I confess, this is plain silly. But I was rather amused to find my blog come up second in a Google search on best blog on net. Found via referrers in my blog stats.
Category: Blogging
Norwegian politician’s blog flops
Kristin Halvorsen, leader of Socialistisk Venstre (The Socialist Left Party) in Norway launched a blog in October 2004. But the interactive format of the blog apparently was too much work for Halvorsen who hasn’t posted anything on the blog since March 30. Many of her readers critize her from being absent on her own blog.
– This was a test. It turned out that the blog became too time consuming for me over time, Kristin Halvorsen tells Dagbladet.
– This is a culture where people communicate with each other several times a day and that’s not possible for me. It didn’t help that others replied for me, she said, meaning that she didn’t wish that others would reply in her name.
I don’t think you should be too hard on politicians who experiment with this new medium and fail. Her ambition to interact more with voters seemed to be honest. However, when you come to a point where you realize that you don’t have time to blog, you should really consider killing your blog altogether. Why? Well, basically for just one reason. Halvorsen’s blog is ranked #2 on Google when you search for her name and you wouldn’t want a web page full of negative comments about yourself be ranked that high if you are a top politician. Either you continue with the blog, or kill it.
Blogs can be more than “online diarrhea”
A popular misconception among some mainstream media is that blogs are just online diaries, so blogs are a fad. Blogs are a waste of time. Who wants to read all these stories about what people had for breakfast and at what time they walked their dog? Like this quote from a column in Sundsvalls Tidning about journalist Per Svensson at Expressen and his new blog (are bad journo blogs giving the rest of us a bad rep?).
“Alla pratar men har inget att säga.
Alla informerar men ingen vet någonting.
Alla vill bli författare men ingen är ett skit intresserad av litteratur.”
Everyone talks but no-one has anything to say. Well, nothing could be further from the truth. Just because there are so called cat blogs out there (not that there’s anything wrong with that…), doesn’t mean that all blogs are the same. And as always, Amy Gahran at the Contentious blog says it so much better than me. “Too often, blogs are primarily described or defined as personal online diaries.” They can be online diaries, but often they are not.
Gahran lists 6 blog myths and stereotypes to avoid. I especially like this one. “Weblogs are personal diaries, usually amateurish”. Gahran writes “Well, that’s like saying most of the universe is hydrogen and dust. Yeah, BUT: There are galaxies and black holes and planets and nebulae, too. Which would you rather focus on?”
600 svar till blogg-enkäten
Minns någon bandet Ojj!600!? De lär ha tagit namnet efter ett mycket lågt arvode (alltså 600 kronor) efter en spelning. Kom att tänka på dem när jag har nu stängt insamlingen av enkätsvar i min bloggläsarundersökning. Totalt har 600 personer svarat, vilket är ett långt större antal respondenter än jag vågat hoppas på. Eftersom jag ska åka till London mot slutet av veckan hinner jag inte göra så mycket analysarbete de närmaste dagarna, räkna inte med någon sammanfattning förrän i inledningen av nästa vecka. Men som en liten teaser kan jag avslöja att kristdemokrater inte verkar ha upptäckt bloggar ännu. På frågan “Vilket parti skulle du rösta på om det var riksdagsval i Sverige idag?” svarade endast 0,8% av alla bloggläsare “kristdemokraterna”. Resten får ni vänta på ett litet tag till.
Uppdatering: Via mejl berättar Stig Vig om den riktiga bakgrunden till namnet Ojj!600, vilket alltså inte är den jag beskrivet ovan.
What’s left in the blogosphere
The left is storming into the blogosphere. Both Berit Andnor, Minister for Health and Social Affairs, and Dag Larsson, politician in the Stockholm county council (via Erik), have started blogs.
Clueless quote of the day
Blogs are just old homepages according to free-lance journalist Marie-Louise Samuelsson. From Media 8 at TV8 tonight:
Q: Vilken sorts betydelse tror du nyhetsbloggar har för den svenska journalistkåren idag?
Samuelsson: Det är överskattat nu. Det är jättehype kring bloggar men det är som sagt gamla hemsidor.
Translation:
Q: What type of effect do you think that news blogs have today on Swedish journalists?
Samuelsson: It’s overrated now. There is a huge hype around blogs, but like I said, they are only old homepages.