Would you join the bloggers’ circle?

May 21, 2009 by matthewtaylor
Filed under: The RSA 

I have posted before on the highs and lows of blogging. A few readers have kindly offered me reassurance that they enjoy my musings. I am really not fishing for compliments today. A fascinating seminar we held here yesterday (find out more and join the debate here) got me thinking again about on-line content. I have asked in the past about how we can build ‘content ladders’ encouraging people – especially young people- to move on to more participative and challenging content. 

An issue raised yesterday, and which I intend to address more fully in the future, concerns ’bridging’; how can we build content which brings people together across class, ethnic or other social divides? David Halpern, who never seems to speak without sharing some fascinating new research, told us yesterday of American data suggesting music based content is the best for bridging social divides.

But today I am focussing on a more parochial concern.     

I must admit this comes, in part, from personal frustration. My daily blog readership averages about four or five hundred, rising occasionally to over a thousand if I have a provocative title or manage to get some good links from other sites. Generally, we bloggers are happy to accept the judgement of our readers; it’s they who decide whether to pass on or link to a post.  But just as I am sometimes surprised at the amount of comment a post I dashed off generates, there are other occasions I am disappointed when a post I think deserves wider discussion fails to take off.

There are too many bloggers and not enough readers so genuinely good posts can fall between the cracks. I often come across brilliant posts that were written weeks or months ago but have taken that time to wend their way to my inbox. And many amateur bloggers (those for whom it is not a core part of their paid work) have guiltily to admit that they don’t find the time they should to surf (excuse the retro terminology) the offerings of their peers.

There is also the problem of building and maintaining a readership.  Several of my colleagues here at the RSA write fascinating blogs but they are busy with their projects. They don’t all have the time to cultivate a readership or to achieve the breakthrough when a particular post gets taken up in the blogosphere. As I know, it can be disheartening when the stats show only tens of readers and few if any comments.  

Here are the links to those RSA blogs – they are well worth checking out:

Social Brain; Tomorrow’s Investor; Education; Design & Society; Design & Behaviour; Arts & Ecology; Prison Learning Network

To address some of these challenges and to help raise the general standing of blogging after the McBride affair I am developing an idea with my old friend Matt Cain. 

The idea of the project – working title ‘Bloggers circle’ – is that part time bloggers (who focus on politics, policy and society) join a club with the following simple rules. Every month you are asked to submit to the other members of the club up to two or three posts you would particularly like more widely discussed. As a club member you will receive links every morning to these referred blogs along with a one line content summary. You will then be required at least twice a month to select one of these blogs and write about it yourself. Every few weeks the post that has got the most take up will be awarded blog of the month.

Along with some basic expectations of decency, club members will be encouraged to link to posts not necessarily because they agree with them but because they are provocative, clever and well-written. This goes towards strengthening the idea of the blogosphere as a place where people engage with other points of view and where writers develop their skills of argumentation and communication. 

What do people think of the idea? And are there any volunteers for the launch of the club?

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Comments

29 Comments on Would you join the bloggers’ circle?

  1. Liam Murray on Thu, 21st May 2009 9:55 am

    2. Interesting idea Matthew and I’m keen to get involved and support where I can.

    I’ve been an intermittent blogger for a few years, going through patches where I think I have decent, provocative and well-written output and others where the day job gets in the way and I have nothing to say for a few weeks. At the moment any sort of profile on the blogosphere is conditional on being ablre to post several times most days or at least having contacts or proximity to Westminster. For me the blogosphere will come of age when the busy working mum who can only post once a week or so still gets a profile & readership because of the pertinence and quality of the writing.

    This idea sounds like it would help….

  2. Matthew Cain on Thu, 21st May 2009 10:26 am

    3. @liam murray I think you’re right but my concern with the development of the blogosphere is that (quite understandably) there are lots of people doing it semi-professionally. The Nick Robinsons and Iain Dales have the time and networks to write and promote their blogs. Both are very generous but it’s hard to reach that level when you only have something realy interesting to say occassionally.

    If you’d like to sign-up or help develop the idea, do email me: matthew.cain@newscounter.com or Matthew Taylor.

  3. Rob Greenland on Thu, 21st May 2009 11:51 am

    4. Hi Matthew

    nice idea – I’d certainly be up for that
    thanks
    Rob

  4. Liam Murray on Thu, 21st May 2009 11:54 am

    5. @MatthewCain – I agree.

