Blogs Not Hotter than Hotbot

Seth Godin makes an excellent observation about how perception isn't always reality.  When it comes media coverage, by nature we assume that the more coverage something gets, the bigger it is. If it's being reported all over the place, then it must not only be a big deal, it must be a bigger deal than the things that are not being reported. Of course, this is not the case.
 
Although the Alexa data Seth cites may be flawed, it's still interesting that one of the web's most obscure search engines generates traffic tantamount to the entire universe of blogs. Of the dozen or so people with whom I've discussed my blog, only two knew what a blog is, and only one actually reads blogs. Forbes, Fast Company, Business Week -- they've all got articles about blogs and blogging. No one is writing about Hotbot.
 
News is what it is -- news. It is not a comprehensive barometer of actual trends in human behavior. Just look at the number of things on the Yahoo! Buzz Index or the Google Zeitgeist that make you scratch your head. Most of the stuff there is what's showing up in the media, but there are usually a few things on these lists that didn't make any mainstream headlines.