Discovery ยท 2000s

Blogrolls

A public map of who someone read.

What it was

Blogrolls were lists of recommended blogs, turning personal taste into a discovery network.

Why people remember it

  • They carried trust from one writer to another.
  • They made small sites easier to find.
  • They were slower, more human predecessors to algorithmic recommendation.

What replaced it

Usually a platform feature, a private analytics dashboard, a cleaner app pattern, or a feed. The behavior rarely disappears; it gets renamed and absorbed.