    I have a tenuous connection with Iain because I designed his current blog template and he’s always been generous & supportive of my blogging in terms of links and the odd plug etc. But when you have a non-related day job and often go many days & sometimes weeks without saying anything (and then it’s about how often that infrequent contribution is worthy & interesting) you’ll always struggle to get profile no matter how supportive the ‘big boys’.

    There is also a quality angle here – Iain, Nick R and, yes even Paul S actually write well and provide genuinely entertaining and interesting content several times a day – there are national columnists without that sort of hit rate so something is shifting here.

    I will drop you a mail Matthew….

  5. Nick Temple on Thu, 21st May 2009 12:00 pm

    6. Yes – would also be interested (thanks for the heads-up Rob); am involved in something similar-ish called non-profit blog exchange (see http://www.netsquared.org/nonprofit-blog-exchange), which involved a more direct (and fairly arbitrary) writing about another blog / post from another blog.

    But was useful, and with appropriate tagging, meant people got different access routes to the content.

    Cheers,

    Nick T

  6. Julian Dobson on Thu, 21st May 2009 12:04 pm

    7. Yes, I’d be very interested in this. It also sounds like a good form of self-discipline – going back to those late-night ramblings and deciding which are really worth keeping.

  7. Duncan Lawie on Thu, 21st May 2009 3:27 pm

    8. I’m determinedly not a blogger – and find that, for the more interesting blogs I read, I’m often days behind the thread. This means that there is now a considerable threshold for a blog discovery to achieve before it gets added to my Feed Reader. Having said which, my ability to keep up with blogs significantly improved once I switched to using a reader – and it levels the playing field for the less regular blogger, because the RSS gets updated when they choose to post so I don’t get frustrated looking for a new post.

    You suggest an interesting tactic, though – and potentially a way to work towards your previous comments on the need for better opportunities for creative disagreement.

    It is the latter which shows more opportunity for enrichment than the Carnival style ( http://blogcarnival.com/bc/p_about.html , with a good example at http://www.universetoday.com/carnival-of-space/ )

    The Carnival concept, however, is pretty clear about its purpose of listing other’s best entries – how will the Blogger’s Circle be transparent? A ‘badge’ on each blog? A consolidated RSS feed? A reference to ‘fellow circler’ when linking to them?

    Cheers,
    Duncan.

  8. John Craig-Sharples on Thu, 21st May 2009 3:34 pm

    9. I would be interested in joining the circle. I do a regular blog on the Improvement & Development Agency’s community of practices and would welcome the opportunity to participate.

    John

  9. mike chitty on Thu, 21st May 2009 3:53 pm

    10. count me in too. I blog on 1)person centred management and leadership and 2) enterprise and entrepreneurship in the community

  10. Katherine Hudson on Thu, 21st May 2009 3:56 pm

    11. Matthew and Matt – this sounds like an excellent idea. It raises issues of how you mutually govern such a network but is a really nice initiative that goes a stage beyond the blogroll in terms of engagement and mutual readership as well as writing. A corresponding society 2.0?

    Katherine

  11. Matthew Cain on Thu, 21st May 2009 4:23 pm

    12. Thanks for all the volunteers. We’ve got a really great range of people.

    We should aim to get this launched in June so anything you can do to spread the word . . .

    I think if it’s really going to work, it will be because:
    a) the blogs are largely (but loosley) focussed around public policy and;
    b) because there’s a great range of blogs – including those you wouldn’t usually read.

  12. Matthew Cain on Thu, 21st May 2009 4:25 pm

    13. @liammurray I think Iain Dale is the most generous pro-am blogger in the UK, given all he does to promote new blogs.

    You’re right, those blogs with most interesting things to say most frequently do rise to the top. And they won’t find this useful. However, for those of us who only say something really interesting a few times a month, this cna help get you wider exposure.

  13. Martin Brookes on Thu, 21st May 2009 4:31 pm

    14. Sounds like an interesting idea Matthew – here at New Philanthropy Capital we’re just breaking into the blogosphere ourselves (http://newphilanthropycapital.blogspot.com/) and I’m hoping we’ll become much more engaged in online debate.

    Martin

  14. Matthew Cain on Thu, 21st May 2009 4:47 pm

    15. @katherine I’d like to eventually make it like a cooperative so it sets its own rules democratically and everyone has a share in its success. Eventually it could provide practical support for bloggers (legal particularly) But for now, I think it’s best just to get it up and running and let the members determine how it grows.

