Some bloggers think that getting noticed is critically important. The number of hits, who links to you (and who doesn’t) are “big deals.” Some say that they don’t pay attention to their stats, and some don’t know how to see their stats (I bet). Scoble jumped into a minefield with an earlier post that required several corrections and followed it up today with a real rant (“pissing off the blogosphere”) that will do exactly what it’s titled.
What Scoble says, seems to me to be what other bloggers think but don’t have the fortitude to say out loud. Now, the big boys are duking it out online. And we wonder if Scoble has, indeed, thrown himself under a bus. Is it narcissism ? Do big(ger) blogs have an obligation to smaller or newer ones to link to them? A Z-lister comments. And Dave Winer once again cracks me up.
UPDATE: Robert Scoble picks up the question and asks people to respond as to why their blogs should be linked to. Lots of talk. My comment was #42 this afternoon.
What I actually said was that I don’t “worry much about hitcount,” which is different from saying I don’t “pay attention” to my stats.
But both statements are true, at least if “pay attention” means monitor traffic on a daily or weekly basis. I looked at pageviews the other day when my son asked my what traffic was like, it was probably the first time in months I’ve checked.
I want people to read what I write, I promote my blog and appreciate big links, but I’m more interested in writing what I want to write.
Writing for traffic, i.e. worrying about traffic, is boring to me. If I worried about traffic, I wouldn’t spend so much time and energy on things like Greensboro politics. But that’s what interests me, and where I see a chance to add some value, and that I think makes for a better blog.
Sorry about the semantics in the link to what you said; I thought the words meant fairly similar things. I do know that after I moved my blog from LiveJournal to my own-hosted WordPress, there really was no way to transfer the stats accurately so although I have a counter, like you, I don’t worry too much, or pay much attention, to the numbers.
Oft times, I think no one really reads my blog which is also fine. I write what I want, converse with whom I want, and remain jealous of those who get the big checks and feel the need to mention it at meetups (that would be sarcasm with a smile, for those who read text too hard).
Blogging is two things to me: my voice’s chance to speak and a step toward something else (not clearly defined).
historically, scoble has been much more progressive and consistent with outgoing links than many bloggers; he was a blogger before a business blogger, so that makes sense.
scoble’s post is less about blogger behavior and more about monetized brand behavior — both when linking out in and the expectations of links in. it’s comes from his historical position, so it makes an interesting debate.
we might bitch about links in locally, but 9 times out of 10 it’s based on wanting to be included in community and increase readership to broadcast our voices (not make money off advertising or other profit models)
this engadget/scoble thing is a business thing.
Scoble doesn’t have ads but certainly he’s concerned about his new business. I think his post addresses a larger issue, even if it is concerned with his own biz. I’ve been verbally attacked routinely by a local blogger who thinks I should blogroll her just because it’s “good for the community” or because she believes I can drive traffic to her blog.
I don’t have an obligation to link to anyone who keeps calling me names, and add to that, my blog probably doesn’t get really high traffic anyway. But after being called a cabal of one, and after repeated chastisement by someone else for not linking to her particular blog, it makes me not want to at all.
I agree completely with your “wanting to be included” thought. But I also think you have to make yourself part of a community positively before you should “demand” to be included.
[...] 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? [...]
It is an interesting topic. I agree w/ Ed. I’m curious enough about my stats that I pay attention to them, and have a certain degree of curiosity when new people hit my site through a search engine, for example.
But, I hope I never change what/why/how I write with the hopes of influencing traffic or hoping to get a link from an A-lister.
[...] Do A-list bloggers have a responsibility to link to others? (Hat-tip, Sue Polinsky) [...]
[...] Note: Scoble’s Do A-list bloggers have a responsibility to link to others? was prompted by Sue Polinsky’s January 28, 2007, post headlined “Getting linked to.” [...]
[...] A little while later he posted, Do A-List Bloggers Have a Responsibility to Link to Others, with a little help from Sue Pollinsky’s question, Do big bloggers have an obligation to smaller or newer ones to link to them? Which lead to Scoble saying: I can’t speak for anyone other than myself, but, yes, I try to link out to as many people as possible. I got found because other people linked to me, and I view it as my responsibility to link to other people as well. I also leave my comments open so people can post their own opinions and links to things. [...]
[...] sites (such as Engadget etc.) didn’t link out to the small guy – he had to back track. Sue Polinksy followed this by asking if big bloggers should also be linking to the little guy instead of [...]