Italian weblog directory June 1, 2002 7:56 AM Subscribe
A nice Italian Weblog Directory if you feel like traveling. How much longer before it all becomes truly global?
This simply had caught my eye from my DMOZ link above : "This category {weblogs) in other languages: Dutch (129), French (15) German (130) Italian (27) , Japanese (17) Norwegian (41) Polish (34) and Spanish (27)" out of the total 2,425. Seemed light (though perhaps the directory is simply incomplete, or perhaps many weblogs written in English originate in other countries.) I wonder how many "widely read" weblogs are written by people living outside the US and UK? Likewise, I wonder how much weblog traffic comes from readers living outside the US or UK? (My certainly completely ignorant guess is 90% US/UK and 10% rest of the world, on both counts.) Would be great to see real stats or expert testimony.
posted by Voyageman at 10:16 AM on June 1, 2002
posted by Voyageman at 10:16 AM on June 1, 2002
I vote for "simply incomplete". 2,425 isn't nearly 1% of the blogs out there today. As for traffic, my own stats (admittedly not the most widely-read blog, especially post-hiatus, but I have been around for a while, allowing for lots of google-ins and such) are closer 95% US, 3% Can-UK-Aus, and 2% rest of world.
One of the busiest blogs is Glenn Reynolds, and he shows a similar breakdown.
But then we both tend to focus on US-centric issues. I suspect a few pop-culture blogs, as well as MeFi, might be slightly more international than that -- though certainly that would be skewed by even a few dedicated users. Some of the Unix-community blogs -- Slashdot and Kuro5hin among them -- will likely have a higher international readership. And I'm sure if you're a topical blog -- say, for a popular band -- you'll be able to attract fans from a much wider area.
Really, though, I don't think that many bloggers are looking for a real international audience -- or readers are seeking blogs outside their language or culture. Just the opposite, really.
posted by dhartung at 5:47 PM on June 2, 2002
One of the busiest blogs is Glenn Reynolds, and he shows a similar breakdown.
But then we both tend to focus on US-centric issues. I suspect a few pop-culture blogs, as well as MeFi, might be slightly more international than that -- though certainly that would be skewed by even a few dedicated users. Some of the Unix-community blogs -- Slashdot and Kuro5hin among them -- will likely have a higher international readership. And I'm sure if you're a topical blog -- say, for a popular band -- you'll be able to attract fans from a much wider area.
Really, though, I don't think that many bloggers are looking for a real international audience -- or readers are seeking blogs outside their language or culture. Just the opposite, really.
posted by dhartung at 5:47 PM on June 2, 2002
Perhaps since it's a photoblog, and partly because it's received a couple of well placed international reviews, my site gets at least 50% of its visitors from Europe and Asia.
posted by crunchland at 7:49 PM on June 2, 2002
posted by crunchland at 7:49 PM on June 2, 2002
I think you can get an international readership if you read and link to international sites / bloggers. (Post your results if you try it!)
Globe of Blogs
The Pepys Project
Hoder - Are there any other Persian weblogs?
"Yes, there are now more than 600 Persian weblogs covering different issues and ideas. Many of the writers of these weblogs now live in Iran, where having access to the Internet is still somehow difficult and expensive ..."
Blogs in Spanish
Indian Bloggers Ring
Israeli Blogs Index
Bloghaus BlogScout - German blogs
Joelhasso - Portuguese - Brasil
Farid Iskandar - Indonesia
Amma's Column
Green and Left Blogs
BlogHop - English, Portuguese, German, Spanish bloggers and others
posted by sheauga at 9:29 PM on June 2, 2002
Globe of Blogs
The Pepys Project
Hoder - Are there any other Persian weblogs?
"Yes, there are now more than 600 Persian weblogs covering different issues and ideas. Many of the writers of these weblogs now live in Iran, where having access to the Internet is still somehow difficult and expensive ..."
Blogs in Spanish
Indian Bloggers Ring
Israeli Blogs Index
Bloghaus BlogScout - German blogs
Joelhasso - Portuguese - Brasil
Farid Iskandar - Indonesia
Amma's Column
Green and Left Blogs
BlogHop - English, Portuguese, German, Spanish bloggers and others
posted by sheauga at 9:29 PM on June 2, 2002
Having existed for a longish while and being read at least a little bit widely, might as well throw my own numbers into the mix:
90% US
4% UK-Canada-Australia
6% Everywhere Else
But yeah, I can't say that I'm particularly seeking an international audience. (Any audience outside of the lucrative "people who Google in looking for porn and immediately flee upon finding none" demographic will do, really.)
posted by youhas at 1:42 AM on June 3, 2002
90% US
4% UK-Canada-Australia
6% Everywhere Else
But yeah, I can't say that I'm particularly seeking an international audience. (Any audience outside of the lucrative "people who Google in looking for porn and immediately flee upon finding none" demographic will do, really.)
posted by youhas at 1:42 AM on June 3, 2002
I do aim for an international audience. I'm Dutch, my blog's in English. I don't particularly address Dutch issues a lot, I guess you could call it an anglophile blog.
