Facebook, Twitter, Google+, & Mastodon

[Faelrin]

Interesting to see so many accounts from here over there already. I never used Twitter (except checking out posts on occasions from search results, but never used it to post anything personally), so I'm not sure if I'll use Mastodon either in the future, but I'm glad there's a growing alternative out there to Twitter for those that would benefit from it. The fact it takes its name from a prehistoric proboscidean is a bonus too, and especially relevant to our little community here.

[Thialfi]

Thank you so much, precious information indeed. I will get to it - the tactic of just following people I have some interest in and expanding from there through boosts and such is something I just started applying as well. Thanks again, wholeheartedly appreciated @dinotoyforum!

[Halichoeres]

OK, I joined the urbanists.social instance: https://urbanists.social/@TimDrawsFish

See you all over there 

[DinoToyForum]

OK, I joined the urbanists.social instance: https://urbanists.social/@TimDrawsFish

See you all over there 

Followed!

@Thialfi and @Halichoeres, the 'tradition' on Mastodon is for new members to first post an introduction about themselves under the hashtag #introduction. That way, people will know who you are, and will be able to boost that post to their followers.

[suspsy]

On an optimistic note, the DTB Facebook page has been gaining more followers over the last several weeks. I've begun sharing updates from PNSO and Creative Beast in order to further liven things up.

[DinoToyForum]

On an optimistic note, the DTB Facebook page has been gaining more followers over the last several weeks. I've begun sharing updates from PNSO and Creative Beast in order to further liven things up.

Thant's good, thanks! I should check the blog's Analytics stats to see if more visitors are coming from Facebook now. I'll let you know.

[Newt]

Thanks for the Mastodon hints, @dinotoyforum! I find the platform a bit overwhelming, but I'm slowly figuring it out. If anyone wants to follow me, I'm https://sauropods.win/@Newt. I may even post some content some day!

[DinoToyForum]

Thanks for the Mastodon hints, @dinotoyforum! I find the platform a bit overwhelming, but I'm slowly figuring it out. If anyone wants to follow me, I'm https://sauropods.win/@Newt. I may even post some content some day!

If you post an "#introduction" there I'll be happy to boost it for you. I find the best way to learn is to dive in. 

[DinoToyForum]

You can now follow the whole Dinosaur Toy Blog on Mastodon (or anywhere else on the Fediverse for that matter). The account to follow is @[email protected]

Previously you could only follow individual dinotoyblog authors but this new account groups all new blog posts under one umbrella. So, whenever a new review is posted it is automatically shared into the Fediverse through this account.

What's really cool is that replies on Mastodon (and on the Fediverse) should appear as comments on the blog! Try it out! Follow the account, wait until a new review is posted and see if comments there appear on the blog.

If you're looking for a Mastodon instance to join, I still recommend the one I'm on at http://sauropods.win

[Fembrogon]

Well, I've gone ahead and taken the plunge into Mastodon, though I set up my own generic link at https://mastodon.social/@fembrogon - don't know if that was the best idea or not. The platform will definitely take some getting used to, as I'm not totally clear on how the following & viewing process works.

[DinoToyForum]

Well, I've gone ahead and taken the plunge into Mastodon, though I set up my own generic link at https://mastodon.social/@fembrogon - don't know if that was the best idea or not. The platform will definitely take some getting used to, as I'm not totally clear on how the following & viewing process works.

Great to see you there, let me know if you need any help. It's simple enough, just slightly different to other platforms. I see you've already followed the blog so you're already well on the way. You can also follow the Animal Toy Blog. I've been on for over a year now and I'm really comfortable there, it really does seem to be taking off.

[DinoToyForum]

Well, I've gone ahead and taken the plunge into Mastodon, though I set up my own generic link at https://mastodon.social/@fembrogon - don't know if that was the best idea or not. The platform will definitely take some getting used to, as I'm not totally clear on how the following & viewing process works.

