How to Save the World

Dave Pollard's environmental philosophy, creative works, business papers and essays.

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May 6, 2003

BLOGGING METAPHYSICS: KATE'S ADVICE FOR 'UNPOPULAR' BLOGGERS

If you're intrigued or distressed about the Salon popularity lists below , you can find both insight and solace in yesterday's Electric Venom article on Blogging Metaphysics . Venomous Kate adds fuel to the fire about why some blogs succeed and others fail, and why some bloggers give up too soon and others not soon enough. It's invigorating analysis. A teaser: She identifies the following types of blogger (you can be more than one type):

Isobloggers - who blog mainly for personal reasons
Thinker Extrabloggers - essayists who wander far from their home community
Linker Extrabloggers - connectors who wander far from their home community, and bring back gems
Thinker Intrabloggers - essayists who usually stay within their home community , and start diablogues
Love-Linker Intrabloggers - connectors who usually stay within their home community, and build online relationships
Blogroll-Linker Intrabloggers - connectors who usually stay within their home community, and cite 'A-list' bloggers a lot
Her advice for Intrabloggers who want to be more popular: Don't be afraid to use your search engine to get outside more. And then:

Contribute something original; Say something original; and damn it, make your site accessible with good layout, easy to read fonts, a reliable host, working links and working permalinks in the event someone, like me, wants to send some traffic your way. If that's too hard for you to do - or if you're just not good at it - then put your blog away before somebody gets hurt.
Thanks to A Blog Doesn't Need... (Linker-Extrablogger par excellence) for the link.

DO SALON BLOGGERS NEED TO 'GET OUT MORE' TO BEAT SHIRKY'S LAW?
get out One of the things I observed while compiling the tables below was an apparent inverse correlation between the number of inbound links to each blog and its number of reciprocal links. In other words, people whose blogrolls are very similar to the list of blogs that blogroll them, tend to have few people linking to them (smaller circles at right). Yet people whose blogrolls consist largely of uncommon links, outside their community, tend to have few of those blogrolled blogs linking back to them, but a lot of other blogs linking back to them. And this seems to be true even for those that have small blogrolls or none at all.

The obvious lesson is that the number of inbound links depends on what you've done to craft and then promote your blog, especially outside the Salon community, rather than on the dubious civility of reciprocal blogrolling. And by going outside the community more often, to other blogs and non-traditional news sources, you also discover more new things to report on your blog, increasing its value to other Salon readers and making it more likely they'll blogroll you even if you don't return the favour.

6:26:11 PM  trackback [] comment []

THE 50 MOST POPULAR SALON BLOGS, BY INBOUND LINKS

These rankings are based on number of inbound blogs per Technorati . 'Inbound blogs' are those that have either blogrolled you or mentioned you with a link in a recent (not yet archived) post. The number of inbound blogs is shown after the blog name. This list tells a quite different story of blog popularity from the Monthly Top 50 list (below), as it filters out the effect of one-time search engine hits, spikes and self-initiated hits. As with the Monthly Top 50 list, (a) the name and location of each blog's 'owner', when known, is shown below the blog name, (b) the Salon blog number links to the blog's home page, and (c) I'll fix any errors or omissions you tell me about promptly.

1.
the reverse cowgirl's blog 280
Susannah Breslin 1437
26.
Stuff from Wozz 13
Matt Cable 1019 Colorado

2. Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment 143
Scott Rosenberg 0014 California
27.
Le Prêtre Noir 13
Father Bojangles 1823

3. Real Live Preacher 109
Anonymous 1772
28.
Pesky the Rat 12
Susan McNerney 1293 California

4. Radio Free Blogistan 102
Christian Crumlish 1111 California
29.
neva, miss feva, blogging 12
Neva Cavataio 1216 Oregon

5. How to Save the World 56
Dave Pollard 2007 Ontario
30.
Emphasis Added 12
Rob Salkowitz 1454

6. The Julie/Julia Project 51
Julie Powell 1399 New York
31.
The Barbaric Yawp 12
Christopher Key 1811 Washington

7. The Raven 46
Anonymous 1381 Florida
32.
Fiona 12
Anonymous 1705

8.
Secular Blasphemy 40
Jan Haugland 1561 Norge
33.
Playing with my food... 11
Paul Hinrichs 1444 North Carolina

9. different strings 38
Kriselda Jarnsaxa 1542 Kansas
34.
Everything That Sucks 11
Amanda 1691 Florida no more

10. The Devil's Excrement 32
Miguel Octavio 1330 Venezuela
35.
Life on Earth 11
Giles Boutel 1237

11. Rayne Today 30
Anonymous 1549 Michigan
36.
Gnosis 11
Morgan Sandquist 1081 New York

12. Second p0st 29
Phillip Pearson 0002 New Zealand
37.
WIFLblog 9
Ted Ritzer 1455 British Columbia

13. Toby's Political Diary 27
Toby Sackton 1282 Massachusetts
38.
readme.blog 8
Chris 1075 New York

14. The Agora 25
Douglas Anders 1147 Ohio
39.
Maxine 's Radio Weblog 8
Maxine Locker 1314

15. Fried Green al-Qaedas 25
Mark Hoback 1424
40.
A blog doesn't need a clever name 7
Bruce Umbaugh 1004 Missouri

16. She's Actual Size 22
Kat Donohue 1068 California
41.
Reflections 7
Daniel Dolinov 1476 New York

17. filchyboy chronotope 21
Christopher Filkins 1512
42.
Tales of Drudgery and Boredom 6
Michel Vuijlsteke 1236 Belgie

