TIME and PC Magazine Join the Underground Blogosphere

Thousands (or maybe millions) of email messages and IMs are circulated around the blogosphere each day containing links to blog posts with the hope of getting some link-love and extra web traffic.

Since most bloggers cannot afford the services of PR companies to spread awareness about their blog content, they do the "pitching" themselves. Guru Steve has labeled this secret but well-known phenomenon of blog-networking as Underground Blogosphere.

Now it's not just the small or lesser known Z-list bloggers who are vying for attention, popular magazine publications such as PC Magazine and TIME are emailing bloggers with links to stories published on their websites.

Here's an email from the PR agency of TIME magazine:

Yesterday, TIME revealed a list of 200 people who may appear on the annual TIME 100 list, which showcases the most influential people who shape our world (link: http://tinyurl.com/23xeeb).

A few people you and your readers would be specifically interested are: Steve Jobs, Jimmy Wales, Chris Anderson, Steve Chen & Chad Hurley, and several other technology and Internet pioneers.

Another "blog tip" via email from PC Magazine of the IDG group:

Wanted to send you the link to PC World's "20 Most Annoying Tech Products" which was posted today and voted on by readers.

The AOL free trial CD's were #1 on the list, which also included RealPlayer, Windows Vista, and QuickTime. Thought you might want to link/post to this on your blog.

As bloggers, do you love these "pitches" or just hate them ?

My take - If you have written something worth reading, go ahead and share it with bloggers in your niche. Most of the times, they'll thank you because you gave them some food for blogging sans wilfing.