Thursday, May 25, 2006

Did I Just Hit The Mainstream Blogosphere?

As many of my posts squealing in delight over Sitemeter spikes attest to, I harbor no delusions about my importance in the blogosphere. I was ecstatic the day I grew from 10 to 25, and then to 50. So far, 50-70 is the new, much appreciated average after many high profile plugs from far superior blawggers like Dan Filler from Concurring Opinions, Larry Solum from Legal Theory Blog, and my original patron and Blogfather Ann Bartow--who has gone so far as to let me have guest stint over at Feminist Law Profs. But so far, this is within the smaller (albeit more meaningful to me) world of the "blawgosphere." But it's like that old song--if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. Besides my old college friends and a some fellow disgruntled grad student bloggers I've come to identify with, I believe my readership (and indeed, my blog) has changed in the past 3 months to become more of a legal-minded group. I get a bunch of ISPs from schools and state attorney's offices, I'm on more blawgrolls than blogrolls, and I've grown comfortable here. So when my readership significantly spikes out of the 50-70 range, into hundreds I gotta wonder--who the heck is linking to me?

Well, today, the Columbia Journalism Review in a post entitled "Bloggers React to Anchor Shuffle With Dismay". And another link in one of my daily must-reads--Slate--by one of my fave legal analysts, Dahlia Lithwick in the article "Pregnant Pause." (OMG! Dahlia Lithwick said I wrote a "smart" post! Everyone should read Slate, it's basically run and edited by ex-lawyers--hence the column that gets my heart beating, Jurisprudence) I cannot tell you how weird these past five months have been, to go from a blog read by a few friends if they remember (and they never come by to check now), to a disgruntled grad student cohort thing, to become a part of the blawgosphere (which made me feel legitimately a scholar after a day spent changing diapers) and finally to being cited by a journalism blog as being a quotable commentator? Does this make me more creditable? Collecting links when you're a relatively unknown blogger (with a very young blog) is like padding a thin CV--when you have a rather small (but much appreciated) readership and about 20 links (I'm a slimy mollusc in the Truth Laid Bear ecosystem), every one counts.

Glenn Reynolds, watch your back! All I can say is, I owe this all to Ann Bartow, The Blogfather.