18. David Harris' Science and Literature 21
David Harris 1092 Maryland
43.
FarrFeed 5
John Farr 1107 New Mexico

19. My so called lesbian life 18
Penny 1883 Florida
44.
The Monster Limo Weblog 5
Marc Hatfield 1956 New York

20. No Code 17
David Fox 1196 Ohio
45.
Subdued Citizen 5
Anonymous 1968

21. Why Your Wife Won't Have Sex With You 15
Julia Deckham Grey 2153
46.
Blog Baby 4
Marie Foster 2237 Washington

22. explodedlibrary.info 15
Morgan Wilson 1429 Minnesota
47.
Global Suburb 3
Adrian Zoot 1879 Maryland

23. Driver 8 13
Charly Z 1118
48.
Hyperbole 3
Jim Haefele 1703 Tunisia

24. Struggle in a Bungalow Kitchen 13
LL Adams 1754 New York
49 Pipeline 3
Doug Hennessee 1739 Minnesota

25. STANDING ROOM ONLY 13
Hugh Elliott 1573 California
50.
Sexy Mothers Do Exist 3
Michelle McBride 1917

10:45:02 AM  trackback [] comment []

TOP 50 SALON BLOGS OF THE MONTH

Rankings are based on number of hits between April 5 and May 5 (ranking in previous month in brackets). Shirky's Power Law continues to hold, as the top 75 blogs received an aggregate 750,000 hits each month, but the cutoff for the 'top 25' and 'top 50' lists dropped from 3,500 and 1,700 hits last month to 3,000 and 1,500 hits this month, a second straight decline. Name and location of each blog's 'owner', when known, is shown below the blog name. The Salon blog # links to the blog's home page. Apologies in advance for any errors or omissions. Corrections gratefully accepted.

1.
filchyboy chronotope (2)
Christopher Filkins 1512
26.
Toby's Political Diary (19)
Toby Sackton 1282 Massachusetts

2. the reverse cowgirl's blog (1)
Susannah Breslin 1437
27.
The Agora (11)
Douglas Anders 1147 Ohio

3. The Julie/Julia Project (4)
Julie Powell 1399 New York
28.
Pipeline (36)
Doug Hennessee 1739 Minnesota

4. Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment (3)
Scott Rosenberg 0014 California
29.
Playing with my food... (24)
Paul Hinrichs 1444 North Carolina

5. filchyboy john the maiden (5)
Christopher Filkins 1021
30.
She's Actual Size (29)
Kat Donohue 1068 California

6. Why Your Wife Won't Have Sex With You (22)
Julia Deckham Grey 2153
31.
Fried Green al-Qaedas (27)
Mark Hoback 1424

7. Real Live Preacher (6)
Anonymous 1772 32.
Blog Baby (-)
Marie Foster 2237 Washington

8.
The Raven (9)
Anonymous 1381 Florida
33.
David Harris' Science and Literature (41)
David Harris 1092 Maryland

9. Secular Blasphemy (7)
Jan Haugland 1561 Norge
34.
Sexy Mothers Do Exist (34)
Michelle McBride 1917

10. A blog doesn't need a clever name (14)
Bruce Umbaugh 1004 Missouri
35.
Struggle in a Bungalow Kitchen (28)
LL Adams 1754 New York

11. Tales of Drudgery and Boredom (10)
Michel Vuijlsteke 1236 Belgie
36.
FarrFeed (39)
John Farr 1107 New Mexico

12. Radio Free Blogistan (12)
Christian Crumlish 1111 California
37.
Driver 8 (37)
Charly Z 1118

13. How to Save the World (17)
Dave Pollard 2007 Ontario
38.
Tehran Washington, DC 1970-1973... (38)
Kathy Talley-Jones 1301 Washington DC

14. The Devil's Excrement (8)
Miguel Octavio 1330 Venezuela
39.
explodedlibrary.info (50)
Morgan Wilson 1429 Minnesota

15. Pornographer's Picks (15)
(Inactive since October )
40.
The Monster Limo Weblog (29)
Marc Hatfield 1956 New York

16. WIFLblog (13)
Ted Ritzer 1455 British Columbia
41.
Everything That Sucks (47)
Amanda 1691 Florida no more

17. My so called lesbian life (21)
Penny 1883 Florida
42.
neva, miss feva, blogging (39)
Neva Cavataio 1216 Oregon

18. Hyperbole (16)
Jim Haefele 1703 Tunisia
43.
Reflections (-)
Daniel Dolinov 1476 New York

19. different strings (20)
Kriselda Jarnsaxa 1542 Kansas
44.
Emphasis Added (32)
Rob Salkowitz 1454

20. Rayne Today (18)
Anonymous 1549 Michigan
45.
Life on Earth (43)
Giles Boutel 1237

21. readme.blog (45)
Chris 1075 New York
46.
Stuff from Wozz (31)
Matt Cable 1019 Colorado

22. Pesky the Rat (23)
Susan McNerney 1293 California
47.
Gnosis (42)
Morgan Sandquist 1081 New York

23. STANDING ROOM ONLY (26)
Hugh Elliott 1573 California
48.
Maxine 's Radio Weblog (43)
Maxine Locker 1314

24. Second p0st (30)
Phillip Pearson 0002 New Zealand
49.
Le Prêtre Noir (35)
Father Bojangles 1823

25. No Code (46)
David Fox 1196 Ohio
50.
The Barbaric Yawp (48)
Christopher Key 1811 Washington

7:44:15 AM  trackback [] comment []