Blogs, uhh, good God, what are they good for…..(sung to the tune of the song War)…
Has anyone noticed lately that more blogs posts are about other blogs, which are writing about whats being reported in other blogs than about something original from the author ?
Far be it for me to be a cynic, but it sure seems like more blogs are being written with the goal of getting traffic than with the goal of saying something original. Its almost as if bloggers are the new rappers with Blog Pimpin and Blogwars becoming analogous to Rap Wars.
You know, if The Game called out 50 Cent in a song so that 50Cent would retaliate with a song saying something to the effect of “I got shot 9 times, you ain’t got shot non, so shut the hell up son”. And then the Game would rap right back and they both hoped that it would create attention on the radio and on TRL, 106 & Park, in Vibe, The Source, etc and when it was all said and done, music sales would increase. Then they would make up and do a co-production joint and put together the Drop Your Weapons Truce Tour.
In the Blogosphere, self promotion is out of control. Self Diggin , Slashdotting and Deliciousizing are pretty much par for the course, but more prevalent is the new habit of writing about whatever the top story is on the aggregation sites. If its at the top of Techmeme, there are a core of bloggers that you know are just going to write about the top ranking story. Why ? Because then your blog gets listed under the top of mind, top of page topic. Which leads to more traffic. Thats BlogPimpin.
Then of course there are blogwars. There are people who no matter what I write about technology, will write about it. There are others that no matter what I write about stocks or the market, will comment on it. The same with movies, copyright and sports. Why ? Because when people search on my name, or for my blog, on sites like Icerocket.com and technorati, their blogs will show up. Plus, if they get really lucky, I might engage them right back and drive traffic directly to their blog. 50Cent and The Game ain’t got nothing on Mark Cuban and …..
Of course its not just me they write about. Anything that looks good in the tag cloud, videos, movies, whatever, they will post about it in short order. Any blogger with a high profile, they are after him or her.
Its all about Big Pimpin for traffic baby. Welcome to trying to make a living in the Blog Game. It puts the rap game to shame.
If you want to read a good book on pimping the I highly recommend
Silky Black’s Keys 2 the Game (BOOK) by Golden Style (author) its got
got some valuable information on the whole pimp game.
Comment by Markus -
Mark, I’m new to the Blogosphere and have begun writing a blog on customer service (http://www.barserv.libsyn.com) and how to improve the customer experience. My company BarServ (http://www.barserv.com) is a mystery shopping firm based here in Dallas-Fort Worth. I’m trying to write about original ideas from my head and not linking out to other blogs. Hope you have an opportunity to check it out.
GD
Comment by George -
Please save the PITTSBURGH Pens.
Comment by David Ritchey -
[url=http://www.ebaywow.net/%5Dwow gold[/url]
Comment by wowglds1219 -
Has anyone noticed lately that more blogs posts are about other blogs, which are writing about whats being reported in other blogs than about something original from the author?
That’s so true! Many of the most popular blogs, endgadget, the inquirer often just replicate stories from t’internet
Comment by Peter -
Blogs as well as websites are a reasonable medium for aggregates. It’s like having someone review stuff that you might like in a niche topic that you’re interested in.
If you’re passionate about a topic, then aggregating can also be useful to other people with similar passions saving them the painful searches.
I guess I do both:
– http://www.dragonslayersden.com = aggregate
– http://www.cultimate.blogspot.com = my ideas
The difference is one subject I’m close to an expert and in the other I’m more of a learner.
Peter
Comment by Peter Jamieson -
Blog pimping is so last year. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=plushie+furrie+%22Mark+Cuban%22&btnG=Search
Comment by deeann -
There is much to learn and even more to add to any discussion that you see here or in the blogsphere. It doesn’t seem like the best idea to constantly put up new hashes of other people’s posts, but there is always something that irks most of us enough to write.
In the end though it seems like most people try to write about what they are doing, going through, or just plain did today. It’s not always really boring to see what people did, some of you just have more interesting lives. Something I can’t say for myself at the moment.