My stats say: 37.7% Netherlands, 24.5% USA, 9.0% UK, 4.0% Belgium, 3.7% Canada, 1.9% Australia, 1.7% Ireland, 1.3% Germany, 1.2% Sweden, 0.7% Singapore, 6.9% unknown, 7.4% ROW.
I am surprised with the large Dutch number.
posted by prolific at 1:59 AM on June 3, 2002
My stats say: 37.7% Netherlands, 24.5% USA, 9.0% UK, 4.0% Belgium, 3.7% Canada, 1.9% Australia, 1.7% Ireland, 1.3% Germany, 1.2% Sweden, 0.7% Singapore, 6.9% unknown, 7.4% ROW.
I am surprised with the large Dutch number.
posted by prolific at 1:59 AM on June 3, 2002
FWIW, I am based in South Korea but still, understandably I suppose, get more than half my visitors from North America :
1. North-America 54.5 %
2. Asia 19.2 %
3. Europe 6.8 %
4. Australia 3.8 %
5. None (.net, .org) 0.6 %
6. Africa 0.3 %
7. Central America 0.1 %
8. South America 0.1 %
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:34 AM on June 3, 2002
1. North-America 54.5 %
2. Asia 19.2 %
3. Europe 6.8 %
4. Australia 3.8 %
5. None (.net, .org) 0.6 %
6. Africa 0.3 %
7. Central America 0.1 %
8. South America 0.1 %
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:34 AM on June 3, 2002
My blog's in Welsh, but more than half of my visitors are from outside the UK, most of whom (I presume) don't read the Language of Heaven™. I don't get that much in the way of porn Googlers - except for really bad one hand typists (looking for anaml sex? We're number one!). Language doesn't have to be a barrier - I found some interesting links on a Russian blog yesterday. I'd rather pick my way through the Cyrillic tangle, clicking here and there on likely looking stuff, than read another linkless entry about how drunk someone got last night.
posted by ceiriog at 4:09 AM on June 3, 2002
posted by ceiriog at 4:09 AM on June 3, 2002
Well, I did post something recently about how drunk I got, but it was when I was in Aberystwyth, Wales, during the World Cup in 1990...and it had a link, by gum!
(...back to here, but it was a link!)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:40 AM on June 3, 2002
(...back to here, but it was a link!)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:40 AM on June 3, 2002
LiveJournal has a pretty healthy amount of overseas users. Only 372K out of around 580K are from the US. We actually appear to be much stronger over in Asia than I expected, actually.
The most popular non-US countries? :
Canada - 24970 , United Kingdom - 16290, Australia - 9736, Russian Federation - 3670, Singapore - 2597, Germany - 2030, New Zealand (Aotearoa) - 1519, Netherlands - 1143, Japan - 1080, Brazil - 1015, Philippines - 881, Sweden - 801, Ireland - 721, Malaysia - 571, Norway - 562, France - 606, Israel - 508, Finland - 413, Hong Kong - 404, Mexico - 332, Spain - 319, Belgium - 257, Austria - 250, China - 213, Portugal - 206, Denmark - 198, South Africa - 198, Netherlands - 178, South Korea - 154, Taiwan - 153
posted by insomnia_lj at 5:56 PM on June 3, 2002
The most popular non-US countries? :
Canada - 24970 , United Kingdom - 16290, Australia - 9736, Russian Federation - 3670, Singapore - 2597, Germany - 2030, New Zealand (Aotearoa) - 1519, Netherlands - 1143, Japan - 1080, Brazil - 1015, Philippines - 881, Sweden - 801, Ireland - 721, Malaysia - 571, Norway - 562, France - 606, Israel - 508, Finland - 413, Hong Kong - 404, Mexico - 332, Spain - 319, Belgium - 257, Austria - 250, China - 213, Portugal - 206, Denmark - 198, South Africa - 198, Netherlands - 178, South Korea - 154, Taiwan - 153
posted by insomnia_lj at 5:56 PM on June 3, 2002
Ceiriog -
I'm not certain how it happened, but we have a very active Russian community on LiveJournal, with 3670 users in the Russian Federation.
The Russian blog you pointed out belongs to Anatoley Vorobey, a.k.a. Avva. He's also one of our top developers for LiveJournal, creating our international character support that makes the site translation project possible. Also, one of our most popular LiveJournal clients is created by a programmer who lives in St. Petersburg.
Hm... maybe Microsoft is right. Maybe open source *IS* a communist conspiracy! ;->
posted by insomnia_lj at 6:18 PM on June 3, 2002
I'm not certain how it happened, but we have a very active Russian community on LiveJournal, with 3670 users in the Russian Federation.
The Russian blog you pointed out belongs to Anatoley Vorobey, a.k.a. Avva. He's also one of our top developers for LiveJournal, creating our international character support that makes the site translation project possible. Also, one of our most popular LiveJournal clients is created by a programmer who lives in St. Petersburg.
Hm... maybe Microsoft is right. Maybe open source *IS* a communist conspiracy! ;->
posted by insomnia_lj at 6:18 PM on June 3, 2002
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posted by crunchland at 9:22 AM on June 1, 2002