Wednesday, November 13, 2002

How Blogs Change Site Traffic Patterns. This is an important piece for everyone interested in, involved with or affected by Web site construction and publishing, including all bloggers. Matt Haughey gives in. Matt Haughey: “I don’t keep track of post titles, I don’t think the syndication file is all that useful without HTML, and I’ve never personally found much use for a RSS reader. That all changed when a friend said she wasn’t reading my site anymore, or any sites for that matter that didn’t carry RSS feeds.” Brent’s Law of Weblogs: If you’re not syndicating, you’re not publishing. This law is descriptive, not prescriptive. RSS, or something like it, was inevitable. I used to read a couple dozen sites regularly—now I read about a hundred sites. Far more than I could ever follow in my browser. And I do actually visit the sites I subscribe to: when there’s something interesting in their feed, and it links back to the site, I go to the site. Traffic patterns are changing, definitely. But RSS is a chance for webloggers to reach an even wider audience. It doesn’t mean that the HTML version of one’s site is now irrelevant—in fact, because of RSS and newsreaders I now visit lots of sites I never used to visit. [inessential.com] 8:08:55 PM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

Scott Rosenberg Says This is Good Stuff. Believe It. Blog worthy Steven Johnson's books -- "Interface Culture" and "Emergence" -- represent some of the most thoughtful and idea-laden writing on technoculture you'll find anywhere. Johnson, who was co-editor of the late lamented Feed as well, is now blogging away at www.stevenberlinjohnson.com. [Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment] 8:03:16 PM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

I'm Trying Another New Blogging Tool. I've become so enchanted with blogging that I have been spending way too much time blogging and exploring the space. My old buddy Tim Lundeen of Web Crossing fame and my son-in-law Jeff Soule, who works for Tim, have been nudging me lately to check out WebX 5.0, a product that is still in pre-release. It incorporates blogging into a full-blown discussion board system, one that I've admired for many years. In addition to being a community server, WebX has always been a full-blown development platform. The new Version 5 is a major leap forward for the product I chose for discussion boards at Salon.com and later at CNET's Builder.com. It is eminently more customizable, supports a full-blown object model on the server side, is scriptable in JavaScript and now supports a plug-in architecture that will spawn new models for making money in community. But IT BLOGS!. And does so very nicely, including creation of RSS feed, categories, mutliple blog editors and two features I've really wanted in blogging: email signup by readers and email notification of the blog owner when comments get posted. I'm transitioning a couple of my categories over to WebX5 so I can do a legit comparison of the blogging experience between Radio and WebX. Here's the temporary home of my WebX Blog. I'll be interested in your comments. (If you go there and you really want to try this new tool before it's released, shoot me an email. I can only set up blogs for a small handful of folks on this test server, but I'd love to share the experience and get more feedback.) 10:56:44 AM    Add your viewpoint [ comments so far]

© Copyright 2002 Dan Shafer.