Very quickly, a follow up to the reactions to this.
Firstly, quite a few people seemed to find it interesting.
However, another quite a few people found it irritating. On the whole this seemed to be from people who didn’t appear on the list. For example Heather Yaxley thinks it’s all a bit crap really and agrees with David Brain that I need a wider list. Hmmm. I’ll try but I think 70-odd is ok to start with. I’ve since added some people to the list but only because…
… generally, the people who didn’t like it didn’t appear on it. Amanda Chapel was pretty unhappy with the first survey which included bloglines so I revised it, and now she’s unhappy that I haven’t updated it for just over a week. However, I notice that Strumpette has crept quite significantly up the Power150. Which brings me to another interesting point: given that SpudGun also got his stats off the ground, I wonder how much this chart stirred things up and helped everyone’s blog stats…?
So, what is to be done? I suppose I could just remove my list and not irritate people. But what’s the point? If people genuinely think their PR blogs are worthy then isn’t it enough to contribute to the debate? And surely isn’t one of the key learnings here the difficulty of quantifying even blog popularity, let alone influence?
Alternative approaches could be:
- Increase the reading list – so that I’m more comprehensive – although you can never include everyone and this would just take even longer to compile
- Change the metrics – so I’m not directly compared to the Power150
- Change the subject matter – so I’m out of the Power150 space altogether. I’m considering doing this for copywriting instead. I have a feeling copywriters may be less inclined to throw their toys out of the cot because they’re a sanguine lot. I know: I am one.
Finally however, to get to the real question of influence. Remember my discussion with Flemming Madsen of Onalytica about popularity vs influence, and how influence tends to resonate over time while popularity is temporary? Well, check out my blog stats chart (actual figures removed so you can’t see how puny they really are):
As you can see, after a large spike we’re now almost back to normal. So, I clearly lack influence anyway. So why all the fuss?
We’re now back to just me and my three readers. Nice.
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Unless otherwise stated, everything Brendan says on this site is his own opinion. So there.
Hey, FG!
Don’t sell yerself’ short! I’m LOVIN’ yer work…
and will spread the word.
s’all about spreadin’ the love….
Rax
Thanks for the support!
TFG – You’re spot on – those who expected to see themselves on the list are irritated at not being on it, and those (like me) who didn’t, are pleasantly surprised to see themselves there.
I guess you can please some of the people all of the time and all of them some of them all of time…
As far as I’m concerned, as long as you’re happy that the tools that you use to measure are in full working order, then this is a perfectly valid list.
Even more so perhaps for those who aren’t on it than those of us lucky folk who are!
Keep up the good work!
Thanks, ‘spuddy’… >ouch
Friendly – As I noted on my blog, I was teasing about not being on your list (I certainly didn’t have any expectations about inclusion). To be accurate, I said your methodology was idiosyncratic, not crap (which isn’t a word I’ve ever used on my blog). Anyway, my main point was substantiated by your graph, in that lists generally stimulate debate and traffic.
Hey Heather, I really didn’t mean it to come across in a nasty way. I’m a Friendly Ghost, remember? And I accept your teasing in the manner intended. You’re on my blogroll now cos I like your blog.
Been called lots of things in my (short) time – “Spuddy” has got to be the least offensive!
BTW, we’re going to have to make an effort to find a moniker for you – there’s three different ones in these comments alone!