Blogging about blogging

February 3, 2006 1:54 PM

A blog about blogging? Does one exist? Would it be interesting to create one?

I have been playing with the idea of creating a(nother) blog devoted to the topic of blogging. But before I do, I wanted to make sure there isn't a really good one out there already. For obvious reasons, using a search engine did not help too much (at most it returned interviews with people about the blogging "phenomenon" but not an actual blog format site.)

Possible content:
- Random featured blogs
- Blog tech services/news
- tips/trends
- interviews with prolific/(in)famous bloggers

Does anyone know of a blog like this? Even so, do you think it would be a good endeavor?

If this belongs more on MefiProjects, please let me know. I didn't want to post there until I actually had something to show. This idea may just explode in the hangar.

posted by like_neon to computers & internet (17 comments total)

nooooooooo!!!
posted by soma lkzx at 2:02 PM on February 3, 2006

oh, that 'nooooo!!' was the kind when you're trying to grab a baby from the railroad tracks, or just saw twins run over by an ambulance, not the kind where i'm saying it's a terrible idea.
posted by soma lkzx at 2:03 PM on February 3, 2006

Problogger (making the six figures)
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 2:06 PM on February 3, 2006

haha Soma, I *totally* understand your concern.

When I look at the phrase "metablogging", I also don't want to go there. I don't want to attempt something that is just blathering about my opinions on the State of Blogging. I wanted something a little more objective like.

I love finding new random blogs, and something I've found quite helpful is Typepad's main page where they every so often showcase a Typepad blog. They turn up a few winners for me but I don't find it updated enough and well, they're all Typepad blogs.

Traditionally I'd just follow links from blog to blog, just randomly, but I have no idea where I'm going to end up.
posted by like_neon at 2:14 PM on February 3, 2006

There is a whole universe of blogs about blogging out there, and it's a really boring universe. The #1 topic is how to make more money with AdSense, and everyone just fills their posts with inane keywords in an attempt to get better PageRank.

Some places to start (and realize this won't be any fun):

The Blog Herald
Blog Business World
ProBlogger
posted by subclub at 2:15 PM on February 3, 2006

strangeleftydoublethink: Not quite what I had in mind. Firstly, this is more "how to blog/make money blogging/get an audience" content. All well and good, but truthfully, I'm not qualified or even interested in that kind of thing. Plus it seems like more work than I plan :)

I'm thinking more like, "Today I will showcase some foody related blogs I found to be well done. Bon Apetit!" followed by a list with short summaries. And then the next day I may randomly showcase a blog about a firefighter who knits. (oh you didn't know about her?) Does that make sense?
posted by like_neon at 2:22 PM on February 3, 2006

The phrase "blogging about blogging" really tingled my spidey sense, but your idea sounds more like a find-new-blogs blog, a blogfilter if you will, and I wholeheartedly support it. If you start posting about meeting an A-list blogger, your google pagerank, or blogging as a replacement for traditional media though, you'll lose points from me. (for whatever that's worth)

I was listening to a podcast once and 30 minutes in, I realized that they were podcasting about podcasting about a blog entry about blogs. I nearly defenestrated my laptop.
posted by nomad at 2:33 PM on February 3, 2006

The Blog Herald is what I had in mind as far as tech announcements go, and it's well done. I have also decided that is decidedly boring so forget tech/blog/services announcements. I figure if it's news enough I'll read it on the blue.

But what about the "showcasing random nifty blogs" aspect? ie BlogFilter

Oh, and making money is not really an objective. I think I'm just reaching for an excuse to read more blogs.

On preview: my brain hurts thinking about that.
posted by like_neon at 2:34 PM on February 3, 2006

Oops, that brain hurting comment was about nomad's meta meta meta experience.
posted by like_neon at 2:35 PM on February 3, 2006

It's been done, and usually quite some time ago. Plenty about blog design and format issues from divers hands, and Rebecca Blood's been running a bloggers on blogging feature for several months now. It's -- dare I say -- a more mature format now, that's less focused on blogging qua blogging, but a few years ago you couldn't get bloggers not to discuss blogging at the meta level; Matt even had a MeFi-style site about it back then.

Showcasing good blogs regardless of format, on the other hand, is an unimaginably vast task for a single person. Fill your boots if you want, but I don't think it'd work as a blog concept. Not focused enough.
posted by mcwetboy at 2:51 PM on February 3, 2006

Blogebrity fits a lot of those niches as it monitors the radar of noteworthy members of the blogosphere...as determined by The List. Not exactly a how or what of blogging, but certainly a who.
posted by superfem at 2:57 PM on February 3, 2006

superfem: The List on blogebrity is sorta interesting, my main gripe being that I have absolutely no motivation to click on "Denton, Nick" even if he is an A-lister. And then the main page just talks about Listed blogs? I don't really get that... why not go to the actual blog to see what's up? I may not be understanding correctly. At any rate, also a little too elitist for my taste. I would have no problem posting about Chewbacca's blog, for example.

mcwetboy: I fully understand the breadth of content involved, but ah well. I won't pretend that I can cover every blog out there, or even a good fraction of them, but any attempt sounds like it may be useful.
posted by like_neon at 3:41 PM on February 3, 2006

like_neon: Blogebrity was started as a farce, and it continues to follow up with that tongue-in-cheek idea. But it makes for the occasional fun reading.
posted by superfem at 10:32 PM on February 3, 2006

superfem and like_neon: I edited Blogebrity until Denton hired me away (self-link). Superfem nailed it -- Blogebrity was a joke and then a follow-up.

It needs more writers, though -- witty ones like current writers Kyle Bunch and Angelica Williams. So anyone who'd rather post a photo of Jason Kottke's ass than discuss the intricacies of Google Analytics should join Blogebrity. E-mail tips at blogebrity dot com and Kyle should read it.

It's pro bono for now, but a great way to get attention -- got me a job I don't deserve, anyway.
posted by NickDouglas at 10:42 AM on February 4, 2006

"There is a whole universe of blogs about blogging out there, and it's a really boring universe."

As someone who reads many of these regularly due to professional obligations, I can attest that they're even more boring than they seem. The idea of featuring (and even reviewing!) new and interesting blogs is great. And the TypePad team is more than willing to take your suggestions there as well.

A well-written site featuring new blogs would probably do very well, given that nobody's really staked out that space.
posted by anildash at 10:37 PM on February 5, 2006

Upon searching, I found Blog of the Day. If anyone is still reading, do you think it would still be a worthy endeavor to create another one?
posted by like_neon at 11:30 AM on February 6, 2006

Sure. If you start doing it and you plan to be consistantly updated for a while, please send me a link(address in profile). I'll read it if no one else does. Also, please have an RSS feed or I'll feel bad for never reading it when I just told you I would.
posted by Juliet Banana at 8:54 PM on February 16, 2006