Posterous and Ping.fm: please use wisely

A few days ago I had a conversation with a colleague about what I was noticing on her Posterous updates: every post said Untitled in the post title. Not only that, all the posts were like status updates...a couple of words and a link to something. Then I realized other people whose Posterous sites I'm following often had similar types of posts.

On closer inspection and questioning, it became clear my colleague's VA was using Ping.fm to post content.

While Ping.fm is a great tool and I use it as well, you have to understand HOW to use it with different sites.

Posterous is a type of blog platform. It's not Facebook and it's not twitter or FriendFeed. I find it irritating to see it used for status updates.

The beauty of Posterous is that you can email text, photos, audio clips and videos and they will be posted on your site. All with a simple email. The Posterous sites I follow serve as complements to the authors' blogs. They are not status updates.

When you use Ping.fm, you can select whether to post a status update or post to a blog. If you post to a blog, you then get the option to add a title. You want to add a title when posting to Posterous so your readers have some context. "Untitled" as a post title doesn't cut it. That's what happens when you post a status update to a blog: the title shows up as UNTITLED. Not only am I NOT compelled to read the post, you get NO search engine benefit because you have no key word in the most important field.

If you're going to use Ping.fm to only post status updates, then remove Posterous from your list of sites to auto post. Use email to post to your Posterous blog so you can add a subject line. Keep them separate, post properly and you'll keep your readers happy.

Comments

[Angel]

I currently have my blip.fm posting to my ping which posts to my posterous then to my wordpress.org - I end up with untitled blog entries. Is there anyway to set a blog post title, since this all happens automatically? (I don't post through email - It all just updates automatically but with an "untitled" blog post in the end.)

[Judy H. Wright aka Auntie Artichoke]

Hello from beautiful Montana:

Thanks for these little tips and tricks to make us more successful. It is amazing how all the little ones add up to a big Ahhha.

Your friend on the web,

Judy H. Wright aka Auntie Artichoke, family relationship author and speaker
http://www.AskAuntieArtichoke.com