Blogs and Social Networking
Josh is a freelance blogger and trying to start his own over at extendably.com – check it out!
Like most people, my first experience with blogs was on Blogger.com. Within about a day it peed me off and I decided to check out this ‘WordPress’ thing everyone was going on about.
After trying WordPress.com I ended up hosting my own WordPress blog, it took me a while to learn all about it but I liked it a lot.
Because I came into blogging at such a late date (7 months or so ago) I don’t really know the history between WordPress and Moveable Type that well, apart from knowing everyone was using MT before WP came along and blew it away.
I’ve always been interested in MT as well, just because the last couple releases have been looking pretty cool. I actually rarely ever seem to encounter any blogs which use it any more, but I’m presuming it’s still a fairly popular service.
The thing which puts me off just trying it out however is that I don’t know if I can be bothered learning a whole new blogging platform all over again, in fact I’m sure it’s the same for a lot of WordPress users.
Anyway, this week Moveable Type released version 4.2 of their software along with their ‘Pro’ product which looks particularly interesting:
“Movable Type Pro lets you turn any site into a full social publishing platform, combining all of Movable Type's abilities as a blogging and CMS with social networking features like profiles, ratings, user registration, forums, following, and more.â€
What’s interesting about this is that a new service called BuddyPress is being created to bring the same kind of features to WordPress (without the need for plugins that is).
The success of blogging has always been in the author’s ability to interact with a community of reader; these kinds of changes help keep blogging relevant and ahead of the curve.
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There is also the situation where two (or more) blogs refer to the same news without knowing that the new news has already been dispatched by another blog. So — in this mad mad world — I consider that the fact of being true on where we got the news is an example of healthy behaviors, alleluia! (Non cynical!)
>Now, I was wondering at one thing, I wish not to trigger war mentalities, but it would be interesting to calculate what blogs refer the most to other blogs to dispatch their news (you know, the “viaâ€)!
It’s rellatively easy to calculate – spider all links on site, sort out those with via, compare to number of posts. But for large sites that’s going to take some time… I recently messed with lifehacker.com sitemap and they have almost 17000 pages. :)
Hi Josh!, yes, I do subscribe to blog feeds once I find myself returning to one of them more often than within statistical probabilities ;)
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Now, I was wondering at one thing, I wish not to trigger war mentalities, but it would be interesting to calculate what blogs refer the most to other blogs to dispatch their news (you know, the “via”)! — If I ever open that Harry’s Bar Blog, that would be one topic I’d avoid, at least before I make my place! :)
Hey guys, thanks for the comments! And thanks for taking a look at my own blog Transcontinental. Incidentally, out of interest – do you subscribe to blog feeds? Or just remember to go to the ones you follow?
“Martin as one of the most prolific techie bloggers I know, besides the content which is neither preppy nor dull.”
Amen to that! Martin… I think you ARE the most prolific blogger I know! Sometimes I think it’s a shame some of your posts disappear so quickly unless you read the feed, so much good knowledge and tips here!
>Maybe one day (when people say “one day†what does it mean ?!)
Blog-wise that usually means that they don’t want to pay for domain and hosting. ;)
>God luck to all, and keep smiling
Same to you. And I hope to read your blog… one day. :)
@Rarst, I read you loud and clear. As I said, I never had a blog of my own, but I can imagine what you mean. Perhaps this is a common point to all activities which exist by and for an audience. Artists, writers/authors, actors, performers, poets, and many more. Perhaps do we not know particular sufferances and joys without having experienced them ourselves.
I understand that besides talent there is connections, networks (friends, relatives), and luck.
Maybe one day (when people say “one day” what does it mean ?!), maybe will I start, Heaven knows when, how, a blog, for fun, wouldn’t be techie (I’m too little aware!), I don’t know, ideas, thoughts, “bar philosophy”, humor, angers, and smiles… I’m thinking about it, for fun, otherwise I’d be deceived when reading the stats! Like singing in my bathroom, no audience but still a pleasure, to express!
I’d call it, if free, “Harry’s Bar”, like the one in Paris dedicated to Hemingway. Hey, who knows, why not!
God luck to all, and keep smiling :)
>the content of course, and the dynamic
I wish it was that simple. Marketing means a lot and personal connections mean a lot.
It’s like in real world – you may be super smart but that doesn’t make you super succesful instantly. :)
I also have freshly started blog and it only reinforced my opinion that it takes months (if not years) of work to make even small dent on Internet landscape.
Hi Josh, and congratulations for starting extendably.com. I never managed a blog myself, less for technical issues which get to be learned than for the fear of “the white page” …
I started wondering what makes a blog successful. I guess criteria is double : the content of course, and the dynamic. People tend to come back when they’ve learned something, but tend to abandon when what they’ve learned is not moving to another topic. I admire Martin as one of the most prolific techie bloggers I know, besides the content which is neither preppy nor dull. Not obvious and requires a full-time labor investment, I guess.
Your blog is yours, I’ve liked what I’ve discovered there, the continuation of your style and ideas here expressed. I visit extendably.com every day like I visit Ghacks and a dozen other essential ones — in my opinion —
Keep on the good work, “ya guys”, we are many to really appreciate your commitment!