For want of a hat tip: How many blogs give link credit?
Phrases like “via Boing Boing” and “via Instapundit” are ubiquitous in the blogosphere. At some point as blogs were emerging out of the primordial ooze of the internet it became ethical to not only link to content but to also indicate where you found the link. This kind of double sourcing is widely referred to as a “hat tip,” invoking the image of — yes, you guessed it — someone tipping his hat in acknowledgment.
But this is far from universal. Just while monitoring the blogs that link to bloggasm I’ve noticed that many bloggers never indicate where they found the link to an article that I wrote.
So what percentage of bloggers follows this rule? To answer this question I used Blogpulse to find three online sites that have been widely linked within the last few days. To provide variety, I chose one news article, one Youtube video, and one blog post.
I then plugged these links into Google Blog Search to find out which blogs were linking to these items. I went through each of the blogs and tallied up which ones used hat tips and which gave no indication where they came across the link.
Before I publish my results, let me issue the caveat that it’s entirely possible that many of these bloggers that didn’t provide hat tips came across the links on their own. For instance, one of the three items I used was a New York Times article, which the blogger could have easily found by visiting the NY Times page or subscribing to one of its rss feeds.
Still, I think this gives one a very rough idea of what percentage of bloggers follows the ethic of the hat tip.
I used these three links for my study:
1. Closing on Broadway: Two Traffic Lanes [newspaper]
2. Western Spaghetti by PES [Youtube video]
3. Confirmed: PaidContent Bought By the Guardian – Here’s How Media History is Made [blog]
In total, there were 78 blogs that linked to these three items. Of those, 20 — or 26% — gave hat tips. The remaining 58 — or 74% — didn’t indicate where they found the link.
Broken down by individual items, the news article received a total of 29 links, with 4 — 14% — giving hat tips and 25 — 86% — not giving hat tips. The Youtube clip received 32 links, with 11 — 34% — giving hat tips and 21 — 66% — not giving them. The blog post received 17 links, with 5 — 29% — giving hat tips and 12 — 71% — not.
I’m somewhat ambivalent about the practice; I don’t feel that a blogger necessarily deserves a pat on the back just for finding a link, especially when nine times out of 10 he probably just yoinked the link from someone else. This is especially true when the person who found the link is merely pointing to it rather than really adding depth to the discussion.
Like most my case studies, this could have used a much larger sample. But, like always, I was constrained by time. For now, Bloggasm is still an evening endeavor.
I’d be interested in hearing others’ thoughts on the matter, either by email or in the comments section.
Contact me at simon.bloggasm@gmail.com
I don’t think I’ve ever “hat-tipped” must be before my time blogging (which is short). However, I think I usually stumble on people mostly through google or other blogs so I never think of sourcing that. I don’t know, this is a completely new concept to me. However, a lot of time I will leave a comment the first time I see the site saying hey I found you from a link on Jeff’s site or whatever.
I guess hat-tipping seems unnecessary. Its like sourcing a book in a paper, you just tell them the name of the book and the author, no one cares what library you got it from.
To be honest, I often regard hat-tipping as less a matter of courtesy and more a matter of strategy. By placing a hat tip link, you produce an additional trackback on the source blog. I’d say that’s a stronger motivator than good manners for most.
I never hat-tip if it’s from Slashdot or BoingBoing and especially if I’m providing a link only without commentary. Then again, it’s rare that I’ll just pass on those links via my blog anyway.
I agree with the importance of a “hat tip” and love to see good data on various aspects of blogging — but I’m a bit skeptical of this approach.
Two big gaps (beyond those you already mentioned):
1. many bloggers find things via meme trackers & social news sites, so there’s often no single blog to credit
2. if the post quotes the blog, no additional hat tip is required.
Also, since you don’t list the posts, it’s hard for someone else to attempt to replicate.
Still: it’s an interesting topic — and some data is often better than no data.
Somewhat OT, but… A few blogs I read are SO courteous, they even credit sources for the *pictures* they use! I’d say about .01% of bloggers do that. (I rarely do, unless it’s an artist or something. But never for stock photos.) Interesting side-note on this topic: I even got busted once (letter from a lawyer & all) for using a picture online w/o permission.
I can’t imagine bloggers doing it any other way, but then I’m a former print journalist. I just carried over my practices from there so citing is just the norm. I wish others did it all the time, too.
The blogosphere is choked to commercialization, and it is no surprise that people don’t link out – so that visitors stay on the site and create more pageviews, more revenue and income.
PS: I’ve been fired from a freelance writing job because I (rightly, with proof that I later wrote on my personal blog) accused my editor of plagiarism. And I’m proud that I was fired for that reason alone
I liked the idea of this post! Hat tips are a great way to participate in the blogosphere that your blog relates to. In the celebrity gossip niche, there are daily lists of 10-20 “hat tip” posts that people write, just to get attention of other bloggers.
At the end of the day, if your content is unique and provides value, a hat tip should be given…
I guess I am one of the .01% that gives credit where credit is due, and try to note where I found a picture or graphic that I use on my blog, esp. if it is from an established artist or on flickr.
I also no longer link a book to Amazon, simply because I see no reason to send business their way as opposed to someone else. I usually try to find a link on Google books, and failing that, Library Thing.
Heck, I pull in so new ideas on a daily basis that by the time I get around to blogging them I forget where I first saw them. Just this morning I was reading over an old blog post and thought “so that’s where I got the idea for my entry two weeks later!”
I get most of my links from google alerts or other blogs, I will try and be more conscientious about double-linking with a hat tip when I do pick up a link from a blog.
My posts are pretty heavily linked up already though, not sure how well I can integrate a second link without interrupting my flow. Guess that’s my problem to solve.