| The Good | The Bad |
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A funny thing happened on the way to the forum! As usual when joining social networks, I created my account at Cre8Buzz and then looked for categories where Entrecarders or other social networkers might be lurking. In my brainfog I joined “Entrepreneurs”. Duh, I forgot “Entrepreneurs” was an actual word and not some silly portmanteau from the EC forums. While not the best fitting category, I checked it out, then moved into the Business/Sales & Marketing category. That wasn’t my style either. Finally I gave the Social category a try to see if there was any action there.
No matter which category i joined, the forums were always dead. Since the highlight of this program is to meet others of your niche, I expected more. Reminds me of Bumpzee, a network with a similar style, always suffering from either spam or cobwebs.
So what exactly is Cre8buzz? As their FAQ states:
Showcase yourself, showoff, post your pictures, blog your opinions, and share your videos. It’s show and tell, what do you got? Pimp yourself. Build a following, reach out, get mad love from others. Show the world you’ve got followers, you’ve got fans! Use our buzzranking widget, put it on your other sites and let the world know your buzzranking. Get a buzz going about you!”
You can create a customized profile page by downloading some software, an option I passed on. Twitter like messages can be sent between members, and you can add each other to your friends list. All these actions “Create Buzz”. (Note: I screwed up on this one, I was fooled by an ad on my profile page. You edit CSS to point to image files of your choosing. It’s actually quite fun. Use Firebug in WordPress and you can do the entire thing yourself in realtime)
Unless you opt out, you receive Buzz rankings sent to you by email. You increase your Buzz ranking by posting and participating in the community. I had the feeling when I joined that the few members who approached me had automated their greetings and their responses. Still, if you work it, I think you could become a leader in that network and get some visitors from there. Those with a higher Buzz ranking get much more exposure on the site. Better for networking than as a traffic source, a few of the affiliate challenge contestants were working that side of the street to gain votes. So they saw some possibilities there too.
Go check out Cre8Buzz. While their widget has been moved to the widget graveyard, it is not forgotten. Cre8Buzz was neither the Holy Grail of social networks I’ve been searching for, nor was it a complete waste of time. You might get lucky and find out your particular niche there is active. Only way to know for sure is to go look. My biggest negative was finding no category that truly fit me. It’s a friendly place, but felt a bit fake to me. If you had either a positive or negative experience there, please comment below.
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Rankings
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Score
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| Fun Factor – If you like building Myspace pages, you might enjoy it. |
4
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| Traffic Performance - Cre8buzz brings in a few active visitors. |
2
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| Community Involvement – Small but very loyal community |
3
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| Commitment – You can work it and meet others, one at a time |
4
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Total Score
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13
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I know the inactive forums are a top priority to be improved at cre8Buzz. Once that happens there will surely be lots of activity there.
Some of the “automated greetings” were probably from the welcoming crew. Many of the BuzzBoard members (which I am one of) do a good job of recognizing the new faces there and pop by to say hello. I personally don’t make it by each new member to the site to welcome them but do make an effort in my own category.
Also, if you find that there is not a category that fits who you are then you can message Antman and he would probably create it for you.
cre8Buzz is still pretty new and they are working on growing the network and keeping out the spammers. I have met dozens of interesting people through the site and look forward to meeting many more. I think it has been worth the time I have invested there.
I’ve heard some people say, “It sounds like high school” because of the popularity rankings. If you look beyond that and check out the content that is rated high you will see that it’s not about popularity as much as it is showcasing talent.
Good review. Thanks for writing it!
QJ
Turnip, we appreciate the review. The buzz is a very active place, however your assessment that certain communities are not as active is very accurate. It has been one of our most difficult challenges. Moms, Dads, Real Estate, etc are rather active sites with very active members. However, other communities can be slow. We are building the buzz one community at a time, as we can not focus on everything at once.
The active members are very committed, I can tell ya, no one has automated their welcome. It is just that friendly of a site. People do welcome new members and are generally willing to help.
Finally, you assessment re: one has to work to get exposure is accurate, but does pay off. Many of our members are using the buzz to increase the traffic on their blog and it IS working.
Thanks my friend for the review and if I can help ya get more out of the site, lemme know.
Peace!
One thing I forgot, cre8Buzz also has a community blog where all members of the site can participate in by posting. It is a very active part of the site that brings all of the communities together in one place.
http://www.cre8buzz.com/anthill/
Antman and Quirkee: Thanks for stopping by and adding to the discussion. I did fail to mention the community blog. It’s very active with daily posts and comments. Those who make use of it will certainly receive the benefit of the exposure. (Note: I checked out the link posted above to another reviewer who made use of the Anthill group blog. That user reported over 1150 hits in a 10 day period)
As for the rankings, I enjoy that part of Cre8Buzz. People like to see progress for their networking efforts. Getting a higher Buzz ranking is a game in itself the can be used to shape user habits. I feel the best social networks use some form of ranking.
