There are a few styles of blog posts. Note: this is not a comprehensive list.
- Personal – Posts about the writers personal life. I tend to avoid these as much as possible.
- Subject-based – Take a subject (film, music, web design etc) and write about it, or a subset thereof (a particular film, song, technique etc). I do a fair few in this style, and always have.
- Link-based – A collection of links to other interesting stuff on the net, maybe with a small amount of commentary. This is what the rest of this post is about.
When I started this site, there were practically no link-based posts. I didn’t really think them to have much value, preferring to add something to the blogosphere rather than just passing on other information.
A while ago, I realised this was a mistake. There is nothing wrong with being a conduit for useful entries. In fact, it’s one of the biggest contributions you can make to the blogosphere. By the simple act of linking to something you find interesting or useful, you help bind the web and allow others to discover articles that they find interesting. As link theory suggests, the more people linking to something, the more people will see it. This effect rises exponentially.
So really, there is no shame in having links based posts. You’re just doing your part to keep everything fresh and good. Nice work!