This is just a short analysis about BloggingPortal.eu, “the new place to read EU blogs and keep yourself updated on the EU blogosphere” (Kosmopolito). I know there’s been already quite a buzz a few days ago about the launch of this new collaborative portal but I’d like to share my personal thoughts with you.
- Description
BloggingPortal.eu is EU blog platform developped Stefan Happer in collaboration with Jon worth aiming at agregating EU blog articles per sections. It has been launched in beta and already gathers about 300 EU blogs (actually, I was already aware of this initiative during its alpha phase like a few other bloggers).
The EU blog platform is participative and allows users to add their own EU blog and even moderate the content with the status of “editor”. I would describe this new wiki-like EU media as an original mix between a Blog platform and a RSS agregator.
- Evaluation of positive / negative aspects
That said, it is an excellent tool to monitor the EU blogosphere. More than a Netvibes Universe, it brings quality because EU blogs are carefully selected while the content is edited filtered per sections.
What I really like is also the ranking of EU blogs based on two famous indicators that are the PageRank and Technorati Rank. Actually, from my personal experience, I do feel that the later one is more fitted for blogs. However, I am not sure that the PageRank and Technorati Rank are dynamically updated. To illustrate, let’s take the Blogactiv support blog. It has currently a PageRank of 7/10 while in the BloggingPortal.eu it has a PageRank of 6/10. It is certainly possible to do using a javascript on the model of websites like PageRank checker for example.
From a PR /PA point of view – and I think I won’t be contradicted by the guys behind the blog PA goes digital – this wikio-like ranking allows you to browse the main online experts / influencers on EU topics. This is a real added value which should be also put foward (also in the context of the upcoming European Parliament Elections).
Apart from that, I really like the ShoutBox though I definitely think it should be transformed into a forum-like space and avoid anonymous “shouts”!
There are not a lot of negative aspects. However, concerning the design, well… I think Jon – or someone else – should use its webdesigners’ skills to improve it. Really. And I have noted the multilingual options don’t really seem to work. And what about adding a search function?
- Popularity
Well, after a few days of existence, BloggingPortal.eu is already very popular thanks to the support and involvement of the existing community of EU bloggers. As every Web 2.0 project, the success will depend of its participation. And I am not worried about that. Bravo guys!
