As a new blogger with much still to learn, I have spent a fair amount of my time visiting blogs to get some sense of what bloggers blog and what their visitors like to read.
It was therefore only a matter of time before I found myself at Gawker, the flagship blog in Nick Denton's Gawker Media blogging "empire."
(The quotation marks around the word "empire" are more Mr. Denton's punctuation than mine, as he has made clear at various times that he regards Gawker Media as anything but an empire, and he rolls his eyes when people use this term to describe it.)
But empire or no, Gawker is undeniably big within the blogosphere. Its presence looms large.
At the time of this writing, Gawker was looming this large:
VISITS
Total 62,504,637
Average Per Day 193,065
Average Visit Length 0:12
Last Hour 3,629
Today 24,336
This Week 1,351,458
PAGE VIEWS
Total 78,620,881
Average Per Day 265,030
Average Per Visit 1.4
Last Hour 5,464
Today 39,112
This Week 1,855,213
And this was on a Sunday morning.
By contrast, my own blog was looming less-than-large:
VISITS
Total 1,009
Average Per Day 22
Average Visit Length 6:01
Last Hour 1
Today 8
This Week 155
PAGE VIEWS
Total 1,949
Average Per Day 60
Average Per Visit 2.7
Last Hour 1
Today 10
This Week 419
And although this was also on a Sunday morning, I clearly had something to learn from Gawker, if I wanted anyone to read my blog.
The problem was, I didn't get Gawker. I really didn't care for it.
Perhaps this was due to my inauspicious introduction to Gawker. Although I had heard of it and even surfed past it once or twice during my blog travels, I didn't really start paying attention to it until I came across a reference to Blackface Jesus in a post by The Assimilated Negro.
Having never heard of Blackface Jesus, I first thought it was a band of some sort. But I later learned that Blackface Jesus was actually a hipster* in New York who puts on blackface, a crown of thorns, an American flag, and not much else, and shows up in various public venues. He also gives puzzling interviews couched in quasi-messianic language and advocates the use of hybrid taxis in New York.
Article comments
1 - Eric Berlin
I thoroughly enjoyed this, Jumper, thanks!
2 - Elvira Black
Jumper:
All I can say is: Let's hear it for the old farts!
I'm a NYC blogger, and an opinionated one. My very limited and unscientific view of some fellow NYC bloggers is that they have the passive agressive, detached irony schtick down pat. And I know it's uncool to admit, but that bugs me.
As a blogger, I hate it when I comment to a blog and they don't respond--except maybe if you've insulted them anonymously. Otherwise, it's just assumed that to acknowlege a comment is just not cool. Somehow, I think hip NYC bloggers tend to do this more than those from, say, the midwest. I know it's their right, and I have no right to kvetch, but it bugs me. It seems to say--read me, don't read me, respond or not--I don't really care. And admitting that I do care makes me feel very vulnerable and foolish. But too bad! There, I said it!
Anyway, thanks for the great post--I can relate!
3 - Lisa McKay
Jumper, I've chosen this piece as one of my Editor's Picks this week - we old farts gotta stick together. Nice work!