MyBlogLog clones
27 May 07 Filed in:Blogging
Are you aware of the madness that sees 120,000 new blogs launched every single bloody day of the week? Cwazy talk. And how do these people keep in touch, network, interact, improve the world of blogging? Via MyBlogLog clones, that is how!
MyBlogLog is the primary Web 2.0 social community site for bloggers. It brings some sort of order and cohesion to a potential 70 million strong army / community of writers.
Once one person provides a service, others follow and improve and become known in this field of endeavor as MyBlogLog clones. Social community sites for bloggers all share a common theme - they are everywhere, but nowhere, baby! The only evidence they exist is via the bloggers' avatars that inhabit sidebar widgets galore.
Handsome authors gurn at blog readers all around the globe from widgets laid out to varying degrees of complexity. Click on an avatar and you go through to a profile page where you see a little community in action. Clickety click keep on discovering new bloggers and communities, leave messages, spam strangers... It is sweet.
Yahoo catapaulted MyBlogLog to the top of the tree with its recent buy out and has clocked up well over 100,000 blogger members. Meanwhile, a new kid on the block, Blog Catalog, is making waves because of its clever interface, and then there is Wavumi, a start up with noble intentions, but a long way to go still.
This innovative site now backed by an 800lb gorilla may be too simple for some, but I think the basic premise is still intact. I check out the 10 face widget in my sidebar and I go to my MBL home page from time to time to check for messages and the sites of new wannabe contacts. That is pretty much all I need. I guess I should drop the Log part and call it MyBlogPlace? To be honest I have a life that can't incorporate infinitessamal studies of every visitor stat and examine the log of every visitor's manic path to my site. I am too busy reading Google Analytics already!
Having said that the site is pretty simple, I should add that there is some messy stuff in the sidebars sometimes, and recently I also noticed some new clutter, tag options. Oh well, nothing is perfect and I will get used to those oversights one day, I guess.
Of course the greatest aspect of MyBlogLog is the popular MyBlogLog Sunday here at The Pisstakers. It is fast becoming the home of gummi bear addicts and bloggers seeking witty-ish mini reviews. Call by Sunday 10 - 11 am and you may get in on it yourself.
At the other extreme of the development cycle is Wavumi, a MyBlogLog clone created by Patrice, a brilliant Belgian. The idea is simple, I think. An author of a web site is likely to visit the web sites authored by its visitors Looking at the quote every which way, it seems to make sense, but just in case you share my doubts, I will play safe and adopt the MyBlogLog approach, offering their tag line Connect with fellow readers. Phew, that's a lot more straightforward for a non-Belgian mind to grasp.
Over the months since its release, Patrice, the author, has been keeping us informed, via his blog, of progress fine-tuning the code and beefing up the server. As a result, he has acquired 26 members, 4 of whom have installed the widget. It is all very bare bones, but nothing a multi-million cash injection into the marketing and graphics department couldn't solve. Contact Patrice for all investment offers, or the code for his widget.
Zooming into sidebars at an alarming rate is the widget from Blog Catalog. They claim it is a few stages advanced on MBL in terms of usability and usefulness. (Less the clone, more the evolution?)Taking a spin through it, you seem to have the same facilities as MyBlogLog, plus a chance to have proper discussions and a neater way to see your latest blog posts.
Whether it is better laid out overall, I am not sure, although I feel the need to repeat that the latest tag box addition in MBL doesn't add to the clarity of that site! So maybe yes, Blog catalog is an improvement. Of course the real benchmark, user numbers, indicates a big gulf between BC and MBL, but time will tell. I suppose it wouldn't kill yahoo! if their MBL project ended up number 2!!
The cynic in me says that it is a great system for spreading a warm deluded feeling that real people actually call by other bloggers' site for a long read! I am sure many bloggers use these community network gizmos for a quick show of heads plus inspiration for ideas, but I am only half right there! In its purest form, this is a great networking idea for the power house of the internet, the bloggers. You meet new folks, get new ideas, and bring new material to your own readers. Not too shabby a result.
