A couple of weeks ago, I noticed some odd jumps in my blog traffic, and two referral sites with massive numbers attached, Alpha Inventions and Condron.us. Naturally, I was curious what exactly these were; after visiting the sites, I saw that they were “blog surfing” websites; that is, websites that essentially channel surf through blogs to give viewers a snapshot of any blogs they’ve picked up.
And while I’ve found the concept interesting, I find myself wondering about the ethical implications:
Are these sites a way to genuinely generate readership?
Do they artificially inflate the views on our blogs so we can feel better about ourselves?
How many folks have stumbled onto a blog they like through sites like AI and Condron?
I’m curious what you think; let me know your thoughts in the comments section.