April 20, 2008 111 Comments

Alltop- Encouraging the Mainstream

alltop logo I’ve been thinking about Alltop. It’s a site built by Guy Kawasaki to help people find popular blogs on various topics. My blog and Twitter account show up in a few of these categories (thanks, Guy!), but what I’m interested in talking about are the topics that might appeal to the mainstream, and why I think Alltop deserves a little love.

What Is It

Alltop is an Internet magazine rack, fed by blogs. It is a site that aggregates summary content from multiple blogs into categories of interest. The source blogs feed information into Alltop by way of their RSS feed, but all of this plumbing is hidden away under the covers so that Alltop users don’t have to think about it.

Who Uses It

Alltop isn’t for you or me. It’s for friends and family and coworkers who aren’t yet surfing at the speed of light with Google Reader, or adding meta commentary via FriendFeed. It’s for our neighbor who still logs into AOL, or people who want to read a sampling of information without a lot of customization.

Why Should You Care

First, check out the various categories at Alltop. Is your blog a great representative of one of the categories? You might contact Guy and ask to be listed in that category. Second, this is another way to get people comfortable with using blogs as sources of information. Remember, you and I are IN this world. We forget that others still question the credibility of blogs.

What Comes Next

One of two things might come next to Alltop: advertising, or acquisition. If I’m Guy, I’m hoping more for B than A, but hey, if it pays for summer gas money, great. For the rest of us, it’s something to watch, as ANY opportunity to get the mainstream into our world is a good thing. YouTube and Hulu aren’t immediately the best thing for independent video producers, but the more people get used to watching content online, the more likely they are not to discriminate and try out new, independent products. Alltop works like that, in my estimation.

What’s Your Take

Have you looked at the various categories served in Alltop? Have you seen the representative blogs? What do you think?

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  • http://twitter.com/jenniferbarthe Jennifer Barthe

    I’m checking Alltop out right now. This could be great way for me to share information with people instead of sharing feeds through my Google Reader.

  • http://twitter.com/jenniferbarthe Jennifer Barthe

    I’m checking Alltop out right now. This could be great way for me to share information with people instead of sharing feeds through my Google Reader.

  • http://twitter.com/jenniferbarthe Jennifer Barthe

    I’m checking Alltop out right now. This could be great way for me to share information with people instead of sharing feeds through my Google Reader.

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  • joanna123

    Although the parts that has been required for an excellent motorbike is very necessary,but is not necessary that these are available in everywhere so we have to import from other countries such as Japan ,France, Germany etc. Nitrous Oxide cylinder can also be added so that the speed may enhanced during racing.
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  • joanna123

    Although the parts that has been required for an excellent motorbike is very necessary,but is not necessary that these are available in everywhere so we have to import from other countries such as Japan ,France, Germany etc. Nitrous Oxide cylinder can also be added so that the speed may enhanced during racing.
    Suzzane Waltz
    Motorbike transport

  • http://www.moviestarstyle.com/ Sophie

    great post! Alltop is a recent discovery for me as a newbie blogger. I found this article so helpful. thanks!

  • http://www.moviestarstyle.com moviestarstyle

    great post! Alltop is a recent discovery for me as a newbie blogger. I found this article so helpful. thanks!

  • http://www.savetubevideo.com youtube downloader

    One of two things might come next to Alltop: advertising, or acquisition. If I’m Guy, I’m hoping more for B than A, but hey, if it pays for summer gas money, great. For the rest of us, it’s something to watch, as ANY opportunity to get the mainstream into our world is a good thing. YouTube and Hulu aren’t immediately the best thing for independent video producers, but the more people get used to watching content online, the more likely they are not to discriminate and try out new, independent products. Alltop works like that, in my estimation.

  • http://www.savetubevideo.com youtube downloader

    One of two things might come next to Alltop: advertising, or acquisition. If I’m Guy, I’m hoping more for B than A, but hey, if it pays for summer gas money, great. For the rest of us, it’s something to watch, as ANY opportunity to get the mainstream into our world is a good thing. YouTube and Hulu aren’t immediately the best thing for independent video producers, but the more people get used to watching content online, the more likely they are not to discriminate and try out new, independent products. Alltop works like that, in my estimation.

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