The Butt Ugly Weblog

Routing and hubs

You know... there has been something that has been bothering me in the while weblogging business-thingy. You obviously already have nodes and hubs; people who are at the edge and those who are at the "routing points" of the weblogging world, respectively. The "hubs" see what else is out there, read other blogs, see what's good on them, and then links to the good ones. And since everyone else reads the good hubs, then those opinions and ideas are quickly spread throughout the blogosphere.

However, this makes me wonder: what is the social responsibility of those "hubs"? They are, after all, pretty much in control (unwillingly and perhaps not consciously) of much of the information flow that happens here. If they don't like your ideas, you won't get linked to in a big manner; and if they do like you, then you get instant fame. And this is totally fine - this is how any social network works.

But have those people who are at the hubs really thought about what it means to be one? What is their responsibility towards the people who link to them and read their weblogs every day? Even though it is nice to imagine that all people are smart and capable of clearly separating good and bad; right and wrong - there are and will be those who are not, or are willing to accept anything because it "comes from someone who knows better".

I don't know, really. Is this a problem?