If your feedreader or email-newsletter inbox is anything like mine, it’s cluttered and all over the map in terms of quality. We’ve seen a number of ranking schemes for blogs lately that I think help with the information overload. Some people call them link bait and yes, there is a certain truth to that – but then I see efforts like Jason Oke’s from Leo Burnett’s fruits of imagination blog and the Social Media Index recently devised by some smart folks from Edleman – and I see a genuine effort to bring a level of professionalism to these rankings.
One of the more prominent ranking systems has been Todd Andrlik’s Power 150. It initially ranked only US marketing blogs, but it now has a global roster of English-language marketing and PR blogs. Todd was one of the first to use a combination of factors to arrive at a ranking including Technorati ranking, Bloglines subscribers, Google PageRank and a subjective factor "Todd And Points". His ranking system was used as the basis for Jason’s as well as for the Social Media Index, which takes it a step further and looks beyond the blog to overall influence in the social media arena including Facebook, Digg, Twitter, LinkedIn, delicious and Flickr.
To me, this kind of ranking process, while certainly ego gratifying, also helps us work through the difficult issue of measuring social media in general. Clients consistently ask me, "How do we measure?" Throw all of the above technologies and opportunities into the pot, stir in a couple of widgets and it could give the most stalwart of web analysts a headache. So I’m excited about these efforts to try to bring a level of rigour and discipline to our seemingly wild-child social media mix.
That being said, One Degree is listed on the Power 150 – currently in slot #45. Congrats and thanks to all of you who have contributed to One Degree. It’s gratifying to see our Canadian take on the world, well, take on the world! And kudos to other Canadian bloggers listed in the Power 150: CanuckFlack, AdGoodness, Twist Image, Blogging Me Blogging You, Pro PR, Craphammer, Buzz Marketing with Blogs, Common Sense PR, the fruits of imagination, and my own blog, My Name is Kate. Keep up the great work!
Todd has also just announced that Advertising Age is going to be using the Power 150 as an editorial benchmark when referencing bloggers in print and online. Jonah Blook, editor of AdAge says …
"We’ve been trying for a while now to work out how to point our readers towards the best of the media and marketing blogs. To that end we’ve done some linking out from our Out of Site blog, but don’t have a comprehensive resource for our readers. Of course we could have put something together based on our own opinions or bloggers’ traffic numbers, but Todd’s brilliant creation goes way beyond that and creates a ranking that combines traffic, influence and quality into a ranking of the best out there. We’re excited to be able to bring that to our readers. We also hope it’ll be a great thing for all bloggers listed. Ad Age already provides our readers with the definitive rankings of the country’s leading advertisers; the leading agenices in most disciplines; and the leading traditional media companies. The fact we’ll now also be ranking the media and marketing blogs says a lot about how important that community has become in a very short time."
Very exciting to see the influence that bloggers are able to exert on established media like Advertising Age and to be recognized for it. Congrats to all of you on the list as well as to those of you who contribute to One Degree.
Speaking of contributing, if you’re interested in writing for One Degree, please contact me … we’re looking for contributors, especially from voices we haven’t heard from here often on One Degree: business to business, non-profits, and regions outside our larger metropolitan areas!