A lot of talk lately in quite a few blogs about Power laws in the blogosphere. It basically started with some innocent analysis of how linking and trafic works for the most popular weblogs and in some instances turned into a bit of bitching. I didnt read everything and quite frankly dont care enough to analyse the whole thing in detail but I do have things that I have noticed;
1. The A-listers, the ones I go to at least, are linking to each other not because they are trying to favor one another but because they know each other and have been around together on the web for a very long time. Kottke, megnut, jish, metafilter matt and evhead, to name a “group” I’ve “known” for a while (and are listed high on technocrati) have been around for years and years with various incarnations of their site and with various projects. When they keep each other in their blogroll and mention each other’s posts, they just mention old online (and sometimes offline) friends, not the latest guy who is part of an A-list cabal to screw the other bloggers.
2. I’ve noticed that often the most radical and bitchy comments are also the least detailed and thought out. Maybe that’s why they’re not at the top of the list? Because they cant put 2 ideas together properly? Content and good writing is what counts, not who you know. Jason or Clay or Mark can link to you until the cows logoff, if you dont have good content, people wont come back, they should stop blaming others for the practice and yes, talent, they miss.
The best articles and comments thread:
Update: Mikel makes a very very good point.
Ps: has there ever been a yulblog A-list “fight”? ;-)