The pink or the blue pill

This week saw us adding support for Netvibes. It allowed us to access readers who are not bloggers but nevertheless wouldn't mind a block showing blogs they would never otherwise see. Mark Evans commented today that Rojo seems to give priority to A-listers. It is a dilemma for all of us who are involved in the blogging industry. Unfortunately, most people are lemmings (in a nice way) in our behaviorial patterns. We like to go with the flow. Read what other people are reading, watch the television programs others are watching. Makes sense as part of our social survival. You certainly do not want to go to a party and not know who the Desperate Housewives are or not know what Michael Arrington is thinking if you're at a tech conference. On the other hand, if you only frequent the restaurants rated the best by someone, you'll never discover that tiny restaurant tucked way back in the alley that serves authentic Italian food. So do we take the blue pill and work the A-list or take the pink pill and work the long tail.

At TheGoodBlogs, we think it is a mix of the two, but what we'd like to be known eventually is this is the place to find the next Blogosphere superstar in the making. We're like the talent scouts showcasing folks who would otherwise never get the chance to show their stuff. Will that mean that the A-listers will eventually shun us because we are partial to the good blogs that are not the A-blogs? Well, a look at MySpace where most blogs are like a teenager's bedroom says, who really cares? As long as people can connect to other people through the medium of words, then isn't that what the blogosphere is all about. When you come across a blog that simply says, "I'm tired, hairy and I smell", it may shock a tech blog reader, but somewhere, there is a seriously overworked mom that can identify with the post and will draw solace that she is not alone.