Question: Do you like using MyBlogLog?
Today’s question revolves around your view of a specific blogging service: MyBlogLog. At its simplest, MyBlogLog is a service that is supposed to help you track specific people who visit your website, along with those people’s details like name, gender, any associated website, etc. Keeping that definition of MyBlogLog in mind, do you like using MyBlogLog?
A while ago I talked about 5 things that MyBlogLog can improve. I can see some of the improvements being implemented that I recommended to Eric at MyBlogLog, like the revamped MyBlogLog community pages, where the focus is more on the related blog itself through the use of RSS feeds instead of having the RSS feed be a non-significant part of a community.
Following are some pros and cons of using MyBlogLog. If you can think of any other things, please let me know and I will update this list and give you credit.
Pros and Cons of using MyBlogLog
Pros:
- Track some people who visit your site
- Get traffic by having other MyBlogLog members visit your site, similar to a traffic exchange network where members visit anyone voluntarily who visits their site
- The MyBlogLog team is trying hard to listen to the readers and improve the service as one of their main priorities, thus you have greater chances of having your suggestions implemented than before
- Be able to see a list of regular MyBlogLog readers who like your website on a regular basis
Cons:
- Track only other MyBlogLog members
- Available only if the widget is displayed
- MyBlogLog code can slow down or halt your site - for an example, see the attached image of how MyBlogLog sometimes halts The Reasoner - opens in a new window. The screenshot image is an example of how the MyBlogLog code keeps waiting for something to load from the Yahoo/MyBlogLog servers, and my website is never completely loaded in such cases.
- MyBlogLog widget is not customizable
- MyBlogLog communities are currently blogrolls being spammed by many members
Do the MyBlogLog Pros outweigh the Cons for you, or vice versa?
So, if you have a blog, do you like using MyBlogLog? If you do not have a blog, or have not used MyBlogLog yet, would you like using MyBlogLog on your site?
Please let me know. Thank you. 
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( July 8th, 2007 at 11:32 am )
I used it to get people to go to my site to invite them as a friend, I have picked up a few readers that way.
I have to say that I do like their stats program too, it is just easier to use than some of the ones I currently run.
( July 8th, 2007 at 12:27 pm )
Thanks for the comment Kevin. Their stats program is indeed interesting, specially for tracking a simple list of 10 incoming and outgoing links. For me, I am starting to have a lot of ideas on how to improve the service dramatically so that readers on any site, including mine, are not subject to slowdowns or inconvenience of any kind, and at the same time, move MyBlogLog to the next level. Let’s see what happens. For me, as a blogger or a site owner, readers come first.
What kind of other stats programs do you usually use, besides the one that comes with MyBlogLog?
( July 8th, 2007 at 2:48 pm )
I like mybloglog. It’s nice to see who visits your page. That’s reason enough to have the widget I think. It is somewhat customizable. You can change the colors and the row/column number which is nice. As far as suggestions, maybe they could add a ranking for each blog based on members or clicks.
( July 8th, 2007 at 3:57 pm )
I like it, especially for a new blog. It does make me nervous sometimes, though. If I am “stalking” someone’s site–for example, trying to figure out what exactly is working for them, I wonder what that person thinks. It perhaps is a bit big brotherish. What happens when we become accustomed to having our online movements tracked?
( July 8th, 2007 at 5:59 pm )
I like it for the most part but then again I really don’t pay much attention to it here lately.
But the widget is customizable a bit, with CSS.
( July 8th, 2007 at 9:46 pm )
I am not a big fan of mybloglog. I guess it is because I don’t use that a lot. I do like how I am able to network with some impressive people and that has been my only real benefit from it.
( July 9th, 2007 at 4:30 pm )
tallfreak, thanks for your comment. It is indeed nice to be able to pinpoint exactly who visits a page. You are right; it is “somewhat customizable“, though it does remind me of MySpace coding where you can’t play much with stuff unless you decide to hide things by changing the code on your own, like changing css show/visible attributes.
Hmmm, that’s a good idea. By ranking, do you mean MyBlogLog popularity?
Bloggrrl, thanks for the comment too. A new blog can indeed benefit from this, as it will allow one to gain publicity quickly, by letting others know “Hey, I visited your site, here is my MyBlogLog avatar and clicking it will take you to my MyBlogLog profile page.”
Heh, about stalking, I think a lot of times I want privacy, so I log out of MyBlogLog or use another browser to visit websites. Otherwise, MyBlogLog does the job itself by tracking me [scary!]. Sometimes, some people will keep visiting my blog and not do anything but visit and go away, and I notice them doing the same thing repeatedly on other blogs too. It is like a negative linkbait type action - luring bloggers and others into thinking that someone is visiting a site, while in reality only visiting websites to get more people to visit their MyBlogLog profiles. That is a huge drawback of using the service at this moment.
Hmmm, if everyone ever becomes accustomed to having their online movements tracked, then we can move onto the next phase of tracking everything possible. Right now, there are many people out there who do not mind having every online action of theirs being tracked. Well, isn’t that one of the reasons Yahoo bought MyBlogLOg, to be able to realize what people are doing, clicking, visiting, among other things? What better way to do it than through a service that people install themselves to have their own selves tracked.
Valerie, thanks for sharing. Yes, using CSS we can customize it a bit, but considering the fact that it is still suffering and hasn’t improved much yet, I am wondering everyday on how to actually improve it more and more, or whether it is actually needed on many blogs.
I have seen places where they have MyBlogLog code but they have hidden it completely so no one sees it, and they place it at the bottom of a page so that even if the code takes a long time to load images or something from MyBlogLog or Yahoo servers, the main top part of the page will still load normally. Clever, or evil?
Cade, thanks for the comment. Your new nickname is interesting; moving from Cade to Cade@BusinessOpportunity.
Is there a reason why you do not use MyBlogLog, or is one of the above cons applicable in your case? Yes, like I said above, MyBlogLog does allow you to be able to find out exactly who is visiting your site if that visitor is also a signed-in MyBlogLog member, and that can allow you to start interacting at will. Of course, many people use that concept, of being able to interact, to actually start spamming and leaving “Thank you for visiting my profile” messages multiple times. It can become really annoying.
Thanks again.
( July 11th, 2007 at 6:56 pm )
I like the new layout of the community page with the RSS feed. The TAGs are great, but there is still somethign missing.
I don’t use the widget code on my blog. Too much javascript slows page load.
MBL is great for networking, best Social Network site I have used so far.
BeachBum
( July 12th, 2007 at 12:31 am )
Thanks for sharing that information BeachBum, it is very relevant. The tags are indeed confusing at the moment, and I personally have not delved into them at all. Good point; the code adds to the amount of javascript a page might already have, though that is also something that is not directly under the control of MyBlogLog. I am hoping MyBlogLog can be taken to the next level of social networking.
A little bit off-topic: your site says “Project Members Area & MyBlogLog Contact Finder - Only $5 for 1 Year.” Could you explain a bit more about that to me please? It seems something relevant to the MyBlogLog business model. Thank you.
( August 4th, 2007 at 9:00 pm )
I was using MyBlogLog, but after I started looking at the number and size of the images that it was requesting I removed it. The images are displayed small but many of them are really quite large and only scaled down in the browser. Overall it just slows things down. I still log into MyBlogLog though, so as I surf my little pic shows up and directs people to my site.