I am a loser

First runner up is the first loser. No, I am just kidding. I am totally thrilled Cision picked me and my neurotic ralfbecker.com-blog as No. 2 in their "Top 10 Automobil Blogs Deutschland". It seems like we did a couple of things right throughout the last five years. And it seems like our work has enriched automotive media and marketing as well. Which is awesome!

For those who don't know Cision: 

"Your Story. Covered. You have a story to tell. That much never changes, but the way you get it out does. Every day brings new technologies, outlets and contacts. And every media response can change your public image, for better or worse. Whether you're a communications professional or a member of the media, Cision brings together all the elements you need to find the right leads and sources, target the right editors and publications, get coverage and achieve measurable results. Cision - where the media and PR connect."

If you want to know more about Cision's blog ranking methodology — here is a short overview.

Oh ... did I mention I am thrilled?

SEO, SMO and Motorkultur. Err ... what?

As I mentioned before, I've just fallen in love with Tumblr. I know—under SEO (Search Engine Optimization) aspects it isn't really clever to share your stuff on several platforms. But as we all just learned: SEO isn't everything, in lieu thereof SMO (Social Media Optimization) becomes more and more important. Especially if you deal with a special interest topic like car passion.

Imho SMO is CRUCIAL if you want to reach the right people. To speak from my own experience: I follow a lot of "trust agents". Which means: I read their blogs and follow their Twitter. In short: Really awesome and inspiring stuff isn't brought to me by search engines. And as my partner Chris philosophizes: "It can't be the interest of search engines that everyone out there is writing/producing search engine "correct". It must be more in everyone's interest that search engines digg really inspiring stuff—which is seldom SEO correctly produced. Or—btw—don't you ever have had that creeping feeling that you only find stuff via search engines which is produced by companies with big SEO budgets? Well, I do. Every day.

Any way. Buzzword bingo switched off. I just changed the template on my Tumblr, and with that new (free!) layout comes a tiny archive button. This function was new to me, but what I found behind that link really blew my mind. It's a thumbnail mosaic of my tumblered articles. Ok, the pages takes a moment to get loaded, but it's a nice little feature which I would love to have on my other—really content heavy—site(s) as well. It just gives you an intutive approach to content, which I actually miss on several sites. Especially when I am en tour with my iPad, where a "nornal" hypertext navigation hits the wall.

Maybe this doesn't impress you, but it exactly matches with some thoughts about an all-embracing Chromjuwelen.com weight-loss program. Also it solves another problem: Thumbnails are language independent, so you don't have to read my German School English any longer ...

Farewell, Facebook

I am not sure when it exactly happened first. But there has been a certain moment when Facebook started to annoy me. Too much information, too much things I don't wanna even know and too much digital bullsh*t—like Farmville, Mafia Wars and stupid quizzes. At that point I realized Facebook is a big, fat time wasting machine.

Facebook is—compared to travelling, for example—like package holiday. So if Center Parcs or the Aida turns you on, go ahead. I won't. Or, to draw another comparison: Facebook is like a huge shopping mall. But—put your hand on your heart—have you ever found the really inspiring shops in a mall? Nope. Also, Facebook isn't a tool or service like Gmail, Flickr or Twitter which helps me getting my things done.

I am blogging since five years. And if you—just in case—like what I do, read my blogs or hook up on my Twitter. Maybe you want to tell me I am a dumb*ss—simply use the comment function below my articles. It works exactly the same as you probably know it from Facebook. Ok, you want to shoot me a message? Easy. Send me an old-school email. You'll find the address on my contact page. And apart from that, there are tons of other ways where you can get in touch with me. This one is really wicked: what about joining up in real life?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm out. I act as my own guinea pig and deactivate my personal Facebook account. I am interested in how it feels not being a member of the biggest community you can find nowadays. So if it feels ok (like deleting my XING account two years ago), maybe I'll never bring it back ...