A lot of friends make comments to me like, “You’re always on Twitter.” Well, the truth is, I’m not really on Twitter all the time. My Twitter feed is mostly the result of me sharing the blog posts of fellow tribe mates on a site called Triberr.
If you’re not familiar with Triberr.com, I’ll try to explain, though there are people who can do a better job of it. Triberr is a website where bloggers band together in tribes to share each other’s blog posts. Once you get your blog registered and join a tribe or two, your posts automatically appear in the Tribal Streams of your tribe mates where they can share your post on their Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook feeds. What it means is that your blog posts will get tweeted a lot more than you could manage on your own. (Most people primarily use Twitter for their feeds, as Triberr can quickly overwhelm a Facebook timeline, and I don’t recommend doing so.)
So how do you get started?
First step is to set up your account, which you can do using your Twitter user name and password. This is what my profile looks like:
As you can see, I’m now in 7 tribes, with a total of 198 Tribemates and a total reach of 1 million. And I’ve passed on invitations to join additional tribes. This is all I can handle at the moment.
Once you have your profile set up, go to Account >> Settings >> My Blogs to add your blogs. For this you will need to know the URL for your blog’s RSS feed. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and it’s the way your blog gets shared over the Internet. If you don’t have one, you can easily acquire an RSS feed address using feedburner.com and other similar services. Once you’ve added the information, your account settings look like this:
If you find that Triberr isn’t picking up your blog posts in a timely fashion, you can go to this page and click on Check Feed to update the site. The blue button on the left is to Assign a Tribe to your blog. If you have more than one blog, you can only assign one to each blog. Before I consolidated my websites and blogs into one site, I had to split up my tribes by blog. Now the Reading Room Blog goes to all my tribes and the old Flights of Fancy has none, though I haven’t deleted it, just in case I ever need it again. Yes, I even hoard blogs.
Next step is to add your Social Networks to your account. I chose to only use Twitter, but Facebook and LinkedIn are also possible.
How do you join a tribe?
Triberr says:
Start by following the tribe. As a follower, you’ll be able to participate in the community and share member’s posts.
After a week as a follow we’ll email the Chief to let them how much content you’ve shared.
The Chief can choose to promote you to a full fledged member, then your content will be shared by the rest of the tribe.
But first you have to find the tribe. You can try searching at Triberr, but it really helps if you know the name of a tribe or a tribe sponsor. Frankly, I haven’t found Triberr’s search function to be very helpful.
You might start with our Southern California Writers of Romance tribe, of which I happen to be the chief, and which happens to be open to new members. If a tribe is filled, the page will advise you of that fact. You can still Follow the tribe, and if an opening comes up, it will usually go to someone who has been following the tribe and sharing their posts.
This gives you an idea of what a tribal stream looks like. Each blog post appears with the avatar of the blogger at the top. Use the green Share button to add a particular post to your Twitter feed. You can schedule posts to go out as often as every ten minutes or as slowly as every 24 hours. Something in between is probably best. If you hover your cursor over the blogger’s avatar, Triberr will tell you how many posts that blogger shared and wrote in the last week, including whether or not that person shared your posts. If someone isn’t sharing regularly, you are not obligated to share their posts. You can use the little blue Hide button to make their post disappear from your stream. If someone is really bad about not sharing, hit the Mute button and their posts won’t appear in your stream until you undo the Mute. (This is on your Tribes Overview page.)
I hope this explanation is helpful. Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below.
Linda McLaughlin
Website/Blog: http://lindalyndi.com
Twitter: @LyndiLamont
At a recent meeting, a member said to me, “You’re always on Twitter.” Well, the truth is, I’m not. But I’m on Triberr and I share regularly.
For those who aren’t familiar with Triberr, the “home of influencers,” let me explain. Triberr is a platform for bloggers to come together in tribes to share their posts.
