I joined MyBlogLog back in February, probably as part of my exploration of Dandelife and similar social networking applications. I didn’t do anything more than register and upload an avatar (this was all pre-crash, so my image was different than the one I use now), but my projects with Kosmix have led me back to this community. My main interest now is in how blog neighborhoods are presented, and how associations with other communities might be strengthened through a bridging tool like MyBlogLog.
The profile includes about two dozen hooks into other web communities, such as Flickr, Second Life and LinkedIn. It also supports OpenID, the project to decentralize logins. Installation includes a simple line of javascript that connects your blog to the larger community, enabling the collection of statistics about readership. There are also configurable widgets to show a blog’s community or readers and top links, which are easily integrated with some of the common blogging platforms (like Typepad, Movable Type and WordPress). For a self-hosted WordPress blog like this one, there are code and instructions available from the WP community to support the MyBlogLog avatars and the community widget. That is a BlogSchmog project for a later day.
The assumption is that only blog authors will be using this tool, drawn by the widgets that connect their blogs to others. But that doesn’t have to be the case. MyBlogLog has a nice community feature that tracks what members are currently reading. While this has a Big Brother feel to it, the tracking is voluntary and possibly effective at providing passive referrals to quality content. Clicking on the icons from the members page brings up an in-site summary, rather than the remote blog directly. As a tool of content discovery, looking for the blogs known members are reading may lead to more relevant articles. It is also a way of gaining a de facto endorsement without soliciting any specific contribution. Read to discover, revisit to endorse.
Membership is free, but there is also a $25/year Pro version. The only advantages over the free version are (a) real-time stats on use of your blog each day, and (b) a longer list of “top links.” For very large or heavily trafficked sites, Pro may be of use. At the very least, it is a value-added way to donate to ongoing development of the MyBlogLog widgets.
We’ll revisit this at the end of the summer, after the widgets have been planted.