Bloggers all seem to be looking for the same thing these days - new ways to harness traffic to their sites. What concerns me though, is the lost quality of posts and interactions that could occur if we chase pings rather than relate to people. I feel uncomfortable with people who set cybertraps to get quick pings for dollars - with far less regard for quantity communication. 
This is a new day for change - especially, in how we communicate ideas and build better business communities. We needed change desperately! Yet I have seen more and more mindless traps - set for the purpose of gathering traffic we don’t know, for faces we can't see, for people we fail to serve. It’s a trend that could erode the wonderful new cyber communities starting to spring up on the Internet! Let's not lose site of the mark that could give this country new leadership for healthier tactics!
Recently the Pew Internet and American Life Project showed us just how potent is the cyberspace traffic flow toward ideas and information. Check out PEW/INTERNET to see how “On a typical day in August, 26 million Americans were using the internet for news or information about politics and the upcoming mid-term elections." Ok, maybe that was the highest such figure recorded by the project, yet it shows that people are increasingly coming to sites that interest and engage them.
Seems to me that we should let go of more pings and traps, and work even harder to build the kind of sites where thoughtful people stop by to share intelligent business ideas. Let's learn together how to support the best sites without working only for more pings. It's not too late to make a difference, and now we have the tools that people value.
I have to say I’ve been finding more and more valuable sites lately too, and it makes you hope that many of those 26 Million on the internet will skip the pings and find meaningful sites. What do you think of the push for more traffic? How could the ever changing traffic flow build new brain cells for business change, as you see it?
Hi Ellen!
Great topic. I've been noticing that many blogs are starting to regard people as tools, or a means to an end, rather than the end itself. And you're right, invariably these blogs lose my attention.
What I find interesting is WHY do they want to be higher in Technorati or to get more traffic - etc? If it's to make money that's one thing (I understand it - whether I agree with it or not). Sometimes, though it almost seems like an ego trip - or an artificial competition of sorts - or even an addiction!
Sure, I'm thrilled when I go to Technorati and see my ranking jumped - but that's not why I blog. It's rewarding to know that people are reading what I write - it's even more rewarding for me when they comment or add to the point (including by telling me I'm dead wrong!).
I'd love to understand why traffic and rankings matter so much to people (I sincerely mean that).
Why does your traffic and ranking matter to you???? (or do they)
Ann
Posted by: ann michael | October 23, 2006 7:35 AM | Permalink to Comment