Thursday, August 11, 2005
Thursday Thoughts: Blogger factions
I've been thinking about Irish blogrolls lately and about how they appear to indicate and illustrate particular factions within the Irish blogosphere.
If one looks at Irish Blogs, they'll see a whole host of bloggers from throughout Ireland. However, Irish bloggers aren't a cohesive unit and there is no real blogger brotherhood within the blogosphere. I contend that by observing a person's blogroll, you can determine what faction they belong to within the blogosphere.
Take a look at my blogroll for example. Blogs that I link to such as Balrog, Slugger O'Toole, Disillusioned Lefty to name but a few would would be classed as 'political/news' type blogs as I'm sure mine would be. We appear to be a selection of blogs which encompass the political faction.
Now let's look at some blogs which I myself do not link to and which likewise do not link to me - Sigla, wysiwyg, Thinking Out Loud. These types of blogs would be more 'glitzy/pop culture' blogs. They would not focus on political matters but rather on flashy, entertainment-type issues. They appear to encompass the pop culture faction. We 'political' bloggers don't enter their world, and they don't enter our world. We have our own circles, our own groups, our own factions.
I'm sure there are other factions too that I'm missing. Photobloggers for example.
Is this a good thing though? I'm not sure. I think it would be good if there was a way the different factions could come together. I'm not advocating 'hands across the blogosphere' but how about a site that would allow all Irish bloggers to share their experiences on blogging with each other? If nothing else, it would help newbie bloggers who are keen to learn about the whole blogging phenomenon. In my view, a top 100 list is no use.
If one looks at Irish Blogs, they'll see a whole host of bloggers from throughout Ireland. However, Irish bloggers aren't a cohesive unit and there is no real blogger brotherhood within the blogosphere. I contend that by observing a person's blogroll, you can determine what faction they belong to within the blogosphere.
Take a look at my blogroll for example. Blogs that I link to such as Balrog, Slugger O'Toole, Disillusioned Lefty to name but a few would would be classed as 'political/news' type blogs as I'm sure mine would be. We appear to be a selection of blogs which encompass the political faction.
Now let's look at some blogs which I myself do not link to and which likewise do not link to me - Sigla, wysiwyg, Thinking Out Loud. These types of blogs would be more 'glitzy/pop culture' blogs. They would not focus on political matters but rather on flashy, entertainment-type issues. They appear to encompass the pop culture faction. We 'political' bloggers don't enter their world, and they don't enter our world. We have our own circles, our own groups, our own factions.
I'm sure there are other factions too that I'm missing. Photobloggers for example.
Is this a good thing though? I'm not sure. I think it would be good if there was a way the different factions could come together. I'm not advocating 'hands across the blogosphere' but how about a site that would allow all Irish bloggers to share their experiences on blogging with each other? If nothing else, it would help newbie bloggers who are keen to learn about the whole blogging phenomenon. In my view, a top 100 list is no use.
I think it would be good if there was a site available whereby Irish bloggers could come together and write about their views on blogging and share their perspective with bloggers that they wouldn't normally come across. A site that sees beyond the various factions and which is more than just simply a long list of blogs.
What are your thoughts on the whole area of blogger factions?
# posted by United Irelander @ 3:25 AM 
© 2008 United Irelander.
