Community Building and Linking...
I left some interesting comments over at Halley's Comment on community building thru linking--but I'd also like to continue some of that conversation here.... The upshot ends up as Halley saying that bigger name bloggers have an obligation to link to others; yet as the conversation is going on among those of us who are not A-listers, it's ending up being something about how and why we blog.
Mary Hodder, whose blog is Napsterization, sez that she links only on topics related to what she's doing. Well, for a niche blog, or a blog that has a specific aim or focus, and one wants to disseminate good information on that particular topic, then Mary's view might hold up and work well.
But what about those of us who are not in a particular niche? As I said, if I hunted around for blogs of single women over 40 with no kids, I'd be pretty out of luck, and every blog entry I made would be like the sound of a tree falling in a forest with no one around to hear it. What would be the point and purpose of blogging?
As my blogging has evolved, it has become a way of reaching out to others, a place for them to connect with me, and for all of us to create community. As I said about y'all on Halley's blog:
See, I love all y'all!
And I'd never ask anyone, A-lister or not, to link to me if they have a topic-specific, or niche blog that is completely disconnected in content to my blog. I'm not sure most bloggers would think of being that transparent in "link-whoring." If the A-lister, like Halley, has content *similar* to mine, then I'll ask. Heck, I even asked Jeff Jarvis to link to my other blog! (acutally, he *did* reference it, even though he didn't agree with me, so that was pretty cool). I'd never as Jason Calacanis to link to either blog because, well, he's content-specific and I see that I don't fit, even though I enjoy reading him and left comments when appropriate.
So, yes..I think that if A-listers have similar content, and I've approached them for a link, we should reciprocate. I do see the larger issue that Halley's indirectly raising by bringing up the topic of Dooce not linking....that alot of us like to beat up on A-lister men who don't link but are quick to defend a female who doesn't link. I don't. I know there are many people who like Heather, and she's been around for a long time (which is probably a key factor in her A-list status), but I don't think any of us should feel obliged to link to her because she's been around for a long time; or should think that by linking to her, or any of the guys out there, that we're somehow lending credibility to our blogs.
The credibility with our blogs doesn't come necessarily from all the A-listes we link to who don't link back. A-listers get credibility from being around for a long time or from being voices in a particular niche. If we want credibility we can find A-listers who are similar to us who are open to cross-linking. And we can build our own vibrant communities
And that's why I love y'all...you're part of my own vibrant little corner of the 'net. :-)
Links, Blogging, Blog, Blogs, Weblogs
Mary Hodder, whose blog is Napsterization, sez that she links only on topics related to what she's doing. Well, for a niche blog, or a blog that has a specific aim or focus, and one wants to disseminate good information on that particular topic, then Mary's view might hold up and work well.
But what about those of us who are not in a particular niche? As I said, if I hunted around for blogs of single women over 40 with no kids, I'd be pretty out of luck, and every blog entry I made would be like the sound of a tree falling in a forest with no one around to hear it. What would be the point and purpose of blogging?
As my blogging has evolved, it has become a way of reaching out to others, a place for them to connect with me, and for all of us to create community. As I said about y'all on Halley's blog:
I love the community of voices on my blog, the different kinds of people, from men to mommybloggers to compulsive knitters. Linking back to them shows that in my own way I'm maintaining a vibrant community of interesting people who don't need to be in the same niche. It's more about Life than about one particular aspect or thing in life. Then again...that's just me being ecclectic and non-committal I guess ;-)
See, I love all y'all!
And I'd never ask anyone, A-lister or not, to link to me if they have a topic-specific, or niche blog that is completely disconnected in content to my blog. I'm not sure most bloggers would think of being that transparent in "link-whoring." If the A-lister, like Halley, has content *similar* to mine, then I'll ask. Heck, I even asked Jeff Jarvis to link to my other blog! (acutally, he *did* reference it, even though he didn't agree with me, so that was pretty cool). I'd never as Jason Calacanis to link to either blog because, well, he's content-specific and I see that I don't fit, even though I enjoy reading him and left comments when appropriate.
So, yes..I think that if A-listers have similar content, and I've approached them for a link, we should reciprocate. I do see the larger issue that Halley's indirectly raising by bringing up the topic of Dooce not linking....that alot of us like to beat up on A-lister men who don't link but are quick to defend a female who doesn't link. I don't. I know there are many people who like Heather, and she's been around for a long time (which is probably a key factor in her A-list status), but I don't think any of us should feel obliged to link to her because she's been around for a long time; or should think that by linking to her, or any of the guys out there, that we're somehow lending credibility to our blogs.