Comment by phreaki -
I’m going to have to agree with you somewhat on the Blog Pimpin’. But sometimes it takes blimpin’ (has this been used?) to get people to your site to see the real content (I guess that’s my excuse). Self-promotion = marketing. I can’t afford million dollar ads like you. Plus, I’m just not that popular 🙁
I am starting to link to sites I know my friends wouldn’t normally visit. I also plan to cover more international news to broaden my viewer’s perspective.
Comment by Theo Johnson -
I think blogging is a particular art in itself, not one I’m terribly good at; actually, I think that it’s quite an art being able to come up with 100-200 words on a subject and say something very pithy and meaningful about it, and I’m always in admiration about that.
Comment by disembedded -
Mark… I think you are a bit off base.. that’s not blog pimpin’ that’s tag spamming, like the splogs just with content… True pimpin is linking to your blog because it’s a good read and I want my readers to read what you have to say instead of trying to rank for your keywords…
just Google Paisley Does Dallas.
peace 🙂
Comment by paisley amoeba -
Excellent commentary. Most blogs are just people watching TV or reading the paper and then making their own commentary. In the end someone has to spend the money to gather news.
Most blogs (Mark Cuban’s excluded of course) are total B.S. It is incredibly arrogant and narcissistic to think that any one gives a donkey’s ass about how you view today’s topics
Comment by Bud B -
Agreed. The whole thing stresses me out. Blogging for bloggings sake–it’s a total game. What about content? And what about the washingpost.com co-op w/ technorati. Feeding the beast that way is just bad blogging karma, no?
Comment by Cory Tolbert Haik -
Agree totally .Most blogs now are Directories and cheap summaries of other blogs.The same with guru financial newsletters. Yours needless to say is very direct,thought provoking, with original material. thanx.
Comment by Ron D -
Ummm, Bloggin’ been goin’ on for years… y’all just gettin’ ’round to this now? See, what I do… is I start a blog, my own writings, thoughts, etc, and I gather a pretty good following of several hundred readers. Then *poof*, I’m gone in 60 seconds. I’ve done this several times already. I’m building a reader base. I know this because some readers find me again, and they’ve searched endlessly for me. No one writes like I do. I can’t be duplicated or replicated. Eventually, so many people will know me, that I will not be able to cut and run… as it will be futile. I’m on my way then… Be seeing you ’round Mark.
Comment by Daniel -
only 62 people have access to the majority of my blog.
i’ve never enjoyed these “pimping” metaphors.
hip hop lingo is hijacking our culture. mark how ’bout some yiddishisms intead 😉
Comment by David Brotsky -
The funny thing about searching for the term ‘Mark Cuban’ is that people spend money on your name on google adwords … I cant believe it 😀
Comment by Tobi -
I disagree with your opinion that bloggers are trying to drive traffic by just linking to each other. More importantly I think that bloggers are learning that there are a few other people out there that are interested in the things they are interested in and they can help these people navigate the ocean of information available online by redirecting them.
I don’t like having to monitor 200 blogs in my industry, so I have identified a couple of people that I really trust and I will read about 50% of the posts they recommend…
Comment by Preston -
mark,
this is an issue i’ve thought about and posted on a couple times. it’s the battle between being part of the conversation, attracting traffic and having your own voice. at some point, readers will hopefully realize who’s really writing interesting posts, and who’s just parroting what they’ve read elsewhere. that said, it’s hard sometimes not to get the feeling you’re out in the wilderness when you write on a topic that no one else is focused on.
Comment by Mark Evans -
Blogging is really just a new way of communication. Whether is was the corner drug store, someone’s front porch, HAM radio, talk radio, IMs, etc…basically a new form for people to talk and communicate.
But, the Web is full of blogs about blogs, with comments on blog postings about other blogs. I agree, half (well not half, probably 85%) is just garbage. But in a way, what’s the harm?
Look at cable TV with hundreds of channels and thousands of hours of programming to fill. Is there really that much solid, interesting material out there? No. And satellite radio with hundreds of channels. Is there really all that much new, original content? No. But it really is serving a niche, and the Web and blogging, and hundreds of cable channels are all about feeding a niche. The question is: can, and for how long, can those niches be profitable?
Comment by girls basketball -
What you write about would less necessary if people like you weren’t so strategically stingy about your links.
“Because when people search on my name, or for my blog, on sites like Icerocket.com and technorati, their blogs will show up.”
