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I joined MyBlogLog long before it got the blogosphere buzzing and subsequently got acquired by Yahoo. Although the site is much more than a log site now with the social networking tools and all, its core function of tracking the outclicks on your blog is what first attracted me to it. I liked the features so much that I opted for its paid pro version for DesiPundit.
Since DesiPundit is mostly a link-blog, it is quite important to know what the readers are clicking; not that we do anything nefarious with the data which by the way, is completely devoid of any personal information. MyBlogLog collects some rich data for us tracking counts for ‘where readers came from‘ (referral logs), ‘what readers viewed‘ and most importantly, ‘what readers clicked‘. The pro version ($24.95 for a year) allows us to generate reports for a data range on the above data. In our new design, we even included a feature called, ‘Second Chance’ where we listed the posts that readers loved to click and alternatively post that we wished readers would click.
Unfortunately, the section didn’t really take off as it requires an added commitment from contributors to mark their ‘favorite posts’ for the week. Also, as I distanced myself from the everyday operation of DesiPundit, the section ‘readers loved to click’ also became obsolete. I promise to update the section at least once a week now since I don’t have any linking duties on DesiPundit.
I totally missed the bus when MyBlogLog went the web 2.0 way and introduced social networking on their site. For me, the core usefulness of the site was tracking clicks and it was doing that well. But recently, I checked out the DesiPundit profile and was surprised to see that the DesiPundit Community had 66 members and there were quite a few messages left by readers. I apologize for not checking it before. I wish I could add the Recent Readers widget on DesiPundit to promote this feature but we seem to already have a clutter of sidebar features. But if we can get rid of some other widgets, this would definitely be a useful addition.
What’s more, even this blog which gets a fraction of the readers that most popular Indian blogs get also has five members in its community. The widget on the sidebar (of this blog) shows you recent readers who also are MyBlogLog members complete with a profile picture.
So go ahead, create your MyBlogLog profile today and join the DesiPundit community and if not for the social networking bit, you can always add the code to your blog and track what people are clicking on your blog. Trust me, that list never gets boring and amuses you every time you check it.
by Patrix | on Thursday, February 8th, 2007 at 9:15 am | 
Media, Technology, Weblogs . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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February 8th, 2007 at 12:36 pm reply
I only joined MyBlogLog a month ago although I knew when it appeared because most of my blogger buddies used it and that was before I started blogging.
But I agree with you that it is totally cool - besides the analytics (which I don’t pay for), the community aspect allows you to see who’s reading your site and to randomly stumble onto other cool blogs.
The only warning is that it can get addictive :)
February 8th, 2007 at 12:46 pm reply
Shripriya, you’re right. It is extremely addictive but personally I am in it for the analytics especially coz I’m a ’stat whore’ :)
I have opted for the paid version only for DesiPundit because of the sheer amount of clicks; the free version offers only the top ten clicks which works for most blogs.