Blogs Have Personalities Too! Why Can't I Search for Them?

Recently, I've found myself bored with my RSS and letting it grow to the point of having three or four hundred, then going through and saving articles that looked interesting. I'd end up rinsing and repeating, eventually needing to delete even the ones I found interesting.

Tonight, I forced myself to sit down and read a few articles. I stumbled upon Robert Scoble's article, Reboot RSS redears? Sorry, that train has left the station. He discusses the flaws of RSS feeds, and how Twitter and Facebook have in some cases begun to replace the need for a feed (sorry, I just had to rhyme). He gives five insights into what he thinks will be the future of RSS:

1. Tracking and filtering
2. Client innovation
3. Content optimization systems
4. New advertising systems
5. Curation tools

After reading the article, not only did I agree on his thoughts on using RSS as a brand, but I could use a few of these improvements on my end as well. I especially like the curation tools coming out as of recent. Too often curation tools rely heavily on subject matter rather than what makes a blog truly worth reading.. I want to find similar blogs based on the blogs and articles I read using subject matter and traits.

I love each blog in my RSS for different reasons.

1. PSFK for it's concise writing style and innovative subjects
2. The Dieline because package design is a budding interest of mine
3. Live and Uncensored and Make the Logo Bigger for their snarky attitudes and combined awesomeness on their podcast, Adverve

Why can't I use Google Reader to find blogs that are: concise, innovative, design minded, has attitude, and possibly with a podcast that supplements the blog? There's Technorati or Google Blog search, but I want something that goes deeper, and searches blogs for their "inner being".

Since When is the Internet Free of Embarrassment?

In the not so distant past I read an article on PSFK about how Professor Patti Valkenburg at the University of Amsterdam published a report on how social media is a positive influence on adolescence who want to find themselves. In the excerpt on PSFK Valkenburg goes on to say that texting, IMs, and social networks allow adolescence to experiment with different identities without the accompanying embarrassment that occasionally follows in the real world.

Now I agree with that to a small extent, but unless she singles out the social networks that are completely anonymous then I don't see how she finds it any less cruel than the real world. A recent viral hit on YouTube shows how Valkenburg's conclusions are at least partly flawed. Kerligirl13 had multiple blog posts and videos promoting herself as the end all be all of cool and as expected: the trolls came running. Packs of anonymous users originating from 4chan.org decided to take it to the next level and tormented her relentlessly to the point of police and child protective services getting involved.

The internet can be accessible and welcoming to all kinds of people, but given the nature of the beast it can be so much worse than "real life". Instead of getting teased by a handful of schoolmates, you'll be ridiculed by possibly thousands of people online.

Here is one of the last videos posted by Kerligirl13 before her channel was deleted along with her Tumblr and Myspace accounts.