I was just reading an article on Salon.com, and I noticed that there was a function that allowed me to post the article that I was reading to my Facebook account so that I could show it to others to read. Right after I did so with the article in question the first thing that I thought of was why don’t we have that for the Dope? Facebook is damned near ubiquitous these days and the idea is the get eyeballs on articles to increase online ad revenue, right? So why not hook ‘em the old fashioned way by allowing that same type of functionality so we faithful Dopers can spread some Unca Cece around more of the web?
Can you posta link to an example on Facebook?
Sure. Here’s the Salon article, once you scroll past the graphic it shows that there are several options to linking to other sites (StumbleUpon, Reddit, Facebook, etc along with email, print…)
I, having a facebook account, just click on that Facebook logo and it takes me to an approval page that lets me post a short intro version on my Facebook page that interested parties can click on to follow back and read the rest of the article, comment on, share with others, etc. But the end result is meat in the seats. Virtually that is.
This is a good idea. I see those buttons on just about every on-line publication nowadays. The problem, obvioiusly, is that this is a good idea and is used just about everywhere online nowadays. Clearly it won’t work on the SDMB.
Well I’ll admit that my selfish end goal with this line of thinking was getting new members for the SDMB, but really just for the regular column it can’t be bad to get more readers, can it? It’s not like it’s reproducing the whole article on another site, which would defeat the purpose, it just allows people to share the existing site with others who might not know about it yet in a new and very Web 2.0 kind of way. Some of those new readers might decide to click on that “Comment on Cecil’s Column” link and end up here.
I want the Dope to prosper, I want Cecil to be known all around. This is just another of my ideas to accomplish that same goal.
I see your point, but it still suffers from the same problems. Neither the Chicago Reader nor Creative Loafing got where they are today by implementing good ideas that have been shown to work, and they aren’t about to change now. In fact, the biggest flaw in your plan is right here:
Obviously your goals and plans are not compatible with the CL’s business model for the Straight Dope.
Although this is hilarious, it’s probably not a good idea for ATMB, unless you enjoy the feeling of the ban-hammer gently caressing your account.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris