How to Dominate Sphinn in 4 Easy Steps

Hot or Not - A Sphinn-o-ween Tale

I decided to spend an hour of my evening last night amusing myself some numbers. Ultimately, it ended up dragged me along giggling and snittering into the night - I do get carried away you know. You see, after my recent rant about some oddities and amusements at the expense of the crowd at Sphinn. I began thinking about some of Jeff’s number crunching, while I don’t have the patience to go into the depth he did, I was curious, possibly a tad over tired and just had to know;

What do some of the top stories ( Hot Topics) on Sphinn have in common? How is the editorial pie being dispensed? With some due-diligence and a few pots of tea, I cracked the code. Now the truth can be told… muuuaahh ha ha haaa. I have concocted a devious plan that any of you bright lights out there can use to get yourself to glory and greatness in the Sphinn-o-sphere!

But remember…..

Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, Till by broad spreading it disperses to naught. -- William Shakespeare; English dramatist & poet (1564 - 1616)

…and away we go ….

Some like it Hot - the Sphinn domination plan! ( tongue planted firmly in cheek)

I loosely based a ‘Hot’ commodity level of at least 25% of total submissions, meaning that to be a top dog you had to have at least 1 in 4 stories that are going ‘Hot’, and here's what I found;

 Do more submissions make your stories more likely to go hot?

Out of the Top 30 submitters (total submissions) – only 14 have a ‘Gone Hot Percentage’ (GHP) under 25%  This means that only 54% of the Top 30 Submitters have gone hot percentage above ¼. . Submission is only a marginal factor it would seem. Simply because you submit a whack of stories is no guarantee of going ‘Hot’.

Does interaction help you get more GH (gone hot) stories?

Out of the top 30 Top Commenters, only 8 had a GHP less than 25%. Nearly ¾ (74.4%) of the top comment submitters have a Gone Hot Percentage over 1 in 4 (25%). Commenting and participating is certainly a factor in getting viral love to your Sphinn Story. 

Does Sphinning a lot of other people’s additions help your chances of Going Hot?

Out of the top 30 Sphinners only 6 (20%) people had a GHP less than 25%. What comes around goes around it would seem with a full 80% of the top Sphinn-casters having a GHP greater than 25%. There is certainly an advantage in spreading your Sphinn around (just be sure to clean up after yourself)

Top Gone Hot Submitters (total stories that went Hot) – of the top 30 GHS;

Only 1 had less than 20 submissions – and no one in the Top 10 had less than 30
Only 8 had made less than 50 comments
Only 5 had less than 200 Sphinns cast

Top Sphunn stories; next we’ll look at the topical nature of some of the all-time and recent ‘HotTopics’
(there are some are cross over topics throughout)

Totals for today on the Sphinn Hot Story Scale; totals for al-time and current

Google/PageRank – 14
Editorial/Controversial – 13
Personal/Industry Figures/ Events - 12
Linking or Link Buying – 12
A ‘whatever’ list – 10
Technical/Tutorial – 6
Sphinn related – 4
Other - 3

The Plan - (notice that I use a 'list' - he he)

 Now it is time to put the master plan into action. Here’s what you do;

1. Vote on at least 200 stories, especially these folks when possible;
2. Submit at least 20 (quality) items.
3. Make a minimum of 50 (insightful) comments on stories. Try the Sphinn-a-holic crowd.
4. Write and Sphinn (or ask a nepotistic cohort to SPhinn it) a piece that includes;
   1. An editorial style (sharing your experience/feelings/thoughts)
   2. On a controversial topic
   3. Reference Google, or even better, Matt Cutts
   4. Mention some industry names and/or events
   5. Discuss linking in any way (shouldn’t be hard)
   6. And wrap the whole thing up in, or include, a Top 'X' List

The X Factor – Nepotism; It seems apparent that there is behind the scenes ‘meme’ action and baiting tactics that is going on which throws a wet towel on things. But those are the social media steroid users and we are merely honest peeps. I still think the plan would work anyways, that is if one hasn’t already alienated themselves with brash unyielding behaviour :0)

Epilogue – Cooling off

Then, once you’ve done all that…. Start beating your self silly upside the head with something dull until the desire to play the social-narcissistic maniacal fool subsides. You see, in the end, the site may actually be exactly what we think of it as; ‘Social Media’. Maybe it’s not about the actual editorial integrity, but more about the socializing. If discussions (comments) and spreading love (Sphinning each other) are the cornerstones of 'What’s Hot', then it truly must be ‘social’ media.

Tis but an evil plan for Sphinn-o-Sphere domination, borne from the season of All Hallow's Eve --- muuuaah ha ha ha ha...

Happy Halloween and Play safe -