Are we truly a community in ab.net? A simple look at hyperlinks
Rozen Maiden is always good to lighten up the mood a little…
My dissertation for my master’s program is about the traffic flow of blogs within the animeblogger.net community, and finding the collective reasons for traffic patterns. One of the factors that I used is the existence of a link between two blogs. The eventual result (discussed further down in this article) actually brought out some really interesting revelations about the ab.net community.
Compared to communities such as politics, art and other genres of writing, the anime community is perhaps in its infant stage. A short analysis on the connectivity in terms of hyperlinks within ab.net, the biggest anime blog community, will reveal this situation within our community. I just realized the mean Saturnine writing something about the anime community.
I hope that this will not be an overly complicated read, since I used mostly simple language to portray what I have described, despite the fact that it is a displays a very small part of my study that will eventually be presented in a conference somewhere in the world. This article will describe the growing prominence of the blog, before jumping into the results and discussion of my little study.
The blog’s rise to popularity
Table 1 – The curve in hyperlink distribution for animeblogger.net. The x-axis represents the blogs while the y-axis represents the amount of inlinks a blog receives. The shape of the curve shows how a small number of blogs receive an in proportional amount of inlinks, while most receive way less.
The World Wide Web can be considered to be a huge populist hypermedia, where online participants engage in diverse and conflicting goals, and creating equally different content. The weblog is the newest addition to computer mediated communication technologies for publishing content on the World Wide Web. Weblogs, or blogs, are self published sites that are periodically updated and presented in reverse chronological order. The last ten years has seen the increase in the number of blogs from a handful to millions. Blogs provide a way of creating online conversation to anyone in the Internet and is easily indexed and archived by blogging search engines.
One key issue is the usage of hyperlinks. Hyperlinks often serve a social function and there has been growing research on the patterns of hyperlinks between blogs. A seminal study by Kleinberg found that there will be a possible disproportionate amount of links for popular blogs compared to non-popular blogs. Websites were more likely to link to sites that already have a high number. Hence, a pivotal empirical question is whether, and how, the existence of a link is important to the amount of traffic from a blog.
Popularity has been investigated by researchers in recent years with the growing network of the Internet. The power law distribution derived from the Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule or the Winner-takes-all society, is one of the basic principles used for traffic research on blogs. Pareto principle was established from findings that 80% of all income came from 20% of the population in Italy, and this study was applied in many different contexts.
Shirky, a very prominent academic, explored the Pareto principle in the composition of the blogosphere. She speculated that this new gap in which the bigger blogs will get more visitors and inlinks, while the new blogs get a small share of the traffic might come true when more blogs enter the Internet. Bloggers often link to other sites that they consider to be good or popular, in order to promote the blog or elicit a reciprocal link back to their blog for traffic. Empirical research on websites have found an non-egalitarian distribution of hyperlinks and traffic between huge and small websites.
The results
Table 2 – Top 10 in linked blogs by other animeblogger.net blogs. The number on the right of the bar represents the number of inlinks the above blogs receive from other animeblogger.net blogs.
165 anime blogs from animeblogger.net are analyzed. This simple analysis is carried out by examining the number of in links (defined by the number of ab.net blogs that linked to any one blog in ab.net) from the period of May 1st to August 31st of 2007. The time period is chosen as it symbolizes the start and end of an anime season, hence minimizing the possibility of burst traffic affecting the link structure. The data is retrieved using a web crawling program to extract all hyperlinks (including blogrolls).
The average number of links for a blog is 3.95. Considering the amount of blogs in the analysis, the amount of links is a good indication on the lack of interactivity within the community in terms of links. Moreover, the concentration of links lie within a few blogs (see Table 1). An interesting phenomenon is the exhibition of the Pareto principle. Many small bloggers do link to the big blogs, but they do not get a link back that will generate some traffic for them. An anime community clearly exists but the interaction happens only with the popular blogs. It is perhaps accurate to use the analogy that the rich gets richer, and the poor gets poorer. Table 2 shows the top 10 linked blogs by animeblogger.net blogs in that time period.
Some of the reasons are that most bloggers do not actively seek to expand their horizons and update themselves on the newest blog in the community. Most of us are self sufficent, and are happy to stick with the same few bloggers that we follow. If a reader is able to receive the information that he or she can get from a certain blog, there is little incentive to venture for other bloggers.
