Mulubinba Meme

I just tried Geoff's Small World Experiment, which is as follows:

Enter the Blogroll small world experiment!

Step 1. Find a random weblog. I [Geoff] used the Typepad recently updated weblogs list or www.weblogs.com
Step 2. Use the blogroll (or any list of links to other weblogs) to find other weblogs with blogrolls.
Step 3. Compile a path of links through the world of weblogs that will take you home to your own weblog (or any other target you choose). You may have to explore several different possible paths until you find the shortest path to your home weblog.

Can you get home in 6 clicks?

There is also a later version, but since Mulubinba Moments already has a link to my site, I thought it would be kind of pointless to go with that one.

I started with the list of recently updated blogs in my sidebar. One called Le Salon Beige caught my eye, so I decided to make that my starting point. Hmm, no blogroll. Time to start over.

Okay, here's an interesting one with the highly original name of main. Oh poop! It's password protected.

Let's see. What else? Why don't I just go with the first one on the list: fairy anthropology: project journal. Well, that was interesting. There's a lot of stuff there but no blogroll. This is crazy! I can't even find a workable starting point!

What about karmaville? Finally, I see a blogroll! Now do I recognize anyone on it? . . . Snowball?! It couldn't be. It is!!! Just in case you missed it:

karmaville ---> Snowball ---> ME

As I often say, if you know Snowball, you've got it made. Interestingly, karmaville is also on Snowball's blogroll.

Conclusion: Out of all weblogs with blogrolls surveyed (that would be one), none was found to be further than two clicks away from me.

In hindsight it occurs to me that I should probably have started with a non-TypePad site.

Comments

[Pauly D]

Cool!

[Bakerina]

Very astute observation about our Miss Snowball, dear Tvindy. I'm thinking we should have a spinoff Six Degrees of Snowball meme. :)

[Kimberly]

How 'bout this variant: ask people to leave a random blog in your comments, then try to get home from there.

Wanna try it? Here's one for you:
http://herlittlebird.blogspot.com/

[Tvindy]

I attempted this experiment just now with a non-TypePad foreign language blog that had a sizeable blogroll. I had no luck whatsoever and couldn't even find a way to an English language blog despite all the available links. It seems that there are probably many blogging communities out there that are completely separated from one another.

[Tvindy]

Kimberly, that one is easy:

Her Little Bird --> midlife mama --> Woulda Coulda Shoulda --> Snowball --> ME

[Geoff]

Interesting. I visited the non-typepad foreign blog you mentioned (Bulhufas) and I WAS able to find a path back to TVindy - but it took 15 steps. I am sure there must be a shorter way. I intend to spend a little more time on this!

[Geoff]

It's a small world after all!
Starting with your Brazilian non-typepad site:
Bulhufus
Traveiz, o blog da Ana
Joyce
The Chatterbox
Feathers of Hope
Mulubinba Moments and from Mulubinba to:
TVindy
SIX steps!

[Tvindy]

Geoff, I'm impressed you kept at it long enough to make it through 15 steps. I gave up after about three when I found myself still no closer to my goal. I look forward to seeing if you come up with a shorter set of steps.

[Tvindy]

Wow! We posted within seconds of each other. Congratulations on making it in six steps! That must have taken you quite some time.

[Tvindy]

I just found a slightly alternate route. Once you get to The Chatterbox, you can do this:

The Chatterbox --> A Ervilha Cor de Rosa --> massdistraction.org --> Reality Sandwich --> ME

Of course, this brings the number of steps up to seven. But I was very intrigued that Rosa's blog appeared along the way. I've actually had direct contact with her and even have a link to her blog (A Ervilha Cor de Rosa) on one of the blogs mentioned in the post after this one. Receptionista even has a link to her on her own blogroll. (Too bad it's no longer reciprocated.)

All this leads me to think that, while the number of blogs is quoted in the millions, the number blogs that are truly active and have substantial blogrolls probably only number in the low thousands.

[Snowball]

Now I can't get that damned Small World song out of my head! Look what you've done.

[Geoff]

How many active blogs are there? I just checked fresh.blogrolling.com and it lists 12500 or so blogs updated in the last hour. I read somewhere of 6 million blogs in the world. I think you are right about there being more inactive blogs than active ones. (That Small World song is hard to budge isn't it?)

[Tvindy]

I recall reading 8 million somewhere, but most of them must be old, abandoned, and forgotten blogs, most of which we never see, because no one links to them. I suspect a lot of people set up a blog to try it out and then never return after their first post. Even if only one percent are active and regularly updated (and have blogrolls), that would still be 80 thousand, which is still a lot. I did a tally just now of all the blogs that I have ever created that are still up somewhere. There are 12 (technically) in total, but Tvindy.com is the only one that meets the criteria of being regularly updated and having a blogroll. There just can't be a huge number out there, considering how often I come across people I know in completely new places. Once, I even found my own blog in the top search results for a subject in a Google search I ran that was completely unconnected to my blog.