Blogrolls used to be everywhere. In the early web, your sidebar had a list of blogs you read. A simple way to say "these people are worth your time." Then social media came along and sociality moved to the feed. Your reading habits became algorithmic and the humble blogroll disappeared.
I wanted to bring them back, but not as a static list of links.
Inspired by Dave Winer
Dave Winer's blogroll on scripting.com works differently from the traditional model. Instead of a fixed list you update by hand, it pulls in feeds and sorts by when each blog was last updated. The most recently active blogs float to the top. This is the version I wanted to build into Jottit.
How it works
Every Jottit blog can have a blogroll page. Mine is at simonbc.com/blogroll.
You add a blog by entering its URL. Jottit fetches the RSS or Atom feed, pulls the latest post, and grabs the site's avatar. The list updates automatically. When someone you follow publishes, they move to the top. You can add any blog with a feed. It doesn't have to be on Jottit.
Why it matters
A blogroll is a recommendation. It says "I read this person" in a way that a follow button never could. It's public, it's personal, and it lives on your blog, not inside a platform.
Time to bring blogrolls back.