It’s so nice to see that the blogosphere has room to stretch. Especially with A-Listers like Robert Scoble.
On Sunday, Scoble began by Pissing off the Blogosphere with his rant about bloggers not linking to other bloggers and linking to sources like the New York Times instead. That created a bit of backlash. Just read some of the comments.
A little while later he posted, Do A-List Bloggers Have a Responsibility to Link to Others, with a little help from Sue Pollinsky’s question, Do big(ger) bloggers have an obligation to smaller or newer ones to link to them? Which lead to Scoble saying:
I can't speak for anyone other than myself, but, yes, I try to link out to as many people as possible. I got found because other people linked to me, and I view it as my responsibility to link to other people as well. I also leave my comments open so people can post their own opinions and links to things.
But, I can't get to it all. The blogosphere is too big. So, in front of every audience I speak to I demonstrate how to use blog search engines and I keep my link blog, which has linked to many many thousands of blogs.
I’m thankful that Robert Scoble is willing to share his success. It seems that all the A-List bloggers got there with some help. And it would be great to see them each reach back and give a few of us a hand.
Of course, I’m not a A-Lister, so of course I’d like all the help I can get. What I’m doing is honest, hard work. So I don’t expect any freebies. I’ll work for what I’m given. And I’d like to know there’s A-Listers out there who are genuinely interested in helping those of us getting started.
I make a pledge that as my blog gets more successful, I’ll continue to look for other and newer bloggers and give them a hand up. That’s my pay it forward.
So did Scoble Throw himself under a bus? What do you think?
To me, blogging is all about starting a conversation, and building relationships with other bloggers. Part of this means linking out to other people’s blogs. It is certainly not a requirement for a good blog, but not doing so seems to defeat the purpose.
Yes. I fully agree. I get a little ticked off when I find blogs that don’t let me comment. Seems like they’re just cherry picking the blogosphere.
I think this post is right on. I’ve noticed how some news blogs only copy and paste, and then source news sites. This to me is not blogging. I’m glad I read this.
Thanks Scott. While I’m still getting my writing legs under me, I’m all for content that can stand on its own – whether it references sources or not.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with quoting mainstream sources like the New York Times. After all, blogging is supposed to a more democratic watch-dog for, er, democracy. We’ve hit a point where media outlets are as large, amorphous, and putatively nefarious as government agencies can be, and fortunately, technology has made filling that transparency vaccum possible with the blog.
That does not, of course, mean that I don’t think bloggers shouldn’t link other bloggers. Anytime I caught whiff of a stroy via another blog–because lord knows I don’t read newspapers anymore–I simple indicate that the story came to me via that blog, and if there is already a robust conversation underway there, I encourage readers to click over and participate.
I actually agree Chris. Blogging is bringing mainstream media and media figures into check. Look at what blogging and YouTube did to Howard Deen’s Democratic Nomination bid. What was seen as a small misstep was picked up by bloggers and YouTube and made into a steep downhill slope for Deen. So bloggers are keeping democracy in check by helping set our national agenda.
What Scoble was ranting about was how some bloggers today are only linking to mainstream media sources and not linking to other bloggers. As he puts it, “The truth is, if bloggers don’t link to other bloggers and, instead, link to the New York Times, they are just reinforcing the mainstream media’s position.”
Look what you made me do, now I’m quoting Robert Scoble.
DM,
Maybe you could come and visit the site, and give me a few pointers. You have a great theme and design here. Trying to link better with other bloggers. Could use some good advise.
Scott
Thanks for the compliments on my site. The key to linking for me is that it’s not contrived. What I genuinely want to do is find really good resources for my readers. By being a solid information source for my readers, my hope is that they get benefit from what I write, they comment, grab my feed, return to read more posts and ultimately spread the word about my blog. I do this not just by linking, but by having useful posts and links.
Bottom line, add value to your readership’s life/business/etc.