How to Use Social Networking Sites, like DIGG, to Promote your Sites.

1.  Write a good profile on yourself, focusing on your interests as they will pertain to the sites you will eventually submit and want to promote.  Example, if you want to promote gaming sites, make sure your profile indicates you are a gamer. 

2. Digg, or Stumble, lots of sites that show case your interest, do not Stumble or Digg your own at this point, but you may Stumble or Digg some that have links to yours. 

3.  In either case you want to get at least 100 sites on your profile to give people an idea of what you are about. 

4.  Now seek out and invite members of that community to be your "Friends" in that site.  Pick people with similar interests to what you submitt.  As with the example of gaming, pick people who have Stumbled or Dugg that particular kind of site.  You waste your time if you sign up just everyone and will be sending info out later to people who really just don't care about it.

5.  Once you have invited somebody to be your friend, send them a message if possible, and tell them you would love for them to accept you as a friend, also Digg or Stumble one of their top favorites.  This makes you look good to them, and makes you look good to others because most people will look first to see if you are just there to spam your own things (bad) or are genuinely there because you enjoy seeing other things, as much as sharing your own (good).

6.  Follow up.  If you asked somebody to be your friend, allow them at least 3 days to accept, reject, ignore, or respond to, your offer.   If you see a person has been on line but has not accepted you, you may wish to check later or remove the request.  It is easier to manage friends who have accepted you equally, and often there is no point in having people who have not accepted you back unless you really do want them as a friend because you admire the things they have submitted.

7.  Once you have at least twenty mutual friends, then you can slowly submit your own links.  With either, I would not submit more than 1 or 2 of your own links per day, remember to digg and stumble other links as well.  Most people will reject you if at any time they feel you are only supporting your own submissions and not theirs. 

8.  It is not realistic to Digg or Stumble every link that comes along, but if the link appeals to you, then for sure give it a positive response.  You might find having "Adult" content on your list of likes, particularly in StumbleUpon, may limit to what friends you have. 

9.  Add comments to others' submissions.  In Digg there is a place you can add a comment to links you DUGG, this is a great way to show other diggers you actually read the links and are not just there to "Use" people.  In StumbleUpon you can write "reviews" to links you especially like or dislike (on the whole if you write a lot of negative reviews, people will not add or keep you as a friend, they may feel threatened that you will not like their submissions and give them a thumb down). 

10.   Be active, but Do Not spam people.  Stumble, or Digg, many links, submit those of interest even if they are not yours.  Never just be a "one-trick-pony".  Submitting only your own sites and constantly pushing people to support them, will have you labled a spammer, you will lose friends quickly. 

11.  Be supportive of others.  Remember there are many people who like what you like, and you will like what they like too, liking more things will not threaten your own links, because who knows, some of those may link back to you. 

12.  I don't have a #12 suggestion, but I wanted to end on an even number, just because it looks good.  There are other social networking and sharing sites, many of these hints will be valuable there too.