H-tip to Dustin W. Stout.

H-tip to Dustin W. Stout.

Originally shared by Gary Matthews

Post ID Tracking Beats Ripples!
Follow reshares, comments in real time with a one-click hotlink. Details: http://goo.gl/buv1ub

Google's "Ripples" are okay -- for people who love nested circles, Venn diagrams, connected dots, and cryptic fine print.

Or you can monitor your posts my way -- with a Post ID. It's fun. It's easy. It's intuitive. It's insanely more powerful than Ripples.

Using my Post ID method, you get a page that looks something like the one below. Except probably much longer; this screenshot is just a snippet! Your tracking page will show:

✦ Your original post;
✦ all versions of that post (say you you shared it once as a link, again as a photo, adapted it for certain communities, etc.);
✦ all reshares of your original and of all those versions; and
✦ all comments -- as they arrive -- on all those versions and reshares.

You can't do this with Ripples! Here's how you can do it:

(1) In each post, include a unique text string as your Post ID. It can be gibberish like IA3.a6ie8%3o1!e45y01 -- or it can be something meaningful found only in that post. (I once wrote an article containing the words "Ponzi still isn't pleased." That should work.) Even if your post comes in different versions and flavors, use the same ID for each one.

(2) Create your tracking page by entering your Post ID -- along with your G+ name -- into the Google Plus search bar. (Not the normal Google search field, which works differently.) Use this format:

+"Gary Matthews" +IA3.a6ie8%3o1!e45y01

Keep the plus signs and quote marks just as I've shown them, but substitute your own name and Post ID.

(3) Once your tracking page appears, copy the URL from your browser's address bar. Typically this will be long and convoluted. No problem! Run it through your favorite URL shortener -- Goo․gl or Bit․ly perhaps. The result will be a hotlink that looks something like this: http꞉//goo․gl/sKtpSi. (That's the link that created the sample tracking page shown below.)

You can share this link just as you would any other URL: in blog pages, social-media posts, comments, emails, or whatnot. If you wish, you can even include it in the post to which it refers. This way, any reader, with one click, can call up all the comment threads your post is eliciting.

Just refresh your tracking page now and then, and you can watch your post spread across Google Plus. You can follow your comment threads as they weave into a conversational tapestry. Almost instantly, you can thank readers who reshare. You can respond right away to comments, jump into any (or all) interesting discussions. You'll feel an intoxicating sense of power.

Or maybe your post will just sit there, all forlorn, while no one pays it any never-mind! This has happened to me, all too often. Here's hoping it doesn't happen with this post!

So if you like this idea, and find it useful, please reshare and comment. Then visit the blog page, click the tracking link you'll find there, and see your own name up in lights alongside others. That page again: http://goo.gl/buv1ub

#posttracking   #postid   #trackyourcomments