This week I have decided to clip from the blogosphere exclusively, discussing it a bit in the process. But first, having become a staple of my th!nking, a selection of this week in MDGs at YouTube.

#5 From YouTube

Now for the blogosphere. First of all, check out TH!NK3's own Citizen Journalism VS Drug Cartels? By Andrea Arzaba and Ceasefire Liberia: Rising African Voices by Kevin Rennie - the blogosphere has already been discussed here at TH!NK3. For the remainder of this article I'll go to blog meta sites and search for “millennium development goals” and “mdg” then look at the most interesting and recent top result(s).

I'd appreciate comments about the meta sites from fellow th!nkers – do you think they are usable at all? Or a waste of time? Did I miss an awesome blogger site somewhere? Tell me!

#4 From Google Blog Search

Of course Google has its own thing: Google Blogs! Doesn't even attempt to add community features but is clearly the strongest tool for searching. Or is it?

We get recommended the blog millenniumdevelopmentgoals.net. Someone please explain to me why I didn't see that site before? Not that I'm extremely impressed but couldn't they need people like us, the th!nkers, to get their idea rolling? A lot of the other hits are to what I'd call semi-size organization press releases – not very interesting. And we get a large number of links to gossip sites babbling about the MDGs – which is now the Madonna Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses. Oh well, there goes our brand.

#3 From Newsvine

Newsvine combines the two pillars of the blogosphere: Having somewhere to post the links your are excited about and having somewhere to rant, speculate, analyze or report. Plus of course vote your favorite content to the front page or comment with your wisdom.

Searching for the MDGs is, unfortunately, as hard here as it is anywhere. I'm getting results about Wayne Rooney and the Opera webbrowser. A top hit is one of the AP stories Newsvine also features: Swiss solar cell inventor wins technology prize. Somewhat relevant but really not about the MDGs at all. Also, Guebuza Warns on Climate Change is very interesting. Which is why I posted it in the first place. Newsvine has sections about the environment, health and other issues but if you want to get MDG news there, just go to my column and see what TH!NK3 pieces I seeded or cross posted (while you're there don't forget to vote up the stuff you like).

#2 From BlogCatalog

Blogcatalog.com is a community for bloggers. Here you can register your blogs which will give you a bit of extra traffic and quite possibly some feedback from other bloggers. But most importantly you can discuss in the forums and easily find like-minded bloggers. Currently I have four blogs registered there – but amazingly the administrators haven't accepted my TH!NK3 column yet due to lack of content.

Our search points out the site users filipspagnoli and greenskeptic “Topics Experts”. The top search hit is... a link... to What Next for the Millennium Development Goals? Suggestions from an MDG Skeptic at Center for Global Development. Having to click through multiple layers of links is a bit annoying at times but that article is actually interesting. The second hit is the aforementioned filipspagnoli linking to “a really good collection of maps on the Millennium Development Goals”, Building A Better World at The World Bank site. Third is Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will not be met unless governance improves at The Kaufmann Governance Post.

#1 From Technorati

If you don't know Technorati I'm not sure you're really blogging. No, of course not – you are if you think you are. But Technorati has been indexing millions of blog posts since 2002, ranking the blogs, allowing effective searches, displaying front pages and providing a community. Yes, I got my TH!NK3 column at Technorati – and I think my fellow th!nkers should register too.

Today's top hit is Development Aid Is Working at The Huffington Post:

“even in the very poorest countries, progress is happening. Momentum is supported by smart, strategic donor investments working in tandem with developing country commitment and resources […] Last year the G20 committed to spend $22 billion over the next three years to support agricultural development rather than traditional short-term food aid. These investments will support developing countries that are taking the lead in tackling the issue themselves […] we should celebrate how far we have come. There is a clear route to our final destination with good models for how even the poorest countries can ultimately meet each of the goals.”

It's written by Mark Suzman, acting president of the Global Development Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Is that blogging? The Huffington Post was a blog but is now something different. A new media that has risen from the blogosphere. In technical Technorati terms it's got an “authority” of 958 – compared to my TH!NK3 column which has just 115.

#0 The real clips

None of the above came even close to substituting the use of a good RSS reader loaded with quality feeds. And from mine here are just two real quick news from the past week: Roz Savage became the first woman to row solo across the Pacific Ocean – wearing a 350.org t-shirt! - and Nokia Unveiled Bike-Powered Cell Phone Chargers.

If we are to conclude from what I just found using the blogosphere search engines TH!NK3 is doing pretty good but getting too little credit.