As incensed and dismissive as I initially was at Stolid's recent suggestion that some blogs are better than others, and that there should be some protocol involved in entering this (apparently in his view) pyramid of blogs in the Guyana blogosphere, I think (now that I'm at a cooler distance) there may be some cause for discussion about ranking/rating blogs, and about blog etiquette.
If we were to rank blogs, what reasonable criteria should we use? And why would we choose to rank blogs at all?
When I started blogging I thought the way to grow my readership from beyond the circle of my immediate and extended family, was to offer something of use to a wider audience. I also thought if I did anything of worth on the blog, the word would spread and I'd get readers that way. And that's basically how it happened. But I also thought, since I was writing under the title of "Guyana" and wanted to be recognized as Guyanese, that I should befriend the bloggers who were already blogging in that Guy-arena. I did so, and two of them linked to my blog. However, that did not initially increase my readership. My readership grew when the people (writers and their friends) who were interested in what I had to say started to spread the word about what I was doing. I hit the motherlode by focusing on Ruel Johnson's work early on and his friends and enemies were probably some of my initial new readers. And so it grew with each ensuing writer whose work I discussed.
What's the point? The first and ONLY criteria I think should be used to decide whether or not a blog is worthy of reading is how this question is answered: Does it offer anything of benefit to a specific group of readers? Now you see where I'm headed. Because ANY blog could potentially be of benefit to ANY group of readers.
And what about the ridiculous notion that hits count? Should we really base a blog's importance on the number of hits it receives per day? Those of us who know the tricks of the trade are aware that stats, particularly those that rise rapidly, may well be the work of knowledgeable webheads and/or the busy fingers of one or two supportive friends or family members. So to base a blog's success or failure or ranking on its hits would be just plain silly.
I, for instance, have visited Guyana 911 more than once a day to see whether or not other blogs listed there have been updated. And many times during those visits, I didn't read one word of what was written in a post there. I also strongly believe the constantly updated list of blog feeds on Mercenary's blog (or whatever he's calling himself these days) and on Brass's blog was the primary reason most people were visiting them a few months ago. I'm not saying their content isn't worthy of a visit, but they weren't posting for months. Why on earth else would people visit?
So stats shouldn't count. Content should. I link to blogs and read blogs--new, old, and in-between--because I like their content. I suspect most people do the same. We read what we like.
But of course it's not all that straightforward. I have one or two links to blogs whose authors were polite and friendly to me. They took the time to read my blog and commented here or on their own blogs. I reciprocated because being nice is a good thing. Simple. Does that mean my readers will become theirs? Maybe. Should I be worried? No. I feel as long as I'm writing something worthy of reading, then people will read me and link to me. I haven't patented any form of the language I use; I just use it the best way I know and have been taught.
The blogosphere extends way beyond the confines of any living room, office, village, city, and country. There's a stage and an audience for all of us. And those of us who remain entrenched in old notions of hierarchy are being defeated by this and other new media every day.
Hooray!
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Addendum: Imran Khan has a view on the issue of hierarchy and local Guyanese culture that's worth a read here:
She is, one can easily surmise given the content of her offerings, someone who is desperate to become an elitist but who is obviously struggling her way out of a lower social rung condition. She does not appear to be quite nouveau riche as she appears to be a ‘just get lil money’ type person who is desperate to shed all her associations from whence she came in an effort to clamour up the next rung of the social ladder. More.
