Surfing The Blogosphere

For a long time, the natural way for finding multiple, random blogs was "Next Blog" surfing.

After a while, spammers found out about this, and "Next\\\\Porn Blog" surfing became the norm. A couple months ago, Blogger developed a new "Next Blog" link which has turned out to be safer - and boring.

Fortunately, "Next Blog" surfing isn't the only way to see what's out there in the Blogosphere.

We have a number of alternative strategies, which give you various choices to focus or randomise your surfing.

• Blogger Profile Surfing
• Following Surfing
• Google Blog Search
• Google+
• Next Blog Surfing

Blogger Profile Surfing

This is easy to focus, and it's symmetrical. While you are finding out about other folks, they are also finding out about you.

You fill out your Blogger profile with key words describing your interests. Your key words, separated by commas, become links to search for other profiles with identical key words.

You link from your profile, to SERP lists of other profiles, and to other blogs. The options, which focus your surfing here, are based on the keywords which you add to your profile, then which profile you examine from the SERP list, and finally which blog you select from a given profile.


Following Surfing

Following Surfing, like Blogger Profile Surfing, involves your profile. The Following profile, though, links blogs and profiles asymmetrically, and provides focused and random surfing alike.

You link from anyone's blog, to random and miscellaneous personal icons of the Followers, to profiles of the Followers, and to other blogs. The options, which focus your surfing here, start with which Follower icon to select, then what blog linked to the profile of the Follower selected.


Google Blog Search

Like Blogger Profile Surfing, this is easy to focus. While the latter is symmetrical (as you are able to surf other profiles, others are able to surf yours), this option allows you some anonymity.

This gives you the ability to specify a number of interesting criteria to narrow down your interests, then randomly accesses multiple blogs in a search based upon your criteria. One frequently requested "Next Blog" feature has long been language selection, and that is one key selection for Google Blog Search.

You link from the blog search options "command line" interface, to a Google SERP list - and to the blogs of interest.


Google+

Google+ is an interactive search process, where you contribute as you benefit. With Google+, you get recommendations of blogs and web sites, based upon what you recommend to other people.

When you share what interests you - and as your universe of friends expands - your friends will share, with you, what interests them. If your friends are interested by what you share, then some of what they share will interest you.

As your universe of friends expands, you'll have more friends who are interested in what interests you. As your friends are interested in what you share, they will share what you share, with their friends - and their friends will become your friends.

As your universe of friends expands further, you'll have more friends with other interests. As you explore your friends interests, some of what interests them (now) may interest you (later).

Google+ is much more dynamic than any literal "search engine", because it is constantly expanding. Google+ lets you surf, based on your friends recommendations - and as your universe of friends expands, so will your universe of interests.


Next Blog Surfing

No longer accessing blogs that are recently published, and supposedly engineered now to access only other blogs of similar subject to the current blog displayed, the "Next Blog" link will still access random blogs. It just uses additional filters, with language and subject identified so far.

You link from any blog, to other blogs, one at a time. There are no options here - you take what you are offered, or continue surfing.

Each strategy has its advantages, so try them all and decide for yourself which one suits your needs.

What Access Do You Have To Your Blog?

Occasionally, you see bloggers becoming confused about what access they have to their blog.

I can look at the Edit Posts menu, but there are no posts listed.

or

I can't access the Template Designer (edit the template, add users to the blog, ...).

These are bloggers who are confused over a blog where they are an Administrator, vs a blog where they are an Author.

Let's look at my dashboard, and at a pair of blogs which we see there.


Here's my dashboard. Among the many entries, you'll see one blog listed where I am an Author, and a second where I am an Administrator. Let's first look at a blog where I am an Author.


Let's look at "Edit Posts".

I'm an Author in this blog, and I haven't created any posts. There are plenty of posts in the blog, just none that I've created. I have no access to any posts that I haven't created.


Let's look at "Settings".

I'm an Author in this blog, so all of the Settings that I have are Email and Permissions.

The Email access gives you the ability to setup your own Mail-to-Blogger entry. The Permissions access lets people who have previously accepted Guest ("Author") membership in a blog to remove themselves, without having to contact the blog administrator.

Let's next look at a second blog, where I am an Administrator.


Let's look at "Edit Posts".

I'm an Administrator in this blog. Look at my Edit Posts menu.


Let's look at "Settings".

I'm an Administrator in this blog. Look at my Settings menu.


Let's look at "Design".

I'm an Administrator in this blog. I have a Design section (For a Classical blog, this would be "Template", but there would be lots less tabs under "Template".).



If you're not seeing either of the above, or you're seeing access as an Author, where you should be seeing Administrator, you lost access to your account or your blog.

• First, verify that you are the primary administrator / owner of the blog.
• You may have inadvertently created a second Blogger account.
• You may have tried to transfer control of the blog from one account to another, and made a mistake.
• You successfully transferred control to an administrator who should not have been trusted.
• You may have any of several different connectivity or security issues on your computer or network, which prevents you from accessing your account or your blog.

Unfortunately, these problems may be your responsibility to resolve, as you alone have the responsibility for retaining access to your blog, and for your own connectivity to the Internet.

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