And technorati was not linked why? Because you’re being strategically stingy.
Topic for another post?
Comment by 0 Blogs Link Here -
I too blogged about the trend of blogging about blog posts about blogging about blog posts. Let’s call it recursive media.
http://hydeparkassociates.com/blog/?p=343
Comment by joel -
Mark, I think you’re absolutely correct on this point, but I may have some additional insight on this issue.
I’m a professional blogger, working for network performance management company NetQoS, and I’m responsible for editing, maintaining and, yes, promoting the company blog, which can be found at http://www.networkperformancedaily.com.
When I studied the blogosphere in grad-school, I noticed a pattern of circle-linking among ideological blogs. In fact, theres a study (at http://www.blogpulse.com/papers/2005/AdamicGlanceBlogWWW.pdf)by Lada Adamic at HP Labs and Natalie Glance at Intelliseek Applied Research Center which found that the conservative blogosphere and the liberal blogosphere were not likely to share links or to link to each other. According to the study: 91% of the links originating within either the conservative or liberal communities stay within that community. The Adamic/Glance study also confirmed that conservative sites generally are more likely to link to other blogs (as opposed to primary sources) than progressive or liberal sites were.
This ideological divide implies to me that there might be behavioral differences in other groups, such as sports fans, business professionals, technical people, etc. It does seem to me that the behavior you describe in this blog post may not be a blanket statement over the entire blogosphere but may indeed be limited only to a few select fields further studies will likely be needed to determine this.
Still, I can see the type of circle-linking you describe as detrimental. Right now Im also working on a story (yes, doing old-fashioned investigation) regarding Robert Gates (yes, that Robert Gates) about a story circulating on the blogosphere about some comments he made about network security which may not give an accurate impression of his views it has circulated because of bloggers writing about other bloggers reports on an AP story from 2004 that may not have given an accurate impression of his remarks in the first place and is likely only being published because Gates has suddenly shot up to prominence in the news. Im hoping he gets back to me because Id like to find out the truth for myself, and share it with the world.
The fact that this will drive-up traffic is not inconsequential, but secondary to my goal of finding the truth and reporting it. Or, to put it another way, finding the truth and reporting it will drive up traffic.
NetQoS actually has some good policies when it comes to links. Yes, we want traffic to be high because then we can use the site to sell more product, but we always identify ourselves as employees of NetQoS, try to contribute only when we have something insightful or contextual to say, and in general, try to behave like a good blogospherian citizen while promoting the site (just enough to justify my employment!) We try to credit the source of primary information when we find it, and to not rely on pure rumor even if it would be advantageous to our hit counter to do so.
We do, from time to time, write about stories at the top of Techmeme, Reddit, Digg, or Slashdot. Yes, we want to get traffic; but we actually use Techmeme, Reddit, Digg, and Slashdot as useful gauges of what the technical community wants to read about and write about. Even so, we try to tie it back into network performance, and if the topic is popular but has little to do with networking, we avoid it.
I hope that you and your readers find this information insightful.
— Brian Boyko
— New Media Communications Specialist, NetQoS
— http://www.networkperformancedaily.com
Comment by Brian Boyko -
But doesn’t it all go back to Google at some point in time? Blogs are great, have my own. But Blogging for Dollars came about because Google put so much importance on Blogs when it came to search rankings, right? Blogs were genuine, community, people telling it like it is, and Google said to hell with Link Farms, these things are where people are reading and shopping and spending time. It probably hasn’t come full circle, but there has to be a time when Google and other search engines tweak the formula once again to lower the importance of Blogs to search rankings, and increase something else. And I’ll bet that whatever that something else is will run through the same cycle.
Those out there late to the Blog game (read: me) are not going to make the cash that some of the first movers did. Nor at this point do I care. Blogging takes care of my writing jones, where I can be as funny as only I think I am. It updates loved ones and friends far away on our life, and it’s a nice outlet. Will there continue to commercial applications to Blogs? Of course. Will there be Executives like Mark who use it to communicate with employees and those who follow his business? Of course. Will the current trends continue with the same topics being rehashed on these blogs about blog sites? One can only hope “Not so Much”.
