By Ellyn Angelotti, Interactivity Editor and Adjunct Faculty
Contributor: Dave Mastio, Editor of blognetnews.com
According to Technorati, 175,000 new blogs are born every day. Bloggers post 18 new updates every second.
This overabundance of options can be overwhelming. That’s why we’ve been working with BlogNetNews to create the Poynter blog network. We want to direct you to what we think are the most informative journalism blogs. And we also want to make it easy for you to share the Poynter blog network with others.
BlogNetNews has been around for about a year creating blogging communities based on topic, such as politics, and location. You can select any state (for example see Virginia’s page) and find a collection of blogs from that area. They are teaming up with news organizations like the Knoxville News Sentinel to create hyperlocal community blogs.
We created the Poynter blog network as a guide to journalism and media news blogs.The Poynter blog network is divided into eight sections:
2. Ethics & Diversity
3. Journalism Education & Training
4. Leadership & Management
5. Online & Multimedia
6. Reporting, Writing & Editing
7. TV & Radio
8. Visual Journalism
Blogs feeds in context
Each section aggregates excerpts from a variety of blogs and news feeds related to the topic.
In the center column, these posts are organized with the most recent information on the top of the page. When you want to read a full post, simply click on the headline and a new tab will open taking you to the site. When you want to read more from that blog or news source, click on the name of the site and you’ll get an index of its latest posts. You can also filter the content in the middle column to read content that is only news or only opinion.
Finding what’s important
In the left column of the site are a series of measures that organize blog posts by a variety of measures.
Looking for the news stories that are getting the most links? Check out Top News. Want to participate in ongoing debates and discussions? Follow the links in Hot Comments. Want to find the sites with the most new information? Follow the links in Most Active. Want to know what other Poynter readers are clicking on? Most Clicked is for you.
Here’s a more detailed explanation:
Top News: Most popular news stories from mainstream sources that Poynter blog network sites are linking to today. (What the blogs are talking about.)
Hot Comments: Poynter blog network posts with the most new comments according to their publicly available site feeds. (Where the blog community is talking.)
Most Linked: Poynter blog network blogs that have been linked by other network blogs the most this week. (The blogs that are leading the conversation.)
Most Clicked: The blog posts that Poynter readers click on most.
Most Active: Poynter blog network sites with the most new posts in the last 24 hours. (Where new conversations are starting.)
Search
Each section in the Poynter blog network also includes a targeted search engine that tracks only the feeds in the section. Unlike a Google or a Technorati, human editors focus the search on the experts, the innovators and the news breakers. So, you won’t end up clicking through to a site that is a waste of time.
The blog network will come to you.
Every single page inside the Poynter blog network comes with its own feed. If you use a feed reader, you can stream the contents of any section and search results. Just click on the RSS link on the bottom left of the page or in your URL bar.
Feedcentral (located in the left rail) features an even more customized information or more customized delivery. Getting feeds about a single company or news industry issue delivered how you want – email, widget, standard feed, or optimized for mobile — is as simple as pointing and clicking while following a few simple steps.
We even have a couple of widgets to help you share this resource with your online community. The Poynter Blogwire displays the latest stories from each section. Also, the Poynter blog network search widget enables you search the Poynter Blog network from your own blog.
And take the Poynter Blog network with you on your mobile device using the BuzMob service (it’s in beta stage right now).
What blogs are we pulling content from?
Find our the blogs that we have included in the blog network in the right rail. Did we miss one? Submit a blog by clicking on the button located at the bottom of the right rail.
Want to see your blog in the Poynter blog network? Send us a link.