Another possible reason is related to Festinger’s Social comparison theory. An application of the theory was the triadic model, which speculated that an individual tended to use the opinion of experts with similar attributes and hence influence each other. Hence it is likely for popular (and likely influential) bloggers to coagulate around a group of similarly popular bloggers. These huge A-list blogs did not exist simply because of a clique preference for each other, but it is due to the preferences of the thousands of others deciding this.
This clearly does not bode well for any new blogger who is keen to come into blogging. The result clearly shows that there is perhaps a neat sub minority that links to each other, but new entrants to the scenes will have issues trying to keep up with whatever the top few bloggers have to say. Diversity coupled with the freedom of choice creates inequality, and the greater the diversity, the more extreme the inequality.
Does this trend, one that affects other virtual communities, worry you?
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I don’t see linking to other blogs even as a very effective marketing tactic. The ugly truth is that people don’t click on the blogroll-links that often and the longer the blogroll-list is the less are the chances that anyone ever happens to click on the one link that leads to your site. RSS-feeds are the way to the big numbers, provided that you can write something at least remotely interesting.
What you say is undoubtedly true at least for the most part, but I’ve seen it happen all the time so it doesn’t really bother me. Personally I’m just happy with the little bunch of views I might get for whoring my blog on IRC. Blogging isn’t a serious business for me; if it was, I’d be studying journalism already and maybe write about things that generally interest public. Or at least pick some certain theme for the blog.
Nova: Not true. If you have a comprehensive stats programme, you’ll find that blogrolls are quite effective. For example, Darkmirage and Tsubaki each give me almost as many hits as Animenano, and far more than Animeblogger antennae.
Impz seems to have studied Ab.net hosted blogs only. But what is interesting is how despite its huge readership, RC doesn’t seem to have that many links around? Is it because of its perceived popularity already, where people don’t feel the need to link to it because everyone knows it? Or is it because Omni doesn’t ever actively ask to be linked unlike Impz, who is pro-active at it?
Regarding blogrolls, I get quite a lot of emails from new bloggers asking to be placed there. It’s an issue because I wouldn’t just want to add any old blog I have never heard of and waste space on my sidebar. Yet I still feel like it’s good to help in terms of publicity. Solution? I set up a “Squire” category lol.
Wow, our blog is famous!!!! GIVE ME AN F-A-MOU, WHILE EVERYONE WILL GIVE AN S! And that spells FAMOUS!
please use png next time when presenting graph or table… ;_;
@NovaJinx: Actually, linking is two fold. First, it provides hyperlink traffic to your blog. Moreover, despite the fact that the algorithms of google are kept secret, a factor is definitely the linking by influential blogs in order for your blog to be up in the list. In fact, google and other search engines are the major traffic for newly established blogs (2-5 months) while hyperlinks help greatly as well.
@Tj Han: Well, I am not really studying the individual blogs since it will be hard to quantify and a more qualitative approach will be more feasible. I believe that it is perhaps my more active approach toward blogs that account for more blog links. However, it does not make that much of a difference in the overall scheme of things.
I cannot post the results, but the traffic data of the blogs will be closely linked to this as well.
@Reverse Vampire: lol, it is always having a bit of popularity. Not much, but decent. I do wish that I have some medicine to grab those lurkers out for a comment and discussion ^_^
@Edwon: arr, ok. I usually use tables rather than graphs in my report writing. Png also takes way more space @_@
Ah, so this is what you meant impz by unsureness about your post. My head just about exploded trying to comprehend reading this. Fortunately, the majority of the readers are most likely educated unlike myself hehe.
But yeah, I can see what you’re saying. One of the reasons that I joined the THAT team instead of applying for a new blog was because people tend to stick with the solid and consistent blogs such as Random Curiosity, THAT, or Sea Slugs. However, I don’t think its a flaw on how other blogs are being advertised, I think it’s just the human trait of not wanting to try something new.
Blogrolls do help. However, I don’t see the point of linking blogs I don’t dedicatedly read.
(1) It’s a waste of sidebar space.
(2) As NovaJinx said, longer blogrolls give you less incentive to click on a link.
In other words, it’s perfectly understandable if new blogs (including mine) don’t get linked back. I don’t want anyone half-heartedly linking me.