The success of any social network depends on the dedication of members. I recognized from the start that those who were serious about the network would do well at Cre8buzz. Those members who are dedicated to the network and their own blogs success, those who don’t participate will gain little.
As for my category, that’s a little difficult. Turnipofpower.com started as an internet marketing blog. Then it moved into the category of reviewing social networks. Other than Mashable.com, I have found only a handful of others that rate social networks as their primary topic. Perhaps an “internet marketing” or “social networking” category would fit best, but then you attract all the spam blogs as well. I understand the nature of the issue, and know every social network has their hands full combatting spam.
I like Cre8Buzz, and I feel my review accurately reflected my experience, that of an active blogger but one who didn’t concentrate on Cre8Buzz exclusively. Which is why I suggest my readers explore their particular niche to see if it’s active, and no doubt friendly.
Greetings, Turnip! I believe I suggested cre8Buzz a while ago, I’m glad you’ve decided to review it. I’d like to make a few comments.
The forums are an unused resource at the moment, though that could change if some folks just started using them. My group, the PC section of the Technology community, is small, with 12 members. Perhaps 6-8 of those are active. But I still manage to make connections throughout the communities and draw traffic to my sites from cre8Buzz. I have made an investment of my time in this network and I’m seeing a significant return. As you said in your comment, “those who don’t participate will gain little.”
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“You can create a customized profile page by downloading some software, an option I passed on.”
As the person behind the official cre8Buzz theme site ( http://buzzstyle.timbury.com ), I can tell you there is no software necessary to customize your profile. There is a “Create/Edit Custom Theme” link under “Manage My Profile” on the “My Stuff” page. This allows you to edit the html and css directly. I offer css themes made specifically for cre8Buzz that folks can copy and paste into this editor if they don’t know how to code css themselves. Many people use my themes as a starting point and add their own modifications.
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If you really want to generate some traffic, start posting on The Anthill! The Anthill is really a new concept in social networking, the Open Blog. Any cre8Buzz user can be an author on The Anthill. In the three short months since it’s birth, there are over 100 authors and 600+ posts. Most of these are high quality posts, with many thoughtful comments. It is truly a place where an unknown author could post on the same page as a “Scoble” and benefit from the traffic the popular bloggers draw. I know of no other social network doing this.
Cre8Buzz is still fairly new, only a few months out of beta. The Anthill has just begun. What has been achieved thus far, has been through the amazing dedication of the underfunded cre8Buzz team (NOTE: here is an opportunity for savvy investors) and the community of users who make cre8Buzz feel more like friends sharing conversation over a meal than some drop cards and run gimmick site.
I subscribe to your blog by email and I hope to see another review of cre8buzz in the future, perhaps when the site has matured and has benefited from some financial backing. I enjoy your reviews immensely! Keep up the good work.
I am a member of the Moms community and we are mad, crazy active. While my referrals from cre8Buzz aren’t off the charts, almost everyone of my regular readers I met there. The exposure I got from cre8Buzz has been tremendous.
The site is still fairly young and we are going through some growing pains, but it’s still the most fun I’ve had in any Internet community.
Thanks for the shout out and hope you come back for a second look soon.
I don’t know much at all about other communities. I got a wild hair to start a blog and was directed to CRE8buzz to get started and haven’t needed to go anywhere else. I have remained fairly active and I can reiterate from Antman- none of the welcome messages are automated! I thought the same thing at first- I think they are trying to work the kinks out- at least that’s what I hear- I don’t see anything wrong with it, personally.
I am a member of the photography community. I was asked to be a buzzbuilder for the photo community.
I am dedicated to the site and have tried to get the community active by welcoming, encouraging new members and with a monthly photo challenge.
The biggest problem was the teething problems with the arranging of the images and the forum. I think these issues frustrated many and sadly has meant many photographers who joined – left disappointed with the features. Cre8buzz addressed the photo arranging but still improvements are required if cre8buzz photo community is going to compete with other ‘photo’ sites.
As with life, you get back what you put in… sadly too many people want something for nothing and are not prepared to work for the good of the community.
I am sure Antman would consider a category to suit you. I like that many folks explore different communities and visit other communities and forge connections.
