One only needs to have had a weblog for about five minutes to see the
relevance to blogging of Cialdini‘s ideas about how we are persuaded and how we
reach decisions — particularly concerning whom one links to or adds to one‘s
blogroll. If you’re honest, you’ll recognize that at least some of Cialdini‘s
principles have determined your linking/blogrolling preferences:
- Reciprocity (If I put you on my blogroll, you’ll feel obliged to
put me on yours.)- Commitment/Consistency (Now that you’re on my blogroll I’m unlikely
to remove you.)- Social Proof (If all those other people have X on their blogrolls,
then he definitely should be on my blogroll.)- Liking (The people I link to and have on my blogroll are similar to
me, have praised me, are associated with events or projects I’d like to be a
part of? at the very least, since I’m never going to reach the A-list, I can
bask in the A-lister‘sreflected glory.)- Authority (Anyone on the Technorati Top 100 must automatically be
knowledgeable, wise, and powerful.)- Scarcity (Since the A-list has so few members relative to the total
blogging population, what A-listers write must necessarily be of high quality.
Similarly, a link from an A-lister is enormously valuable?regardless of the
quality of the item at the end of that link.)—Jonathan Delacour
—I’ll Link to Whoever He’s Linking To (The Heart of Things)
This is a much more thorough examination of an issue I was muddling through a few days ago. Dammit, I wish I had time to pursue this further, but my plate is already full. I’ll just have to read what others write (which is a heck of a lot easier than trying to figure it all out myself).
Update, 10 Dec: I don’t think Delacour’s assessment of “scarcity” is right. Because the A-list bloggers have so many inbound links, their opinions online are anything but scarce. But I agree with him in his application of scarcity to an outbound link from an A-lister. Even if the Alpha blogger has pages and pages out outbound links, each outbound link can be very valuable to the recipient (if, that is, the recipient cares about the currency of the blogosphere).
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Just an update--learned how to open a typelist link into a new page, by adding ("target=_blank)to the end of the URL minus the () shown. This is almost as much fun as writing.
I, too, use my "favorites" list for sites that I read regularly but that don't fit too well with the theme of my blog. Generally speaking, by default, clicking a link should load the new page in the same window, though perhaps Typepad reverses that. I wouldn't worry too much about whether you are or aren't linking to all the "right" people. If a blogger out there is obsessing too much about such things, then that's just time wasted when he or she could be writing new content.
Aha--I may have answered my own question. A click on a link on Spinning does not open up a new window, and this would serve my purpose as well as for others who follow along my trail of links.
Now all I have to do is figure out if I can configure that into Typepad.
I'm beginning to appear a Jerz weblog groupie, and I do apologize for the constant pestering, but you've raised another question of concern and convenience that I've wondered about. In my own visiting of the sites listed on my own log, I do not use the links on site, but instead use my Bookmarked Favorites list of IE, thus not needing to go back to my site each time, but then again, not adding or helping identify myself to those I visit should they check. That's fine by me for I'm not in a weblog contest but isn't there an easier way still to make the rounds?
I have a rather short permanent blogroll, and under it I add people who have linked to me. I generally only add them once, even if they link to me multiple times. Maybe I should figure out how to use RSS and the Technorati link cosmos. Anyway, Ryan, you have a good point about the blogroll being there for convenience. There are a few people who I read regularly that I don't blogroll, simply becuase I can get to them within one or two clicks from some of the sites that I do blogroll.
I also have an offline links page, which is just a collection of my favorite links, there for my convenience. I don't think the world needs a link from my blog to the local weather report, for instance.
I think you just raised another possible addition to the original article. You link to sites that are relevant to your own. Sites that are unrelated to the theme of the blog are accessed through other means. So the blog takes on a persona of sorts, and links should be related in some way. That's definitely one way to go about it.
I have wanted to do a post on this for so long. I even formulated a few questions asking people why they linked to whoever they had on their roll. I guess I missed the boat. The one I think is most pertinent is the Social Proof one. It seems that many blogrolls have the same people all over them. Boring. I have a few of those guys on my own, but I actually read every blog on the roll and link to it because of that.
Funny you should bring this up, because I've just added you on to my blog roll!