The way Triberr works is every member has a tribal stream of blog posts that they can choose to share on Twitter and/or Facebook. If you have an active stream, it’s best to only share on Twitter, as Triberr can overwhelm your Facebook feed pretty quickly. It’s very cool when you see your latest blog post being shared all over the Twitterverse.
You start by setting up a Triberr account and then following the tribes that interest you.
For some folks, the most confusing part of being on Triberr is getting your blog set up. Author Tara Quan has an informative video on how to do that:
The other important thing about Triberr is that it only works if everyone shares. So please be courteous and share other people’s blog posts. There is a way for them to mute you or hide your posts if you don’t share.
If you are a member of Marketing for Romance Writers, you might want to join one of their tribes. I’m on two.
Last fall, right before my life fell apart, I became the tribal “chief” of the Southern California Writers of Romance tribe started by Skylar Kade. The tribe is about half full, so if you have a blog and want to join, please let me know.
Linda McLaughlin aka Lyndi Lamont
Email: lyndilamont@gmail.com
Website: http://lindalyndi.com
Twitter: @LyndiLamont
0 0 Read moreTo Blog or Not To Blog? That is one question every writer must ponder.
I have a love/hate relationship with blogging. It’s not that I mind doing it, but I resent the time involved that takes me away from writing, and I’m not sure blogging has been worth my while. What I am sure is that I haven’t gone about it in a very systematic or effective way, though I try.
My big project for this year is to launch a new website and blog combining both of my writing names into one site, for easier maintenance. In the meantime, I’m still learning as much as I can about author branding, platforms and the use of blogs.
In January, I read Rise of the Machines: Human Authors in a Digital World by Kristen Lamb, the well-known blogger and social media maven. The first chapter, The Changing Paradigm, was fascinating. She talks a lot about technological change in general, often quoting from Neil Postman, author of several books, including Technopoly. His contention was that technological change isn’t “addictive or subtractive but ecological”. Advances in technology change everything, including the way humans think, certainly changes the way we talk and write. Hashtags, emoticons, text speak… You all know what I’m talking about, like the changes or not.
Lamb is a big proponent of blogging, and while I value her advice, I’m not sure I can manage to do everything she recommends. But after reading her book, I think I have a better notion of what to do and, perhaps more importantly, what not to do. Some of her advice includes:
Be present on social media, at least some of the time; don’t automate everything.
Your name is your brand; use it in some version. Don’t tweet with a silly handle that no one will recognize.
Be careful what you share, esp. where politics and religion are concerned.
I wish her book had been available eight years ago when I started blogging, but as Kitty Bucholtz said in her time management class, it’s never too late to hit the Restart button. I’m hoping to do better when I get the new, better blog later this year, and I’d love to take a branding class from her some day.
In the meantime I have finally joined Triberr, the “Home of Influencers.” If you’re not familiar with Triberr, it’s a blog amplifier. Bloggers ban together in tribes and tweet each other’s blog posts, giving everyone an enhanced range. Since I joined, my blogs are getting tweeted more often, my page stats have shot up, and I’ve picked up new followers at Twitter. I’m still not getting a lot of comments, but I think that’s somewhat normal. Unless there’s a giveaway or a controversy, people are not inclined to comment a lot, esp. where the dreaded Capcha is involved. Personally, I hate those things. So does Kristen Lamb.
For more information on Triberr and how it interacts with Twitter, check out this post by Kayelle Allen, founder of Marketing For Romance Writers and another Social Media maven:
Blog Titles Matter in Triberr: Tips for Authors by Kayelle Allen #RLFblog #author
So to blog or not to blog? What is your answer. Leave a comment if you can get past the Capcha!
And if social media generally has you befuddled, OCC’s own Elena Dillon will be teaching an online class on Social Media for the Confused and Terrified from April 14 – May 11, 2014. I’m not terrified, but I often find myself confused, so I’ll be taking the class.
Linda McLaughlin / Lyndi Lamont
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