Social Media Addiction is Difficult to Quit than Alcohol !

Are you suffering from social media addiction ? You must have asked this question yourself sometime or other. If not, in future you will definitely. A recent study conducted in USA suggests that social media addiction is much more difficult to quit than cigarette and alcohol. I will tell you in this article – How to test yourself, you are suffering from social media addiction ? And, how to quit or rehabilitate yourself from social media addiction ?

Depression, insomnia, weight gain, irritation and lethargy are the main side effects of social media addiction in short term. In the long run it can lead to hypertension, obesity and psychosis.

Social media addiction – Self test

Ask yourself the following set of question and for every “ Yes ” give yourself 20 marks out of 100. If you secure > 60%, then you are definitely addicted to social media.
Do you have strong urge to

• Check your Email more than twice a day
• Update your twitter status more than once a day
• Check your Facebook account more than once a day
• Read your favorite blogs more than once a day
• Access any of the above things in the midnight

Why social media is more addictive than cigarette and alcohol ?

• Ease of reach or easy availability
• Cheap or cost no money at all
• Accepted as normal in society
• Fashion statement for youngsters
• False sense of security, of being connected with online friends

How to quit social media addiction ?

• Try to make few good and trust worthy offline friends
• Engage yourself with your favorite hobby in free time
• Follow a strict time table or routine to access internet using a PC or mobile

Social media addiction steals a lot of time from our life. Using social media judiciously, we not only save precious time but also prevent the ill effects of it

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6 Best Social Media Plugins For Website Owners

Social media plugins are a must have for every blog because creating even the best of content will go useless and unread if it is not shared across various platforms and read by maximum number of people.

To make sure that your well researched article on which you have spent hours of hard work is read by as many people as possible, your website needs to be taken to people.

Social Media plugins help you do that easily. Just one click by your visitor and it is shared to hundreds of new people.

There are dozens of such plugins today. And it is difficult to decide which social media plugin would be best. You have to make sure to choose the best social share plugin for website- which contains all social sharing buttons you want. But there is a lot more you would look in your plugin besides that as well.

Following are some of the most popular and best Social media plugins for website owners across WordPress.

Know the pros and cons of each and choose the one which is just right for you:

      1.  Digg Digg:

This is, by far, the most popular social media plugin. If you want something simple yet very functional and effective, then Digg-Digg is for you. It always looks a part of the website and is more authentic than most other available plugins.

Features:

1. It displays all the popular sharing buttons (and that too, with count) like Facebook, Google +, pinterest, Twitter, Topsy, Yahoo Buzz, Stumble Upon etc.
2. It is very customizable. You can choose it to make like a floating bar. You can choose it to place below or above the post.
3. Has left or right scrolling effect.
4. Increases website performance.
5. Has e-mail and other print options, too.

Drawbacks:

1. Sometimes, it slows down the website performance.
2. It does not have Tumblr social sharing button.

  2. Social Stickers:

With very less flaws and perfect for almost any website, Social Stickers is one social Sharing Plugin you probably don’t want to miss.

Features:

1. You can easily customize the order of the icons
2. This plug in supports shortcuts
3. You can show Facebook page likes and number of Twitter followers
4. Knowledge of HTML can help you edit the plug-in
5. It is very small and does not look crowded.
6. There are more than 50+ options ( like eBay, 500px, twitter, Facebook, Pinterest,Hi5, Skype, E-mail, Orkut, Quora etc.) and you can easily chose which social sharing buttons you want to choose.

Liked by almost everyone, Social Stickers is nearly flawless.

  

    3.  Sharexy:

Here are the salient features and the drawbacks associated with this social media plugin:

Features:

1. Very easy to install
2. Very bold and beautiful design
3. Very easy to place anywhere on the website
4. Lots of social sharing buttons available to helps users from different social networks to share.
5. You can easily choose which share buttons to show
6. It is a very small plug-in, so, it takes a very small space which makes it look more managed.

Drawbacks:

1. The e-mail function in this sometimes not very functional.
2. The customer care support is not so great

     

4.  Flare:

One of the simplest yet most alluring social sharing plug in, Flare gives you that extra magical effect to your website that other sharing plugins can’t give.

Features:

1. Very easy to install, use and customize as per your needs.
2. Floating share buttons below, above or at the sides of your post makes it your website more beautiful
3. Almost every popular social network share option is available.
4. You can customize on which type of posts flare should appear.
5. You can customize in such a way that it scrolls down/up with page and can be made hidden if the visitor wants.
6. You can also customize the appearance of the social sharing buttons or icons i.e. their color or layout.

This plug in has very few flaws and their customer care support is good too.

     

5.  Sociable:

One of the most popular sharing plug in, sociable looks more natural than any other plug in available. Also, it is small and looks very managed and clean.

