Tuesday, February 18, 2003 7:30 PM
Clay Shirky, who often writes on internet-related topics, recently drafted an interesting article concerning "power laws" and weblogs. While he covers a number of topics in the article, I noted with interest his ideas about the maturation of "new" technologies like weblogs.
His proposition noted that early movers often gain the largest readership, and then form a small cliche of "A-list" weblogs which garner most of the blog traffic, in part due to their cross-linking. Late-comers can still gain readership, but the task becomes increasingly difficult, as the sheer volume of weblogs and content become overwhelming and makes new weblogs difficult to find. Thus, a very useful topical weblog may never find an audience, even if an audience exists.
Yet, Shirky's article contends that the lack of a large audience may not be the only reasonable measure of "success." There remains true value in a weblog read by only a select group interested in a niche topic
This latter conclusion seems to me a central tenet for the blawg community. General interest blawgs, which cover law (and a whole lot more) have a place, but so to does a blawg covering a more narrow topic like personal injury law in Wyoming. The audience for this latter blawg will clearly be smaller than the former. However, for a Wyoming car accident victim, the latter blawg may prove more valuable. Ultimately, "value" is a relative term, and is largely dependent on the web user's wants and needs.
If you get a moment, take a look at Shirky's article. Whether or not you draw similar conclusions, the article is a good one in that it raises very valid and interesting ideas and issues that clearly apply to the growing blawg community.