Comment by brad -
Think outside the box! Outside of the introverted part of the blogosphere, some of us are trying to use blogs and podcasts and all that Web 2.0 goodness to push new educational boundaries.
Comment by AJ Cann -
How is this different than traditional media, especially newspapers? They all use the same sources too – AP, Reuters, CP, etc. Then there’s TV: Just the other day CNN is saying “Associated Press is calling the election in favour of the Democrats,” and “The New York Times is reporting…”
Blog posts don’t have to be original — they need to serve their audience.
Finally, about attribution: Links do that handily, but if it’s an idea, well, that’s public domain and attribution isn’t necessary.
Pimp away!
Comment by shawnpetriw -
I totally agree. Certain areas of the blogospere have become nothing more than an Echo Chamber, full of Navel Gazers.
Also many of the so-called social networking sites out there are more about a patch of profile pictures (with possibly hot chicks) all pointing at eachother – ‘saying thx 4 tha link/add’ – nothing more. Vacuous. Tedious. Boring – but ‘the kids’ seem to love it – until they themselves get bored and move on the the next w00tThangClan
Comment by Kosso -
Trying to make a buck is hard…(take it from there Mark).
I agree bloggers who are just worried about being on top are really not saying anything original. BOING BOING comes to mind. It is tempting to emulate them because judging from the traffic they are successful.
So how do you strike a balance between the need to make a dollar and the need to be original?
Now that would make a great blog 🙂
Comment by Antonio Howell -
You know, if The Game called out 50 Cent in a song so that 50Cent would retaliate with a song saying something to the effect of “I got shot 9 times, you ain’t got shot non, so shut the hell up son”.
-When did that become funny?
Oh and I guess because hes black he cant spell properly either thats why you put aint got shot non instead of you didnt get shot none because where also stupid too now.
WOW when did that become funny?
-When did that become funny? To start making fun of people who grew up in the hood (urban areas the government just decided doesnt need money to survive so the schools suck and the crime is at an alarming rate.)
To grow up somewhere where you have a better chance of getting shot by a stray bullet then you have of getting a decent education. Thats funny.
Of course the topic was about blog pimpin but I think you could have used a better example then something you obviously know nothing about, for one the game has actually been shot too. A sad reality that comes when a person begins to feel like they have to survive by any means necessary. what would you know about that?
And of course fifty and the game have a different out look on life and its worth compared to someone who has never lived in the hood, but when did that become funny.
but of course if you grew up on Mark Cuban lane where the worst thing you worried about on your way to class is do I have a booger coming out my nose? I guess then you wouldnt know nothing about growing up in an urban area so I guess that makes it ok, to make fun of them.
Maybe I just took it personally because I actually grew up in Queens a few blocks away from where fifty cent use to live and Ive never found it funny dogging bullets as I tried to just go to school each day.
And for the record getting shot 9 times is never funny no matter how you look at it. Who in their right mind would want to be shot nine times? I mean why not make fun of army people who get shot while defending the country. Oh but that wouldnt be funny. I guess its ok to make fun of someone getting shot in the hood because they deserved it unlike someone who gets shot for a more noble reason. Right?
I just want to say you cut me deep with this one, I never really thought of you as that type of person, but I guess Ive never been too bright. I wonder if thats funny too.
Comment by Crazyglues -
Mark – With all this said, who are some of the bloggers that you enjoy reading?
Comment by Dave Forde -
Never figured you as the 50 cent/The Game type of guy.
Comment by crystal -
I’m a thug. Hey Mark would you like to take shots at me and I’ll take shots at you just to make “news” ?
Comment by Browie.com -
Blog Pimpin’ – that’s funny – never thought of it that way – actually spam was my label.
If someone is going to lift someone else’s material, at least put a different spin to it. And the blatant “Cut N’ Paste”, can’t they even correct the spelling.
Gotta love it, who ever would have thought…
Comment by Jack Merr -
Hey Mark,
I was browsing about forbes website, and a list of NBA owners, merely for amusement, and i came upon Mark Cuban, and i googled you for no apparent reason, well because your net worth was 1.8 billion or something, and then i saw you had a blog, which i thought was funny, mainly because i see blogs as another waste of time for internet socializing myspace junkies and thus when a CEO big shot has a blog, i feel the need to read it. And it was surprisngly good, and not only good, but you even talked about rap! And although i am almost positive you were poking fun at Rap, which i agree totally deserves it, i just wanted to make sure that you a) understand that Rap/Hip-hop really isn’t 50 cent or The Game b) there is such a thing as good rap and c) i was flat out just curious to as whether or not you acctually do listen to rap, because that would be totally bangin if you did.
