IMO: The redesign looks good, except for the lack of a “Politics” tab under “Discover.”

Technorati tags: Technoratifeedback

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Speaking of redesign, the moonbats at digg are whining about the format of my blog post headlines. So, I’ve turned off the caps. (Update: Well, I tried to, but it didn’t work. If you know your way around MT, let me know what I need to do. Thanks. Update II: No more CAPS!) Not that it’ll cure their BDS. But it can’t hurt.

-Technorati now tracks 14 Million blogs,
-the number of blogs continues to double every 5.5 months, and
-a new blog is created every second.

These figures are sure to be cited over and over again by both bloggers and MSM reporters as evidence of the blogsphere’s phenomenal growth and reach.

As I’ve noted before, however, many (most? almost all?) of these blogs are either not updated regularly or are updated by automated programs (as opposed to actual human beings).

I’m not the only one who is skeptical of the fantastic numbers being thrown around. John Hawkins of Right Wing News did a little digging and concluded that there only a few thousand human-operated political blogs that update every day, i.e., less than one-tenth of one percent of the 14 million blogs tracked by Technorati.

P.S. Just want to make this clear: I heart Technorati. I’m just sayin’.

The Cassandra Page observes: “I would rather read an automated spamblog than the New York Times.”

* * *

Related:
The boom in faux blogs
About that tail…
Reality check, part II

First, some blogiversary expressions of gratitude:

Special thanks to the following people for their warm welcomes, words of advice/encouragement, and early links during mm.com’s incipient days: John, Paul, and Scott at Power Line, John Hawkins at Right Wing News, Frank J. at IMAO, Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom, Bill Ardolino at INDC Journal, Kevin Aylward and the Wizbang crew, Ace of Spades, Spoons, Captain Ed, and the folks at The Corner.

Warm thanks to my co-bloggers at The Immigration Blog. Thanks to all the commenters who contributed their insights and humor before the troll invasion forced me to shut down the comments section. Thanks to everyone who’s blogrolled this blog. Thanks to the trackbackers who’ve provided great insights, new angles, and worthy criticisms. Thanks to all my advertisers and to Henry Copeland and the Blogads.com team. Thanks to the creative minds at Movable Type; Sekimori, who designed the site; and Mark Jaquith, who keeps things running smoothly.

Most of all, thanks to all of you who visit regularly, and provide valuable tips and feedback every day. Your continued readership and activism are deeply, deeply appreciated.

***

Two figures have had an undeniable impact on this blog, as they have had on the blogosphere as a whole: Matt Drudge and Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds. Though he disdains the term “blog,” Drudge was and is the O.B.: the original blogger. His entrepreneurial spirit is often taken for granted now, but he inspired many of us long before our blogs were born. Here’s what I wrote about Drudge in December 1997 while working at the Seattle Times (reg reqd):

Matt Drudge is to plugged-in Internet news junkies what John Galt is to Ayn Rand acolytes: an anti-establishment renegade of mythical proportions who is defying a world in decline. The 30-year-old, self-made snoop runs an e-mail service and accompanying web site called the “Drudge Report.” He has taken the world of journalism and politics by storm. While TV news ratings sink and newspaper circulation stalls, Drudge’s site has exploded to 40,000 hits a day. Subscribers are alerted throughout the day to breaking world events, inside-the-Beltway scuffles, entertainment news and media spats.

With no formal training, no high-powered patrons, and a bare-bones home office in a cheap Los Angeles apartment, Drudge’s admirers (myself included) consider him a scrappy symbol of free speech, independence and bootstrap journalism.

Funny how similar that passage is now to much of the praise being heaped on bloggers now–eight years later.

Reynolds’ blog was one of the first I started reading, and remains one of the first I read every morning. Whether you agree with his politics or not, he sets blogospheric gold standards for ethics, etiquette, quality, and output.

A hat tip (see what I mean?) to both men for their contributions to Internet journalism.

