Thoughts on Triberr: Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Posted by 
August 23, 2011 •
I just need to ramble a bit today. Ever since I wrote my post about Triberr developing ways to judge content (because there aren’t enough rating services and programs already out there), I’ve been contemplating my involvement in it. I thought they weren’t going to move forward with the Quality Score aspect per the comment from Dino on my other post, but it’s here now.
But that’s not my only concern.
I belong to a couple large tribes and with the sheer amount of people and posts, it’s hard to tweet each other out as intended… as a reach multiplier. Due to the volume of tweets it can overtake your stream and your follower’s streams (especially when Triberr freaks out and makes you tweet 20 posts in 2 seconds). So, then we start going in to remove duplicates and time sensitive posts. Then we start removing various other posts because “hey, my followers aren’t interested in that” … whether we know this or not.
But then the removing of tweets and/or putting another tribe mate on manual mode brings on drama.
Seriously. Triberr drama is no fun.
I liked it better when I first joined in, but the allure of more followers, more tribes, more tribemates… I became reach hungry. I wanted a huge reach. I wanted everyone on Twitter to tweet my posts! I wanted to be seen and heard!
Instead it’s just becoming more noisy. Others are reach hungry too (can you blame them?) so all our tweets get lost amongst the see of Triberr tweets.
Then people start filtering out Triberr tweets… even Triberr USERS are filtering …. well why would we expect others to see and click through if we don’t even want to look at them?
I think, perhaps, there are conflicting philosophies. Triberr creators see Twitter as microblogging and their service as a way to “guest post in someone else’s stream.” They think the ideal user only posts a couple times a day and always posts quality content (quality being subjective, of course).
I don’t consider Twitter to be microblogging, but I don’t consider Facebook microblogging either. They are both for status updates and random thoughts. People comment by replying to your tweet. They “like” by retweeting. I use Twitter for random thought shares and to chat with others. If I used it to microblog then I’d only be talking to myself – not engaging with others…
I do agree that for tribes to work well together, they would be of like minds. Similar posting frequencies and similar (or at least related) niches. I’m not sure they expected the review and giveaway crew to join in such full force. Giveaways… we want promoted and advertised. It’s less about quality (not saying they are bad giveaways but it’s not the same as sharing ideas or thought provoking posts).
So, here I am. I’m at a cross roads with Triberr. It’s not anyone’s fault in particular. I used to tweet a lot but haven’t had the time to be as personally engaging. I post a variety of content (and no, they aren’t all “quality” according to non-review bloggers). If Triberr would fix how it imports multiple feeds so I can “feed” the right posts to the right tribes…. I think it’d solve some issues.
Not all, mind you, but some of mine at least!
I don’t think I want to leave completely. It has increased my reach some (though, the stats in my Triberr dashboard don’t seem to match the actual traffic generated. More clicks are counted than actual visits/pageviews coming from Triberr links). I do think I want a smaller, more dedicated reach instead of the biggest reach I can get. Unfortunately, it costs too much to reorganize.
If you’ve been using Triberr for a few months (or weeks even) – has your opinion of it changed lately?
Tags: bloggers, ramble, reach, social media, triberr, twitter
I had to leave Triberr because it was just eating up so much of my stream. I definitely agree with what you said about the drama. To put everything on manual seems to insult a lot of tribe members.headant
Do you ever just feel like with twitter/triberr/facebook there is just too much drama with these ‘tools’ that are meant to help us? Gosh!Sabrina
I agree. “Give me Klout!” Join my Triberr! Join my Blog Frog! Vote for me on Picket Fence! Vote for me on Top Mommy Blogs! Follow me on GFC! Follow me on Twitter! Like me on Facebook! Join my Google + Circle!
