Over on GonzoEngaged, Jeneane makes a point that raises an interesting question about the potential findability of other bloggers. She says in part:
But there is something to the regional flavor emerging in some blogging pockets--the Boston bloggers, and some on the west coast as examples. They would be my go-to source if I lived in those areas and needed to find out how reliable a business was, or if I were traveling to the area and wanted to know the best hotel for my family. But as I'm finding out now, I'd be just as likely to pick up the phone and call one of them, because I it seems that I'm talking to at least one blogger--who have actually ceased being "bloggers" to me and have crossed the chasm to "friendship" -- every week.
She's really advancing on two fronts here - there's the matter of bloggers transforming into friends, often via phone or email contacts - a trend rife with interest, and one I think she plans to follow up on.
Her other point strikes me as equally suggestive: that bloggers by virtue of being out there have a "secondary" potential as a vast network of practical human knowledge. Jeneane's travel example is a perfect instance of how we might benefit from contacting a blogger we know in, say, Duluth...except, we don't know any, and there's no way to simply pull up a list of Duluthian(?) folks who blog by putting "blogger and Duluth" into a Google search.
...I just tried it, and as you'll see if you try, you get some blogs that mention Duluth (including this from Doc) - fiddle with the search terms a little (blog + living in Duluth) and others pop up who used to live in, once passed through, took a picture of, etc., Duluth.
Apparently there's no tool (or have I missed it?) that enables us to search on the locations, interests, occupations, passions or other distinctive features of bloggers. NYCBloggers works just fine for those who enlist in being visually mapped. But there's nothing self-creatingly spidery about this.
If someone is working on such a tool, I'd be interested in hearing about it. It doesn't seem like a big deal (except for the small matter of privacy), and does seem like a natural evolutionary step. Is it an obstacle that each species of blogware is different from the others?
Or it could be that practical matters have not thus far been uppermost on the minds of bloggers, and that Jeneane is anticipating a further developmental moment.
Or maybe blogging is less about networks and practical utility than about something else - like elbow room.