At the end of the day, as long as the widget loads fast, the rest is detail!!
If you like the safety in numbers of MyBlogLog, go for it, and if you want to do more stuff with it, check out the SoloSeo guru for inspiration.
BlogCatalog is more feature-rich out the box, but if it isn't so popular with bloggers, that makes networking a bit less efficient than it should be.
And Wavumi, let's here it for the small guys and get behind them, mention the site in a blog post, and even install the beta widget somewhere. (It is in the sidebar of my Blogger homepage.)
So, who do you think will rule the roost, or is there room for even more players?
Who are these clones cloned from?
MyBlogLog is the primary Web 2.0 social community site for bloggers. It brings some sort of order and cohesion to a potential 70 million strong army / community of writers.
Where are these MyBlogLog clones?
Once one person provides a service, others follow and improve and become known in this field of endeavor as MyBlogLog clones. Social community sites for bloggers all share a common theme - they are everywhere, but nowhere, baby! The only evidence they exist is via the bloggers' avatars that inhabit sidebar widgets galore.
How do these clone things work?
Handsome authors gurn at blog readers all around the globe from widgets laid out to varying degrees of complexity. Click on an avatar and you go through to a profile page where you see a little community in action. Clickety click keep on discovering new bloggers and communities, leave messages, spam strangers... It is sweet.
Some clones
Yahoo catapaulted MyBlogLog to the top of the tree with its recent buy out and has clocked up well over 100,000 blogger members. Meanwhile, a new kid on the block, Blog Catalog, is making waves because of its clever interface, and then there is Wavumi, a start up with noble intentions, but a long way to go still.
MyBlogLog
This innovative site now backed by an 800lb gorilla may be too simple for some, but I think the basic premise is still intact. I check out the 10 face widget in my sidebar and I go to my MBL home page from time to time to check for messages and the sites of new wannabe contacts. That is pretty much all I need. I guess I should drop the Log part and call it MyBlogPlace? To be honest I have a life that can't incorporate infinitessamal studies of every visitor stat and examine the log of every visitor's manic path to my site. I am too busy reading Google Analytics already!
Of course the greatest aspect of MyBlogLog is the popular MyBlogLog Sunday here at The Pisstakers. It is fast becoming the home of gummi bear addicts and bloggers seeking witty-ish mini reviews. Call by Sunday 10 - 11 am and you may get in on it yourself.
Wavumi
Over the months since its release, Patrice, the author, has been keeping us informed, via his blog, of progress fine-tuning the code and beefing up the server. As a result, he has acquired 26 members, 4 of whom have installed the widget. It is all very bare bones, but nothing a multi-million cash injection into the marketing and graphics department couldn't solve. Contact Patrice for all investment offers, or the code for his widget.
Blog Catalog
Whether it is better laid out overall, I am not sure, although I feel the need to repeat that the latest tag box addition in MBL doesn't add to the clarity of that site! So maybe yes, Blog catalog is an improvement. Of course the real benchmark, user numbers, indicates a big gulf between BC and MBL, but time will tell. I suppose it wouldn't kill yahoo! if their MBL project ended up number 2!!
Do these MyBlogLog clone sites work?
The cynic in me says that it is a great system for spreading a warm deluded feeling that real people actually call by other bloggers' site for a long read! I am sure many bloggers use these community network gizmos for a quick show of heads plus inspiration for ideas, but I am only half right there! In its purest form, this is a great networking idea for the power house of the internet, the bloggers. You meet new folks, get new ideas, and bring new material to your own readers. Not too shabby a result.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, as long as the widget loads fast, the rest is detail!!
If you like the safety in numbers of MyBlogLog, go for it, and if you want to do more stuff with it, check out the SoloSeo guru for inspiration.
BlogCatalog is more feature-rich out the box, but if it isn't so popular with bloggers, that makes networking a bit less efficient than it should be.
And Wavumi, let's here it for the small guys and get behind them, mention the site in a blog post, and even install the beta widget somewhere. (It is in the sidebar of my Blogger homepage.)
So, who do you think will rule the roost, or is there room for even more players?
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