I have quite a high rank. I upload fresh photographs frequently, I make an effort to welcome new members, visit other categories. Now I am not well known in the blogging world – am not popular – do not have many followers – a few loyal readers. My point being, that cre8buzz has given me exposure. Admittedly, cre8buzz needs more members and needs improvement.
But it is run by a small team – has limited funds and I am loyal. I enjoy being part of something growing and developing. The potential of cre8buzz is massive.
I am a member of the womens group..every member of buzz I have been in contact with has been more than friendly..and all of the members seem to be hard working, genuine, polite, lovely people, the stay at home Dads are sooo dedicated and hard working as are the Mums..I can’t praise cre8buzz enough, and the anthill is a great place to post to and read others posts
the quality of the writing also is brilliant..it will be a loss to all the buzzers and buzzers that could have been if it comes to an end
I signed up for cree8buzz and did the profile, submitted posts, contributed to forums, etc. However, I found that working on my Cree8buzz profile was so much like working on my own blog and was taking away time that I felt I would rather spend on my blog. To me, it seems the time I spend wiwth Entrecard is better spent; I learn more about other blogs and bloggers which I can directly translate to my own blog. There are only so many hours in the day and I have discovered that my time is better spent with Entrecard than with Cree8buzz. For those of you who are able to balance doing both, I say “Bravo!” If I am missing something, I will be happy to be corrected.
I just started buzzing and am finding this a great networking system. Lots of friendly helpful people and already quite a few hits to my blog. Sorry if it wasn’t a good experience for you, but you might want to give it a second look.
I am a member of the Crafting community of cre8buzz, and would like to add my comments to all of the above – and if it’s repeating – I just want to address the things you addressed
I created my own profile page – and didn’t have to download anything – not sure where you got the idea you had to. It does take a bit of HTML and CSS knowledge – or you can just ask for help – and it’s there.
I know the forums are underused, but that is certainly not the reason why I am on cre8buzz – I’m there to put up the content I love, and the response, both from the community there and the traffic to my blog have be wonderful. I am not a ‘biggie’ in the general crafting sites out there, but I have the desire to grow and participate. Cre8buzz gives me this opportunity.
I get around to all the people I can on a regular basis – both to greet newcomer’s (and sorry – not a rehearsed or canned greeting in the bunch) and to read what they have to say – and if I like it, I rank it – and this system creates the content that rises to the top. That to me is the big difference – the variety and quality of the content! Nowhere else have I encountered this (and MySpace in this sense is a total joke), nor the genuine interest and caring of the members. Yeah, I’m there a lot, because I enjoy it – and the benefits of that are wonderful, ranking or not!
I did visit your profile on cre8buzz – and wondered why it was not important to you to put any info about yourself there (or on this blog either – pretty sparse ‘about’ section) – so I have no background to see who you are. You have no blog entries, so no help there. I did read some of your blog – and even googled “entrecarder” to try and find out just what that was. I still don’t know – except that it seems to be dedicated to driving numbers of people to a blog – quantity over quality. Not my cup of tea.
Bottom line is though, that you tend to get out of a site what you put in – and that is true here at cre8buzz too – and I see the potential of it – and have opted in for the long haul!
Nice honest review. I can’t speak for the other communities, but the parenting folks (Moms and Dads) are a lively REAL bunch of people. I have made friendships through the Buzz that transcend the the borders of Cre8buzz and into *gasp* real life. For a website to do that is unprecedented (at least in my experience). And also of note, the traffic that the Buzz has sent to me is quality traffic. People who really read and enjoy your stuff. And come back. That’s the key word. I have gotten spikes of traffic from Stumbleupon and such, but have made no real friends or fans from it. I could pick up the phone and actually talk to a huge percentage of my friends list from the buzz and have a real connection (and I have). That there is what makes all the difference in the world to me. You’re right though, the forums are kinda dead. But I think it’s because the people who meet here skip it and go right to direct communication or simply connect through their respective blogs.
“I did visit your profile on cre8buzz – and wondered why it was not important to you to put any info about yourself there (or on this blog either – pretty sparse ‘about’ section) – so I have no background to see who you are.”
I have very good reason not to do that. For you to even ask that you must not have had any experience with stalkers. While it is easy to dismiss death threats online, I choose not to subject my family to them, on or offline. Those who drop by regularly know me much better from my articles. Those I interact with know my real name, where I live, my other blogs, and other details.
As for posting on my profile page, I write for several blogs and have a hard time keeping up with that work load. Now that I see what can be done with the custom CSS, I will be updating that soon.
