Tentacles of narcissism

What to say of this first day of the new month?

In a season of market humdingers.....today was another humdinger of a market day. HRC is our new secretary of state. Hostages from the Mumbai terrorist siege gave accounts (awful, awful, unfolding as we enjoyed our turkey) on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Therefore, I apologize for dwelling on the fact of 200 unique hits to this site in the last 36 hours--a 700-percent increase from previous traffic--as if it is the only thing worth discussing.

I don't live in a bubble....but stand awed by the spread of a Saturday-afternoon brainstorm. So before this site bursts into self-referential flames, bear with the girl who picks up men in the public library, a phrase now to be carved on my gravestone.

1) If you're going to hit this blog, be Universal Hub.

Credit where due. It's Boston blog central....and many other bloggers put a live feed to it on their own sites. (Here's an example....which means that a number of you will head to this guy's site....so you see how it works.)

I believe that's how something goes so viral so quickly. People who write blogs spend a lot of time on their own blogs, then read other blogs. Add the slightest hint of titillation, it compounds.

And with no effort on my part, UH added me to the "Southie" list of Boston blogs worth reading. More free advertising.

2) The Google Factor

It's sobering. I just studied the residual search-engine effect of UH's signalling the Just Giblets' post, using:

"Bates Reading Room": links to this site come up 6th, 8th, and 9th. At this writing, they actually trump any actual link to the Boston Public Library's website describing the room.

"BPL Reading Room": the top 4 results, referenced by 4 different websites.

"Looking for Love": (mercifully), not until the top of the 4th page.

(Note: I did not try "library sex," "whack-off," or "single 30-something enjoys picking up unsavory types in unlikely places." But you may feel free.)

3) Fruit of the random search.

I haven't yet asked Scot, BPL Web Services Director, how he came upon my post, then linked to it. I'm guessing that, right smartly, he regularly enters library terms in search of BPL references, for his job.

He had no idea that UH would take his five-line item and run with it, or that all sorts of other blog-tracking sites (polymeme, examiner, yourstreet) that track UH would also run with it. Or that a good number of folks might believe a chat room at the library will be going live next week. Perhaps fearing wrath of supervisors, he updated his initial entry:

".... I better be sure to point out that it’s entirely tongue in cheek. Well, not entirely. We do want to offer more user-participatory services on the BPL web site. But dating services and personals are not part of our current goals.

See? ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) "

I should become friends with Scot. Down the road, if I get a book deal out of this episode, it wouldn't hurt to have made nice with someone who might expect residuals.

4) Future dating impact?

I don't know. Does anyone think someone will come here on a whim, enjoy my plights of singleness, and then agree with my profile picture....thusly sweeping me off to our Bahamian nuptials?

Or will it work in reverse.....my soulmate visits, likes it, but recoils at the thought of being spread about the blogosphere because of knowing me. (Already done a version of that.)

Perhaps, after so publicly speculating, it would be lame for me not to try this library strategy in earnest. Like fake-trip, spill books, and require assistance from the aspiring medical student.

Or just wear a lapel pin that proclaims:

"Desperately Seeking: Hot Academics in Lovely Architectural Space. Please Inquire."