Cool

"Machines Like Us is dedicated to keeping you informed about the latest research in the areas of evolution, cognition, artificial life and artificial intelligence." While not a typical aggregator, this site includes a variety of resources including articles by Case blogger, Mano Singham.


"Tech Dispenser is Computerworld's human powered technology blog network and news aggregator." Frequent commenter and fellow blogger Wayne Smallman is a contributor.


ScienceBlogs aggregates over 60 bloggers writing about science, education and related fields.


"Createxchange is a beta project, syndicating the best design blogs the world has to offer."

Lately I've noticed that I've been subscribing to more and more blog networks/aggregators. As a reader I like these because they help me discover blogs I might not have heard of otherwise. As a blogger and marketer I like the aggregators of which I'm a part or a similar reason; they put my blog in front of new readers—readers who already have shown an interest in my topic.

What is a blog network or blog aggregator?

The term "aggregator" is usually used to refer to tools or software, such as Google Reader, that aggregate RSS feeds to which you subscribe. For today's discussion, I'm instead referring to topically aggregated sites. Using this definition, a blog network or aggregator is a Web site that aggregates posts from multiple blogs into one central location. Simple aggregators can be made using tools such as Yahoo pipes to combine the RSS feeds from multiple blogs. More full-featured aggregators can be programmed to not only pull in the feeds from multiple sources but to also organize and archive them in a way that allows users to search or explore by keyword tags, author, blog name, date, etc.

Blog network and aggregator are often used interchangeably, but there can be some differences. Networks are usually composed of member bloggers who have joined the network to share their posts. Some networks, such as REALNEO, provide multi-authored group blogging within their own interface—rather than by aggregating individual blogs—while some aggregators simply pull in feeds from related blogs without active participation from the original writers. There are also networks that post only selected articles from their participating authors in order to focus on very particular topics.

As is true with any site, an aggregator is only as good as the content it presents. Ideally a good aggregator will pool together high-quality content from blogs that are topically or otherwise related. Well produced aggregators are like specialty stores offering a fine selection of a certain type of product. Just as one might go to a bakery, such as Lucy's Sweet Surrender, for a selection of desserts, one might go to Food Candy for a selection of posts from food blogs.

Finding good aggregators and blog networks

As aggregators have become more common, they're relatively easy to find via Google or your preferred search engine. If you search on the term "aggregator" plus a topically relevant word or phrase you are likely to find a relevant site. If nothing comes up, try combining your search term with "blog network." If you are already reading a number of blogs in your area of interest, you may find that some are already participating in an aggregating network/site. Try looking in their sidebars or links pages to see if they are participating in such a site. Professional associations, both academic and otherwise, may also aggregate content from their members. If you belong to such organizations, peruse their Web sites to see if they offer such a service.

Joining a blog network

If you have a well-established blog with a clear editorial theme you may well be ready to join a network. First find a few blog networks that fit your subject area. Read a number of the entries to get a sense of the writing styles and the breadth and depth of the subjects covered. If you think that your blog would be a good fit, contact the maintainers. Many networks will provide a submission form for prospective members. Some networks are highly selective, only selecting blogs that meet certain quality or topical requirements, while others may accept any blog pertinent to the subject area. When submitting your blog, take care to provide the required information and provide a good description of your content. Before submitting your blog, re-read your entries, checking your spelling, grammar and content just as you might if submitting an article for a professional journal or magazine.

Help! I didn't join this network, but they're aggregating my content! Is that legal? Ethical?

The first time I saw one of my blog entries republished on someone else's blog—without the proper attribution—I got a bit miffed. I ranted and raved at my friends about intellectual property, ethics and so forth. I composed angry letters in my head. I imagined my lawyer friends composing angry letters for me. Since then this has happened a few times, but I've mellowed out about it. Typically this happens with sites that are trying to make money by repurposing other people's content and selling advertising. Also typically the sites are a design nightmare, the content is mangled and mutilated, and they have very low rankings in Google, Technorati, etc. Most of these sites don't last because they don't provide anything useful to their readers. Their content seems to include a bit of everything and entries are truncated. So if any reader happens to stumble upon them, they'll probably have to click on the header to read the full article. In most cases that will bring them back to my blog, because I've included the link in my entry headers.

Legally and ethically this sort of thing gets a bit murky. I expect I could do a whole series of entries on this issue alone. But as a blogger who has produced an RSS feed—designed to be read through RSS readers, shared via Google Reader Share pages, republished via Facebook, Tumblr and the networks to which I belong—I think the question is more about usage. Obviously I expect my content to be shared, I just have certain expectations of how this should be done.

When I share other people's entries via my Google Share page, I'm promoting them as something worth reading, just as I would be if I were simply linking to their content. Google takes the content directly from the author feeds and clearly displays the original source and author. I think that attribution makes the difference. If someone aggregates my content in a manner that makes authorship and source clear, with a link to the original article, then readers will clearly understand the source was me. If they like the content they may visit and/or subscribe to my blog directly and I'll have gained a new reader. So from a marketing standpoint, being aggregated—whether I did it on purpose or not—serves my own goals as well as the goals of the aggregator. (This issue gets murky again if the aggregating site generates ad revenue, but let's leave that discussion for another day.)

Aggregation matches bloggers with their target audience.

As often as we talk about search engine optimization, social media marketing and so forth, our primary marketing goal is to put our content in front of readers who care about our subject matter. Having your blog included in an aggregated site on your topic does just that. Readers who subscribe or visit that site have already shown an interest in your area. They are far more likely to become long-term readers than will the teenager who found your site on Google after you mentioned Britney Spears three times in your entry on hadron super colliders.

Blog Network and Aggregator Resources

• Blog Network Watch
• Bloggers Creating Networks (NPR)
• Intranet 2.0: Blog Networks, Social Bookmarking, Mash-Ups And Wikis
• Should Newspapers Become Local Blog Networks?
• Why I Don’t Like Blog Networks

The Web Development Blog is aggregated in Planet Case, The Cleveland Web Standards Association, Blog High Ed, and other sites of which I may not be aware.

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