that these posts were very valuable to the kind of people who would click on something with that title -- and I figure that was the intent ;)

Don't you dare give up the satire, Chris Brogan; satire is a better teacher than almost anything out there, because the people who learn are the people who really need it.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

jennyonthespot — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:52:57 -0000

Well, I get your posts via email... I actually clicked to your site for the Twitter post... I went because I thought the title sounded counter to what your typically write about... "get more followers" is not a phrase I would ascribe to your "brand" :)

I HAD to click to make sure this was the Chris Brogan I usually read :) I have come to know you as community and relationship driven and the "get more followers" hype is for the other people... ya know?

And the listed matched your voice. Counter to the "1 million followers now" apraoch. I enjoyed the list... and nodded and "yepped" with each point. You didn't say, "get 100000000 more followers today"...

The list has good points to go by, which actually WILL help grow a following... Especially good for newbies. I know I've fallen into certain traps... before I knew where I wanted to go in this. Not that in know exactly where I want to go, but as a friend said once, "I don't want 1000 new followers because of some program... I want to be followed because I they chose to follow me... because they find value in what I share... I am relevant..." more or less.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Damon — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:30:45 -0000

charlesneville is correct.

Desktop Twitter clients don't pass any referrer info and so get counted as direct.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

greg_cryns — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:57:22 -0000

To me it is obvious that people want the real stuff. I mean, they are not getting sales or views or any type of results with their twitter posts.

Is it so surprising they would flock to something that helps explain why the big lie is not working for them?

As far as coming in through the front door, could it be that people are telling other people through email that there is a heretic in the crowd, someone who does not follow the sheep dogs?

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Mark Dykeman — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 13:36:23 -0000

I know! ;)

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Craig McGill — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:56:41 -0000

Chris, I laughed my head off at both because as well as being funny, they still had decent pointers in them - they weren't out and out spoofs. I'd say carry on and to hell with those who don't get it. It was funny, you delivered in an effective style but yeah, as I've learned, sometimes people don't get when you're trying to be funny, but that's an individual thing. It's not your fault they don't get it and people shouldn't expect you to dumb down to them. It shows skill to vary a writing style.

Of course, this is where I add in the usual prerequisite Brit disclaimer about how the yanks don't get sarcasm and irony and how you owe us 200 years in back taxes and so on.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Danny Brown — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:28:40 -0000

I came to this post because I wanted to learn about becoming an Absurd Expert - I have followed your tips on being a Twitter Guru and Social Media Ninja. Now I'm disappointed that instead of offering substantial information to become an Absurd Expert, I see pictures. What gives?

Re: The Power of the Absurd

rachelvelarde — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:06:41 -0000

I do think you're getting the crazy traffic boost because of the titles of your pieces. However, hopefully anyone who has spent more than a week on Twitter has found that quantity does NOT win out over quality. You CAN get to 1,000 followers without using any of the engines - it just might take 3 months instead of 3 hours. But, those are more likely to be people (the key word being PEOPLE) with whom you will find interests/goals in common. THAT'S the lesson that I've learned from Chris - how to make the human to human interaction that is most important. This snarky post was fabulous, because I've been reading him for a long time.
Sarcasm IS hard to filter through the typed word (haven't you written posts about misunderstood emails?). Also, unfortunately, there seem to be many people in the world who just don't understand sarcasm. I'd LOVE another one of these posts (I LMAO!), but for clarity there should probably be a #sarcasm in there somewhere. :-P
Thanks for ALL the great information you put out there Chris!

Re: The Power of the Absurd

julito77 — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:42:29 -0000

I think a couple of things here:

1. The Internet does not filter sarcasm.
2. There is definitely a huge interest in the false assumption that Twitter is all about quantity and not quality. It really doesn't matter how many followers you have. For example, say you are providing services and have only 200 followers, what if those 200 followers are all your clients or CEOS of major companies who want to hear from you?
3. Twitter cannot be explained and it cannot be controlled. Each one of us has the power to make Twitter our own. I truly believe it is bigger than us, and as much I as don't get or want to get the get more followers money trend, the reality is that their is a market for it and some people will capitalize on it, even though I find it ethically wrong.

Nice post.

Re: The Power of the Absurd

Tony Farley — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 11:38:36 -0000

Both posts were funny. It's something you send to friends.

Tony