The only one of the above that I actually use for information from a blog (aside from email) is Twitter. And I don’t do that so much anymore because of what I now know is Triberrr.GreenCntryGirl
So this is why Blogger A on my follow list is constantly tweeting information from Blogger B to Blogger Z (some of whom I *may* follow) rather than their own stuff? I hate it. Hate it hate it hate it. If I follow Blogger A it’s because I want information from them, not Blogger K. And it does clog up the stream. And some of the tweets are out of date, too.GreenCntryGirl
From a readers stand point I understand that but from a bloggers stand poing the only way to get sponsored reviews/giveaways or any kind of sponsorship for that matter is numbers. It is a double edged sword :(Sabrina
But bloggers also run the risk of their readers tuning out. Which is what I’ve started doing. Oh, I follow for the giveaways, but just about everything except email is ignored. Same with these multi-sponsor giveaways where you have to “Like” 40+ blogs on Facebook to enter. They just get hidden from the stream. Understand, I am NOT trying to be mean or pick on anyone OR discourage anyone. I am just sharing a reader’s side about something that has been bugging me. So, I hope no one is taking offense. And I forgot to add “Alexa” on to my list of “required” follows. As a blogger, I would rather spend my time building my readership via GFC and email and focusing on content. I believe the rest will come.GreenCntryGirl
I completely agree, I have only expanded in certain areas to accommodate certain sponsorsSabrina
I totally hear you. It sucks that we need to play the numbers game in order to get better opportunities for reviews and giveaways. I try not to require much but offer follows as extras most of the time. Focusing on content is important, but if I don’t put it out there to be seen, few will find it. And I try to find new ways to get my content in front of fresh eyes – but try to do it without annoying my loyal readers. It’s a dance for sure.Syrana
Hi Jayne,
Two things.
1) It’s not Triberr that is cluttering up your steam, these are users tweets sent by Triberr on behalf of the user.
It’s an important distinction. Triberr only does what its users tell it to. If users tell it to tweet every 10 minutes, it’ll do. If users tell it to not tweet at all until they’ve had a chance to review and approve each tweet, the tool will do that as well. Getting mad at Triberr is like getting mad at a car maker when someone drives over your mailbox.
2) There are plenty of browser extensions that block tweets like Triberr from your steam. Proxlet is a good one. And even though I developed the site, I have no problem telling users how to block tweets from it.
We’re not creating pop up ads here. We’re taking online connections which already exist and making it easier for people to share what they like. If followers are overwhelmed, then ask them to share less, unfollow them or block the tweets with an extension. If people don’t want to see each others tweets, we don’t want to force them to, we want to be a value add service for everyone.
Best,
Dan
Hey Darcy,
What an interesting ride Triberr has been so far. You are right on the money with several points you made. One, we did not anticipate the giveaway bloggers would come over in such force. haha. Not that it’s a bad thing, we just weren’t ready for it. Another thing is inbreeding… everyone was asking for it, we put it in place, then WOW… everything exploded. People’s Triberr network went from 20 or 30 people to well over 400. People’s reach skyrocked to several million, it was just nuts.
With such a huge network people started running into problems managing everything. So there seems to be an ideal network size where people can still get the reach they need, but get overwhelmed with the maintenance. We think that number is around 150, but we’re still trying to figure that out.
Stay or leave, whatever you decide to do is cool with us. We know Triberr will work really well for certain bloggers and not as well for others. That’s ok. Even from early on we knew that the true value of the site wouldn’t be in the tool itself, rather in the community we are building. Our vision is to organize bloggers so they don’t need to chase after sponsors, but rather sponsors will chase after them. This isn’t easy to do when bloggers act as individuals, but once they start to group up then you tap into each others network, grabbing attention, traffic and ultimately sponsorships. We’re working towards that goal and I do believe we’ll achieve that.
It’s definitely been interesting. I wish it wasn’t so costly for me to do some reorganizing of my tribes. And while I do want exposure for my reviews and giveaways, I’m actually wanting my other content posts to see more love now. That’s a shift in what I want out of it too. .. and that’s why I left 1 big giveaway tribe already.Syrana
I can relate to your post. I have mixed feelings, too. There is definitely the team player aspect – like sometimes some people post a ton of stuff but then declined a lot of other people’s posts – so they’re like takers and not givers. The key like you said is to have like minded people in the tribe – people who will trust each other’s content and will tweet an occasional review or giveaway (all mom and dad bloggers will have some). Then yes, some drama occurs when it’s the “You declined me, so I’m putting you on manual mode from now on.” People do take it personally. I think there are a lot of benefits to Triberr, but you really just need to be in a good tribe where everyone has the same expectations and plays nicely.
