For those of you that are creating content for money, please see Faster Better Cheaper: Traffic Funneling for Content Creators first!

'I like this shiny new site, but it's dead quiet and I always go back to the old one.'
'All my friends are somewhere else, and they won't come to this place I want to use!'
'Why post to site A when I get social reinforcement (comments, favorites, etc.) from site B anyway?'

I frequently read comments like these, and all of them come with fair concerns and criticism!

Migrating social traffic from one media site to another doesn't magically happen, no matter what external forces are at work - or how much you wish those external forces would make it happen. It takes a little daily effort from you - yes, you!, the reader.

Step zero! Are you a guest of this site, reading this journal? If you have interest at all in seeing a new site like this, with social aspects, succeed, there is this first step: make an account, and tell people how to reach you. In Weasyl's case, this means create an account, then fill out your profile settings and contact information so people know whose account it is, and how to reach you elsewhere! Don't worry, I'll wait.

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You're in as a registered user. Outstanding!

I mentioned above that funneling traffic to your media and social site of choice takes a bit of effort. Here's where reality hits: it really and truly does, but it's a small amount of effort. First, however, a word about Faster/Better/Cheaper: how you can use it as someone who may not sell content, but who does spend time using, interacting, and posting new content to a site.

I might suggest, If you would like to make a given site your primary, and Other Site is where your social contacts are (it doesn't actually matter what site), it's likely to not go well if you simply pull the plug/blank your site/storm off with a journal on Other Site, especially if you don't have an established audience at the new location. It amounts to burning your old house down with gasoline, shouting 'I'm leaving!', then hopping in your car, peeling rubber away from the ruins. The new place is great, but there was no change of address, and you forgot to rent a moving van...now you're standing in an empty living room. Understandably, this is going to feel like a failure, and reinforce the belief for you and future people who attempt it, that 'moving doesn't work'!

Redirect, don't remove! When moving your social traffic toward a new place, don't make the mistake of removing all the content from the old, leaving your audience to figure out what you've just done. Even if you're mad enough to leave a social media site Forever, an angry journal coupled with blanking your content won't make it easier for your audience to transition with you! Leave the old submissions, journals, whatever (so existing audience can still see what you've done), create links to new profiles and sites you frequent! Many people you interact with will not care about your reasons for wanting to prefer one site over another. The safest thing to do is simply assume that they won't - focus instead on making it easy to find you and reach you where you are.

There is a variation of 'faster (or) better (or) cheaper' incentive that you as a social media site user can use if you prefer one site over another, meant to nudge traffic and ultimately your social web to a new location - just as a you would when you move to a new city.

Faster: Browse your preferred site before the one you use most frequently. Comment, favorite, write journals there, before doing the same thing in other locations - give people you know a 'see it here first' incentive to visit the place you want to see them at. For content creators, faster means posting work on your preferred site hours or days before posting it other places. You aren't excluding people who won't go to the site you like best, but you are giving those who do a bonus.

Better: A variation on faster. If you know that identical content is posted in two or more locations, interact with it on the site you prefer, while not doing so in the other locations. While it's true you might wait a bit longer for a response, the note will be waiting for the other person when they do check for activity! If creating content, the variant here is a preview of that work (with an easy to click, prominent link to a full version elsewhere).

Cheaper: Redirect traffic from other sites, to your preferred site, by making it easy (cheaper) to do so. Make sure links to profiles are prominently displayed, easy to find and click. If someone posts at the old site, by all means reply, but add that the person is likely to get a faster or more complete response if they reach you at the site you like best.

These sorts of moves don't remove you from places you don't want to be overnight, but they do nudge your social group in that direction over time.

Totally Not Effort: I warned that all of this requires some effort. Here's the effort part. If you want a socially based website to flourish - especially if your impression is that there just isn't enough activity, it's up to you as the reader of this journal to make that happen! So, here's the homework. Take ten minutes out of your day, right now, as a registered user:

• Find at least two users of the site to watch. Don't know them? That's not a bad thing!
• Find at least five user created submissions (art, music, media, even journals! - did you know you can favorite journals?) to favorite
• Comment on at least two submissions or journals. It doesn't have to be a long comment, but of course the more thought out the better, right?
• If you create content? Submit just one piece of content.

Finished? You rock! A winner is you! (YouTube) Now come back and do the very same thing tomorrow. Or in an hour. Actually, an hour is even better. But suddenly? The site you like stops feeling quiet, and you made that happen!

Disclaimer: I am a member of Weasyl staff, and as such have personal interest in seeing the site succeed. That said, this advice (with the sole exception of Weasyl's signup and profile links, above) can be applied generally, including to move *away from Weasyl!*