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Toward a theory of "Assorted links"
Brad DeLong and Matt Yglesias, trendsetters of the blogosphere if there were any, are assembling "assorted links" once a day or so. As do I and Yves Smith, not to mention the Herculean efforts of Mark Thoma.
Does anyone click on these things or do you simply wish to feel you have experienced a more comprehensive menu of what you have refused to learn?
A second-order question is whether or not I should care about the answer to the first query.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on May 21, 2009 at 11:29 AM in Education | Permalink
Comments
Being a dilettante economist, assorted links is one of my favourite dishes of the menu.
Posted by: ortega at May 21, 2009 11:33:59 AM
i sometimes click on your links because you often present an interesting and eclectic selection.
i rarely click on delong / yglesias / smith's links, even though i often read their sites, as i find that they often just point to people who agree with them but who are less authoritative.
Posted by: babar at May 21, 2009 11:34:58 AM
I stopped clicking on these links for most part after it felt like you increased the frequency of these "Assorted Links" posts.
Posted by: . at May 21, 2009 11:40:38 AM
I absolutely follow assorted links.
Posted by: Michael Bishop at May 21, 2009 11:41:33 AM
Your lists of links are often annoyingly enigmatic. It'd be nice to give the reader some idea of what they will find by following a link.
Posted by: Jacob Wintersmith at May 21, 2009 11:44:59 AM
I click when the subject interests me. So I read "Fuel economy standards" but not "Kobe vs. Lebron".
Links labelled "Hypothetical" or "In case you missed this" are a little frustrating for me. I would prefer that the display text for the link indicate the subject matter so I can more efficently use my reading time.
Posted by: John Dewey at May 21, 2009 11:45:25 AM
I imagine the assorted links as things you find interesting, but you don't have enough time or content to turn into a full post. Its a good source of information, but I hope if at a later point you do have enough time or content to make a full post about it having previously posted it as a link won't stop you.
Posted by: Drucker at May 21, 2009 11:48:23 AM
I'd prefer they be posted individually, mostly because that better fits the way I manage my daily info flow. For example, easy enough to flag an individual post for future follow-up or filing. Second-order, pardon the peme (that's a mash-up of "pun" & "meme," second-order's gotten pretty popular here in the green-shoots era..) complexity when flagging an assorted link post, introduces the question of "uh, just which one(s) did I want to follow-up on?"
Posted by: pete at May 21, 2009 11:50:32 AM
I love the assorted links. Thanks for them.
Posted by: law student at May 21, 2009 11:52:44 AM
Seconding Jacob Wintersmith, I find the framing to be very important. I often follow the link if I am convinced your description of it that I am likely to find it interesting. If you are too vague or enigmatic, I'll skip it. But I do follow probably 30% of the links. I do this purely because I trust your judgment - I don't do this for other sites that offer link assortments.
Posted by: David at May 21, 2009 11:52:48 AM
Yes.
Yes.
Posted by: RV at May 21, 2009 11:58:33 AM
I like your assorted links, and I think you should care whether I do or not.
Posted by: mpkomara at May 21, 2009 11:59:54 AM
yes. no.
Posted by: JSIS at May 21, 2009 12:01:03 PM
I click on a small percentage of them.
Posted by: TIE at May 21, 2009 12:04:55 PM
I click on them almost every day.
Posted by: PaulNoonan at May 21, 2009 12:04:55 PM
I like and click on the assorted links, sometimes I don't read the linked content but it helps me to know what's out there ("comprehensive menu of what I have refused to learn"), and contra a few others I like the "micro-commentary" of the snarky/clever/enigmatic 3-5 words that make up the links.
Posted by: mk at May 21, 2009 12:07:51 PM
I like the assorted links and usually click through. I prefer informative titles. My click-through rate to non-informative titles has been decreasing as the number of assorted links increased over time.
Posted by: londenio at May 21, 2009 12:08:01 PM
I click on about 10% of links, on average.
Posted by: Ian at May 21, 2009 12:08:30 PM
I always follow them. One of my favorite blogs (abnormalreturns.com) happens to just be a series of daily links to other blogs.
Posted by: John at May 21, 2009 12:13:04 PM
i pick and choose my assorted links, but generally go to a few from each posting
Posted by: dan at May 21, 2009 12:15:43 PM
"Assorted Links" is my second favorite continuing series on MR, behind "Markets in Everything" (which is itself sometimes contained in "Assorted Links").
I often don't click all of the links, but I don't order everything on a menu, either.
Assuming that you're blogging at least partially for your readers' benefit, there should probably be some point at which you care whether or not anyone clicks the links. I'm not sure what that point should be, though.
Posted by: d.cous. at May 21, 2009 12:15:47 PM
I like your assorted links.
The reason is that there are just 4 and not much text -- just a quick glance and click if interesting.
I don't look at Yves Smith because there are too many.
I like either dedicated link sites or a small number/lot of white space. Like AL daily.
I do look at a link site, abnormal returns, which tends to be more trading oriented but also is pretty comprehensive. I also like Alea's links.
In other words, either a dedicated link site OR max 5, all above the fold, with emphasis on something not likely to find somewhere else.
Posted by: Cap Vandal at May 21, 2009 12:17:19 PM
I click about half of them. As for a menu of what I refuse to learn, I generally forget what links were there that I didn't interest me, and therefore didn't click.
Where time and comparative advantage permit you to make a useful comment for your readers, you should do so.
I would go back and read your own post from back in 2003:
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2003/10/the_future_of_b.html
Posted by: Michael at May 21, 2009 12:18:49 PM
I also click on very few, 10% also. Sometimes I skip over them entirely though, if the day has lots of blog updates, or I have less time.
Posted by: MS at May 21, 2009 12:19:08 PM
I enjoy them and follow some of them.
One thing I don't like about them is that the resulting comment thread is generally very disjointed since there are multiple topics for discussion happening at the same time.
Should you care whether we follow them? Well, why do you post them?
Posted by: Bob Montgomery at May 21, 2009 12:19:11 PM
