I don't subscribe to or read regularly any so-called "A-List" blogs. As a matter of fact, that term bugs me - "A-List" according to whom? If I don't give a shit about TechMeme or Daily Kos (and I don't), then to me it's not "A-List" at all. I have my own A-List that's composed of what's most relevant and interesting to me!

Re: "The people I did miss though were what I would call friends or colleagues. I found myself missing their blogs not because of what they wrote about, I just missed them." - I feel exactly the same way. The blogs that I like the best are the ones that are about *people*, not just disembodied *issues*. I like when you can really sense a person's passion for whatever it is they're writing about - and I also like glimpses into their everyday lives, even if it's something supposedly "boring" like what they had for lunch. For some reason a lot of people call this "voyeuristic" (with the assumption that that's a bad thing, of course) when it happens online, but offline it's good old-fashioned friendship. Those "boring" discussions are the kinds of conversations I have with friends in meatspace, so it's no surprise that's what I enjoy online, too.

Sorry for the over-use of quotation marks in this post. Sometimes I tend to get carried away.

I've been thinking quite a bit about the echo-chamber that so many of these macro-networks have become. The same people chugging on the same topics over and over within their own universe. I would imagine a lot of people, when they prune their lists, tend to retreat back into the comfortable zone of feeds from people they know, agree with often or at a minimum share something with. There's nothing wrong with that, we all have limited time to read these things, but overall I wonder if that contributes to this echo rather than expanding the view.

Todd Defren and I went back and forth on this a while ago -- I don't pay ANY attention to the A-list, including some of the big names in PR/marketing blogs. Whenever they say anything truly important, someone will link to it. I find that often they're writing stuff just to try to stay on top, or they publish constantly just to try to stay on top. I'd much rather read people who are interested in me and my students and are willing to (dare I say enthusiastically?) interact with us. You can't build a relationship without that interest.

"I wonder if that contributes to this echo rather than expanding the view."

I think that's a totally separate thing altogether. My point (and I think Josh's too) was that for me, I DGAS about so-called "industry leaders" unless I find them to also be *interesting people*. And honestly whenever I *do* look at so-called A-List blogs, a lot of it seems like the same old thing over and over. In my experience, the really interesting stuff is being talked about on the blogs that the "big guys" don't deign to visit.

Fortunately, I haven't removed you from the blogs I read because I would have hated to miss this.

Next time I'm in Orlando, I am *so* hacking into your top folder to see if I am there...

But if I'm still in the J-List folder, that will be fine with me.

Can I borrow that shirt? I want to walk through my newsroom wearing it. Alternating with a wife-beater that reads, "It's 2008. Update your blog."

This was a relevant post! I also struggle with too many feeds. When the should-reads outweigh the want-to-reads, it's time to clean house.

Heya Josh -
First off, I also want that shirt (and the wifebeater tee mentioned in an earlier comment)!

I am in agreement about reducing the signal:noise ratio. It's true that anything truly relevant from the A-Listers will be heavily linked-to and/or hit Techmeme. Still, in our biz in particular, it can pay to be right-on-top of what that gang is talking about, eh? And if you have clients who may need their attention, it's easier to do so if you maintain an actual relationship with them.

Having said that, the A-list blogs tend to be the LAST ones I read. More and more of them are ABOUT them, instead of about their READERS.

That is a neat thought. I'm glad I got snagged in here to read this post. I've been feeling guilty for neglecting my bloglines account. You just can keep up with so many people online if you are going to have a life. It makes sense to make it the folks who you would "miss" if you didn't. ;)

Josh - I find that if I relate to someone's personality or voice, I read them first. As feeds multiply in my reader, it becomes easy to delete faceless news sources, but impossible to delete those who have become characters in my life.
Have a nice evening.
-Dan

I've done a New Year purge of one of my feed readers and am only including the feeds I am always keen to read. So this post is very timely. And of course, hyku is in the fresh new list!