tl;dr: QUACK

1. QUALITY, not quantity, matters most. The more original the post is, the better.

2. USE actual source links, not a link to your email, Pinboard, etc.

3. ANIMATED GIFs are preferred so stash great ones. PandaWhale was made for gifs!

4. COMMENTS should add something useful -- text, links, videos, images, and especially gifs.

5. KEYWORD-BASED TITLES are super important. Put in the title the answer to the question, "What would I Google for to find this page?"

I will elaborate on each of these below.

Additional rules of thumbs for posting:

1. Is it something I will want to see again a year from now?

2. Is it inspiring, connecting 2+ interests, educational, and/or entertaining?

If yes to both, then I post!

See below for more elaboration.

1. QUALITY, not quantity.

Don't stash everything you find. Be discerning. You are a curator now!

Only save things you could see yourself wanting to find again at a future date, a year or more out.

http://bokardo.com/archives/the-delicious-lesson/

"The one major idea behind the Del.icio.us Lesson is that personal value precedes network value. What this means is that if we are to build networks of value, then each person on the network needs to find value for themselves before they can contribute value to the network. In the case of Del.icio.us, people find value saving their personal bookmarks first and foremost. All other usage is secondary."

This continues to apply to sites like Pinterest

Personal curation sites give you rewards for social, such as #followers, name on front page, a lot of "ego payments"

I'm not sure Pandawhale supplies enough ego value to make it worth me being thoughtful in my stashing. I do it mostly because I'm socially connected with Adam. Pandawhale feels more private to me, like a Well. With more animated gifs.

You should look at Kollocks 4 reasons for sharing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_participation

Anticipated reciprocity

Increased recognition (reputation)

Sense of Efficacy

Sense of Community

(if this is inappropriate commentary here, you can feel free to delete.)

Thank you Christina! I will think about these.

In the meantime I've been asked what makes a good PandaWhale post good.

So I wrote up these rules of thumb even though I appreciate that not everyone will follow them.

PandaWhale as it stands is not a transactional system. Rewards are not explicit right now.

2. USE ACTUAL SOURCES.

Don't save the tweet if it links to a source. Save the source!

In particular, links to your email inbox are bad.

Links to an entire pinboard or blog are bad -- link to the specific post!

3. ANIMATED GIFs ARE PREFERRED.

Don't have zero images when you can find an image.

And whenever you can find an interesting gif, stash it.

People googling for gifs always appreciate the gifs we make available to all.

And the great thing about PandaWhale is that it is open and available to all.

What animated gif tools do you use? 

I don't have the patience to photoshop so right now I just find gifs on Reddit, Tumblr, etc.

PandaWhale is building a YouTube-to-gif tool but it's still not ready for prime time. We're working on it.

4. COMMENTS SHOULD ADD SOMETHING USEFUL.

Add some information. Add a link. Add a video or image. Add a gif!

Add some of each.

The more interesting stuff that gets added to a PandaWhale post, the better that page gets.

Especially for people who find us through Google and social networks.

Specifically with your first comment, SUMMARIZE the article and/or QUOTE your favorite line.

Have you considered baking this into the interface?

Yes, and there's even a few prototypes we've written as we figure out the best way to do that.

5. KEYWORD-BASED TITLES ARE SUPER IMPORTANT.

You'll sometimes see me modify a title of a post to add keywords.

That's because we want every PandaWhale page to be findable.

The more specific the words in the title, the more findable the page will be.

Put in the title the answer to the question, "What would I Google for to find this page?"

Admittedly, picking keywords is both an art and a science.

The more we practice it, the better we get at it.

Five tips for blog posts apply to us, too:

http://wpmatter.com/top-5-best-content-strategies-drive-traffic-wordpress-blog/

1. Powerful but concise titles.

2. Unique topics.

3. Use keywords in titles and content.

4. Embed images and gifs.

5. Make content meaningful.

Summary: QUACK!!!

1. QUALITY NOT QUANTITY.

2. USE ACTUAL SOURCE LINKS.

3. ANIMATED GIFs ARE PREFERRED.

4. COMMENTS SHOULD ADD SOMETHING USEFUL.

5. KEYWORD-BASED TITLES ARE SUPER IMPORTANT.

Please ask questions if you have them. And happy PandaWhaling!

ACRONYMS FTW!

QUACK, QUACK, QUACK! :)