Wednesday, September 22, 2004 11:00 AM
During my periodic clean-ups of the blawg links directory, it seems I always run across a few trends among the lawyer and law-related weblogs that make up the directory. These findings are purely unscientific, but interesting nonetheless.
- Lawyers prefer Typepad. When I first started organizing blawg sites back in December of 2002, Blogger was clearly the weblog editor of choice. No more. Six Apart's Typepad has emerged as the leading weblog editing software used for blawgs. Blogger is still a top choice, but is a clear second among lawyers and others in the legal field. Third place is shared by the rest of the weblog editor field, including Live Journal and WordPress.
- Blawgs Are Feeding. Helped perhaps by the ease of publishing a syndicated feed via Typepad, more and more blawgs are offering headline feeds to which the public can subscribe. This is a great development as even as recently as six months ago, I was finding many blawgs that had no feed available. Feeds, in my opinion, are one of the best methods for a blawg owner to grow their audience. If you wonder whether a blawg has a feed, just look for the little orange box
.
- More Blawgs Are Living Than Dying. No question that there have been, and will continue to be, a percentage of new blawgs which simply wither on the vine. Maintaining a blawg takes some commitment and many time-starved legal professionals find them difficult too maintain over time. However, I have found that in cullling the dead wood from the blawg directory, more blawgs are alive and well than have been abandoned. Not sure what to make of that reality, but at face value, it seems promising for the medium.