While the post you are about to read shares a topic with this post, it is only somewhat similar. In fact, I would say that it was only moderately inspired by that post. After reading and commenting on Michael’s post, I didn’t really think about it or have this post idea in mind. Then, for some reason I was thinking today about how there are different groups of bloggers and that these different groups could almost be considered cliques. Now, let’s explore some of the differences and similarities between bloggers and cliques.

Similarities

Much like cliques and the members thereof can be recognized because it is the same group of people doing things together and communicating with one another while only occasionally interacting with people outside the group, bloggers tend to visit and comment on the same select sites on a regular basis. To see this in action, think about the sites you visit on a regular basis. When you go to those sites, it is (at least in my experience) generally the same avatars that show up in the MyBlogLog widgets of the majority of those sites and also the same core group of people commenting on all or at least most of those sites.

This can also be seen through the posts that are written on the various sites in that when shout-outs and link-love are given, a lot of times it is the same people who are linking back to each other and within the group. Also, just like in regular cliques, there are a variety of people that are interacted with (visits and comments) and noticed (link-love) that are not a part of the clique, but the main “core group” still exists.

Another aspect of this phenomenon is that bloggers are much like cliques when it comes to other forms of interaction. It is quite possible that this is just a by-product of the things I’ve mentioned before, but when you think of about the offline and blogosphere-wide events, these same groups can be seen and distinguished.

When thinking about some of the other characteristics of cliques and things that define who is and isn’t part of a given clique, people in both traditional and blogging cliques turn to each other (within their clique) for assistance with things and develop similar styles. In traditional cliques, assistance might be with homework, making a choice between multiple alternatives or simply emotional/moral support. In the blogosphere, the assistance could also include site or graphic design and guest posts.

In traditional cliques people usually have similar styles in terms of clothing and/or speech patterns and vocabulary. In the blogosphere, we don’t see each other on a regular basis and therefore are not likely to dress the same (except for the promotional T-Shirts) but often the sites whose owners are in the same “clique” will have a similar layout (2-column, 3-column, magazine style, etc) and incorporate many of the same elements (plugins, ad set-ups, etc). Also, since bloggers don’t generally communicate verbally and we live all throughout the world, we are not likely to have similar speech patters or accents, however, many times the topics and writing styles become similar over time.

Differences

Even with all the similarities between bloggers and cliques, there are a few ways in which bloggers are different. The biggest positive difference is that bloggers are not near as exclusive as regular cliques in that there is a lot more interaction (comments, site visits) with people outside of the clique. While it is “normal” to see generally the same people visiting and leaving comments at a given collection of sites, it is not necessarily unusual to see them at other sites as well or other people at those sites. Another aspect of this reduced exclusivity is that most any blogger would be more than happy to assist someone who needed help with something on their site whether it was someone they knew well or not.

Also, in contrast to how most traditional cliques don’t want to let other people join them and make it tough to get into their group, bloggers are (mostly) very welcoming and encouraging. Whether there is a new blogger looking to start networking or someone who doesn’t have a blog yet that is looking to start one, most anywhere they look they will find a whole group of friends ready to help and provide both moral and technical support.