Top Posts at Conversation Agent

If you're like me, you follow how the content you produce is shared and built upon by looking at your blog's statistics, the comments you receive and the reactions -- likes, shares, @ replies, RTs -- in various social networks.

There are some posts you probably know the moment you write them that they will be useful or fun and enjoyable for people to share -- right time and place, etc.

More often than not, I find that the posts I love are not necessarily the most popular ones. Here is a list of the top popular posts at Conversation Agent. Are your favorites in there?

(10.) This post on what is new media? is one of this site's top image searches -- it gets at least a half dozen hits per week, since 2007.

(9.) Social media is the modern version of the telephone was probably among the posts that got the most discussion going here, and in other social networks.

(8.) It's no secret that posts that talk about objections also tend to be viewed and discussed a lot, and 5 straw arguments to take a pass on social media was no exception.

(7.) This post about 14 year olds may think you're cool became very visible when TechMeme linked to it -- right topic at the right time tend to do that.

(6.) Taking a simple concept and presenting it in a counter intuitive way, like I did with FREE is not a benefit makes a post quite popular.

(5.) You're on Twitter, now what? was shared quite broadly after Mashable tweeted the link to its followers.

(4.) Posts about tools do better than posts about concepts, and occasionally they do well in combination as Twitter, customer service, and good brand management did.

(3.) Lists are quite popular, as you know, and this post about 50 content ideas that create buzz was one of the most popular on this site. The post was scraped by several blogs, in fact, and the concept re-enacted on others.

(2.) A more popular list was the top 10 reasons why your customer service fails, which people loved when I first published on the Fast Company blog, and again when I reposted it on this blog.

(1.) The most popular post at Conversation Agent to date is still why start a blog and 25 tips to make it work.

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Note how popularity was by and large determined by distribution. Although I consider all posts decent, I do have my favorites, and they tend to be the more complex ones. What about your favorites? Are they on this list?

 

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Comments

[Deb Robison]

Valeria - my favorite post was about how you leverage Google Reader. I have it bookmarked as a reference and often share it with others.

[Robin]

I think I liked the top 25 tips to make a blog work, particularly your comments on Google Reader and Bloglines.

[Tim]

I love doing "most popular posts" posts but I'm thinking I'll do one for the new year highlighting my most popular posts from 2010.

[Tony Faustino]

Valeria, my favorite Conversation Agent post is Top Blogs That Have Not Linked to Conversation Agent (April 14, 2010). I love this post for multiple reasons (1) The provocativeness of the title, (2) The content itself - I learned about six new blogs I should subscribe to and learn from, and (3) Your conviction in defending your post in the comments section. I learned more about audience engagement by studying the reader comments and your responses than anything I've read in the blogosphere or how-to-books in a long time. I came away thinking: Wow, I wish I could write like that ...

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Deb - and it was such a simple post to write, too. I guess I take my reading/research habits for granted.

@Robin - yes, that post on Google Reader did make the rounds.

@Tim - I do one every year with the thread for the year and I am always amazed at how the conversation has progressed.

@Tony - I'm so glad you said that. Although I generally get fewer comments than the regular popular blog, even though I do know this blog is read and linked to a lot, I hardly ever get to flex the conversation muscle. And that is something that is a strength for me. Conversation and negotiating differing points of view are an art. It takes practice and the willingness to suspend judgment to navigate.