Some Social Media Housekeeping Around The Explorer

March 19, 2010 · View Comments

Jason Falls

I love that you come here and read what I have to say. I’m always humbled at the number of comments, traffic, etc. For some, my site is a gnat on the windshield. But I know there are others who would love to have a blog that has the same amount of visitors, visibility, etc.

I’m making a couple of changes that you’ll notice soon. I’ve got to clean up that side bar and get rid of the NASCAR approach to affiliate ads that I’ve slowly let leak in. If you’re a regular reader, you know I don’t accept advertising from companies or tools I don’t fully endorse, use or support. What I recommend to you is qualified and unbiased. If I don’t sell a single thing and profit exactly zero, I still endorse great products like ScribeSEO and the Social Media Policies Toolkit. If I’m able to do so and also get an affiliate fee in return, thank you for the consideration.

But that mess has got to go. Sorry for the clutter.

Another change you may not notice is that I’m adjusting my PR pitch policy. I simply don’t have enough time to handle all the pitches. I can’t give them my full attention, so I don’t want to keep anyone hanging on. The key changes are:

  • I’m not going to respond to everything anymore.
  • I’ll only consider pitches that are one paragraph or less.
  • With an average of 10 relevant pitches per week but only three standard days of publication, plus other things I want to write about, there’s not much chance you’ll get covered anyway. Don’t expect a post. Make that one paragraph really good.

Please know that I want to hear about your tools, platforms and the like. If they really are good and compelling, and you’ve kept the pitch brief, I may just Tweet you up or even follow up to learn more and blog it. I also have a pretty active newsletter, so do reach out if it’s relevant. But I just can’t tame my inbox and respond to the volume the way I have in the past.

I’m also going to be less active in responding to every comment. I’ll still do a good job of answering questions and the like, but have to budget my time to do so once a day rather than continuously. Clients pay my bills. I can’t camp out on comments all the time. I’m not ignoring you, but need to control the commitment a bit.

And you may also notice a decrease in posts over the next couple of months. I’m working on launching something very important for the non-social media world and want to devote a good deal of attention to it. I’m not going away, in fact will back in full force once this launch happens, but I’ll probably be on a one to two posts per week schedule for a while.

Thank you for reading SME. I’m honored you do.

IMAGE: Clock by Cloki on Shutterstock.com

Tagged as: pitching SME, PR rules. pitch policy, Social Media

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  • jeanniecw
    Well done, Jason, and good for you. I think social media allows us all to get to know each other better, and because of that, be more human and forgiving with one another. I like how you lay out your plans in an honest way and yet still commit to paying attention when people need you to. Good luck with the launch of whatever-it-is and we'll be watching. And don't forget sleep has to be a priority in there somewhere. :)
  • Time is money, thanks for the update. Good luck with your future projects.
  • scotttownsend
    I get it.
  • beckymccray
    I like the straight forward way you've laid out your plan. When we're all thinking about interactions and limits, it's interesting to see how you've set your commitments.
  • Good luck with your project, and kudos for stepping back and adjusting to what needs to be at the forefront right now...it's hard to see sometimes what's a fire to be put out, and what coals need steady stoking.

    I look forward to seeing what's next.
  • Priorities matter, because people don't scale.

    Kudos to recognizing the need.
  • So my biggest question here is What's this "non-social media world" you're talking about? I'm pretty sure I've heard of it, but it sounds just awful!
  • I don't mean this in a smart-ass way. Your mom. That's who I'm talking
    about. Think about it, yo.
  • jwill764
    Thanks for the early morning chuckle provided by "the NASCAR approach to affiliate ads".

    It's interesting to me that we're awash in information, demands for our time, opportunities, responsibilities, and so forth. Still, in the midst of all this, there's a subtle migration underway toward simplicity.

    Mindless devotion to the gods of productivity will not lead to fulfillment, and it seems more folks are awakening to this concept every day.

    Thanks for the post, Jason. I hope you're in Louisville to enjoy today's incredible weather!
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