[unsung blogs] talent largely undiscovered

Disclaimer: the following post makes no reference to this blog in any shape or form. The author is not referring to himself at any stage of the proceedings in any category below nor is he fishing. He'd vastly prefer the issue itself to be addressed.

You know that Blogpower was originally designed to promote and support new blogs and the assumption was - blogs of quality. Speaking of quality in a blog, one might just as well speak of defining love. What on earth does it mean?

The blogs which survive seem to have an angle, a manner of writing which is fresh and the output is fairly constant. The blog is fun to visit and we want to return to see what he or she's posted next. We feel we "know" the author. Despite his many detractors, Iain Dale deserves his place at the top for his constant output and consistency. The angle and the scoop are his thing.

Some blogs, as everyone knows, are whatever the current jargon is for non-blogs, i.e. offshoot blogs from a previous project or special, slick sites with poor navigation and transparency which disguise an already established pundit who wishes to try a new project out on a new readership.

Having said all that, it's always been a source of wonder to me how one or two major blogs, which will remain unnamed, are lauded and repeatedly visited, when all they are is news commentary, with the occasional original angle, on the Telegraph, Guardian or Washington Post. They read the papers as we read the papers and then rattle something off on the story of the day, as we also do.

A news story breaks, they comment in their blog with fairly constant typos and that's it. Few graphics, no originality and yet they get upwards of two thousand readers a day. It has to be that they are so prolific or else they're seen as good guys by a section of the sphere. Or else they have kudos in some other sphere, e.g. the MSM or in IT. Who knows?

Don't get me wrong here - there are some fabulous exponents of the art. Some simply rise above the rest, such as Mr. Eugenides, bloggers who really do have the talent to not only see the more ridiculous aspects of the news but can write them up as well.

Then there are the blogs where the personality of the blogger seems to be the thing because the actual output is nothing more than what he did last week or else tits and bums. These guys get mega-readerships and good luck to them.

The blogs which concern me most are those with either true talent or something that little bit different about them and they don't receive their due. Not only that but they're too modest to shamelessly promote themselves. One of these is Ruthie Zaftig and another is The Broadsheet Rag. A more established blogger with a steady readership is Longrider who should be up in the mega-class. Now I don't know what their stats are but I'm willing to bet that the stats are infinitely inferior to the quality of the blog.

It amazes me that they don't enjoy greater kudos in the sphere. I know they have loyal readerships but that's not what I'm referring to. I mean a mass readership. Perhaps TBR could be a bit more transparent - the "About" says almost nothing and it's nice to know at least something of the author. [I do know one or two things but not openly.]

In the end, there are just too many blogs and trying to seek out the good ones is a largely hit or miss affair. If only there was some way for true talent to naturally gravitate to the top - some sort of mechanism to enable that. This "mechanism" is something very much running through the mind at this point in time.