I believe it was Bill at IndustrialBlog who once referred to the blogosphere as "the ultimate meritocracy." I disagree with this assessment. Blogs become popular and well-trafficked for a number of reasons, not always simply merit, but tend to stay popular and well-trafficked because they are popular and well-trafficked. I have seen blogs with very little merit receive enormous amounts of traffic and vast numbers of comments from bloggers hoping to increase their own site traffic by comment clickthroughs.* I have seen well-written and thoughtful blogs toil away in obscurity, unread by anyone except the writer and perhaps a few accidental surfers.
Thanks to Mr. H.K.'s websurfing, I clicked through to an article in New York Magazine called "Blogs to Riches: The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom". It focuses primarily on the few bloggers (and non-bloggers) who have managed to turn a tidy profit from their blogs, but it does have a fascinating discussion of power laws and their application to blog popularity that fleshes out the concept of the linkocracy. While you're there check out the "Related Stories", including "Linkology: How the Most-Linked-To Blogs Relate". Then ask yourself: Who's linking to me?
*I could give an example but won't. But here's a hint: it's a site that was mentioned in a comment a few weeks ago, a site that is often spoken of in hushed terms. The posts on the site were fairly unimpressive, but each one had hundreds of comments.
The narcissistic primarily autobiographical blog of the pseudonymous d.b. echo
I agree with you on this one, Harry. I guess what I was thinking was that the blogosphere allows anyone the opportunity to get and keep an audience. And that if you are a quality writer, you can get an audience without having to go through the gatekeepers of culture in New York.
ReplyDeleteBut certainly the blogosphere has its own hierarchy, and its own rules for success.
What the blogosphere reminds me of most is a high school cafeteria. There are the popular kids, and the not-so-popular kids. Doesn't say much about the value of either.
For the record, I've repeatedly gotten links from big bloggers and usually can't retain my audience for anything. I think it's because I blog irregularly and because my blog lacks focus. I don't blame anyone but myself. But to me, this blogging thing is just a side interest and a way for me to blow off steam. My day job, after all, is writing.
And now I better get back to it.