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Views are up, but do you know the Virily Influencers?

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First off there are lots of frustrating things that have come, some are gone, and some remain about being an author on Virily. I do truly understand that there are negative things on the site. The fact that the dashboard hasn’t updated in a month is frustrating. But I would you ask you this, what can you as an author do?  I’ve called out a number of the writers on the site for being too negative. Their response? They stopped reading my posts. That is wholly their right. I encourage people that don’t like being called negative to not ready negative posts about themselves. But then I would also say if there isn’t anything positive to be said be careful. For example last January I was worried about Virily. I was experiencing some issues, and frankly, it was a little frustrating.

I decided to watch five authors on the site to see what their traffic was (I was not one of the authors watched). But I also started looking for influencers. For ten days I checked every post the five authors put up on Virily. From Jan 1 to Jan 11, 2018. The average for all five authors for all posts over the ten days was 64 views. Fast forward one year and one of the author’s measured in 2018 doesn’t post on the site anymore or at least not in the ten-day window. So I evaluated with the 4, from Jan 1 to Jan 11, 2019. Average views for the ten days was 84. Views are up, considerably this year. In part because the Cloudflare and other usage issues have gone away. The site is more stable we don’t have the social media or log in issues, and overall the site is significantly faster.

We do have one huge negative (the dashboard). The other negative that is floating around is that of guest views. Back at the beginning of the Virily site, you got credit for all guest views. Now you get credit for the sharing of a social media link, but you do not get credit for guest views past the initial one viral for sharing. Let’s think about this for a second. On an average day on Virily, I share between 10-15 posts on Twitter. I average 2000 views per day. I do tweet other things on Twitter than just Virily. Let’s just say normally I would generate between 200 and 500 guest views per day based on sharing the information from Virily on Twitter. That occurs throughout 12-15 hours in the standard day. The complexity of capturing the initial share, giving a Unique ID (UID) and then maintaining that across two separate platforms (Twitter and Virily) is tough. Plus, that tweet fro some people remains visible far longer than one day. That means you have to create a UID for every single social media share on Virily. I do share Facebook and Tumblr as well as GooglePlus. That means I can share between 50 and 75 different shares a day. There are between 3000-4000 active users on Virily. Let’s say I am on the high end of sharing via Social. Let’s say the average is 4 per day. That means that the site has to track between 9000 to 12000 social shares every day of the week. The admins shared that the reason that they stopped giving Virils for all guest views of social posts was site performance. It is conceivable that the performance issue would get much worse if that feature were turned back on. Hey honestly at some point I understand why it is off. But let’s be fair, I am one of the big losers when it comes to not tracking guest views.

The last outcome is the reality of who is an influencer on the site. If asked in 2018 for influencers I had six names. I would have been wrong.

  • Question of

    Are you an influencer on Virily?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Do you know what an influencer is?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Did you know that average views are up on Virily?

    • Yes
    • No

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Written by DocAndersen

One fan, One team and a long time dream Go Cubs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

32 Comments

  1. Quite juicy, I have to say. Oh well, the only reason I am back here is because I am reading your posts ???. I am starting to love microblogging within FB. It is limited, true, but I was able to adjust to it and for now, it is enough. My page is a hobby I enjoy and it does not earn me any money but it sure does earn me friends. I guess that is the same thing ?.

    On your tech posts, my top faves are still the ones about privacy and ownership issue, the drones and its possibilities. And yes, I look forward to your poems too.

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  2. Well you know I am not here that much, but the past few months I am trying, but as you said the dashboard not being updated is a huge turn off since so many of us has been bit it the butt by other writing sites.

    With that being said, people feel like this ” they do not care so why should I and they walk away” so it makes me think. should I be writing here at all? I know I am not “all that” but I felt like I was part and doing a good job at writing better than I did at other sites.

    By the way, I love reading about your life and your travels.

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    • It is a balance, there are sites that pay (not many). There are many sites that don’t pay (or you generate your own). It becomes a symbiotic relationship eventually. When people only post negative responses, it is no longer symbiotic.

  3. Very interesting post. I do not know if any of my posts has been shared. I also have problems because I wait for approval post about 3 days. This is the only thing that bothers me on this site. I like Virily because I have been insisting for two years.

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    • It is a site policy until you reach a certain point level that your posts are moderated. But I do remember when mine were 2, 3 and 4 days behind. It is frustrating. Just understand it is a long time rule!

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      • I understand that these are rules. I did not find out how many points I have to achieve. I noticed that some members have fewer points than me, but they are already verified users

  4. I think this is a clear, open and fair perspective. For me, this is very analytical and informative, so it’s obviously very useful. I haven’t shared my post for social media for a long time because as far as possible I just want to share posts that are not related to any challenges with certain thoughts and reasons.

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  5. It’s really hard to say. Because although I share all the time, who follows and actually comes to the site? I know of the ones who reach out and are not on the site and say “Hey I followed your link…..” I sometimes hear from 100 people who have done that and ask me specific questions so I know they have read – but I get nothing on my dashboard for any of that at all. So I am just lost.

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    • Yeah, the issue of guest reads impacts me as well. But the influencers on the site are people when they read your post and comment, 40 or more other people read your post.

      1

        • Please don’t take it that way. It is not about pushing people out. It is trying to help people understand that the site is driven by an interesting list of people. I am still collecting data on who the influencers actually are!

          • I am trying not to, and still I have to wonder what is the point sometimes. I share on social media – while that may help the site, it does nothing for me as near as I can tell. So the selfish little girl in me says “I am putting all these posts here so others can earn and I am writing and working and maybe I should become a clicker.

            My passion is the writing and story telling. I probably should be spending more times on the books.

            Anyone know a reasonable illustrator for children’s books?

            I enjoy being part of a team. I give money away in contests. I am just a lost soul, wouldn’t you say?

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        • You posted a couple of weeks ago about the negative comments to you (you post too much). I wonder if you aren’t suffering from the same Malaise I am suffering from. Obviously, since you sit in the second spot overall in the rankings, your posts are valued by a broad audience.

          But are you frustrated with all the negativity? I know there are some people whose comments I dread. Some people whose posts I avoid now, because they are just so negative.

  6. I am certainly not an influence as my posts are so sparse because they do take me a long time to write. I do not have one bad word to say about Virily because it is the only site where I feel I can write historical type posts just like I have always wanted. I have never shared any of my posts as my overall presence on the internet is so low. But I still enjoy this site and I try to read all that I can including you. Thank you for sharing your insight on the Virily site and its pitfalls and triumphs.

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  7. I’m not an influencer since I’m not even in the top ten yet, but I try to create quality content. I have found your content to be both insightful and thought provoking…

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    • Interesting. What if I told you that the only two of the top ten posters on the site were actually influencers?

      That the majority of people that reading, sharing and commenting bring readers aren’t in the top ten at all.

      1

      • I think that is probably true, however if you were to really look at what I share it’s a lot that never shows up in my stats. I really must rethink this whole thing.

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        • I don’t blame you. I get more reads for my technology posts (2, 3 and sometimes 4 to one) than my passion project (the family history/Wander project). But one is what I do for a living, the other is my passion so I don’t care about views!

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      • I believe you, but it is hard to wrap my head around- How can they bring traffic to other posts but not their own? Just seems kinda counter intuitive…

        So am I meant to guess or will you tell us?

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  8. I don’t know how many posts are uploaded daily. In my case it takes about 2 to 3 days for an article to be accepted. I have become content with reading more than writing. That means I submit one article a week. Virily is a good site, only some issues here and there.

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