Does a Restricted Info Base Have a Benefit?
Kevin doesn’t think so. He wrote an interesting article about LexisNexis’ approach to blogs. He talks about the differences between the Lexis blog directory, which contains only 35 blogs, and Justia Blawg Search, which boasts 1792 blogs.
It’s against the nature of blogging
Kevin’s absolutely right that Lexis’ 35-blog directory is fairly anti-blog. One of the draws of blogging is that there are so many voices out here. The benefit of multiple voices is clear – more knowledge, more points-of-view, etc.
But it’s productive
If I had gobs of money, I’d have a personal assistant. He would know my interests, likes, dislikes, etc. One of his duties would be to comb through blogs (new and old) and find ones for me to read. This would give me the best group of blogs and posts to read everyday.
Since I’m not rich, it might be handy to have a service that did this for me. In fact, busy lawyers might really appreciate something like this. They have the money to pay for this service. It saves them time. It’s productive.
The cynical view
The cynical personality in me has another explanation for Kevin’s beef with Lexis’ blog directory: none of his clients are in it. 🙂
Definitely kidding there. I don’t see any newer blogs in Lexis’ directory, and I’m sure it’s no testament to Kevin’s blog-design or his clients.
Update – Apr. 24, 12:43 AM – This comment was made in very poor taste. Please see my apology to Kevin, below.
Would you pay someone to pick blogs for you?
Now is where I turn it over to you guys. I’m curious about your thoughts on this.
Would you like a custom blog-selection or news-selection service? Would that save you time?
[tags]kevin, lexblog, justia, blawg search[/tags]
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Comments
8 Responses to “Does a Restricted Info Base Have a Benefit?”
April 23rd, 2007
Low blow Andrew. I’ll suggest whatever is best for LexBlog clients. Always have. It’s in my best interests to see our clients succeed.
Newstex which ‘provides’ law blogs to LexisNexis has contacted me a couple times regarding the inclusion of my blog and LexBlog client blogs. Problem is I don’t have the right to sell our client’s content to third parties so that the third party may use the content however they see fit, as required by Newstex.
Newstex is asking that I recommend to LexBlog clients that they license their blog content to Newstex & LexisNexis. LexisNexis even mentioned it directly in an email exchange today. Problem is I don’t understand the business model nor do I see the benefit. Looks very very backwards.
I’m not certain that anyone at Newstex or LexisNexis understands blogs and how blog content is consumed.
April 23rd, 2007
Kevin,
I definitely did not mean anything bad or negative about you, LexBlog, or your clients. I offer my most sincere apologies for the poor taste of my intended joke here.
I’m a regular reader of your blog, as well as several of your clients, and I think you’re doing the legal community a great service. I do wish you the best of luck with your work.
I do appreciate the explanation for why your quality content isn’t included in the Newstex directory. I think that’s enlightening to the overall discussion, which I wanted to delve into a bit here.
Again, I am very sorry for the negative comment I made. Thank you for stopping by to discuss the situation.
Andrew
April 23rd, 2007
NP Andrew, hope I did not come across harsh. Should have added a 😉 after ‘low blow.’
April 24th, 2007
Hey Kevin,
Your comment wasn’t harsh at all. I’m really glad you wrote one. 🙂
Take care,
Andrew
April 24th, 2007
I would pay someone to pick my blogs for me, as long as I only had to pay for their picks that matched what I need. I would also pay someone to research blogs, sites and case information for me, looking for information that supports the legal issues of my cases.
The only problem I have with hiring people from the “legal world” is that their rates target the rich. What American can afford $175-$400 / hour? (lawyers) and I don’t know how much legal researchers cost. They seem to only do research for lawyers anyway.
I spend hours and hours researching blogs, legal sites and cases; so much so, I’m not spending enough time writing the actual pleadings. If you know of a service already, do tell!
April 24th, 2007