Tags: 2000 Bloggers, Metablogging, Tino Buntic, Jeremiah Owyang, Zoli Erdos, Megite, Techmeme, Ian Kallen, Link Love, Blog Traffic, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Software, Weblogs, Web2.0, Knowledge Management, KM, Communities, Collaboration, Community Building
Links? Links ? Links? And worrying about it? Perhaps just a bit too much? Is that what weblogging is all about, folks? I am not sure if you have been following the huge uproar of commentary that has been going on every since Tino Buntic launched the 2000 Bloggers initiative. A lot has been written about the whole effect, not to take into account the good amount of link love that has taken place thus far, but perhaps two of the folks, whose comments have been rather insightful and definitely the kick-off to do something about it, were Jemeriah Owyangs take in I dont deserve this Technorati rank (and the other 1,999 of you dont either) and Zoli Erdos 2000 Bloggers Gaming Technorati and Google.
You can read some more about the whole affair if you check out Megites and Techmemes take on it. And also worth while visiting and checking out is Technoratis reaction through Ian Kallens weblog post on Breaking the Chains. WOW! Isnt that enough buzz already about the whole thing? Isnt that creating many more links and conversation on the topic than the 2000 bloggers initiative on itself? I think I will leave that to you to make the final judgement.
So why am I writing this weblog post you may be wondering, right? Well, I am actually one of those 2000 bloggers who, a couple of weeks back, decided to submit his own weblog as an experiment and see how it would help me increase my discovery of different weblogs that may be of interest to me and which do not necessarily have got to do with the Top 100 or A-List webloggers. After all, a good chunk of the best stuff on the blogosphere is on lesser known weblogs. We all know that. I knew right away as well that people would start linking to it (Come on, we all knew that, didnt we?! That is what people do in weblogs. They link to each other whenever the opportunity arises) and therefore Technorati would be affected by it at some point.
I was, too! I had several dozens of folks linking to me, perhaps only as an indication of being part of the whole initiative, but not the entire 2000 bloggers. In fact, I am 100% positive that will never happen. People enjoyed the novelty, tried it out for a bit and then moved on. Like we are doing now. However, some folks did comment on it and that is when the uproar came up with plenty of people no longer sure it was actually going to be a good thing after all. Errr, what happened? Why all the fuss now and not right at the very beginning when people started jumping into it? Well, probably because we all thought it was a great idea (Still is!) and even to the point where plenty of us thought about the social networking aspect of gaining more visibility with other lesser known weblogs and perhaps discover the odd one you would want to check out and subscribe to them further. And from there onwards start building up your own relationship(s).
I actually found about 5 of those weblogs that I subscribed to them thanks to this initiative. I am sure I would not have been able to meet up in any other way, so just for that I am glad I am part of such initiative. Even if it has been shut down eventually. To me it has actually succeeded in bringing down to me more visibility on some other weblogs that I may want to visit, or not. And continue building up from there. At least, I am given the choice. Try now to get noticed by the most popular weblogs. That is also another good exercise, I tell you. But is it really worth it? Yes, that is the whole point I am trying to get to with this particular weblog post. Yes, plenty of webloggers get started with their weblogs because they want to be popular, they want to stand out, they want everyone to be noticed and everything. In short, they want links. For them 2000 bloggers has actually been a menace from the very beginning, specially if they were not part of it because they might not have seen it coming.
However, for the rest of us, at least, that is how I see it, it was just a fun exercise to increase our awareness from other weblogs out there that I may want to check out and potentially subscribe to. Yes, that social networking thing kicking in once again. Because after all, I am not too fussed about links. I dont want to be a popular weblog because everyone is linking to me. On the contrary, I want to be a popular weblog, if ever, because people find that my content is compelling enough to be shared across the blogosphere. They have enjoyed reading whatever article and then decide that it is worth while sharing it with their friends and their own readers. Again, all this not because of the link itself, but because of my content. Myself. That is what weblogging is all about. People engaging in conversations.
And like with any conversation, weblogging is a long time investment. It is something you work your way through during the course of many months, or many years because you know that it will pay off big time for you to keep it going. To enrich the way you view things and, much more importantly, the way others interact with you. Link love is just circumstantial and something that, unfortunately, we all have to live with. And perhaps 2000 Bloggers just managed, and succeeded!, to shake the ground once again and remind us why we all wanted to create our own weblog in the first place. Food for some thought, I guess, as to where you would want to take your weblogging, dont you think? Would you rather have it as a long-term investment (5 to 10 years) or just go with the link love month by month till you get bored or you move into the next thing? Your choice. You decide.