Ah, the number of times I heard a woman of the evening ask this question while walking along East 23rd Street on a balmy spring evening back when I was in law school.  I used to respond, “how about a movie?”  I never got any takers.  But if nothing else, East 23rd around Park Avenue South was always “social”.

Kevin O’Keefe at  Real Lawyers Have Blogs has picked up on a significant bit out of the Q&A of  Canadian blogger Steve Matthews (didn’t he used to have a band?) about  something that they do better than us.

One aspect Canadian law bloggers do very well is the social side of blogging. We actively read and link to each other’s blogs. There are many great conversations, debates, and generally a strong web-community being developed.

It could be the fact that we’re smaller, but I also give a lot of credit to Slaw.ca, our Canadian legal blogging co-op. Simon Fodden has done a great job of expanding both the range of participants and the topics we’re discussing. There’s also a core group of us that work hard at welcoming & acknowledging new Canadian legal blogs. I think that’s important.

Kevin agrees wholeheartedly, and I know Kevin to not only be sincere about this, but the type of guy who puts his money where his keyboard is.

As if Kevin’s point was enough, Dan Hull at What About Clients? jumps on board as well.  If Kevin and Dan say something, I listen. 

Their point is clear:  Why aren’t American blawgers being “social” with their blawgs?  Some guys with great stuff, interesting and provocative, link to no one, acknowledge no sources and exist as little isolated islands (in the stream; no wait, that was Kenny Rogers.  Wrong band). 

A while back, I complained about how there were certain isolated groups of bloggers, who would banter back and forth between themselves but rarely let outsiders into the conversation.  It was like high school cliques, and if you weren’t one of the cool kids, you were nowhere.  This post had a bit of an impact, and some of the older, more established blawgs decided to be a little less insular.  It didn’t hurt too much.

But the phenomenon continues still with others.  One blawg I link to all the time, Jonathon Turley (who calls his blawg Res Ipse Loquitur, but I always refer to as just plain old “Turley”) never links to anybody.  I think he gets stuff from other blawgs (mostly because I know that others post things before him, but he still doesn’t acknowledge their existence.  Not that I plan to stop reading and linking to him, because he’s got great stuff and he’s very provocative, but I can’t help but wonder why?  Is this a political statement?  Is this a lawprof thing where he sees nobility in isolation?  Beat the heck out of me. 

Speaking of the lawprofs, even they have come out of their tower and played in the gutter with the rest of us.  Sure, they were a little defensive in the beginning, but once they figured out that real lawyers don’t bite, they turned out to be okay.  And, though I will deny this is anybody ever tries to use this against me, they really are quite smart.  Well, most of them, anyway.

Which brings me to the practical blawgosphere.  We’re pretty good about welcoming new blawgers, and linking to others.  True, we do a lot of internal link-love, but that’s because we have a lot in common and we tend to find the same stuff interesting.  Plus, it allows us to have conversations that bring all of our blawgs into play. 

Some in the practical blawgosphere are better than others, of course.  I think  Gideon, who has been a bit light on posting lately (probably because he’s carrying 789 cases), is probably the best.   Bennett is very good about this too, though he’s kept busy just dealing with the daily dose of new Texas blawgers.   Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer Jamie is also a trooper in the cause (that’s another one you owe me, Jamie).  But even amongst the blawgers who make real efforts to link to others, to welcome the newbies, our blawgospheric social life could be better.

So why aren’t we as social as we could be in the blawgosphere?

A few things come immediately to mind.  First, some blawgs appear out of nowhere, post like crazy, then disappear into thin air.   Malum in Se did that, and now nobody can find him anywhere.  Many blawgs just don’t post enough to follow, not that they don’t have good posts when they do, but there’s only so much time to read and searching out the very occasional posts is just too much effort.

Another problem is that many blawgs that have potential end up resorting to self-promotion, either because that’s their underlying purpose or because they just don’t have anything else to write about.  There isn’t much to link to when a blawg’s content is all about “me”. 

And of course, there’s always the volume problem, meaning that there are just too many blawgs around to keep track of, and I’ve found some great blawgs that I somehow totally missed before.  The only explanation is that there’s more going on than anyone can follow.  The numbers can be overwhelming.

But there is also one insidious reason that remains in the background.  Blawgers have a certain internal interest getting their own eyeballs, and they don’t want to share those eyeballs with other blawgs.  Some will share easier with close friends, but are a little more reluctant to link to sources they view as competitors.  Some are reluctant to even link to close friends, the competitive spirit overcoming their congeniality.  In light of the volume issue, the concern about eyeballs is understandable, though I bet that the more linking one does, the more eyeballs come your way.  Protectionism has its price.

As for me, I enjoy the social aspect of the blawgosphere.  Bantering with lawprofs is fun.  Arguing amongst the practical blawgosphere is informative.  Finding totally new blawgs in totally unrelated practice areas has given me a ton of new things to consider.  This has been much more intriguing than the practice of law ever way (though I’ll deny ever saying this too).  But I could do much better at being social, and I’m going to give it my best.

And by the way, if you’re a blawger and I haven’t linked or mentioned you, let me know.  If you’ve got anything to say, I’ll be happy to go on a date with you.