Reasons to Join a Associated Content Mutual Subscriber Network

Mutual subscriber networks on Associated Content are a great way to promote your content. However, it's important not to join these networks in order to gain a surge in page views. There are far better and more efficient ways to generate page views, which I will deal with in other tutorials. However, even though the page views in mutual subscriber networks are few and hard won, there are many other benefits to be gained from being a part of them.

The trouble is that it's hard to gain subscribers simply from writing. It's also important to be socially active with other writers on the site to gain subscribers. Writing content which generates many page views will not necessarily generate subscribers automatically. You have to work to build your subscriber network.

Although a mutual subscriber network does involve some reciprocal reading, it is not the same thing as a reciprocal reading group. I did join a reciprocal reading group, and found that it was not worth the time involved. The worst part of the reciprocal reading group was the obligation to read twenty articles for each person participating in the group. There were often twenty people on the list, which meant that I had to read 400 articles, a week to qualify to remain a member. It became clear that people were not really reading the articles, and the quality of the comments suffered severely. I was forced to drop out of the group, since I did not have time to read that many articles every week.

For this reason, I recommend that people approach mutual subscriber networks in a different way. Instead of viewing reciprocal reading as an obligation or chore, it's better to keep reading, commenting and rating totally optional. There should be a general goal to reciprocate reads, comments an rates, but nobody should necessarily feel obligated to reciprocate on a one-to-one basis. In fact, it isn't possible to do so. Also, using mutual subscriber networks in a more casual, open-ended manner is necessary to gain some of their greatest benefits.

Writing Is a Social Activity