How are you finding it? Are the blog posts coming through okay? You should definitely be sharing your own reviews there with the hashtag #DinoToyBlog or #AnimalToyBlog!

I notice the DinoToyBlog now has more than 30 Fediverse followers so it feels like this exciting alternative to traditional centralised social media is gaining traction.

[Fembrogon]

I haven't used it much yet, so I'm still getting the hang of it. I've "boosted" a couple of reviews from the blogs, but I haven't figured out a share option equivalent to retweeting with a comment yet.

[DinoToyForum]

I haven't used it much yet, so I'm still getting the hang of it. I've "boosted" a couple of reviews from the blogs, but I haven't figured out a share option equivalent to retweeting with a comment yet.

"Quote boosting" doesn't exist on Mastodon yet, although there is discussion of it being introduced as a feature in the future. There are arguments against it but personally I think it's inevitable, and I hope it happens sooner than later because it's one feature of Twitter that I do find I miss. I've voiced this on Mastodon on several occasions!

In the meantime, we can always create posts sharing reviews manually, that's what I did in the beginning before the federation of WordPress. And I still do sometimes, if there's something specific I want to say about a review I'm sharing.

[DinoToyForum]

An update today has introduced bidirectional threaded comments between the blog and the social web (Fediverse). Basically, this means that comments/replies on the blog (from blog accounts but not guest comments) also appear on Mastodon (etc), and all comments/replies on Mastodon (etc) appear as comments on the blog.

At the moment, comments on the blog appear under an umbrella dinotoyblog account on Mastodon. I can set it to separate user accounts, but that would also make the original blog posts appear under separate accounts, and I'd rather they all get grouped under one account, so people can follow the blog as a whole. Maybe a future update will provide separate settings for blog posts and comments.

I want to make sure bloggers are aware the content they post on the blog is now being fed into the social web.

[DinoToyForum]

On an optimistic note, the DTB Facebook page has been gaining more followers over the last several weeks. I've begun sharing updates from PNSO and Creative Beast in order to further liven things up.

I've noticed you've been regularly sharing blog articles on the Facebook page over the past year or so, so many thanks for that. I thought you might be curious to see how much traffic it generates - how many of our 2700 Facebook followers actually visit the blog from the links you share? So I did some calculations and this year, so far, 446 users visited the blog from Facebook. 32000 users visited the blog in total in the same period. So, Facebook accounts for about 1.4% of traffic to the blog.

Facebook has gamed the system so only paid for 'boosted' posts are distributed widely. If only a fraction of our 2700 followers even get to see the posts, what does it even mean to have 2700 followers? Facebook just isn't the valuable tool for promoting ourselves that it used to be, unless we're willing to throw money at it, which I'm not.

I mean, 446 users is 446 more than none, but I do wonder if it's worth the effort in the grand scheme of things. If you want to keep sharing posts to Facebook then be my guest, it isn't doing any harm, but I'd also be perfectly happy if you'd prefer to stop.

[suspsy]

It's really no skin off my back. It takes one or two minutes at most to copy a review link, find an image (because Facebook always puts the DTB logo in the thumbnail for some strange reason), and then paste it to the page. And you said yourself that 446 visitors is better than none at all.

[DinoToyForum]

@suspsy, I don't have any plans to set up a MTB Facebook page, but I'm looking at the possibility of renaming the DinoToyBlog FB page as 'Toy Blog Network' or something like that, and pooling the ATB and MTB content into it as well. Anyway, feel free to announce the MTB on the DTB Facebook page if you like, and share the first review if you think followers there will be interested.

[DinoToyForum]

Some followers may object, but in the interest of streamlining, I've just rebranded the DinoToyBlog Facebook page so it now covers content from all three of our blogs: "Toy Blogs"



Going forward, we can post links to new Dinosaur, Animal, and Monster reviews there.

I'll delete the Animal Toy Forum/Blog FB page once I've given followers there enough time to move.

[suspsy]

Sounds good. Are you or Blaine going to be posting the ATB reviews?