Pretty lucky for us, if you ask me!

It’s been an interesting discussion. You’re right…I very rarely do a links only post. About once a month, I will highlight 3-4 posts that really caught my attention and I try to link out to relevant posts within my own posts.

Here’s my take:

1) If we all did it exactly the same way, what a snore.
2) I view those of you who do include link posts to be like screeners, out there looking for the best to share with me.
3) I, like many of other commenters, appreciate it when you link lovers give me a sentence or two highlight, so I can decide if I want to click.
4) I think the success and popularity of blogs like yours, Greg’s, Scott’s, Matt’s and Kris’ suggests that readers do value the links. So why rock the boat.

Bottom line — everyone adds value in their own way. Subscribers, comments, traffic etc. are pretty clear indicators of what’s working and what is not.

I’m grateful that we all bring different things to the party. Just because I don’t do it that way doesn’t mean I don’t value that you do.

Drew

But when it comes down to it, as Scott mentioned, it really does come down to the individual’s choice. If they have time. If they’re interested. If they’re curious. Not everyone wants the deep thoughts behind the link, they only want to scan through to find the compelling headlines within the link posts to generate their own ideas.

I have nothing against them. In fact, I’m subscribed to several blogs that are primarily about the links they find. No commentary at all. It’s like an RSS feed that constantly changes, opening up a whole range of experiences I might not ordinarily find on my own.

But with a fixed amount of time and all the blogs I read these days, there has to be something about the headline and/or explanation that makes me believe it will be worth my while to click over.

Scott: Beautifully stated, my friend!! I really believe that yours is the perfect answer to this debate. As Christopher Penn stated in the comments over on Mitch’s post:

“The unsubscribe button is one click, too.

Because there’s no email address to ping, once someone unsubscribes from an RSS feed using a feed reader…

-= you have no way of reaching out to them to get them back =-

The attention economy is entirely based on value you provide. No value, no attention.”

Bottom line: social media, if nothing else, is about choices. Never before has it been so easy to give your audience a variety of ways to consume content. Mitch or you are I are not so omniscient that we can presume how every reader prefers to consume content. So why not give them everything and let them choose?

Blog posts, del.icio.us links, Google Reader shared item, Twitter streams - it’s all fair game!

It’s the strategy that still doesn’t work for me - the fact that Bloggers are doing this instead of Blogging, not to supplement their Blog. This was the major topic of my Blog postings… and my feelings.