Until now, MyBlogLog has mainly stayed in blog statistics. However, at the end of May it launched a blog-centric social networking site called MyBlogLog Communities. The site aims to link readers with blogger, which is currently mainly done through comments. I know however, that I have over 100 regular readers but only a few comment, and currently the only form of social networking through comments is through CoComment or one of it’s clones!
When you can fill up, you fill out a profile with all the usual things, but also Digg, MySpace, Flickr and IDs for other services. You can then choose who to disclose what to. Interestingly, many social bookmarking sites, including del.icio.us, are not included. Though the ability to add your IDs on other services is interesting, I do not think this is really a key feature of this service.
Each blog on MyBlogLog Communities forms a community. If you read/enjoy a blog, you join it’s community. In the community, you can see fellow readers and also send a message to the community. The communities are the main aspect of the site, but to be frank I do not see much happening in these. It is basically a list of names, a list of newest posts, if they use MyBlogLog a list of popular outgoing links, and a few comments. I do not see much discussion taking place here, and it may be a good idea to aggregate feeds from CoComment onto these pages too. Also, it might be clever to add a way to have the blogger answer certain questions regarding his/her blog.
You can add a member to a friendlist under various different levels. If you decide to add someone, they are automatically added as a contact – though you can class yourself as a fan or friend, and some others. I find it clever how you can make it one or two way.
The site should automatically grab a screenshot of your blog, though if it is wrong, or you lack one, you can manually add one. The site comes with a built-in cropping tool which is also used for avatars. This saves having to mess on in PSP or Photoshop in order to get it at the right size.
The site is heavily linked in with MyBlogLog, which is also interesting. However, I think it needs another name and to be moved to it’s own domain if it wishes to gain any respect. Currently, it just seems like a sub-project. However, I have yet to see how this site commercially benefits MyBlogLog.
I would like to see the ability to integrate this into blogs (such as the amount of members in the community). This would promote the site, and make the blog’s community grow.
Also, the site could do with much more AJAX. I have seen it at use in the cropper, though nowhere else on the site. It could prove useful when sending a message. Also, the site’s design does seem a little heavy. Lighter shades of colours would be much better, though their current scheme seems fairly effective.
I must say their customer support is very good. Their site seems fairly instable at the moment, due to the fact it is facing lots of mySQL errors. When I reported one though, I got a friendly and appreciative response within minutes.
Our community is here.
Tags: mybloglog, web2.0, web 2.0, web2, web 2, blogs, blogging, blogosphere
Thanks for the kind writeup, Joe. Since I couldn’t make myself more available today to exchange emails, I wanted to take a few moments to add some context to your thoughtful analysis of MyBlogLog’s new service.
> Currently, it just seems like a sub-project.
That’s not a bad way of putting it, actually. We’re still beta. And not “we’re too chicken to call it 1.0″ beta. “Major features are still really in flux” beta. Even though we’re making no attempt to hide it, you’re peeking behind the curtains right now.
> However, I have yet to see how this site
> commercially benefits MyBlogLog.
> However, I think it needs another name and to be
> moved to it’s own domain if it wishes to gain
> any respect.
When we better integrate this service with MyBlogLog’s tracking functionality, it will make a lot more sense. MyBlogLog was launched last year to give bloggers and other authors who actively link offsite a way to better understand their readers. By telling you what links people click on, we give you a bit more intimacy with your readers — you know what they’re interested in. MyBlogLog Communities (still a temp name) is the next step in becoming closer to your readers. Hopefully the new service makes more sense in that context.
> Interestingly, many social bookmarking sites,
> including del.icio.us, are not included.
Awesome point. They’re are so many bits of wake that people leave behing them these days, it’s hard to collect them all. We’ll add them, and given time, we’re going to start polling the RSS feeds for people’s Digg and del.icio.us profiles and integrate that info in their profiles.
> it may be a good idea to aggregate feeds from
> CoComment onto these pages
Great idea.
> Also, the site could do with much more AJAX.
> Lighter shades of colours would be much better
We’re simply not about the 53651 that’s spread though the Crunchosphere. We tracked 30 million unique readers through our partner blogs last month and the majority of those people came from sites like Rosie.com and Just Jared. Those readers aren’t yet ready for AJAX. Maybe they’re ready for pastels, but I’m not going to take reckless chances
An interview with Eric Marcoullier…
“The upshot of this new community feature is that you can continue to gain a better understanding of your readers. We have some cool stats for MyBlogLog users with at least 10 members in their community, such as “Top Links My Readers Clicked Elsewher…
[...] MyBlogLog Community is a social networking site launched by MyBlogLog in May last year. Webby’s World reviewed this service when it first came out. It has recently been acquired by Yahoo!. [...]