I am still a member of cre8buzz. Just because I wrote a review that isn’t 100% glowing doesn’t mean I dislike the service. I already have a follow-up post planned. That review will report on another person’s experiences and aspects of the network left out of this review.
I joined cre8buzz in the early stages. I’ve never been real comfortable with social networks, but I got in early via an invite. I participated actively for a while, then lost interest when my regular contacts slowed their activity. I picked up with it again … maybe last week… posted something on the anthill, chatted with a few others and my ranking soared. It’s all what you put into it. I love it! Be careful though, or you might spend hour after hour “buzzing” without even realizing it!
As an outsider, I think your view would be a bit skewed, I showed up soon after I found out I had M.S. I am not in the M.S. community, I belong to medical as I am a trained medical professional. I could also be in people, moms, thirtys or friends. What you do get from this group is a personal feel and the members are outstandingly kind, creative and I can only say it’s the only site I would dare to put my face and name and sorrows too. Perhaps if you joined you would realize how nice the human touch is in a webpage!
oops those shakey hands lol
Turnip, I understand what you’re saying. Everyone’s looking for something in particular and no networking community is going to be perfect, right? I appreciate your review and I’m glad you’re hanging in there through it all. Your input and opinions matter to the Antman, that I know. I hope you find what you’re looking for no matter where you go. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I would echo BusyDad’s observations. My traffic increased 20% right away and has stayed at least that high since I joined the Buzz last Spring. Aside from traffic, I have made some very dear friends on the Buzz; the sense of community in the Moms category is terrific. If you stay in your own group (
Entrepreneurs, for example, where there are only a handful of people), you will remain isolated from the community at large. Even though I am in the Moms category, I Buzz all over the place and have made friends all over the network. One thing I especially love about the Buzz is that in order to get exposure, my content must be fresh and GOOD. When it’s good; I know it, because people rate it, and that’s very validating. When it’s not that good, it challenges me to step up my game; I love the way Buzzers entertain, teach, and reach out. Anyone who loves these qualities, too, should give the Buzz a try. You will get what you put in and more.
Thank you for taking the time to review cre8Buzz!
I’ve been a member on the site since early January, and I enjoy it more all the time. I have met some genuinely wonderful people through cre8Buzz!, and it has helped me develop a following on my blog.
As you mentioned, those with higher buzz rankings get more exposure. The reason for this is that they are consistently active on the site, and add quality content that is rated by others. In turn, this often results in more traffic for their blogs/sites. Simply stated, you get what you put into it.
I hope you will spend some more time on cre8Buzz! so that you will really get a feel for what it’s all about.
Looks like you got a lot of first time commenters on this post. Obviously, I am not. This site’s layout and activity made me yawn. The sports section made me nap.
Stan, I checked out the Baseball section just for you. It is indeed dead. 3 of the people had no blog outside their Cre8tBuzz profile. The network appears very quiet until you get noticed. Now that I’ve gotten a better explanatin how things work there, I’ve been having considerably more fun. I’m going to update my review soon to reflect the changes I’ve discovered.
I have been on Cre8buzz for a few months now. I can defintely say I have connected with people there I never would have discovered otherwise. And I have seen traffic to my own blog too… it is a community of really nice, sincere people. But it is a place where you get out of it what you put in. If you don’t want to interact with others, rate their stuff and comment, then it won’t be reciprocated. Which is only fair.
It’s a fun place for me!
I’m glad to see your changing your mind about cre8buzz Turnip! I’ve had nothing but good experiences there. Everyone who sticks is upbeat and positive unlike those other scary places already mentioned in other comments here.
The best part is cre8buzz is still growing and becoming!
Hi Turnip-to me nothing compare’s to the cre8buzz. It’s not about just another social network..its all about the people to me. While it has not grown to the size the Antman would probably like..I do believe it will. It is the friendlist network that I am on and I am on many. The catagories…are awesome and I love the look and the feel. While I have been a way a bit lately because I am so BUSY! I’ll be back and I love the anthill…I love cre8buzz and I love the people!
Hi Turnip,
I’m just back in town and joining this late, but I’d like to add a comment.
Cre8Buzz is the ONE site I consistently recommend to those looking for specific connections within a field. I’m listed under photography but could easily see myself within about three other groups. I make a point of visiting these and others with the hope of growing my skills and ALWAYS find something worthwhile.
I’ve been a silent user of the forums. I think they could be archived in a more organized manner but am willing to sort through them for information I need. Lots of useful stuff in them…
To be honest, I was a little worried that Cre8Buzz would lose its intimacy when it opened up to “all,” but I really appreciate the inflowing of even more creative types!