Jan
28
Last Scoble Post of the Day - Should A-Listers Link Here?
January 28, 2007 |
Damn yeah - but then Scoble linked to me twice yesterday, so I can’t exactly complain…
With regards to where A-listers should link: I think the general policy for any blogger should be to link to anything of interested to the blogger and his/her audience, no matter if the item is in a MSM publication or another blog. But, as Steven Hodson says, we should at least give some credit to the blogger that pointed us to the MSM item.
Of course, there is a problem is getting noticed by A-listers, because it’s really, really tough for any blogger to keep pace with what’s happening, and memetrackers such as Techmeme, Megite, and Tailrank are, by design, elitist and foster a focus on the microcosm of the A-listers and, in terms, leads to a lot of self-referentiality among A-listers.
As Sue Polinsky points out, getting linked to (and who does and doesn’t link to you) is a big deal to a lot of bloggers. What’s the fun to talking to yourself after all?
Technorati Tags: scoble, blogs, blogging, links, linking
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Good to be linked to by Scoble, sure. (Else I wouldn’t be here, would I?) Two things:
(1) Scoble, or any A-List blogger has no obligation to link to anyone (nor does a Z-list blogger) and
(2) People who beg for links are tiresome.
I much prefer to be linked to for something I’ve written than to be linked because I asked for or insisted upon it. Robert feels an obligation to blogging, a good ethic, to promote others because I think he has a fairly grounded sense of self-worth.
Those who constantly link to themselves or moan and groan about not being linked to may have shallow egos, a need to patted on the head, and/or content that doesn’t interest others. As Scoble’s is a tech blog, he has no need to link to my personal one, just because we know each other. When it’s about ConvergeSouth, a tech users’ conference, then he links.
That’s something I can respect.
Sue - I fully agree (and I am sure you noticed my ‘hell yeah’ comment was a bit tongue-in-cheek).
Nobody is obliged to link to anybody and there are good reasons why A-listers are A-listers - there must be something about the content they produce that makes reading their blog worthwhile.
And I agree that we all want to be linked to for something we have written, not because we asked for it. I am always amazed when somebody links to me, because it is usually to a post that I didn’t think too much off, while posts I write assuming to be of interest are the ones that don’t even get read, let alone linked to.
Deep down, though, I think what motivates us all, especially those of us that don’t write personal blogs but ‘newsy’ blogs, is to be read and it can be damn hard to find an audience without getting noticed by somebody who can actually drive an audience to your blog.