We all know and love the Recommended Diaries system. The list of recommending users and the elusive goal of reaching the top ten list provide great feedback to the authors of diaries here at Red State.

That’s what the system’s for: feedback. We recognize quality work and make the authors feel good, so they’re encouraged to do more. But what if we want to do more for a good post? What if we want to express agreement or promote it to a wider world?

Some have responded to this desire by organizing recommendations. I submit that this is the wrong approach. Here is what I suggest instead.

The key to promoting Red State’s best (either in the diaries or on the front page) is to promote it outside of the site.

Take it to Facebook, Twitter, or StumbleUpon. Take it to all the other sites listed in the Share This feature attached to every RedState post. If there’s a diary you think needs recognition, or even a front page piece you wish you could recommend, try promoting it off of Red State in this manner.

Pick a few networks you’d like to get active in, and get active. Create a feed, and get people to subscribe to it. Then, start publishing good RS works to that feed. That gets the diaries you like some instant attention.

There’s a wide world out there, and it doesn’t stop at the Recommended Diaries list. So let’s drive traffic to those posts, get them read instead of just trying to get them recognized!