The credibility with our blogs doesn't come necessarily from all the A-listes we link to who don't link back. A-listers get credibility from being around for a long time or from being voices in a particular niche. If we want credibility we can find A-listers who are similar to us who are open to cross-linking. And we can build our own vibrant communities
And that's why I love y'all...you're part of my own vibrant little corner of the 'net. :-)
posted by Tish Grier at 7:13 PM
7 Comments:
Hello from Israel,
I am one of your readers, joined your site recently, and i like the issues and the way you raise them!
i am not really a blogger, i've got my small page where i post my thoughts and every day interests, and i like it for many reason, even though, i haven't got a small community of "followers" as you you rightfully have :)
what i would like to know is, at the bottom of your essay there are few tags like "blogging" etc, and when i pres one of them i get to this site:
http://technorati.com/
what is it doing exactly?
can you explain please?
thanks
Moon
Hi Moon....I'm glad you asked!
Believe it or not, what you are doing is what is considered blogging :-) There are different kinds of blogs, some on business, some on politics, some on tech, and others that are social or diary blogs. lots of diary blogs don't expect to get readers, but they eventually do.
The tags are a little feature of Technorati that helps other bloggers find you. When you click a tag it brings you to where you can find other blogs posting on the same topic. It also makes it easier for people who use Technorati to search blogs find current posts on the tag topic.
This little wikipedia article on Technorati explains what Technorati itself is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technorati
Alot of people register with Technorati, and alot don't. It all depends on what the blogger is looking for in the blogosphere.
:-)
T.
P.S.: not all bloggers use Technorati...and there are even more who don't even know what it is or that it's there!
It's 5 o'clock in the morning, and instead of going to sleep, i'm here reading you..:)
so, first let me thank you for answering.
i must admit, that' i noticed that even getting the smallest response inside my page, by an anonymous human being cause my heart to loose a bit and fills me (for a short second/) with joy?!
yes, i would describe it with Joy...
now, how pathetic one can get?
are we so much in need for acknowledgment by others?
like an artist, who needs his audiences in order to feel loved?
i guess - i'm in it alone :)
as i'm anonymus, i let my self revel this in me...
see you 4 now
and thanks!!!!
I came across this article, and thought it is relevant as well:
"A first-of-its-kind study conducted by experts at the University of Glamorgan has proved that men and women really are poles apart when it comes to what catches their eye on the internet"
to the article:
http://www.glam.ac.uk/news/releases/003056.php
(via http://www.airbagindustries.com/)
Hi Mary,
thanks for your thoughtful comments.
I think there is a gap between those who have been blogging for a long period of time and those of us who are relatively new to it--and are not necessarily techwise. There's a gap in our understanding of many of the tools used to speed up our blogsurfing and identification--such as feedreaders and tags and all that stuff.
I do, however, understand your comment about legacies--from what I am hearing from long-time bloggers is, as you mention, there's alot of flotsam and jetsam on their blogrolls and that the links are just *there* with little significace to the current state of the blogger's blog.
But I'm not sure that favoring post links, and thus favoring current conversation, solves the problem of underexposure of certain types and kinds of blogs. If one is writing a blog such as one of my tech-industry friends is on a current hot-tech topic, there will be loads of conversation and loads of post links to what she will be blogging on. This is again a niche blog thing.
In social blogging, or essay/story/lit type blogging, there is little post referencing. Lots of commenting at times, but little post referencing. We blog for a different reason--sometimes to get our work out there, sometimes to lend unique voices to the blogosphere that are not part of the average signal-to-noise ratio (I give myself as an example again). Blogroll links are essential to us and being linked on, as in my case, Halley Suitt's blog, sends readers over to here. Of those readers, I can gain additional links. Reciprocity occurs when I go down Halley's blog and click some of her links and find others whose voices I enjoy and who would, I believe, benefit or enjoy reading others on my blogroll.
It's about voice more than about conveying information. "Voice" will not necessarily create a large volume of post links but may create blogroll links that can then work to expose your blogwork to others. It will create community and thru community exposure, and thru exposure a larger worldview of life experience.
What is sometimes left out of the conversations about the uses of blogging is its use as a chronology of life experience in America at a particular point in time in the 21st century. We are often drowned out by the political bloggers (moreso than tech) and are marginalized into categories such as "mommybloggers" (which, strangely, becomes a neat little catch-all for a new kind of niche blogging)...What happens to our voices? How do we get people to find us and notice us? At this time it seems to be thru building communities via blogrolls...
I think, though, that there needs to be more thorough discussion on types and kinds of blogs and how to elevate voices out of the blogosphere who are not niche voices (who seem to benefit most from post linking) Right now, the well placed blogroll seems to be what does the trick
T.
Thanks for the great links Moon!
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