Sphere = Blog Favoritism?

Sphere sounds more like Blog Favoritism to me:

The new blog search engine Sphere is out of beta and my initial impression is the Sphere it! tool is probably the most useful feature.

Rather than reinvent the wheel Techcrunch has a pretty good review. The bottom line is yes, it is another contender in the blog search realm, but my previous misgivings remain. Since most everybody is giving Sphere a thumbs-up I thought I would give a contrarian point of view, just to mix things up a little.

I’m suspicious of any search tool that has a sort by relevance and a “featured blogs” button that is designed to filter out 99% of the blogosphere.

If the so-called A-listers are really that popular, why then do they need filters to propel themselves to the top (rhetorical question)? The answer is this is indicative of a much larger problem in that the so-called creme of the blogosphere have become a self-serving organism unto itself.

Sphere is just one more tool that helps them in that endeavour and is it any wonder why they are so enthralled with it? Indeed, it is a great tool for drowning out the rest of the “noise” (i.e. you). No argument here.

Like I’ve said before, “if you only want to read the A-listers why not just subscribe to their newsfeeds?” In my mind search engines should provide unbiased results for ALL of the blogosphere — not just a chosen few.

You guessed it — I’m not all that enamoured with this trend as the Blogosphere is fast becoming more like a visit to Las Vegas where the results are all fixed. At least Google Blog Search is still (relatively) impartial.

It’s ironical the Sphere creators describe blogging as a “conversation”, but this filtering stuff is sounding more like a monologue to me. And funny that CNET calls it “blog spam“. I call it “blog bias”, or perhaps even better — “blog-vegas”.

If you are looking for a blog search tool that will give you the ability to filter out the “noise” then Sphere is for you.

UPDATE: After writing this post the link to my blog that was found here earlier listed as number one in relevance has now mysteriously disappeared! Looks like I’m no longer relevant. Hmm… fame is so fleeting. Guess I’ll have to resubmit.

Related links: instabloke, blog, weblog, blogging, blog tools, web 2.0, blog search, blog resources, computers and internet, technology, tech, search engine, google, sphere