I'm sure many of ya have noticed the buzz has been awfully quiet lately. We haven't had an update since the photo albums, the blog has been quiet, no new pictures or slammin' content on the Antman's profile, etc. The reason; we have hit a wall. Havin' been at this for over 18 months, we are struggling. Like we said before, Start Ups Are Hard! (www.cre8buzz.com/blog/2008/04/30/start-ups-are-hard)

When ya start something new it is exciting, full of energy, and captivating! Building something new is the bomb. However, once ya get into it, things can start to change, the energy dies, the failures begin to mount, yes there are failures, things take longer than expected and they never turnout like they are supposed to. This all starts to take its toll and ya hit a wall.

cre8Buzz has hit it's wall. The energy seems to have waned, we have lost momentum, defeats have gotten the best of us and we are at a crossroads.

We started cre8Buzz to give the little guy a chance to be seen. We wanted to extend the long-tail for everyone, regardless of interest, or talent. That passion and commitment has not gone away. Our goal of allowing people to be seen, heard and found, while making the best user-generated content on the web easy to find is as fresh as ever. Now, we need to leverage our vision to re-energize us and get over the wall.

To get over the wall we need to get back to basics. We need to build a plan, lay out our strategy, identify and capitalize on opportunity, and most important, execute, execute execute. The wall is BIG. We are out of money. We no longer have a full time developer. Original founders have left. New partners have come in. Some of our most active buzzers are gone. We have more competition. The site needs mad updates and "slammin" new features. We need to turn it up. It's gonna be hard.

Despite how hard it's gonna be, it's gonna be tight for real. cre8Buzz is the most mature, content rich, active site on the net. Our members are supportive, intelligent, creative, and talented. cre8Buzz content is engaging, funny, and informative. It is for our users and because of our vision we're gonna get over this wall. We're gonna build a plan. We're gonna execute on a strategy, and we're gonna create opportunity.

Our first commitment in our journey back, is we're opening the kimono. We're gonna blog daily. We're gonna share our plan, and strategy. You will see it all. We'll tell you what we are planning before we do it. We'll share what happens once we do do it. You'll have a front row seat. You will be exposed to it all. We won't hold back; the ups the downs, the disagreements, and the fights, the frustrations and the jubilation, you will see it all. Beyond that, we want YOUR thoughts. Tell us what you think of our plan. School us on what you think we should do. Tell us if you disagree with our direction. Share ya knowledge, thoughts and opinions. We're listening. We're gonna lay it out there for you to pick up.

We'll post everyday. We're gonna add Disqus (www.disqus.com) to improve the dialog We've created a new category, "cre8Buzz Re-Do", so ya can stay up to date.

We're ready to blow it up in here. Ya'll have more than a front row seat. You're gonna be in the game.

We can't tell ya where we'll end up, but we will know how we got there.

Wall, what wall?

Peace!

Start ups aren’t hard, they are frickin brutal. Yesterday was a banner day for this statement. We changed the buzzrank. Holy crap, what a fire storm.

So what to do now?

We have a truckload of pissed off users. Some have already destroyed their accounts. Some have threatened to leave. Others have called into question our authenticity, the VERY thing we strive most for here on the buzz. (We took those allegations the most personal.)

Well, we have been givin’ some thought to all of this and I am recalling my B-School days. We’re gonna stay true to who we are and what we are about and let the chips fall where they may.

We are not going to do anything.

When we made the changes it was never our expectation they would be perfect. We anticipated changes would have to be made. Getting things right is important to us. So, regardless of yesterdays reaction(s) we are moving forward as planned. We are looking at the ranking, the effect it has on content and how closely it represents the likes and dislikes of you, our members.

What are we looking for the ranking to do?

We will know the ranking is correct when things look like this:

1) The MOST active people on the buzz with the BEST content have the highest rankings
2) The people with the BEST content, but are a LESS active are in the middle
3) The people who are MOST active but have average to POOR content are in the bottom half
4) The people who are LESS active and have POOR content, well they are scrappin the bottom of the barrel.

(MOST BEST is the best. BEST LESS is good, MOST POOR OK, LESS POOR, ain’t gonna cut it.)

The above is our goal. As part of this goal the above will be fresh. The content and profiles will be representative of the here and now. Those who are most active today, this week, with content that folks on the site today and in the here and now are ranking and following, will be the highest ranked. Not those of yesterday.

