Reading Andy Beard’s article on the reasons why people link to each other, I realised that I did actually fit into quite a few categories when it came to linking and commenting on peoples blogs. This isn’t something that I am ashamed of, I link to Andy’s blog because I regularly read it and feel by linking to his blog I am showing a relevance to what I write about as well as showing a resource that readers might not have known. Similarly, I would be inclined to link to people who comment regularly, and certainly would link to people I know, besides I link to my work blog which isn’t a selfless act.
There are many reasons that people link to each other and all of them are selfish (I don't think Andy is cycnical here, just a realist). Just as I don’t work for a living giving away my services for free or product vendors don’t sell their wares at cost prices there is one thing that is prevalent in society in general and that nothing is free. There is nothing in the internet world or the real world that offers something for nothing. The next time Tesco are offering a 2 for 1 offer, they aren’t doing that for their own welfare, these loss leaders are intended to raise awareness and pull in extra customers to spend on their other products. So, in most cases there is no such thing as a selfless act, there is always an agenda.
This is not to mean that everything that we do has a seedy motivation. The very idea of social interaction and networking in any environment is to gain knowledge to achieve ones ends and gain new ideas to overcome obstacles that may present in everyday life. Blogging is only an extension of ways in which we can gain that contact with other people. The next time I link to someone it is going to be a selfish act. The selfish act is most likely to involve gaining new ideas and contacts, promoting conversation so that I can learn new things and contribute to other dialogues and exchanging knowledge. If there was no benefit to me in the long run, then I wouldn't do it. It's as simple as that.
Labels: blogging, linking, social networking
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Now what you need to do is send a trackback :)
Technorati only show 7 pages of results, and with all the listing from sites like bumpzee, and how Technorati seem to pick up multiple copies of each post, and old content, if I don't check Technorati every 12 hours I miss a conversation totally.
Plus you get a free link, and trackbacks from my posts frequently get a few visitors over time.
Will do, just when I have found the time to read your posts on how to do that in blogger.