Features:

1. Lots of different most popular social networks sharing options
2. Has sharing via e-mail option and quick bookmarking option
3. You can easily choose which sharing buttons to put on the bar
4. You can place the bar vertically or horizontally as per your need.
5. It responds slowly resulting in the increased page performance.

Drawbacks:

1. The horizontal placement of the bar is not so good experience for most of the people.
2. It does not have lots of customization options.

6.  Shareaholic:

One of the catchiest plugins available, Shareaholic looks great on almost every kind of website.

Features:

1. It has more than 15 language options. So if your website is not in English, this might just be the social media plugin you were looking for.
2. Support for Google’s short URL (goo.gl) and Google Analytics.
3. It also offers Recommendation and analysis. Thus, resulting in higher number of page views
4. Has social sharing buttons for almost every sharing popular network.
5. Very easy to install, use and customize as well.
6. This plugin loads very quickly and is more website friendly.
7. Also, the graphics are great.

Drawbacks:

It does not have any particular flaws. It looks and works great on almost every website. But since it has HD graphics a website with classic view might not be a good fit for this plugin.

Conclusion

Which of these social sharing plugins is you favorite?

Do write to us about the social media plugin are you using for your website?

Do write to use about the commendable features and the drawbacks of the plugin you are using.

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10 Best High Page Rank Social Bookmarking Sites Which Give Dofollow Links

Looking for a list of High Page Rank (PR) social bookmarking sites which give dofollow links?

Social bookmarking is one of the best and easiest ways of earning backlinks from quality sites, as any SEO expert would tell you.

Not only can it help get tons of traffic to your site with very little effort but also help your posts rank higher with the backlinks they generate. Not to mention the benefit to your blog at the time of a PR update.

The good thing is that there are many social bookmarking sites which dofollow links to their users.

Posting on such sites regularly is one of the surest and best known methods of improving one’s Page Rank (which, need I say, holds a lot of importance for bloggers) and also getting their individual posts ranked much higher in search engine rankings, than they would otherwise be in the absence of such backlinks.

Here is a list of 10 such amazing social bookmarking sites with high page rank which give Dofollow links to users. The PR of the sites mentioned here varies from 7 to 9, as you can see.

High Page Rank DoFollow Social Bookmarking Sites

S.no.	Site	Page Rank
	www.slashdot.org	9
2.	www.reddit.com	8
3.	www.stumleupon.com	8
4.	www.digg.com	8
5.	www.delicious.com	8
6.	www.technorati.com	8
7.	www.connotea.com	7
8.	www.newsvine.com	7
9.	www.diigo.com	7
10.	www.folkd.com	7

Before you read any further, let me assure each one of you that social bookmarking is completely White Hat SEO. And unless you do something seriously wrong at these sites, you are unlikely to be penalized for using them.

Those of you who follow aggressive link building strategies will know that getting links from social bookmarking sites is tougher than it is to get them from directory submissions.

Most directory submission sites do not require you to create an account or resister on their site. You simply have to type the site url and add your blog or post url there to get a link.

Social bookmarking sites, however, require you to register and furnish full details about yourself before you can start using them for generating links. If you plan to get dofollow links from social bookmarking sites regularly, you would do well to create a document where you store in your email id you used for all those sites, your password and username separately and store it an easily accessible location on your system.

I, personally speaking, have an Excel sheet where I have stored all the information mentioned above, which makes it easier for me to use these sites.

Inspite of that, they are totally worth the effort. I have got lots of traffic from Slashdot and Newsvine.

To get the most out of these bookmarking sites, I would suggest you to be active on each of these-spend a few minutes on each of the sites you intend to use more actively than others as a matter of routine. 10 minutes on 3 sites would mean just 30 minutes a day. And that could translate into 1 dofollow link from a high PR site every day, if pursued properly.
Just imagine what that could mean to your blog and traffic in the long run!!

Remember not to overdo it and not to spam these sites (that could even lead to suspension of account in most cases) so that the link building process looks genuine and natural.

Hope this list of high page rank social bookmarking sites which give dofollow links will benefit all readers.

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Truth Behind Buying Fake Facebook LIKEs- How to Get More Free Facebook LIKEs?

Want to BUY Facebook LIKEs?

So you just started a new venture and do not have enough Likes. Right?

Many people and brands have been known to buy fake likes in a bid to portray themselves as established companies with a large fan base.

The question is:

WHY do people BUY Facebook Likes?

SHOULD you buy Facebook Likes?

Are fake Likes worth it?

Will they help promote your business interest in any way?

Ok. So, is buying Facebook likes a BAD idea?

If it is not really recommended, what are the alternatives to buying Facebook likes?

Why People Buy Facebook Likes?

Anyone who has a Facebook page for his brand/ service/ blog, etc. knows how difficult it is to create a fan following.

Though it takes just a few seconds to do so, people are extremely reluctant to press the LIKE button on a page.

