Five things I’ve learned since the launch of my site

3 Aug 2012

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My site’s been live for just over a week now and it’s certainly been an exciting process, I was a little anxious at first, but there’s been an overwhelming degree of feedback and the comments have been great.

The operational process of a site had never crossed my mind, I’ve only ever got involved with Twitter, so moving onto a site was a massive step. So during that step what have been the five main factors I’ve learned.

Trolls

This isn’t a cry-out to all you trolls to return, far from it. The site has encouraged a refreshing spree of comments, and although I welcome healthy debate, the standard four-letter expletive I was so tired of receiving has slowly died off. I say it’s died off, they’re still collecting on Twitter. From what I understand, Twitter encourages those interested in throwing around insults, because it’s easy. Maybe this is a reflection of their intelligence levels – restricting the trolls from engaging in further constructive conversations? Or anything over four-letters.

Newspapers

Before I dive into this, it’s worth mentioning that not all papers follow the same derogatory standards like many of the red tops; The Mirror cunningly ran with ‘Fool-osopher: 10 things we have learned from Joey Barton’s new site’. Firstly, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to comb through my site. Secondly, it just so happens the Mirror was one of the top sites for referring traffic to mine, so thanks for the free publicity!

The papers will forever print what they deem interesting, it’s no secret most of the content is far from interesting (don’t get me wrong, I’m the exception to this rule here!), but they’ve really sank to new depths here, their comments are just laughable “Videos on the site awkwardly jink between colour and a jaunty black-and-white angle. How artistic” are we really being that pathetic? So what have I learned? I now have less respect for these supposed newsworthy providers than before. Simple.

The importance of a platform

Whether it’s Facebook, Google+, a website or a blog, these are all platforms and they’re all personal reflections of yourself. For me Twitter had its limitations, there was so much I wanted to say and the introduction of my site is helping me achieve this. My site enables me to get my views across and trigger a debate around subjects which makes it easy for people to join in. Linking popular platforms like Twitter & Facebook I have found just makes the site more accessible.

People and feedback

Twitter’s main strength is its ability to inform with only 140 characters, this obviously has limitations, but it’s helped me understand how vital commenting further than those word can be. It’s simple to throw a few words into a tweet, that’s why I’m surprised by the responses and arguments within the site – the considered responses received, even those I don’t agree with, have really opened my eyes to how involved some users are, it’s great to see. The debate has been healthy, much healthier than expected.

The importance of two way conversation

I’d never really thought about this until this week, but we really do take communication for granted, don’t we? Without getting all finger-pointing, we live in a world which relies on technology a great deal and we’ve got lost in traditional conversation – preferring to tweet, comment and share. Yet I feel as though I’ve already developed techniques, enabling me to engage in proper two way conversation. I’m now able to respond and further comment on everyone’s views – great stuff!

I’ve got much to learn still about having a site and no doubt if I were to rewrite this blog next week, I’m sure I’d of developed 5 new findings. It’s an ongoing process and I’m keen to continue this learning trend.

What have YOU learned from the launch of my site?