I’ve been a fan of MyBlogLog since before they were purchased by Yahoo! But they are steadily going downhill.
I have proof.
The Salad Days
There was a time when I considered MyBlogLog a wonderful thing. Back say nearly a year and a half ago I posted about a problem with the MyBlogLog widget that I had. Eric Marcoullier, one of the founders of MyBlogLog, stopped by and commented to help out.
That was a pretty good day.
Then there was meeting Robyn Tippins at SOBCon last year. She’s a sharp lady and was the MyBlogLog Community Manager at the time. Too bad for us she’s moved on to another position at Yahoo. But that was a good day too.
Those were sorta the salad days of MyBlogLog.
We had this nice little widget in the side bar that showed the avitars of all the MBL members who stopped by. It even put the images in the comments. And you could do a little networking on their site too. Mingle with other bloggers and get find other great blogs.
But then something happened. Or more correctly, then not much of anything happened.
MyBlogLog has sorta stayed exactly the same since their peak shortly after the Yahoo purchase. There’s been a lot of talk lately about the lameness of MyBlogLog.
Another Player
Since MyBlogLog seems content to rest on their laurels as a Yahoo holding, others are coming on the scene and providing the social interaction that MyBlogLog should have been adding to their feature set all along.
One direct competitor that seems to be gaining traction is Blogcatalog.
Blogcatalog has a remarkably similar recent visitor widget and they also have a directory of blogs. But unlike MyBlogLog Blogcatalog breaks their directory out by categies which makes it much easier to find blogs in a particular niche.
Another thing that Blogcatalog seems to be doing better is the whole social media, user generated content, networking thing. They’ve got discussions you can join in on or start your own. There are different interest groups you can join, again with a topically organized directory.
If someone messages you at Blogcatalog and you answer back you can break out that particular discussion thread and see the entire conversation with both sides in one place. It drove me nuts having to click back and forth between the different profiles on MyBLogLog as I tried to figure out if someone replying to something I said (and what did I say then anyway?)
Traffic Shift
Remember I said I had proof that MyBlogLog is going down hill? Well take a look at this graphic comparison of the two sites’ Alexa Reach over the last year.
A year ago MyBlogLog was at its height after usage shot up with the Yahoo purchase. And it’s been going down hill ever since.
In contrast Blogcatalog has been steadily climbing to the point where it has now overtaken MyBlogLog. I don’t see anything in the near term that is going to change those trends.
So don’t be surprised to see the widget in the sidebar changing out soon here at SuccessCREEations. If more of you readers are using Blogcatalog I’ve got no reason to stay with MyBlogLog.
In today’s web publishing world change is always just a couple mouse clicks away. All of us have to earn our right to people’s attention.
So catch the rising wave and join Blogcatalog.
While you are at it, feel free to check out my Blogcatalog profile and join my circle of friends there. And if you like what you get from the blog here, why not join the SuccessCREEations neighborhood too while there?
What an excellent comparison, Chris. Why didn’t I think of that
Skipping the joke, it’s so obvious that MBL is lame and it’s getting clearer that the matter is the people behind the business. Ian should attend SOB this year to learn how to be a member of the community.
Chris …great post and in line totally with what is going on. We are all sad that these potentially great sites are going down fast.
Always,
Phil
Chris — I left in July, so I have no real vested interest in anyone’s perception of MyBlogLog, but I do invite you to check out two posts.
Something New: F*** Me You Guys Really Outdid Yourselves {Editor’s Note: Strong language in post title.}
Accurate Stats:
http://mybloglogb.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/2008-state-of-t.html
It sounds like the service hasn’t lived up to your expectations, but I am continually blown away by the number of sites I visit that have the reader roll in the sidebar.
Dude, just saw your comment policy and realized I have a pretty strong URL there. Feel free to edit and replace with this TinyUrl that goes to the same place:
http://tinyurl.com/32qgtr
I joined both BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog at the same time last year; and I liked BlogCatalog better from the very beginning. In fact: I rarely made any visits unto MyBlogLog after the first week or so because of finding it so much easier to make contacts on BlogCatalog.
Therefore: I decided to remove our blogs from MyBlogLog; but couldn’t. For I had signed-on before Yahoo took over; and I now needed a Yahoo email account before they would let me sign-in. Yeah, it says that they will be automaticaly removed if left inactive for a certain amount of time; but it’s just the principle of matter that irritates me.
Please forgive the rant. I do feel better now, however.