  15. Chris Penberthy on Thu, 21st May 2009 6:56 pm

    16. This looks like a really interesting idea. We have just started blogging as a team about matters relating to volunteering, the voluntary and community sector, community action, etc. I would be interested in joining in.

  16. Blogging circle is developing « Matthew Cain’s blog on Thu, 21st May 2009 7:07 pm

    17. [...] idea for a blogging circle is developing quickly, thanks to the nudge that Matthew Taylor provided earlier today. We’ve already got some really interesting bloggers volunteering. [...]

  17. Richard Partington on Thu, 21st May 2009 10:46 pm

    18. So far in my brief blogging career (I began around six months ago) I have not properly been able to interact and share my viewpoints with others. Occasionally, this is for the better – when my material is off the cuff or poorly researched. At other times, I really feel that what I have to say falls on death ears – leading me either to lose faith in the purpose of my blogging adventure, or to deliberately prod my material into other forums for debate.

    Therefore, I think this blogging circle would be a great idea. Not all of my articles would be suitable. Though when I manage to break away from work, social events and other goings on, I will hopefully be able to write the necessary material to participate in such a new community.

  18. Fourcultures on Fri, 22nd May 2009 6:08 am

    19. Count me in – I like this idea. I write on grid-group cultural theory, social policy and public religion. I think the key is having a well defined subject, but not too narrowly defined. ‘public policy’ is just right.

    By way of reference, John Quiggin’s Australian policy/economics blog has a kind of dynamism to it because it seems to have attracted a ‘community’ of intelligent conversation-minded commentors who are responding to an economics professor’s serious but accessible posts. Of course, it helps that Quiggin has a bit of a ‘traditional’ media profile.

  19. matthewtaylor on Fri, 22nd May 2009 7:32 am

    20. Thanks to everyone for this conversation. The RSA will back Matt in getting this going and I will be a founder member. People seem really keen on the cooperative aspect of this so hopefully we can all work to develop and expand the idea

  20. Matthew Cain on Fri, 22nd May 2009 8:28 am

    21. Thanks for your enthusiastic response! We’re almost half way there, after just 24 hours.

    I’m keeping a list of bloggers’ who’ve volunteered here: http://blog.matthewcain.co.uk/blogging-circle-is-developing/

    If there are any blogs you particularly like, get in touch and we’ll invite them too.

  21. David Wilcox on Fri, 22nd May 2009 8:40 am

    22. There might be some useful ideas from blog carnivals
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog_carnival
    http://blogcarnivaltips.com/how-to-start-up-a-blog-carnival/

    glad to join in however it goes

  22. David Wilcox on Fri, 22nd May 2009 8:44 am

    23. Further thought … the circle/carnival might evolve into an aggregator site like this one on communities and networks developed by Nancy White
    http://cc.fullcirc.com/

  23. william perrin on Fri, 22nd May 2009 8:50 am

    24. this could be helpful, but will need a benevolent dictator(s) who can apply arbitrary judgement and has a thick enough skin to cope with folk who flounce out noisly if they are told that the stuff they are circulating is below par.

    don’t try a voting/rating system, keep it small enough to do human discrimination

    if you are looking for a name, ‘The Readers Digest’ has already gone…

  24. Matthew Cain on Fri, 22nd May 2009 9:20 am

    25. @williamperrin We were hoping that because you could only submit 2 posts a month that
    a) people would be self-selecting and
    b) the cost of circulation of a poor post is sufficiently low that it wouldn’t matter to the other members of the community

    However, I am happy to defer to your experience on this if you think we need to do it differently

  25. Matthew Cain on Fri, 22nd May 2009 9:21 am

    26. @davidwilcox Thanks for the link. The aggregator looks like a good way of developing the concept – and increasing its profile.

  26. Bernard Mason on Sun, 24th May 2009 5:24 pm

    27. I am abeginner with blggging but you suggestion seems interesting so I would give it a try.

  27. DaveG on Mon, 25th May 2009 8:08 pm

    28. Hi Matthew,

    Great idea, I’d volunteer though I’d be worried I failed to keep up!

  28. Jane Mason on Fri, 17th Jul 2009 7:59 pm

    29. Hey Matthew, further to our discussion today (letter in the post…) I am definately up for blogging circle (like a knitting bee only different?) and think it a splendid idea. I also agree with one of your commentators, it would certainly inspire me to write better content…and get me reading stuff I may not otherwise read – so all around win.

  29. Mark Leech on Sun, 19th Jul 2009 7:13 pm

    30. I’m all for those who don’t have a voice being given one, so I’m up for it

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