Either way, does it matter? Not all of us write to see traffic swarming in.
I’ve actually linked to quite a few new blogs, upon request or if they interacted frequently with me. I doubt they get much traffic back though, since I have a separate page for my large amount of links…What you’ve said about people not wanting anything new is probably true, as sad as it is. I still like to consider myself a reader over a writer, but there’s probably few others who want to find new blogs to read. As for getting traffic from blogs linking to me, I have gotten some regular traffic from a few, but nothing amazing.
btw if Author is reading this, Matthew’s is probably up there because he had it so that you could simply add your blog to his blogroll on site at one point. lol
With the blogosphere being congested, it’s indeed harder for new bloggers to be heard, so to speak. There are times in which the neophytes have to go the extra mile to achieve this feat, either through shameless plugging, looking for ways to deliver fresh content, etc. Nothing beats interacting with the actual bloggers through commenting, link love, and… chatting in IRC though. Creating worthwhile posts, and interacting through the latter methods I said is what makes me feel this sense of community in AB.
It’s not only recently that I felt I belong to the community… and I think I owe much of that to joining the AB channel XD I’m hoping that joining the ABC will make me one step even closer to the community~ (and, get my lazy self to read more blogs) =3
P.S. after what Impz has done (or intended to do) to our hamster chef, we’re still not in his blogroll. tsk3x =P
Very interesting analysis (I love graphs and information visualization). I agree with the “rich get richer and poor get poorer” pattern, but I don’t think it’s possible for all blogs to receive equal attention. And they probably shouldn’t.
The top blogs stay at the top because of their fresh content, posting frequency, and willingness to reply to commenters. I enjoy reading Kurogane for these three reasons. If lesser blogs could write like he can, then I believe they will eventually get the same attention.
Maybe I don’t see the problem too well since I use the Antenna (huge RSS feed) instead of blogrolls (link list). Instead of giving me blog names, the Antenna gives me entry titles and first paragraphs. So I’m looking for content relevant to my interests or unique taglines to pique my curiosity. Bloggers’ writing skills are the key selling point here.
I don’t have a problem with the way things are right now, with the few conglomerate big blogs and the many entrepreneur small blogs. I don’t think good talent is going unnoticed and crappy writing is getting undeserved glory. Kind of like capital business, it may be a tougher road for some than others to get noticed and favorited, but all the effort spent in achieving that becomes training to become a better writer and better advertiser anyway, no?
…If only there was an interface like YouTube or Facebook, where links to related blogs and tags are just automatically generated and prominently displayed. AB.net bloggers have to do it manually, and it often requires research. If I were to write an entry about Clannad episode 12, I could help the community effort if I linked to the other ten blogs writing about Clannad. But I’d have to find them all, and there’s no time.
Rather, the AB.net antenna has a whole list of series tags, so if there were a widget that accessed that database; it could be plugged into bloggers’ posts and become useful.
I think this analysis would have been stronger with some pie charts =D. All kidding aside, very interesting analysis of the Pareto principle at work within our community.
You mention that people tend to link good and popular sites, and that many bloggers hope that linking a site will result in a reciprocal link. Some commenters believe that blogrolls are useless. I would disagree, but just as a small number of blogs get a majority of the inlinks, that small number usually give the greatest number of referrals. In other words, getting a reciprocal link from a popular site is more valuable than getting a reciprocal link from another starting blogger. This may be a part of why there is little incentive for established bloggers to find new blogs to link to.
Also interesting is the never-shrinking blogroll. In many cases, once you’re in you’re in. Would a snapshot of a more recent season show the same bloggers, even if some of those bloggers produced very few anime-related posts in either period of time?
This is a great info to analyze, better yet; we have to consider the outcome of all your comments and hypothesis that are being tested. Playing with research methods and procedures that will help us to reject or not reject our proposals are a great way to gain more knowledge of this blogging environment.
I’m sorry if I get carried away from the main topic, but all your applied methologies and vocabulary capture my whole attention. As retarded that this may sound, regarding which link feed the other one; you people manage to create something that works like a transformation system, a very precise coordination and organization of a KMD.
Consider that you leaders and great bloggers manage to tailor a source of knowledge management to many individuals, we learn from this, no matter if is a cause_effect discussion.
