Left behind?

No, I didn't abandon my blog. I just unplugged from it for a few days while working on a project.

The New York Times ran a story about orphan blogs on June 7, jumping off from Technorati data about how long some were left idle between entries.

According to a 2008 survey by Technorati, which runs a search engine for blogs, only 7.4 million out of the 133 million blogs the company tracks had been updated in the past 120 days. That translates to 95 percent of blogs being essentially abandoned, left to lie fallow on the Web, where they become public remnants of a dream — or at least an ambition — unfulfilled.

Some "retired" bloggers who were interviewed for the story cited a lack of comments as a disappointment.

I once looked up the blog of a blues singer I heard perform in Chicago. In one entry, she literally asked if anyone was out there, anyone at all, reading -- though my description here leaves out the more colorful words in her plea.

Sometimes, you do wonder if your blog blurbs are just strings of letters floating into space. But then I get a comment, or, more often, someone says something to me about an entry or e-mails me personally for information.

Feedback in any form is good. I'm looking for blog ideas, story tips, trends you've seen in the retail or business world, here in Amarillo or beyond.

So, let's talk.