Anyways, your rich and im a poor student so if ya wana give me a job that would be totally pimp!
Cheers,
Benjamin
Comment by Benjamin -
mark wrote:
You know, if The Game called out 50 Cent in a song so that 50Cent would retaliate with a song saying something to the effect of “I got shot 9 times, you ain’t got shot non, so shut the hell up son”
Correction – Game got shot 5 times
ps: cop the doctors advocate nov 14 haah
Comment by westcoast -
If I see a relevant, interesting comment on a blog and there is an accompanying URL, I check it out. I think it’s a good system that I hope to benefit from as well. Though I know it’s abused by some, find me a system people don’t abuse if given the chance.
So, in true Xzibit form… guess I’m about to pimp my video blog!
Thanks for the ride, Mark!
Comment by Average Betty -
“Far be it for me to be a cynic, but it sure seems like more blogs are being written with the goal of getting traffic than with the goal of saying something original.”
Well, yeah, isn’t that what’s going on across arts and media in general? I mean, you’re involved in film somewhat. I’m sure you see it, and how it is all connected to culture and so forth, negative implications, et cetera… et cetera.
The ridiculous thing about the whole mess is that “something original” is more likely to earn you more traffic or make you more money, it is just a lot harder to go about things that way, the quality way (i.e.: “the long way”).
I’m sure you see similar issues with the NBA as well:
Decision makers taking their eye off the ball, what matters, and instead chasing after spectacle.
In the long run this isn’t good for anyone.
Comment by JM -
Mark,
First, I assume you are having a bad week, considering how the Mav’s are doing (running and ducking!).
But part of blogging IS linking. I read a LOT of blogs (over 400) and have friends that read my blog that only follow 8 or 10 other blogs – they follow me because then they don’t have to read some of those other blogs – they trust me to link to anything that is really cool that follows our collective interests.
Blogging *should* save time – but I do agree with you that there is a lot of pure “blogging for attention”. But isn’t that natural? Doesn’t everyone desire some attention (and don’t bloggers especially?).
You blog – is it for the attention? If not, why? To just vent? If so, would venting here be as fun if nobody read what you wrote?
And yes, I am a huge Spur’s fan… but to be honest, if the Spur’s aren’t in a position to kick-butt then I do cheer for your Mavs.
Rob
Comment by Rob La Gesse -
I almost forgot, in it’s subtlelty the irony of you blogging about self-promotion almost passed me by.
Comment by Adam Cains -
“I got shot 9 times, you ain’t got shot non, so shut the hell up son”
OK, Mark you need an intervention. I know David Stern is schooling you, but as a white billionaire there is never an excuse for rapping.
and no, I don’t care if Sarver did it.
Comment by Adam Cains -
Nothing original to say in response to a post about Blog Pimpin? Shut yo mouf fool!
If Mark Cuban *really* doesn’t want to be the BlogHo for all of the Blog Pimps in the world then he could slow down the traffic and block links. But a better question is… why should Mark want to do that?
AFAICT this blog isn’t directly bringing in any revenues. In fact with fines for stuff in the blog this might be a very expensive method of self-promotion. But the answer is obvious when you think about it… Mark Cuban wants to be the #1 BlogHo in the world!
You’re #3 right now Mark… just show a little more skin or get a boob job to keep the Blog Pimps happy and you’ll hit #1
Comment by Jason Barnett -
I have thought about this post for a while. I smiled at reading it and admired the tangle that it created for anyone who responded. I also looked at the number of comments to this post and to others and found that not many were intrepid enough to respond and that the ones that did were in good humour with what it said.
This is to say kudos. No, my comment is nothing new, nothing vital or earth shattering, but a simple bow to a very clever idea.
This blog, written in the manner of a self-fullfilling prophecy to itself, is the first I have read of your blog. But for the observation that it makes, I will read further on.
