The good ol boys network
Trey Anderson from Slashbe left a comment today asking if the Reader Blog Critique was going to be a playground for the good ol’ boys network.
I thought I would take the time to respond to this in a post because when I setup this new feature I knew that the minimum requirements I setup could exclude a lot of bloggers and I was concerned about how that could be viewed.
Here’s a reminder of the requirements :
- Blogs are at least 3 months old (but preferably at least 6 months)
- Blogs have a minimum of 250 subscribers (although more is preferable)
- The blog is actively updated on a regular basis
As you can see, these requirements do exclude a lot of bloggers however I did not want readers to review a blog extensively only for it to be dropped by the blogger a few weeks later. In the last year or so I have helped a lot of bloggers via email with WordPress and CSS problems they had and when I checked back on their blogs a while later I frequently find that the blog is no longer updated. I do like helping people and I do appreciate that blogging can be hard and bloggers move onto other things but it does illustrate my point that new blogs are more likely to be dropped by their owner.
Also, the min requirements are not set in stone and I would much rather review a blog which has been online for 2 months and has had 5 posts a week than a year old blog thats updated once a month as clearly the first blogger is more serious about their blog. However, if there were no min requirements in place it would appear that I was picking and choosing blogs with some agenda.
I just want to remind you all that I am not trying to exclude anyone and I want this to be fair. In the last 2 days I’ve had over a dozen applications. Many of these blogs have been up a few months but have only been updated once every month. More annoyingly, I have been disappointed that the majority of bloggers who asked to be reviewed have not taken the time to partipate in the first critique. I want this to be fair which is why I think that bloggers who take the time to take part in the critique every week should have their blogs reviewed before others.
As with anything on BloggingTips, feedback is welcome (positive and negative!) 
Elitism in the Blogosphere
The good ol boys network is something which many readers many think exists in the Blogopshere. This is something I have read a few bloggers say in the comment area of blogs and I can understand why it comes across that way as it does seem that more popular blogs only seem to link to other popular blogs.
However, you need to understand why this is the case. Larger blogs are more likely to break news than smaller blogs therefore they are more likely to be linked to. Due to this bloggers are more likely to subscribe to newsfeeds which frequently break news (I do this myself). I spoke about this a few months ago in my post ‘Why many aspects of blogging gets easier as you become more popular‘.
So basically :
- Successful blogs are more likely to break news
- Successful blogs keep tabs on other blogs which break news
This is why popular blogs tend to link each other more
Written by Kevin Muldoon from Blog Themes ClubPosted on August 28th, 2008 and filed under Blogging
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8 Responses to “The good ol boys network”
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[...] Kevin drew a little flack from coming up with a set of criteria for entry, but I think that he handled it well, and I look forward to seeing which other blogs get put under the magnifying glass. [...]
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Hey Kevin ~ That’s so awesome that you took the time to address Trey’s comment from the critique post.
It’s funny because I read his comment and thought to myself, “Yea, there does seem to be a bit of that on the net,” and being a woman in a predominantly man’s (or young man’s – stats say the majority (70-80%) of bloggers are guys in their 20’s) business I could let that get to me. But I don’t.
My main passion is helping other WAHMs (work at home moms) so I write and teach with them in mind. My target market is the “not-so-techie … afraid-to-try-it” crowd.
I too have seen a lot of new blogs come and go so I do understand the criteria you’ve set out. In fact, after all of the “help” you gave me with my layout … I felt a little bad when I recently switched themes.
I’m here to stay and I thank you for all of your encouragement. I will learn a lot from the other critiques and will try to apply the ideas to my own blog.
Thanks for all you do! Have a wonderful weekend … *huGs* Suzanne
P.S. Trey, I read that you are looking for your “niche” and I will say … it’s a great feeling once that hits you. BTW, we are neighbors … I’m in Bulverde.
No don’t be silly. Most bloggers change themese after a while however there was one person I helped for a few hours via email and fixed the thing he needed fixed in his theme and just a few days later he had downloaded and installed a new theme. Which made me feel like I wasted my time.
By the way, I love your new theme. You’ve made some great changes to the design and made it unique.
Thanks! I have a couple of small issues to work out but I’m liking it so far.
I think you are just trying to implant social marketing. What others get so easily seemed to have no real value. But if they put more effort on it, they will consider it more meaningful. Like a product which they can get for free compared to something they paid for even for a little amount, the latter will be more valuable.
Kevin,
Thank you for taking the time to respond to my comment with regards to the Reader Blog Critique. I now have a better understanding of why certain specific requirements were chosen in order for a blog to be reviewed.
However your comment: “Larger blogs are more likely to break news than smaller blogs therefore they are more likely to be linked to. Due to this bloggers are more likely to subscribe to newsfeeds which frequently break news (I do this myself).” doesn’t quite jive with me.
In order for a blog to become successful and grow it needs quality content, readership and links. However if in order to get the readership and links you first have to be a successful blog it sort of makes like a dog running in circles chasing its own tail.
The reason larger blogs are more likely to break news is the simple fact that their subscriber list is larger. The story gets out to more people. A blogger with 3 subscribers will almost always get scooped by a more popular blogger even if he posted the story days ahead.
I would not expect anything less from the qualifications standpoint. It gives everyone who wants a critique a blueprint for the foundation. Without that foundation, what good does a critique do?
Chuck
Trey – I disagree. With every new good post you add to your blog you are adding another post which people can link to. You are also hopefully increasing the number of people who subscribe to your blog.
Chuck – I wouldn’t say that larger blogs break news more because the story goes out to more people is the only reason. It is also because of the contacts they have developed with other blogs and news sites and because they do keep tabs on newsbreaking sites.