BlogCatalog is a highly evolved blog directory. In a field of tens of thousands they stand alone, and in a field of three they stand strong.

While the original site was a blog directory, it has evolved into something more than that and is one of the top three true blog communities on the net right now, along with BUMPzee and MyBlogLog.

A Unique Community Focus

While a contrarian view has tried to define BlogCatalog as nothing more than a clone of another Blog Community, the truth is that BlogCatalog enjoys a unique position among the Blog Communities. BUMPzee is discussion focused and MyBlogLog is stats and visit focused. BlogCatalog has a first focus on it's directory aspects and everything else plays to that focus. Opening all three of the sites in separate browser tabs will quickly highlight for you just how much difference there is in their approaches to establishing a Blog Community.

Of themselves, Blog Catalog says

BlogCatalog is the premiere social blog directory on the internet. Whether you're looking to promote your own blog or find blogs on various topics, this site is for you.

and that seems to sum it up succinctly.

Further emphasizing their commitment to centering the community on a directory based structure is the sheer magnitude of categories available in the directory, which includes categories you won't find in most other directories including "academics", "Memes" and even "Iraq".

Active Member Discussions

Another point that stands BlogCatalog in good stead in my opinion is an extremely active discussion area. There are five discussion boards named "BlogCatalog Questions", "Blogging Help", "General Discussion", "Making Money" and "Shameless Blog Promotion" with a combined main board listing discussion posts from all five at once. These discussion boards are active pretty much around the clock and offer endless opportunity to chat with your fellow bloggers about a very diverse range of topics.

The discussion area is even further enhanced by a recent decision to ban pure link for link type threads that add no real value to the discussion boards themselves. This highlights another BlogCatalog strength as well. When making major policy shift decisions, the admin take the matter to the members and encourage active participation in discussing the best path for changes to the site or it's policies.

Solid Feature Offerings

You will also find the usual things you would look for in a blog community. From your profile you can add other bloggers as friends, add other blogs as "neighborhoods" and as a unique feature, even add your profile page from other blog communities and social networking sites. Members can leave both private and public messages for each other, shoutbox style, on the profile pages and BlogCatalog keeps track of which discussions each member is most involved in at the time and lists them on the profile page.

This all serves to give a reader hints as to what content might be interesting, or what other members may share some similar interests. And of course, it enhances the community aspects to the site for those members who choose their neighbors and friends wisely, based on common, relevant content.

Room To Improve

As always there are things that could be improved, and the good news is that the staff at BlogCatalog seems to be committed to doing just that. Recently they held a contest offering a first prize of $2,500 to members who made suggestions for improving the site. Given the popularity of the thread, I suspect they have some exciting changes and additions in the pipe right now.

While I did not take part in the contest, I do have a couple of suggestions based on my use of the site.

• The "Favorite Discussions" section of the profile is really cool. I would like to see it enhanced and made a little more prominent.
• A "Favorite Neighborhoods" done the same way as the "Favorite Discussion" would be very cool. This way one could see what a members favorite blogs were based on their actual use and readership, rather than simply what they clicked on to add to their profile. It's easy to click "Join this neighborhood" It takes a completely different commitment to visit and read a blog frequently.
• A sort of mini-blog where users could post short messages and have, say, the most recent five, displayed on their profile with archives and comments would be a really neat addition and allow for further user defined discussion and promotion.

Overall BlogCatalog is a very worthwhile site and would make a valuable addition to your blog promotion arsenal. If you don't already have a profile there I encourage you to set one up today.