Go Get Some Fresh Air: Distributed Weblogging Activities & Lone Activities for the Outgoing, Extroverted, Attention-Whore Weblogger

"Turn off that tv and get outside. It's beautiful out." Did your mother tell you that when you were young? Similar to the way some kids don't leave the inside of their houses (video games all day) these days, some webloggers don't venture beyond their weblogs.

I think it is time that more people get off of their own weblog, and start visiting and commenting at other weblogs. And partaking in the extroverted side of weblogging.

Being a citizen of the blogosphere encompasses more than having your own weblog. From Gregory Narain's blog archetypes and my observation too, it seems that most webloggers use their weblogs to 1) rant 2) track news 3) comment on happenings 4) introduce new thoughts & analysis. (Taken from Gregory Narain's blog archetypes.)

I do a bit of each of those, but none of those get to the motivations behind my weblogging: seeking exposure for myself and my projects. After all, doing what everyone else does is a sure fire way to not get exposure. And so is sitting behind my desk pretending to speak to a world that isn't listening.

So, I'd like to name another archetype to label my blogging style: the conversationalist / salesman / attention whore.

There are certain activities that, I believe, I do more than the average blogger, that qualifies me for this archetype. These are activities I do without other actors, that qualify me for this archetype.

It has taken me a while to refine these and I continue to experiment with how I do these, but here goes:
1. Reading a lot of other blogs. 200 now.
2. Commenting at a lot of other blogs. Some blogs I comment frequently. Some, occasionnally. It usually depends on the receptiveness of the blogger to the comments and whether they respond and show appreciation for them.
3. Linking to a lot of other blogs. For awhile I was doing posts with mega-links. Now, I am using del.ici.ous.
4. Sending Tips to Webloggers.
5. When I do write my own posts, I ask a lot of questions.

I put as much, or more time into these activities than I do my own blogging. If you want to be a blogging 'attention whore' archetype, this is what you gotta do.

I've also initiated some "distributed group weblogging" activities. It is my ambition to some day have a group weblog with some like-minded peoples, but that can wait. And it also isn't that differentiated in itself from what other people are doing. Now, "distributed group weblogging" activities are a different story.

The cleverest thing, in this realm, that I've conceived, is the Weblog Invasion Tour (WIT). (Current Info. History.) In short, we pick a target weblog/weblogger and we comment, link-to, etc in a short amount of time and then ask them to join us and do the same at the next weblog. Eventually, the goal is to be like a smart mob for weblogs: A crowd of people jamming themselves into a weblog and just doing what comes natural.

In the vain of the WIT, some other groups of people are banding together and finding ways to get out and cross-pollinate. (Most of these pre-date the WIT.) Maybe these activities are only for certain people: the really extroverted bloggers. But, they've got my attention.

These are great blogging activities for the conversationalist archetype. And can serve as idea starters for other ways that people can be a little more adventurous/outgoing in their blogging activities.

Carnival of the Capitalists
This one is cool. It combines linkblogging with a tour and community editors. It is like a distributed slashdot, focussed, of course, on bizness. People submit, what they think, is their best post, as of late, to the editor. The editor changes every two weeks. The editor then takes all the suggested links and posts them on their own weblog. Everyone else, who is involved in the Carnival (previous hosts & people that have submitted links), then link to the editor of the week's post.

The purpose as stated at the site is:

...is a roundup of posts that bloggers consider their best, or deserving of more exposure, from the week or two prior to each week's Carnival of the Capitalists (CotC), on business and economics-related topics of all kinds. If you are familiar with Carnival of the Vanities, then you'll understand it's similar, but focused on an area that perhaps gets less attention than it might.

The COTC, not only gives exposure to the people that submit links, but also brings significant exposure to the host of the week.

Business Blog Book Tour
The Business Blog Tour is another wicked cool "attention whore" type blogging activity. Here is what it is:

The author "moves" from one website to another each day. While visiting, the author might be interviewed by the owner. They might guest host the site for the day. The possibilities are endless.

This is a distributed group blogging activity too, which results in a lot of cross-pollination/exposure for both bloggers and authors. Like the carnival of the capitalists, EVERYONE involved gets exposure to people that they most likely wouldn't have been exposed to. It is like 5 people that remotely know each other hosting a party at the same place and then forcing everyone of their friends to interact. New relationships are bound to be formed.

That is all I got, for now, on the subject. Are you an extroverted weblogger? What do you do? Are there other "distributed group blogging activities" out there that I don't know about?

Comments

[Mike]

Somewhat of a different topic, but are you still following Eurekster ? Friendster has Eurekster built-in to it, apparently making a run at something that Orkut might have with Google.

[Gregory Narain]

Pete,

Thanks for linking in to the Archetypes. I think a little clarification is important just so we are talking about the same thing.

The archetypes I laid out are actually for individual entries, not for the nature/character of the blog as a whole. There are many other procedural forces that need to be addressed and reconciled when looking at Blog Archetypes, as opposed to the Blog Entry Archetypes.

I'm just now beginning to try and wrap my head around the various types of blogs that exist, but certainly have considered, and will elaborate on, your particular style/methodology.

I started some thinking on this topic earlier this week, here's the relevant parts:

==
A Blog Archetype is, in short, describes the composition of a blog as a whole. Two primary characteristics can be used when determining a blog's archetype:

* Editorial Goal - Although not always obvious, clearly there are goals, some unspoken, that motivate the blogger to commit to the development and upkeep of a blog.

* Entry Composition - Editorial goals are brought to life via the blog entries themselves. The authors selection from one of the many Blog Entry Archetypes provides a framework for the narrative.

The Blog Archetypes fall, roughly, into three distinct categories, business, personal, and social. Naturally there is overlap between these different uses and hopefully some of the motivations will be made clear as they are discussed.
==
[from http://socialtwister.com/archives/000220.html]

I'll ping you when I come to address the incarnation you are discussing here to get your input/feedback.

Greg

[Peter Caputa]

cool. glad to be part of the definition "creation". i knew that i was stretching a bit with trying to expand the archetype. but, i thought it was a decent tie-in.

[Charles]

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