I’ve been pretty vocal about Mixx, the newest “Digg clone,” on TechCrunch’s recent review of the service and on a submission that hit Digg’s front page the other day. It’s about time that I bring the dialogue here since it’s evident that I’m already starting to grow fond of the brand new social network.
The Early Adopter Appeal
Mixx is a new social news site that went into private beta a mere two months ago. Already, however, it’s gaining momentum among “Digg refugees” and folks who don’t feel comfortable on other social networks. And for that reason, you should join–now.
Earlier this month, I wrote a blog post about how you cannot be a participant of a community without understanding the community members therein. I later illustrated what I meant in a short parable: if you’re an immigrant in a well-established country, you have to contribute first to be an acknowledged and respected member by your neighbors. Social media involves people who work together, not alone. In other words, if you don’t speak the same language and you’re not willing to speak the same language as the rest of the residents, you’re never going to be accepted and you’ll be a minority voice forever.
That’s why Mixx has a lot of potential. It’s so new that the community is being created right now as we speak. At this point, you can be part of it too. I’ve said before that social media requires a time investment, but right now, you can be one of the first influencers and the investment will not be as substantial as it would be if you were trying to break into an already-established (and well-formed) community. Mixx is a little island that is growing in its membership and each is contributing his/her unique flavor to the melting pot. Your voice can be heard now, and it should be.
One of my favorite parts about Mixx is that the founders are reading and responding to user feedback — even on my blog. There already is a growing forum for users to talk amongst themselves and get to know one another. That forum is frequented by the Mixx founders themselves so that they can be abreast of developments and make the user experience a fun and enjoyable one. So far, it sure is.
Some of my good friends are already heavy contributors. Barbara Boser has written her review about Mixx. Greg Davies started the domino effect, for the most part, and it’s far from being over.
See the surge? Ride the wave!
So why Mixx? Besides the already approachable creators, a friendly community, and the fact that you’re able to be a “founding father” of the community if you join early, Mixx is easy to use, and it’s fun too. (There’s even a pictures section!)
Using Mixx
Let’s walk through a story submission (of a picture for the sake of evoking a little bit of jealousy from Diggers who have been asking for it for years):
First, click on Submit a Link.
This takes you to a section that allows you to submit news stories, photos, or videos. I naturally selected the “Photo” option. 🙂 (Note: You can submit a URL and choose the applicable photo to be displayed in the thumbnail in the event that the web page extension is .html, .php, .asp, or whatever else.)
Finally, you can preview your image (or select the desired image if multiple images are on the page), add a title, description, and tags, choose a category, and submit the story to private groups (if you’re a member of any).
After that, your submission is available for sharing. There’s nothing slow about the submission process. It’s instant.
Interestingly enough, you can see recent voting activity, including who buried your stories. (Note: the story in question included a picture of a scantily clad woman. I voted accordingly. 🙂 )
Mixx operates on a karma system: participation is key. If you vote up stories, comment, and submit stories with a lot of votes, you can accrue karma points in no time…
…much like Darrell. 🙂
You can also locate pages that interest you based on their tags or by category (including photos and videos).
Once the community gets kicking (and the party is just getting started, so you’re not too late), it’s a lot of fun. The comments are friendly (and witty can still take the cake but isn’t a requirement; you won’t get beaten up this time), the people are great, and overall, everyone involved is doing a fine job.
Will it Mixx? Yes it will. Mixx has a lot of potential, and as new features are added to the service based on user feedback, it’s a viable social news network that can certainly deliver.
Yeah, Mixx rocks it seems. They don’t even hate you for being a SEO as an article of mine was submitted to it yestarday and gained 20 votes right away:
http://www.mixx.com/stories/16264/101-ways-to-make-your-blog-more-popular-and-successful
Sometimes you have to say it a few times for us to get the point. We wake up and go to the same sites each day and fall into patterns. Thanks for again bringing this to the attention of others.
you’ve got me curious. i just registered. thanks tamar
Great review. Thanks for the update. While I agree that there is a big advantage in early adoption, it all comes down to time commitment. With so many social networks available now, it’s definitely hard to keep up with all of them. How do you manage?
I was not aware about Mixx. Thanks for providing this review. Can’t hurt to find more social bookmarking sites!
Thanks for the groovy tutorial Tamar. You got us excited about the community…gotta go play now.
Thanks for the mention Tamar. Yes, I love Mixx right now. I started an SEO group over there, so anyone that wants in just shoot me your user name through my blog.
Interesting new concept. Just when you think there couldn’t possibly be one more social networking site…pow, another unique community pops up. Thanks.
Great story. I started using mixx few weeks ago, and I already feel part of it. Whilst the biggest contribution of social network traffic comes from StumbleUpon to http://www.edocr.com, I feel more comfortable with Mixx, and therefore thinking of building it into our corporate on-line marketing strategy. Appreciate any thoughts your readership might have on this. Best regards Manoj
Hi Tamar – Thanks for the heads up. I’d really like to know your thoughts on how you manage your social networks (set goals, etc) for them. I know from personal experience it can be time consuming but at the same time I see the value and fun of becoming involved. Perhaps this could be a future blog post?
Thanks Lisa (and Gyutae) for that excellent question. It’s a hard one to answer but I’m considering the future blog post approach. 😉
Why is there always a rush to these types of sites when anyone can create their own. Just go to pligg.com and see and download the software. Its free. Besides all for the hype to Mixx, which has lots of less features than even earthfrisk.com seems dumb. Like we are all being told that it is the in place to be when it is not.
Digg users are all over the place, including Reddit, Slashdot, lots are at stumbleupon and so on. Why so up on Mixx – again it’s jsut another pligg site and digg clone. If you want to go to a digg clone try earthfrisk, at least there is more to do there and cool people.
Mike: because all Pligg clones aren’t created equal. Sure, I see people selling Pligg clone websites on eBay, but what about the community? You can’t just start a Pligg clone without a community and expect that it will be a success. Mixx already has a damn good community (if it wasn’t evident by my post) and it looks like it will be successful. Your mileage may vary, but perhaps instead of suggesting Pligg, you can actually give Mixx a try as I did.
Looks very promising, indeed. Might as well jump in right now, if anything it should work well for leveraging my new blog’s launch.
Thanks for the call-to-action 😀
Bern
thanks tamar…just signed up based on your description and evangalizing (is that a word?). I’m new to your blog but really enjoy it. just checked out mixx and it seems so much less overwhelming than digg
It is surprising to see that Mixx brings me more traffic than any other social network. I know where I will spend more time in the feature. I like dark horses anyway. 🙂