The value of blogrolls
A good friend of mine recently told me that he doesn’t know what to look at or where to go when he surfs the Web. I think all of us have suffered from information overload syndrome when it comes to finding quality content on the net. Google searches and Yahoo! home pages can only take you so far and sometimes can leave you more frustrated than enlightened because you never really did find what you wanted. So where do you start?
Every so often at work, I’m called upon to create a list of influential blogs that cover a certain topic/industry. I’ve learned a lot from creating these lists–the most important lesson being the inherent value of blogrolls. Typically, good, dedicated bloggers are mini-experts on whatever topic they write about and usually know the online playing field better than someone who is just beginning to research the topic. They include a blogroll–a list of their favorite blogs–on their own site to inform their audience, help fellow bloggers, and hopefully, be included on others’ blogrolls. It’s a great referral tool, but more importantly, establishes your legitimacy as a blogger “in the know” because you know where to find the quality content.
As you can see, Couple/think’s blogroll needs some work. It’s a careful process though because you don’t want to throw up any old link, as your blogroll is a reflection of your own tastes. For example, I’ve come across many a blogroll that had extremely outdated links (blogs that haven’t been updated for 2+ years), non-working links, etc. Would you give a potential employer a list of outdated references? I’m not the first one to point out that our virtual identities are becoming increasingly tied to our ones in real life.
When I want to find fresh material or a new blog to add to my feed reader, I look to my favorite blogs blogroll first. It’s like being introduced to a friend of a friend - most likely, you’ll have something in common with them and will be interested in what they have to say. I’ve come across many of my favorite sites this way and feel that blogrolls definitely contribute to the makings of an online community.
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I’m with you. I’ve found many of my favorite blogs searching blogrolls. I’ve noticed they are being used less though…