One of the things Slugger has not been good at is linking out to the wider blogosphere. Accordingly, surprisingly few of our 21 million monthly hits in June came from online sources. In the ranking of the top twenty refering sites (below the fold), the biggest only accounts for 3% of our total referrals (ie excluding search engines). In an effort to change that, and to begin signposting more regularly to the work of other blogs, I’ve compiled Slugger’s top twenty referrals. This should have the consequence of pushing our readership out into the blogosphere. And encourage others to link back into Slugger.1 Irish Blogs: (390 hits) Ireland’s biggest and liveliest blog aggregator. Run fast to keep up!
2 Crooked Timber (251 hits) Collaborative academic US/UK/Irish interest blog. Clean, well written and erudite.
3 Gaskin Balrog (240 hits) Ireland’s first mainstream Republican blog. Chris Gaskin and friends giving it straight.
4 A Tangled Web (128 hits) Well to the right of centre, David Vance rarely minces his words on any subject. Strong interest in international affairs as well as NI.
5 Harry’s Place (115 hits) The watering hole for the pro war left in the UK. Their man ‘Brownie’ blogs on Northern Ireland by times.
6 Political Betting (110 hits) Excellent resource for the betting man/woman. Some of the most erudite commenters on the net (money sharpens the mind – ed). Does exactly what
7 1169 And Counting… (94 hits) Excellent dissident Republican blog, logging good quality detailed commentary on the last eight hundred of our little local difficulty!
8 The Economist (80 hits) This was something of a surprise in the package. Can’t trace it to a public page, so I guess we have stirred the interest of some of their staffers.
9 The Reform Movement (77 hits) A campaigning pressure group for the recognition of the plurality of the Republic’s society.
10 The Community At Large (70 hits) Just the biggest, fattest, funnist blog in the Irish blogosphere. You need a break of intense inward looking ‘Nordies’? You’ll something here to help you chill!
11 Young Unionists (66 hits) A group blog of Unionists turning over news, history and politics. First proper political blog on the Northern Irish net. What’s wrong with the rest of you?
12 Tim Roll Pickering (62 hits) Articulate, Euro friendly (London-based) Tory who occasionally blogs on Ireland. Definately worth a visit if you’ve not been over there yet.
13 Iain Dale (61 hits) After the last few days, surely this Tory blog star of stage and screen needs no introduction. Features in our next Slugger Radio podcast.
14 Fake Plastic News (50 hits) Eclectic or what? He’s currently leading with Susanne Breen’s recent piece on how we are still as sectarian as ever.
15 Irish Eagle (42 hits) John of Newshound fame, missing baseball and blogging the world. Here you can find out what he really thinks of us!
16 Buzz Machine (34 hits) A fellow contributor to the Guardian Comment is Free blog, Jeff Jarvis is a thinker on new media and journalism.
17 Shitty First Draft (32) This blog hails from Greyabbey and is run by a consumate consumer of bloggery everywhere. Don’t be misled by the title.
18 Northern Irish Magyar (32 hits) Paul blogs from Hungary and mostly on Northern Ireland. A solid and methodical thinker, we hear that he an Beano are working on something interesting that should go public by the end of the summer.
19 Irish in Britain (27 hits) One of our earliest supporters. It’s all about everything Irish in Britain.
20 BBC Northern Ireland’s Web Guide (27 hits) This guide to the web from the Beeb in NI gives Slugger five stars, and has some useful links to other online resources.
Don’t forget. If you’ve blogged something Slugger should know about, email us.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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