With Twitter and Plurk peforming a strong role as a link sharing platform, the relevance of blogrolls has become questionable. However, blogrolls do have an important role in building a community, demonstrating a blog’s "membership" through self-branding. And on a more practical level, blogrolls do make a handy way of visiting your favourite blogs.
But, to me, blogrolls allow you to step into the world of the blogger that you are reading. It is like being invited into the inner world of a blog author — and by flipping through the "bookcase" of your favourite (or new) bloggers — you are able to step into, and understand a little of the CONTEXT in which they operate. Think about it. When you visit the home of a new friend, do you check their bookshelves? Do you look through their CD collection or MP3 list? What does this list tell you?
If you are new to this blog, please take some time to visit the sites that ARE on my blogroll. These are the websites that I read regularly. They help create my context and frame my thinking. I read almost all of them every day.
Over the next few days I will also be adding the following to my already large list. Be sure to check them out:
- Amber Naslund’s the brandbox is a great site focusing on social media and its alignment with business
- Julian Coles’s AdspacePioneers has injected a lot of energy into the marketing blog scene in Australia
- Mike Arauz’s combination of essay and commentary on new media, marketing and technology
- Ann Handley’s breathtakingly personal blog that reminds us all that storytelling is not a lost art
- Steven Collins’ AcidLabs site is a great resource for those wondering where social media is taking the enterprise (or perhaps it is the other way around)
Image courtesy of the tombstone generator.
Hi Gavin – I’m honored to be included on your list (and you, of course, are on mine!). It’s great fun to be part of these awesome communities, and you can bet I’ll be checking out your other recommendations as well. On that note, I have to second your endorsement of Ann Handley’s Annarchy blog. What a brilliant, breathtaking writer she is.
I should hang out here more often.. it’s really good for my ego!
; )
Thank you, Gavin, for including me, and I’m honored to be among this group, too!
I’ve always seen my own (much shorter) blogroll as an evolving declaration of my interests and friends, but as someone with a lot of very full bookshelves, I far prefer your analogy!