Thank you.
Comment by Jessica -
what i need is something like feed aggregation. a feed reader which only shows me one entry for a topic and i could drill down (if i want to) to see who posted about that topic and who was first…
its not easy to create a solution like that but google has done it with the news already… anyone up for that challange?
Comment by markus -
I think you can draw similarities between blogging today and Rush Limbaugh. First, they seem to be both about self promotion, second, they’ll say whatever they want to get a rise out of someone and get some publicity, and finally, in the end they’ll talk a lot and not say a damn thing. Yet they both hit their mark because you’ve heard the ads on their site or his show.
Comment by kent estep -
What’d I say…
http://tweblog.com/2006/11/07/be-thou-my-blog-pimp/
…a couple days ago. 😉
Comment by Toby Getsch -
I’m gonna pimp this blogpost.
Comment by Kip Nickell -
I think what we are seeing is the typical maturation of any creative medium. It starts out as a few grass roots people laying the foundation, then more and more people begin to catch on, until finally you have the total commercialization of the idea into a product you see in every corner of the web.
At this point, it’s just the same old, same old rehash. Then it becomes more of a tedium than a new way to share ideas. Eventually, it will either die out due to over saturation, or it will become a mainstay like news websites.
Then something else new and exciting will catch on and the whole process will start over again. Blogs have gone the way of everything else, and the resulting mediocrity is par for the course.
V
Comment by Voorshwa -
Mark
If I search on a alternative search engine http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=mark+cuban&btnG=Google+Search
you only get your own juice.
Small guys like us need a little of your juice.Its free.
Spread the love
Comment by Pat Phelan -
Welcome to the world of Internet Marketing. Links are one of the most valuable tools for SEO’s and Internet Marketers. People are blog spamming like crazy and also just trying to drop a line to get a link.
Sites like yours seem to give the “link juice” away freely. Most blogs these days are using the “rel=nofollow” tag on everything that allows users to post. Your site uses this in the body of a post, but the commenters name is linked to their site with link juice intact. Even though I know I am enraging many commentors on your blog, I suggest adding the tag to this part of the comment as well. You will cut out the bs of the guys who just say “Yep, I agree” and then drop a link to their site.
Just look at how I linked mine. You are helping me to rank better for the term “Bad Ass Mo Fo”. A comment like this everyday on your blog and others and I will soon be #1 on Google!
Comment by Bad Ass Mo Fo -
Thanks for telling it like it is Mark! Imagine reading a newspaper in which every writer, in every section, talks about the same thing while endlessly referring to the other writers’ articles…about the same thing. Welcome to my feed reader.
Comment by Mike -
So I hate to use this comment to pimp my own blog, but I wrote a very related article last week called “Stop Blogging”: http://www.studiomoustache.com/blog/2006/10/31/stop-blogging/
Comment by Mark Allen -
Please stop making fun of me. I’m hardcore pimpin’. (I know that begging you to stop making fun of me and stating that I am a hardcore pimp totally contradict each other)
I do, however, add my own commentary. Plus, I make long and boring stories short and digestible.
It’s working.
Mostly because there is nothing new and interesting on my subject and if it is, the big boys always get the scoop first.
Politics as usual in the blogosphere.
In the meantime, I am going to enjoy the additional traffic.
Comment by Jesse -
The thing about blog pimpin’ that just drives me nuts sometimes, is that the person taking ideas from popular blogs doesn’t attribute the idea of the content to the big popular blogger. I’ve had smaller blogs and bigger blogs rip my content without so much as a link back and it irks me big-time.
Comment by Preston -
We doin’ big bloggin, we spendin’ cheese (Check ’em out now )
Big bloggin’
On B.L.O.G.’s
We doin’ big bloggin’ up in DFW
It’s just that Jigga-man, Pimp-C and B.U.N.B.
Check em out now
Comment by Russell Burns -
I agree with your thoughts on blog topic recycling, Mark. I guess sometimes blogging is just another way to get the word out about something you care about. And other people may care about the same thing. :-/
Blogging subjectively on the topic can make the blog more unique and interesting.
Hear about YouTube getting sued?
Should we expect an “I told you so” entry? 😀
Comment by Tony Chung -