Hi Chris, this is just to let you know that I was fed up with MBL’s lack of respect (if you go back on my blog and read their comments you’ll also see why) – so today I deleted my MBL account and replaced the damn widget with the BlogCatalog one. I find the social features at BC much more appealing actually. I wonder why I kept distance for so long.
Mig, I am a late comer to BC because I was fixated on MBL for sentimental reasons. Your post on the MBL Help section dust-up got me thinking about value of the two sites & which one I just plain liked better. A little poking around and it seems I’m not alone.
Phil, Today’s online world is ruthlessly Darwinian. If the good folks at MBL don’t step up they will be left behind, sentimental feelings notwithstanding.
FishHawk, I had problems logging into MBL after the switch to Yahoo ID’s too. Got stuck in a dead end “click here” loop. Fortunately for me Robyn was able to connect me to the right tech guy over there to get my 2 accounts to sync up. Not sure who the right person over there to talk with would be anymore but you might reach out to Ian and see if he can point you in the right direction.
Eric, No harm, no foul. {Well a little foul
} Your comments ended up in moderation somehow so I had a chance to edit the post title link. And that’s what I get for not checking my moderated comments before I start commenting in the AM.
I’m glad to see y’all are making improvements. And I look forward to seeing how they stack up against your competition. May the best service win.
Oh, and I’m looking forward to seeing whatever it is you’ve got cooking when it’s ready for release.
And I am still a MyBlogLog big fan.
I dunno, I still kinda like the new and groovy MBL widget. I still don’t have any special preferences towards either MBL or BlogCatalog. What I like about BC though is that I’m notified of anyone who adds my into their friends list so I can easily reciprocate the add, something that MBL doesn’t have, does it?
Jochim, And you’re not alone. If I read the MyBlogLog stats post that Eric shared with us correctly there are bunches of us still using it. Though honestly the number of active user accounts was conspicuously absent from that stat sharing. Hmmm…
Lorna, The newer MBL widget is a little slicker. I’ll give you that. But I’m not looking for slickness so much as ability to connect with other bloggers. And as you point out, that is an area that Blogcatalog seems to be doing better.
Chris – “Active” is a funny word when discussing mybloglog. The whole point of the service was that we added value without you having to do anything explicit. As long as someone is registered and have a cookie set, they are showing up on the tens of thousands of sites that have the reader roll installed, passively sharing their interests with others. And even if a blogger does’t check out the details of the people in their widget, they still gain a tremendous sense of validation by seeing faces on their page.
It’s not that I’m complaining Eric. I sure as heck didn’t create something as valuable what you’ve done coming up with MyBlogLog. I’ve been happy to benefit from the work you did.
And like I said. I’m looking forward to seeing where your creativity takes you next with your new venture.
Why was MyBlogLog sold to Yahoo? It was earlier so good.
I always use Blogcatalog and I am always satisfied with it.
Thanks for the heads up … I was just about to set up MBL.
BTW, now that my small biz marketing blog is on track – thanks to you – it might be of interest to some of your readers.
Martina, I’m guessing Yahoo bought MyBlogLog for the tracking stats. Even beyond what we see on the stats page for our blog they have the theoretical ability to track every single click we make as long as we stay logged into our MBL account.
Whether they actually track all that on the Yahoo side is something I don’t know. But they probably could if they wanted to. And that would tell them a ton about our web habits, which would be well worth the millions they paid for the company.
Jochim, I suspect people will find different value in either service. But there is no denying that Blogcatalog’s popularity is growing.
John, Marketing is something that I think most small business owners could benefit from understanding better. I know I sure could. I’ll be checking out what you have to say over at your place.
There are too many social media and wiki type sites out there. It’s becoming deluted. I hadn’t heard of Blogcatelog…I’ll take a look. Thanks.
I agree that Blog Catalog is doing a lot of good stuff. And its community features (groups and a central forum) are arguably better than MyBlogLog.
The opening of the API looks to provide a way for MyBlogLog to take ground back. However, if that will a) increase traffic or b) increase community features remains to be seen. I think the area where it could have an impact is in the mashup space.
I know a local firm here in Nashville Raven created a community widget to put on your blog that looks nice–but beyond better looking widgets that marginally increase community I haven’t seen much.
Thanks for the stumble!
I always use Blogcatalog and I am always satisfied with it.
What I hate about both of the is the time on site and Bounce rate most people just go to your profile and say nice blog they don’t even mention one of your posts and think you will visit them.They should also do something about the site navigation as it’s crap on both of them.Plus all the Spammy comments and Strange Requests from Publishers.