Why Are Little People Walking Around on My Blog?

If you regularly cruise the Blogosphere, chances are, you’ve seen a good number of blogs featuring a box that has little people walking around saying “Hi,” “Howdy” or whatever. In fact, this blog has one of them (you can see the “live” version in the left column of this page):

This box is what is called a “Stage,” which is an important component of a free service from Scoutle, a relatively new social marketing service.

The Scoutle stage can be embedded on both websites and blogs and enables the site owner to partake in 100% automated social networking.

How Scoutle Works

Once you create your free Scoutle account, you create a “Scout” that is basically a link to your website. Your “Scout” needs to host a “Stage,” as shown in the picture above. Different formats of the “Stage” are offered. For instance, you can have a smaller Stage. Or your Stage can be static, without the people walking around.

As a member of Scoutle, you can join different networks and create “connections” with other members, based on your mutual interests. The more networks and connections you have, the higher your “score” is with Scoutle. A high score means more exposure on other member websites.

Every time you get a visitor to your website (it does not have to be a Scoutle user) the system automatically allows your Scout to walk two times across the “Stage.” As your Scout walks across the stage, it meets another Scout who’s walking in the opposite direction. This is a “meeting” that is automatically recorded through Scoutle. The more meetings you have, the higher your score. As of this writing, the NotGuru Scout has a score of 603.

According to the Scoutle site,

“Scoutle offers a solution by allowing bloggers to create a personal webcrawler, called Scout, which will do all the work for you. He will promote your blog to only interested people but without bothering them, he will search other interesting blogs for you and by comparing results Scoutle will rate all blogs, continuously. All this, without you having to do anything.

“The only thing Scoutle asks you to do is something you already did: just work on the quality of your blog. Only this will help you find interesting blogs and make sure others will find yours. In the meantime, Scoutle will also make sure your blog can be found by people outside the Scoutle network in many different ways.”

The Rationale Behind Scoutle Meetings

Scoutle is a Dutch startup that officially launched in May 2008. Created by Godfried van Loo, Scoutle operates on the premise that in our daily lives, we encounter many different people. Although they may be strangers, we may have common interests that result in our being in the same place at the same time. van Loo believes the same thing happens on the Internet, but with Scoutle, we have an opportunity to “meet” those strangers who share common interests through the Scoutle membership area.

Social Networking Tools

As a member of Scoutle, you can opt to have your Scout activities automatically posted on Twitter or Mobi.

CAPTION: Simply type in your username/password and your Scoutle activities will automatically post to Twitter or Mobi.

You can also see all of your Scoutle activities by RSS feed.

Does it Deliver Traffic?

I set up my Scoutle Scout for this site on August 11. So far, I’ve received 8 visits directly from Scoutle:

I certainly wouldn’t say this is very much traffic, but then again, it’s a relatively new service and I have not been a “Scout” for very long.

Improvements are Coming

The new Scoutle Version 2 will be released in September, with a lot of enhancements that are based on user input. There is not a lot of information out there about exactly what the new version will offer.

Scoutle may not be delivering a ton of traffic yet, but it definitely is a fun and easy social networking tool. I’ve discovered some great websites through Scoutle and have communicated with some members by email. I’m looking forward to seeing what will come in Version 2. As Scoutle evolves, I think it is going to be an excellent social networking tool. Writes the Washington Post’s TechCrunch:

“We’ve seen various link swapping/ promotional/ blog traffic systems before, however Scoutle’s move into social networking is an interesting mix, sort of StumbleUpon based on a shared interests, profiles and widgets.”

If you’re interested, sign up for a free Scoutle account. Because it is so new, you can jump ahead of the pack and start accumulating “points” for your Scout. Who knows, depending on what is coming out in Version 2 and as more people sign on, those points you earn now might pay off in a big way in the future.

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