[photopress:Rain_City_Guide___MyBlogLog___Mozilla_Firefox_12_30_2006_3_27_30_AM.jpg,thumb,alignright]Because it has become somewhat ubiquitous around the real estate blogosphere, I started playing around on MyBlogLog about three days ago… Here is what I’ve done so far:
- Added a bunch of contacts (pretty much anyone I recognize from the blogosphere) who happened to show up as I cruised people and website profiles.
- Added Rain City Guide as a site and invited the other RCG authors as I found them using the system (only two so far).
- Left a bunch of messages for people including one for Rudy letting him know that I still didn’t get the purpose of the site… His response was that it is easier to connect with people using this tool than via email.
Probably the “coolest” feature is that you can “see” who is visiting your site… I’ll keep this feature since it costs me nothing despite the fact that it misses out on a substantial number of users who consumer RCG posts and comments via RSS…
Renthusiast is concerned about how easy it for someone else to claim your blog…
Overall
My reaction is that it is so easy to connect with people on this system that the tool borders on the pointless… If I want to connect to someone on the internet, I’ll link to them. Do I really need a tool to connect with people?
Is connecting too easy? The obvious answer is yes… One soft-core porn blogger (bless her heart) decided to add Rain City Guide as one of her communities… To the general internet public, porn is vastly more interesting than real estate… Now when I look at statistics to see “What My Members Clicked on Other Sites Today” (which is a really cool idea in theory) it is loaded with porn sites like PornoTube (I’m not providing a link to the site, you’ll have to type it in the address bar yourself!).
Anyway, I’ve given the site three days and now my “pro” account has run out and they want me to upgrade to paying them a monthly fee for site stats and other unspecified “community” features. I’ll pass.
I was an early adopter — but for the stats. I don’t get social sites (at all), and I’m really not crazy about a sort of subterranean networking among webloggers. The stats are worth having.
The stats are cool (though there are of course other ways to get them. MBL does simplify it though).
I have discovered some new blogs by going to the profiles of people who’ve visited us. THAT is the best feature IMHO. (Though again, there are many other ways to uncover new blogs — StumbledUpon comes immediately to mind.)
I don’t get how connecting via MBL is easier than email. Or linking. Perhaps Rudy can expand on that thought.
I too passed on the “upgrade”…
I don’t like the little photos of “Who Happened By Here Recently” in the sidebar. Too “Big Brother” for me.
Hey Greg! Hope you are feeling MUCH better! That must have been some cold or flu..NINE DAYS!! You were missed.
The only thing more annoying than my blog log are the previews that popup every time you mouse over a link on some blogs (you know who you are!).
It’s not truly annoying, but I don’t really “get” it either – why do you need to broadcast what and how often you read to the rest of the world? Do you read blogs so others can know that you read blogs or to edify and entertain? Linking to good posts on other blogs or to good blogs makes a lot more sense – you’re sharing something you enjoy with others then.
The blog world becomes more like the high school world with every passing day.
Based on Ardell and Galen’s feedback, I’m rethinking the “Recent Readers” on the sidepanel and I’ll take it down the next time I’m playing with the backend of RCG!
I’m with Galen in that I don’t want to perpetuate the “high school” nature of the blogosphere…
I appreciated MBL for its stats as well. In fact it was my first stats tool on the Tomato, but never got into the social network of it until just this last month (I was your first community member in fact :)). Ironically, I have found absolutely no use for it. In fact it is kind of icky due to the ‘myspace’ friend gathering element. RE: the “who’s visitng my site” feature… I have never found that comforting, and left it alone.
Jim: I did a lot of networking on myspace last year – had nearly 600 friends, but I was trying to make a campaign run to win a seat in the North Carolina House of Reps. Learned fast that newtorking on those sites was a waste of time. I think my friends list now is down to 6 people maybe? I have found I do better linking than I do adding friends and asking them to check out my site but oh well.
Those real estate carnivals are not even working for me. I have had articles on 2 different carnivals – 6 hits total off of both.
I have used MyBlogLog almost since the beginning of my blogging experience, and I love the ease of the stats tool.
The networking piece is useful for “getting out there” just one other way, but I don’t take a whole lot of stock in it. Although, it has generated some traffic, and introduced me to some very interesting new blogs (and reinforced other blogs that I was already visiting occassionally).
The only advantage that I’ve seen with the pro account is that you can access same-day stats, rather than having to wait until the following day.
Another difference with the Pro account: Top 5 Links is updated hourly in Pro, daily in the free account. I went ahead and paid for Pro — since $25 for a year is not a huge amount of money — I’m thrown away more $ on stupider things…. I like the Recent Readers thingie … but it sounds like not everyone does … Oh good grief, now I’m “conflicted”… Should I keep it or can it?
Cheryl,
I simply couldn’t tell you the number of things that I’ve added (and removed) from my sidebar! It is a fun place to play with stuff and see what sticks. As you can see, I went from having the busiest sidebar (if I remember right, Galen once gave me hell when I upgraded to four columns in order to fit everything!), to one of the more streamlined sidebars in the real estate blogosphere… Just keep playing and I’m sure you’ll find what works for you!
I did give you hell – 4 bars – good grief! You minimalized (no, not a word) way beyond what I requested and it’s really nice. All that extra junk is, well, extra junk.
