Members of the political JBlogosphere often are frustrated that our message is not "getting out" to a larger audience, and that we are preaching to the choir (so to speak.) While sometimes one of us hits a "home run", for the most part we are part of an echo chamber.
In the past few weeks, while there has been no sea-change, the echo chamber has expanded significantly. The reason? The new feature at Little Green Footballs that allows any registered user there to post interesting links.
I don't know about others, but my hit count has roughly doubled since I started posting links to selected articles here, and judging from the number of links I'm seeing by many other JBloggers I suspect that their numbers have been impacted as well.
Now, LGF mostly attracts readers who are pro-Israel anyway, but it does become a showcase for news stories and original posts that otherwise would have a much more limited audience. The links there have become a great place to find other news items as well.
For me, there is a slight downside, as I see that my postings now tend more towards unearthing news stories that most wouldn't have seen and only posting brief comments, as opposed to longer articles. I'm not sure if this is because of LGF or just me being busier with other things. Both types of posts are, I think, valuable.
Another recent event of note is the start of Israel ENews, an on-line magazine that showcases a large number of authors from the far right to the far left, and one where a few JBloggers have gotten to write articles as well. (They offered to have me write for them, but I am trying to figure out how to do it while staying anonymous.) I do not see too much discussion in the articles listed there and I don't know if it has gained any traction, but it is listed as a news source in Google News which ensures a more eclectic readership.
Writing a blog is great and rewarding, but we need to come up with ways of increasing our influence and making a difference. G-d knows Israel is clueless in making its own case.