The simple fact that you raise a discussion about a topic, regarding the outcome, is something to admire. That my friends, is having a reason for a passion, a mere goal to accomplish that will satisfy your intelligent capabilities.
Thank you people ! I learn something new every day !
Im sorry for the blog, I know that this comment dosent belong in here.
Frankly, I do not see how hyperlinks are representative of popularity, but since I’m at least in the top 20 I don’t mind. ^^;;
The anime blogosphere is congested right now, and I would agree, it is difficult to start a new blog. Even as an established blog (I think more than a year establishes you somewhat in the blog sphere), it’s still hard for me to ‘compete’ with the big boys like RC and maybe your blog as well. What more for the budding bloggers out there?
Weren’t you the one who posted about Butterfly Dreams as a fledgling yet promising blog? The writer has now closed his blog: he posted about an indefinite hiatus. I’m glad I get my comments, and a significant readership, but it will be a path that would be really hard for the newer bloggers out there.
@Igunis: Is it that bad? I actually simplifed my language to as much as I could so that the common person should be able to understand. Sigh, I already did my best. Well, there is perhaps a bit of stickiness, or in advertising terms, brand loyalty when it comes to readers.
Most people move around easily, but we always appreciate those that stick around and comment. It makes it fruitful to blog.
@Aurabolt: Yep, cannot agree more. I cannot deny that I do care about traffic, but it is perhaps an interesting thing that new blogs actively try to find a little space around here. There are still tons of gaps at least in the anime scene.
@Totali: Arr, i try to keep it on the main page, and you do give decent traffic if anything. I consider myself more of a writer than a reader now, since time constraints mean I seldom comment on other blogs. Nevertheless, I try to interact. The biggest traffic from hyperlinks still come from the big blogs though.
I explained to Matthew that it does not depend whether Matthew is active, but the mere existence of a hyperlink. Hence, many blogs probably linked him and did not delete.
@Usajigen: It is probably untrue in the blogsophere that it is getting congested. I am very sure that it is not the case in the anime scene, since there are still a lot of sub genres that are waiting to be explored.
Belonging to a community is an extremely hard thing to quantify in my opinion. It is a feeling and something of a qualitative researcher. As you can tell, I am not too well versed in the arts of qualitative work. And you are in the blogroll now ^_^ TIME FOR HAMSTER SOUP!
@Crisu: I do not use graphs often, so I apologize for bad presentation. That can be a good reason as well, as the top bloggers already have their own brand of writing that works for readers.
I actually do doubt that quality will prevail. As much as there is quality writing, it is perhaps already existent in the old blogs that we have been visiting. New blogs are facing a problem right now in which they often have to get the bigger blogs to link to them in order to start. I always try to help, despite my extreme laziness. I also started by whoring and advertising my blog for it to be where it is right now.
@Kabitzin: Yep, you hit the nail there, Kabitzin. To be honest, when the blog turns a tad old, you start to lose your focus on the new blogs that are coming out. If only old blogs (and popular ones) give you traffic, is there even any incentive to link to them at all unless requested.
I wonder as well, but I am quite sure that link structure tends to stick. There is seldom any dramatic increase or reduction.
@Monte: Thanks! I actually use a very simple mean and graph display in order to help everyone understand. I am glad that you commented because this power law distribution is not only happening in the anime realm, but also in various other genres of writing such as politics. I am glad that you learn something and do comment more if you find anything interesting.
@Michael: As I explained somewhat, there are different gauges of popularity. I can use total pageviews, Google page rank, amount of hyperlinks and various other methods. However, since this little article is orientated toward the option of the blogger, hyperlinks are perhaps the best gauge of popularity. Creating a hyperlink to another blog is an active choice rather than a passive one, which means it requires an action in order for it to be carried out.
In that case, it is somewhat like a referral of a positive review (or bad sometimes). Ya, the writer has sadly closed down the blog when i last checked, even though they moved to ikimashou, if I am not mistaken. I do think that fighting with the big boys really mean that you have something new that everyone doesn’t, and in fact attracts enough attention.
It’s always that unique behavior that will bring you the readers, along with aggressive advertising and a belonging to the community. A man cannot be an island and expect to have traffic.
I would say weblogs are less of a community and more of a personality. A blog shows the World a facet of what kind of person you are, and people who likes them will read on.
Fostering a community seems to be the job of a forum, imo.
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