Hmm. Lots of negative feedback for MyBlogLog. For someone starting out and trying to compile a list of decent real estate blogs, it was easier for me to use MyBlogLog (Even though I stumbled upon it). As Dustin has illustrated, my side bars are constantly changing and I’m just trying to find what works and what’s a waste of space. Eventually, as I crawl deeper into the real estate blogosphere, I will eventually have no use for MyBlogLog, but in the meantime, I enjoy seeing that Ardell has recently “added me as a contact” (High school reunion or not, it is generating some type of traffic for my new blog).” I’m not defending MyBlogLog, (although it seems that way) I’m just saying that so far, no porn, great stats, and important avatars are viewing my blog! Happy New Year!
Cheers!
Still trying to figure out what an “avatar” is. Maybe I’m assuming it is a techie term, when it is what is is…a Hindu deity.
Ardell, it’s the little photo or icon that represents you.
Your avatar is right here:
When talking avatars, it is more common to use a cartoon as oppose to a photo, but being a professional real estate blog, I went with people’s photos on RCG. If you wanted a cartoon for your avatar, that would certainly be an option! 🙂
Hey all — Eric Marcoullier, one of MyBlogLog’s founders here. Thanks for the feedback. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a genuine MyBlogLog hate-fest and it’s a bit of a relief. It gives us stuff to think about as we develop the service further. There have been a lot of points raised here and I’d like to just address one or two of the broadest questions.
1) What the heck is the point of MyBlogLog?
For many people, blogging is a fairly solitary experience. You publish your posts and then hope that someone comes by. You can look at stats like Sitemeter and it will say how many people came buy, but that’s just a dry number. Many of our users derive a ton of satisfaction by seeing pictures of their readers scroll by during the day. It injects a human connection that was sorely lacking for a lot of bloggers.
“But Eric, people could already leave comments.” Absolutely. And some small percentage of your users did. But the majority of your readers just read the post and moved on, because coming up with an interesting response is hard. So your readers just come and go in obscurity. With MyBlogLog, they can do something wonderful — let you know they stopped by — with absolutely no more effort than before. We think that’s powerful stuff.
The whole point of MyBlogLog is enabling readers to have a greater stake in the sites they visit. When you just visit a site or blog occasionally and read a post or two, the switching cost is nil. Someone else writes the same stuff, but in a flashy new design, it’s no skin off your nose to start visiting the new site. But once you start seeing the same people over and over, you become part of a community. The site becomes *your* site. It’s odd, but just the act of recognizing someone’s picture that you’ve seen before creates a minor connection. I think I’m babbling at this point, but I tend to wax philosophical about these things if I don’t watch myself — the dangers of being a true believer.
2) What about the porn?
We work really hard to get rid of the porn but it occasionally creeps through. What’s interesting is HOW:
The vast, vast majority of our adult users voluntarily label themselves as adult because they like the outclick tracking we provide. They know that their users don’t want to be outed so they happily forego the community features that non-adult sites get. And we vigilantly look for the folks who don’t label themselves as adult. It’s easy to find them — if the number of outbound clicks exceeds the number of page views, it’s either porn, mp3s or warez 🙂
So where does that adult material come from?
Porn is mainstream enough that everyone links to it occasionally. TechCrunch (the leading Web 2.0 blog) linked to some user-generated porn service yesterday as part of it’s regular coverage and I’m guessing that it’s the number one clicked on link today. It’s just human nature — people click on the adult stuff, *especially* when it’s on a non-adult site. Inevitably it ends up on the hot-links lists. The good news is that we’re working on a couple of different solutions.
I’m happy to answer additional questions if anyone wants. If you think it’s germain to everyone here, followup with another comment and I’ll respond publicly. Otherwise, send me an email at eric(at)mybloglog.com.
Cheers!
Thanks for joining us Eric!
I don’t want you to think that I hate your service… I think of it in the same way that I think of MySpace in that I don’t hate the service (and I even use it occasionally), but as a blogger, I don’t have much of a need for social networking beyond what is inherent in the system.
Nonetheless, I applaud you in your efforts and enjoy watching what interests others in this social networking space. You’ve obviously created something that a lot of people feel very connected to and that is not easy to do!
Eric, this wasn’t a hate fest, it was a pretty honest conversation about the pros and cons or your service. It sounds like the stats for your service are great.
I understand how nice it is to know who visited your blog, especially when you don’t have many readers, but I’m still not convinced that that benefit outweighs the popularity-contest feel I get from seeing the little avatars in the sidebar. I know that is a killer feature for you all, because it’s free marketing for your service, but I’m just not a fan of it. It’s one of those things that will take me a little while to get used to.
I actually like the “recent readers” photos. (The camera doesn’t like me so whenever I get a good photo with both eyes open, I’m happy to see it all over the web.) I think the photos or avatars make the whole blogosphere a little more personal.
I also am a fan of the easy to use stats. I haven’t played with them much, but makes it easier to see if anyone is paying attention.
mybloglog rocks!
rudy.sellsius°
Jury is still out for me. I am a newcomer to mybloglog and can’t see the value beyond hobby at the moment, and the last thing I need right now is another blogging-related hobby. I will be hanging in there for awhile, however. That secret fear of missing something is creeping in. What if it turns out to be a really great party but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out?
I love the idea of the “secret fear”… It is one of the way social networks grab people! (myself included!) With so many social networks there are lots of advantages of being early! (including blogs!)
Interesting to note that Yahoo just bought MyBlogLog (for a considerable amount of money, I’m sure!).
I know it could be argued that I should just accept the world as it is, but I’m officially logging out of MyBlogLog because I don’t want other people (let alone Yahoo) knowing all the blogs that I visit… Something feels dirty about it to me.
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