***

For the statistics geeks, here are some of the imperfect but useful metrics of the year in the life of this blog:

Alexa…

Sitemeter (added in January 2005)…

Total visits as of today, 12:30pm: 6,341,092
Average Per Day 53,639
Average Visit Length 0:17

Total page views as of today, 12:30pm: 8,663,273
Average Per Day 72,033
Average Per Visit 1.3

Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem…

4.Michelle Malkin (3257)

Truth Laid Bear Traffic…

11) Michelle Malkin 53639 visits/day

Technorati…

27. Michelle Malkin 6,095 links from 3,741 sources

***

Much has been written about the purported lack of “diversity” in the blogosphere. My hope is that this site will continue to add unique value to the blogosphere, even if the usual “diversity”-mongers don’t consider it to fall under their elite definition of “diverse.”

I’ll continue to do original reporting here on the main site (see more below); my co-bloggers at The Immigration Blog will continue to provide daily, in-depth coverage of homeland security, border control, enforcement, and sovereignty issues. I’ll continue to throw in the occasional recipe and Mommyblogging posts.

And I’ll continue to join with other bloggers of all political stripes to hammer away at important stories and issues that the MSM ignore or distort at sometimes deadly peril.

As a journalist with feet in both camps–MSM and the blogosphere–I am often at odds with colleagues on either side. While much of my criticism is leveled at legacy media, I have also been quick to warn blog triumphalists against exaggerating their ranks and readership.

That said, I can envision the day when I leave the MSM world for life as a completely full-time blogger. Not yet. But someday.

***

Year in review: Highlights

Special reports…

Special report: A closer look at anti-Bush “art”
Special report: Inside an illegal alien rally
Special report: Shake-up at DHS?

Other noteworthy blog flogs…

Air marshals, Ward Churchill, Terri Schiavo, border security, Ilario Pantano, Giuliania Sgrena, Eason Jordan, CBS Watch, MS-13, Guantanamo Bay, Ground Zero.

Random retrospective…

June 2004: Press “1″ for English
July 2004: What say you now, Grover Norquist?, The buck-naked bigotry of Ted Rall
August 2004: Ambush journalism…or my evening with caveman Chris Matthews
September 2004: How much mobility is there in the blogospheric ecosystem?
October 2004: Lawrence O’Donnell and liberals unhinged, You can’t fool a sportsman
November 2004: More B.S. from CBS News, Pilot error, Bush did not win 44 percent of the Hispanic vote, The view from Montgomery County, Md.
December 2004: Ornamental things, Maglalangadingdong this, End of the year listmania
January 2005: Holding our own to a higher standard, Sore loser roundup, Mystery in the skies, Minority conservatives and the sellout smear, The Kid Rock question
February 2005: UN sex scandal, Waiting for Bret Stephens to call, Comments, trolls and the Left’s continued whore fixation
March 2005: School says student can’t post picture of Marine,
These people: The MSM’s religious bigotry, Shameless in Seattle,
Shame on President Bush, All about the Minnesota school shooter
April 2005: Who’s in a family?, Who-needs-enemies photos of the day, The Boston Globe’s bogus seal hunt story
May 2005: Send George Voinovich a tissue, The great abortion-is-rising hoax, The Wonkette-ization of Laura Bush, A book-banning dodged–thank you!
June 2005: Keep your hands off our blogs, contd., The bloody chainsaw-toting freak, Screaming Islamists in NYC desecrate flag…MSM yawns, A reckless charge against the military

Seems there is a rather large boom in faux blogs lately. I mean blogs that have no real author, but are auto-generated somehow and geared to a very specific topic. I noticed that if we mention anyone famous in a posting here lately, like Paris Hilton, Robbie Willams or Carmen Electra we’ll end up on site dedicated to that ‘star’, like this one webblogz.com/carmen-electra/….

My guess is that after all the hype about blogging, the belief that starting a blog automatically gains a high google-ranking, and the myth that google-text ads can make you thousands of buckaroos some fly-by-nighters simply had to give it a go. It must be working too, as these blog are now mushrooming all over the place, six months ago you might find a single one, now you find at least ten for every conceivable topic.

Something to keep in mind the next time someone starts blathering about the existence of “10 million blogs.”