In order for cre8Buzz to blow up we have to be different, we have to offer more than just the same old. We believe that something different on cre8Buzz is the sharing of the content, traditionally locked away in other social networks. If we don’t move the good stuff to the front and do it regularly, then we are no different than the rest and we might as well shut it down now.

Movin’ forward-
We see there is a bug in the algorithm. We know it. We are now trying to find it. When we do, we’ll fix it and see what happens. We won’t stop until the above has been reached. (MB, BL, MP, LP)

Finally, if we upset ya with the changes, we are sorry. It was not our intention. If you feel that we don’t value those of you who helped get us this far because of the changes, that couldn’t be any further from the truth. For those who think the buzzrank is a reward for those who participate the most, that is not the case. It helps, but it’s not who cre8Buzz is. We are about the best content, getting exposure for those who have it and help those who are lookin’ for it, find it.

If this isn’t what you signed up for and you leave us, we understand. We know some of you have already left and we were sorry to see ya go.

We have a vision to be the place where the average person can have a chance to be seen, heard and found for what ever it is they are good at. Anything short of that and we just ain’t havin’ it.

If ya dig the vision stay with us. We’re gonna get there.

UPDATE:
Thanks to those of you who have expressed ya support, put ya big girl pants on and to those of ya who took a little of the heat off. We could feel it and it meant a lot. We never meant to upset anyone . . . for real. It was never to be taken personal. We love ya’ll and we’re gonna get there.

Original Story with links: www.cre8buzz.com/blog

A gang of you have been askin' where else do I hang out?

Do I play anywhere else besides the buzz? The answer, of course. Ya gotta be playin' in multiple places if ya wanna be a playa!

My other joints:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/heyantman
Mybloglog: http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/members/antman/
Blogcatalog: http://www.blogcatalog.com/user/Antman
Facebook Profile: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=705381368
Facebook cre8Buzz Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/cre8Buzz/10021050582
Myspace: NOT!
Feedest: http://www.feedest.com/member.cfm/name/Antman
Disqus: http://disqus.com/people/Antman/

Follow me, join my community, befriend me, but what ever ya do, don't poke me!

Let me know where you are, I gotta makes sure I'm followin' my buzz friends.

See ya out in the big world Web 2.0

Peace

Antman~

OK, Ya'll a few tips on The Anthill.

1) Ya can subscribe to ya favorite author. Ya see the little blue RSS Feed under their Avatar? Click on it and subscribe to just the author. This way you can stay hip to those particular authors ya dig.

2)If ya a MyBlogLog member add the Anthill to your profile, I will accept you as an author! We have 65 slammin' authors already, ya'll deserve the props.

3) Promote the Anthill on ya own blog or profile, treat it as your own, cause it is!

4) Respond to comments. I'm seeing lots of peeps gettin' mad comments, don't forget to respond, it keeps the conversation going.

5) Have fun! The Anthill is a tight!

Peace!

I'm gettin' a lot of questions about The Ant Hill www.cre8buzz.com/anthill, so here is the didlio;

What is "The Ant Hill?"

The Ant Hill is the cre8Buzz community blog?

What makes it different from other blogs?

The Ant Hill is one blog with 100's or even 1000's of authors. We believe it is the first of it's kind. It is a unique place where people from all backgrounds, interests, etc come to one place to express themselves. One blog, 1000's of authors!

Who can post to it?

Anyone can post or be a contributor, any cre8Buzz member that is.

Why would I wanna post to it?

Well that is up to you? But it could drive good traffic to your cre8buzz page and therefore improve ya buzzrankin'. It is a great way to share you ideas with a larger audience.

What can I post?

Anything you want, as long as it is clean, I don't need to explain that part to buzzers

Can I promote The Ant Hill?

Absolutely, it is your blog. We encourage you to promote it. Add it as a blog/site to your cre8buzz page, join the MBL, BlogCatalog Ant Hill communities, add a spring widget to ya own blog, tell ya friends, vote for The Ant Hill in blogging contests and more. The more each of you promote it, the more readers, the more readers, the more views for you!

How do I become a contributor?

Just send an email with the words "I want in" in the subject line to heyantman@cre8buzz.com We'll take care of the rest.

Can I subscribe to just authors I like?

Yes, if ya don't want to subscribe to everyone on the hill, you can follow only those authors you like. To follow authors individually click on the blue RSS icon under their name.

So that is the 411 on The Ant Hill. If ya got more questions let me know. I am here for ya. Check it out, visit often and have fun.

Peace!

Antman~