Especially, on a new page.

THAT precisely is the main reason most new starters buy likes.

There are various reasons for people wanting to buy Facebook likes.

•  Having lots of likes can make a world of difference to most brands and internet marketers. Starting with a handful of followers would reflect very poorly on their part.

A person selling weight loss products, for instance, and having testimonials from satisfied clients is not likely to cut much ice with first time visitors to his website if they see only 134 likes on his page. Having 27,165 likes, on the other hand, might help create an impression that he is selling a hugely popular product.

•  It can indeed be flustering if you put up a status on your fan page and only 3 people like it. And no one bothers to leave behind a comment.

Not only is it annoying and frustrating for you, but also acts as a turn off for those who might have liked your page.

That is because people are more likely to get involved with active pages where the level of social interaction is high.

Call it the ‘herd mentality’ or whatever.

• It is my personal observation that all of us are more likely to LIKE a page which has already been liked by, say, 7400 people or 2779 people than we would on a page that has only been liked by 86 people before us.

I am no exception to this.

Which again brings us to the question we started with.

If you do not have enough natural likes, is it a good idea to buy Facebook likes to create an impression?

Why Buying Facebook Likes is a Bad Idea?

Most social media experts would not suggest you to buy fake likes. And here are the main reasons why they would dissuade any serious business man from doing so:

· All You Get is Numbers

The LIKEs you get when you pay someone for them are totally, completely fake and only help add to the numeric count on your page. Some smart sellers might try charging higher for “Active”likes. The truth is that it is very difficult to get a good degree of interaction from the fake numbers on your fan page.

The actual social worth of a fan page is judged by the level of interaction it gets after putting up a status, picture or inviting a poll. Paid likes don’t help you get any of these.

· Real Fans Will Doubt Your Integrity

No one likes to deal with a person or a business who misrepresents facts or cheats.

If your real fans get the slightest hint of your resorting to such third class tactics to create a false impression, they will begin to have doubts about your truthfulness. Your brand image will get a severe blow if that happens.

· EdgeRank Algorithm

The recently introduced EdgeRank algorithm now helps decide about the “Top stories” which appear in users’ news feed.

If the posts you put up on your page do not get a good level of interaction (by way of LIKEs, Shares and Comments) from a good percentage of people on your fan page, your posts will stop appearing in the news feed of even your most active and ardent followers. In this way, fake likes might actually become a burden.

· Illegal

The people who provide you fake likes do so by creating fake multiple accounts, which is strictly against Facebook policies. When you buy them from a person doing so, you also become a partner-in-crime.

· May Evoke a Ban

Fake accounts at Orkut were more of a norm than an exception. And they did not seem to object to that either. The rules here are becoming strict with every passing day. They are making it difficult, if not impossible, to create fake accounts.

Inspite of that, it was estimated that almost 83 million account holders were operating with fake accounts.

The day Facebook realizes that your likes are fake (and it is not difficult to do so because most providers give likes from the same ip address or from a particular area), your Facebook page might run the risk of getting banned altogether.

Zuckerberg laid it out in unequivocal terms in September 2012 that all fake and inactive accounts will soon be deleted.

If, God forbid, that happens, you lose all credibility and respect.

In some cases where a sizable proportion of business leads are generated by this networking site, the volume of business might get affected adversely.

· Likes Might Disappear

Even if your page does not get banned per se, the fake likes might disappear as suddenly as they had appeared.

You might log in to your Fan page one fine day and notice that all the 32,000 likes you had purchased have vanished without any trace.

That could happen due to a fraud on the part of the contractor who provided you those.

Likes purchased over Fiverr and other such dubious sites are notorious for disappearing in that fashion.

If that happens, you could end up having wasted all the money you spent buying those.

· Misguides YOU

The fake numbers on your list serve to misguide YOU more than your followers. You will never have a fair idea of the reach of your page and the number of people who actually get to view your posts.

You will not know how many of the total LIKEs actually subscribe to what you are saying or love the products and/ or services being offered by you.

So, if it is not a good idea to buy Facebook likes, how to get more, free Facebook Likes?

After all, we want to make the best use of our presence on this platform.

How to Get More, Free Facebook Likes?

Now that we all know why buying Facebook likes is a bad idea, you might want to know what then is the alternative?

Well, the only alternative is: GET MORE, REAL ONES INSTEAD!!!

Though that is easier said than done, it is not impossible to get REAL people with real profiles to get to click the LIKE button.

The sooner you can master the art of winning them over and persuading them to do so, the better it is for you.

Assuming, of course, that you do not want your Fan page to be flagged or served a penalty. Worse still, banned altogether.

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind when you step up your efforts to get more free Facebook likes:

• Have a Facebook Like Page

This seems to be the most common-sensical thing to do, to begin with.

