Comments on: What makes a blog successful?

By: Schanie Ken

Schanie Ken — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:14:03 +0000

Blog is not a traitional writing & reading media. It is evolving and will continue to evolve for years, so will my understanding of blogs.

A blog should only be judged by quality of content, its purpose and how well that purpose is fulfilled by the blog.

If it solves a purpose, if it inspires the raeders towards a better understanding of the theme underlying the blog, it will and should be popularized. If Google, Technorati or other search engines can include this criteria, it will make blog ranking a better ranking system.

My blogging experience is limited, but my psassion for blogging is unlimited and am implemented a few ideas, some in early stage of implementation and others still in raw form.

I found this blog inspirational. So my personal ranking for this blog is very high, no matter how it is ranked in Google & Technorati.

If it had a ranking system, I will rate it 8.8/10.

By: walt crawford

walt crawford — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 01:04:16 +0000

Lazygal: I know that’s one use I expect to make of the results–to find a couple more blogs that I really should be reading. (OK, don’t laugh: I follow fewer than 400 liblogs, so there’s plenty of room.)

Your other point is well taken–but, as you say, Bloglines has one key advantage that leads to its being used as an indicator: The subscriber counts are available. I think we (I know I) tend to assume that it’s unlikely that certain blogs will have a higher *percentage* of Bloglines subscribers (as opposed to other aggregators), thus that Bloglines count is useful as an indicator. [E.g., I guess I assume that if 25% of all my subscribers use Bloglines, chances are 20-30% of Meredith's subscribers and 20-30% of your subscribers also use Bloglines...and no, I haven't the vaguest idea what the percentages actually are!]

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:51:33 +0000

When I started my library blog (3 years ago), it began as an offshoot of the (now defunct) libraryland. I put together libraryland in grad school as primarily a textbook-trading and library links site for URI MLIS students. After reading some of the most popular library blogs, I decided pretty early on that I didn’t want to be a library “news” blog, as there were plenty of those, and they did it “better” than I ever could. My intent was to be more of a “links to tools, databases, and info sites” that might be especially helpful to those in library school, and those new to internet tech. With some real-life stories and bitching thrown in for color.

It took me a LONG time to get any regular readers.

I think my blog has been successful because, well, I’m still blogging! I have some readers, and I often get mail from students telling me that they like the fact that I archive things on separate pages for easy retrieval; this thrills me, because that’s why I set up my blog the way I did.

My blog has been a great learning tool for me as well – I’ve taught myself CSS, WordPress, Blogger, and Moveable Type (because the blog has been on each at one point or another).

I think it’s just human nature to see how you “stack up” against other people – in all sorts of ways. But, I don’t take any of the numbers/rankings too seriously. But I’m not going to lie – when someone says, “Oh! You’re the Cool Librarian! I read your blog!” I get a kick out of it.

By: Lazygal

Lazygal — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:16:08 +0000

I wasn’t thinking of this as a Top ___ list per se but as a way to see who I’m *not* reading that everyone else seems to be reading. As stevenb says, those that rank higher than others will be puffing about it, while those that rank below them may feel slighted or depressed. Perhaps a list of the Top Ten/Twenty, listed alphabetically, would work, with a “Rest of Them” listed also alphabetically will make it somewhat less than a ranking and more of a giant blogroll? Something like that, anyway.

The part about using Bloglines is also interesting. I’ve seen my subscriber number fall as people move to Google Reader, which (as far as I know) does not have any indicators for how many are using that to aggregate my (or any other) blog. So I’ve always taken those things with a whole handful of salt.

Keep up the great work!

By: stevenb

stevenb — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 02:51:40 +0000

That’s a good response to my comment – your explanation for the decision to ask people this simple question provides good insight. But if we agree that “rankings don’t have much meaning” then why shouldn’t we ignore them. I suspect that just like the USNWR rankings they mostly have meaning for the IHEs that get ranked in the top 10 in their category. My own ex-institution always finished poorly in the USNWR rankings and they were never discussed. But all of a sudden one day on our home page a banner appeared to share the news that the school was among the top 10 institutions that graduated a high percentage of its athletes – an almost meaningless honor for most potential students. But someone in PR decided we had some ranking to brag about – pretty pathetic.

I willing to bet that once you publish your rankings – perhaps the top 10 vote getters – that each of those bloggers will post about it. Even though they probably know “rankings don’t have much meaning” – they’ll post about it. So whatever ultimate, highly value-driven goals motivate them to blog – and gaining superficial popularity is certainly not among them – I don’t think they’ll be able to resist a bit of “hey, look at me” for a day. Beyond that I’m not sure what the outcome will produce, but I hope it won’t backfire on you and that the results will support what you seek to produce. But will you, as Walt suggests, publish the whole set of results. If so, I wonder how that will make the bloggers with 1 or 2 votes feel. Probably, I guess, better than the ones who don’t get a vote at all.

By: Jennifer Macaulay

Jennifer Macaulay — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 22:50:59 +0000

I guess that like you Meredith, I think that StevenB has a good point about rankings. However, this survey seems to be more casual in nature. I am looking forward to seeing the results – not because I think it will be an authoritative ranking of library blogs, but because it should give us some interesting information about which blogs library bloggers find valuable.

Interesting question about goals for blogging and how one measures success. I’m thinking about it – that may be worth its own blog post!!

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 20:22:44 +0000

Mark, I completely agree with you about the idea that citation doesn’t necessary equal approval (in the same way that subscription doesn’t necessary = reading or liking). The book “Hitler’s Willing Executioners” has been cited widely by historians, but mostly to refute the author’s research methods and conclusions. There are many, many other examples out there just like this. Great point!

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 20:01:55 +0000

You didn’t make it explicit, but I loved how your discussion of “what does a subscription mean?” ties into valuable critiques of bibliometrics. Just what does a subscription/citation mean?

Someone in a recent article I read used the fact that a certain book had been cited over 1600 times as equal to meaning that we ought to take its ideas seriously. Perhaps. But having read that book very closely, having discussed much of it in an upper-level seminar, and having cited it myself several times I can assure anyone that a large percentage of those citations are to dispute and outright refute the contents of the work. But, you know, it was cited so it must be “important.”

Keep us thinking, Meredith. I think your blog is successful by your criteria, and by mine for reading it, because of this, and more.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 18:35:50 +0000

Great conversation about this topic. I think the biggest flaw with the oedb study is use of librarian in the title (along with using outdated tools, not like there are good reliable ones out there). I have enjoyed the library 2.0 conversation as well. Many librarians are getting onto the idea of a middle road rather than implement because it’s cool.

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 16:53:55 +0000

Thanks Walt. I appreciate that.