It’s hard to find the ideal tribe, especially with the bone costs…. no sense in risking lost bones by joining and leaving when you see it’s not fitting.Syrana
oh Triberr…I too don’t know what to do with it…should I stay or should I go? Perfect title…
I’m leaning more towards leaving the tribes…the drama just isn’t worth it and I’m tired of it…I don’t think the extra traffic is worth itnotaperfectmama
Yeah I’m not seeing enough traffic from it to put up with continued drama. I already left one big tribe (not BSMB) and it cut my reach in half.Syrana
I have had to start doing something in triberr that I never wanted to do. Some people post a few times each day and I have been deleting a few posts from these bloggers so that more of the posts from each member can get out in a timely manner. I know that some people are going to start deleting my posts too (I do once a day). I love the tribe I am in and hope to stay and to come up with something that will make me and my tribe members happy. Right now, mine is set to go out 3 minutes apart and it is extended to 48 hours right now…
I have only been with Triberr for less than 2 weeks, and I don’t think I’m going to stay with it…I don’t like the fact that I would look like I was tweeting something, that I completely disagree with…No control…atthemapletable
You can go in and decline but it’s a lot of micromanaging then.Syrana
Oh, the last part you said just made me remember something… There is a way to set it up so that certain posts go to certain tribes. It has to do with RSS feeds and post tags, and they explain it somewhere in the Triberr blog, and I am sorry I am too darn lazy right now to go and look it up, but I wanted to give you a heads up that there is a solution out there for you.mapleleafmommy
Oh if you want to set up 1 specific feed it works. I tried doing 2 different feeds to 2 different tribes and it wasn’t importing right. I told Dan and he said he knew… so until they fix that.. :(Syrana
Interesting – I agree with you on much of it.
One thing I was not prepared for was the backlash on twitter! I don’t think aimed at me personally as only in 2 small tribes, but generally everyone shouting about spamming peoples timelines.
It only tweets each post once and I have it set at 45 minute intervals so I don’t think it’s any worse than friends rting each others posts or someone tweeting 5 times in an hour about the same post.
I am finding it difficult to find a UK tribe of people that I don’t already follow on twitter – I think this is the key. Also the timezones are confusing so I don’t know when they are scheduled for.seasiderclare
When I was first in it, we couldn’t choose spacing so it would tweet too often. Now I’m set for 1 every 20 minutes which seems better out of my stream.Syrana
I go back and forth on it. I first joined, some readers were annoyed, so I quit. Then I joined another tribe because I was hearing such rave reviews. I think I may just go back to smaller tribes. I think you were on the right track Dan, with limiting the number of users within tribes. It can become overwhelming, at which point it loses it’s usefulness. What is the saying “Rule your tribe wisely”? Very fitting.
I put up a survey last week to see what my users think about it. Only 8% of voters had anything negative to say about it. Most like the extra tweets.SuperSaverMama
I’m still relatively new to Triberr so I greatly appreciate your feedback from a more experienced place. I am in 3 Tribes. One is quite specific in content, one is united by a common site we all work or write for, and the 3rd is lead by a (SM) “star” and isn’t too large. The reach via these 3 tribes is staggering.
I’ve found, after just a few weeks, that I have to manually control the tweets. Otherwise, there is content that doesn’t blend with my “brand” and there’s the occasional giveaway one that slips in.
Taking that extra time is work – but I think it’s worth it.
Your other point about the quality scores I completely agree with and, in fact, posted a question about it to Dan because of your point!
Thanks much!
You’re welcome! There is a lot to think about and consider. I wish I had more time to micromanage my Triberr stream but I don’t. That was what was attractive about joining in the first place – the automation.Syrana