You obviously cannot expect people to connect with you on Facebook unless you have a Like box widget on your website or blog. Try to place it somewhere it is sure to get the visitors’ attention.

You can even try having a slide-in Facebook Like Box.

Experiment by placing it different positions and try out different colors, sizes and height till you bein to get the results you want to.

• Invite People

Begin building up on numbers by inviting friends and relatives on your list to do you a favor.

Here again, take care to invite only those who will not just ‘oblige’ you with a like and never bother to interact with you on your page. Resist the temptation to do so and invite instead only those people from your list whom you expect to be active members on the page later.

That can fetch you only a few hundred likes, at the most.

What after you are done with that list?

Well, after that start sending out invites to relevant people i.e. people who, according to you, have some interest in your products and /or services.

You can send them direct invites over Facebook or send them emails asking them to connect to you.

• Online Promotion of The Page

First of all, make sure that each of the pages on your website/ blog has a Facebook Like button. Don’t expect your fans to go all the way and log in to Facebook, locate you over there and then Like your page.

Make the process easier for them.

If you reach out to lots of people through emails, put the link to your fan page there too!

If you have a sizeable following on other networking sites like Twitter, Google +, Pinterest, LinkedIn and StumbleUpon, etc, ask them to like your page.

• Offline Promotion of The Page

Ask the visitors to your store to follow you on Facebook.

Don’t just ask them.

Entice them into doing so!

Tell them about the wonderful deals, packages and news they would be able to get from time to time if they do so.

Make sure your visiting cards, receipts and handbags for packing all bear the easily recognizable F, so that people know they can stay connected to you through this networking site.

• Provide Value

Remember that visitors to your store and your prospective clients are all human. And all of us love to interact with other people around.

Whether you are selling body building supplements or own a brand of luxury watches. Whether you sell security equipment or software- your end customers are PEOPLE.

And people love to get involved in a conversation. Most of us love to be involved in an intelligent conversation, unless your targeted audience is a bunch of thickheads!

Put some health related stuff from time to time- something that would interest everyone. Even if you are running a health related site.

If your audience is, by and large, local, you could invite a discussion on local issues.

Try humor as well- every one likes to be tickled once in a while!

See what interests them and share 2-3 updates with them daily, on an average. Try to get them involved in a conversation or discussion.

That is because every time someone likes your post or comments on it, it moves to the top of the News feed and becomes visible once again to all those who have liked you.

• Run Contests

Running contests and asking all contestants to like your fan page first is another easy way of building up a commendable Facebook presence.

Encourage them to share the story of your giveaway or contest with their friends and give them more points or rewards for doing so.

But again keep in mind that a person who likes your Facebook fan page just because he wants to win the two free t-shirts you are offering as the prize or for winning a free cell phone, they are NOT interested in you as a brand.

They are interested in ONLY the prize. In most probability, they will NEVER visit your page again. And so they simply lower the EdgeRank score of your page by just being there!

So, make sure that the contests you run are highly targeted. People should like you because they ACTUALLY like you or your product.

And not because they stand to win a free iPad for doing so!!

• Running Facebook ads

Now, another way of getting likes to your page is by running Facebook ads.

They should also be used to get more likes only if you are convinced that doing so will win you loyal people and buyers. People who love you for the personality you portray online.

Bottomline

You can have fans running into hundreds or thousands. Or even hundreds of thousands.

You can buy all the fake likes you want if you need to swell up the numbers on your Facebook fan box.

But keep in mind that these [aid likes are NOT going to buy you any engagement.

Don’t go out of your way t o create an impression and woo people who might not be interested in you or your brand later.

Choose quality over quantity.

Focus on keeping the natural fans happy, so that you don’t lose them.

This can be done if you:

· Share brand related contests from time to time

· Share unique and interesting information

· Ask questions

· Invite polls

· Encourage readers to press the “Share” button

· Synchronize your offline and online efforts

If you think it is too much to ask for, try hiring a social media management expert. Such experts can make all the difference to your online marketing campaign and help you win loyal visitors who will add to your net worth instead of adding on numbers which will bring down your EdgeRank and pull you down the News Feed.

I have seen many companies and people provide fake Likes.

I too was tempted to buy a 1,000 odd likes a few days back. I wanted to impress the visitors to my blog by showing them how hugely popular I am with my readers. I was so sure it would help enhance the brand value associated with MyMagicMix, and also help me earn a few more natural likes in the long run.

And I did a thorough research into this business of providing fake likes.

I then realized how wrong I was!!

I am simply sharing all that I learnt during the course of my research on this topic with all my readers, hoping this will help put some sense into all those who have been thinking on the same lines as me. And dissuade them from buying Facebook likes.

Now that you know how to get more free Facebook Likes, try the genuine methods instead of the illegal ones and see your Fan following swelling up in no time at all.

Please share your views and opinions on the topic by leaving behind your valuable comments!

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