The Blog A-List Exists and I can Prove It
Here’s a riddle for you: What’s invisible to those inside it but painfully obvious to outsiders?
Answer: The A-List of bloggers.
Recently, there’s been a lot of criticism coming from the likes of Robert Scoble, Jason Calacanis, Steve Rubel and Loren Feldman of the concept of an “A-list” of top celebrity bloggers. They all agree that either there is no A-list, or the A-list is not important, and that A-listers are not special and that anyone can join at any time, if only the rest of us weren’t so damn lazy. They’re all wrong.
Do those names sound familiar? If you read a lot of blogs, the first three definitely should (More on Loren Feldman later). They are all members of the blogosphere elite, the network of top bloggers who get a disproportionate amount of attention and revenue.
The third definition of Network on Urban Dictionary is this:
“Updated version of “Old Boys Club” that doesn’t require being old or male; the primary purpose is to place acquaintanceship and social skills before merit, education and knowledge in career advancement.”
It’s a great definition, and it applies to perfectly to the Old Boys Club of celebrity bloggers. This exclusive club, where the A-listers gather in virtual space through links and twitters, and in the real world at conferences and TechCrunch parties where they bond over obscene hand gestures and take somewhat homoerotic pictures is painfully evident.
The fact is that many top bloggers had a huge head start in terms of industry connections and influence. The Last Podcast has a great post demonstrating the connections most A-listers had before getting started blogging. It’s a lot easier for a successful blog/media entrepreneur like Jason Calcanis to start a popular blog than it is for a stay at home mom, for example.
For some reason, it is only the A-listers themselves who deny the existence of the list of blog buddies as key to success. This is not an issue of inborn personality- you literally become convinced(or lie to convince others) that your A-list presence is nothing more than a result of your hard work only when you are actually on the A-list. In that, for example, pre A-list Scoble holds completely different opinions than A-list Scoble. Let’s take a look:
Scoble Circa 2003: Back when he was only a C-lister, Scoble not only acknowledges the influence of the A-list, but actually posts a parody of A-list bloggers that still rings very true today. Nothing about hard work there.
Scoble Circa 2006: Already an A-lister, but not yet blinded by power, Scoble advises us on how we can join the A-list. Is it through hard work an perseverance, as Steve Rubel would want us to believe? Not quite. His advice is much more practical: SEO through tagging, a flashy, eye-catching design, and let’s not forget spamming your link to other bloggers and making lots of friends. Fuck, which is it? Hard work and perseverance a la the American Dream or sleazy traffic-grabbing tactics? Scoble knows the way to get traffic and popularity, and I bet you can guess what the better way is as well. Hint: It’s not what you’re doing now.
And this only an example. All of the bloggers currently denying the importance of a A-list were singing to a very different tune before getting hit with all of this celebrity, including the current shit-stirrer, Jason Calacanis. If a list of top bloggers is not important, then why was it worth $50,000 to you in 2005?
And Loren Feldman of 1938 media. Aside from being on the top of his own A-list, he is rising in the “lists” very quickly. He actually did start from outside the buddy group of blogging, and rose to (relative) visibility by realizing that blogging needed a Maddox, and it worked. Feldman(Sorry, unlike you and Scoble, we’re not on a first-name basis yet) actually did work hard at attacking well-known bloggers until their own hubris forced them to notice him. It didn’t work for Michael Arrington, who was just pissed off that “some naked guy in bed” is trashing him on Youtube. Hilariously enough, the video has since been removed for Terms of Use Violation, probably more for Feldman’s bald-faced nudity rather than his bold-faced lies. It did work with Robert Scoble who, after enough abuse of his readers, gave Loren Feldman a job. You may not be an A-lister yet, Maddox of vlogging Loren Feldman, but you’re coming pretty damn close when more than one A-lister devotes multiple blog posts exclusively to what you have to say. The reason for this is quite obvious. Loren Feldman is a part of Podtech. Rob Scoble is VP of Podtech. The more hits Feldman gets, the more money Scoble makes. And, Feldman, one more thing: before claiming that only Scoble blogs at 3 AM, perhaps you should do some Googling. In case you were curious, it’s about 3:30 AM 4:30 AM(after editing and fact-checking) here, and I have exams tomorrow in about 4 hours.
Don’t let all of the connections top bloggers have make you angry. That’s just networking, and it works in the blogosphere as well as it does in the business world. I am not criticizing A-listers for denying the power of the A-list either. Literature across disciplines, from economics(”Bubbles are invisible to those inside the bubbles”) to health (”Every system has built in assumptions that are invisible to those inside it.”) to anthropology (”We don’t know who discovered water, but we are sure it wasn’t a fish”) demonstrates that many parts of established structures, particularly power structures are invisible to those comfortably inside them. An outsider’s perspective has more value, and to the A-list, we are almost all outsiders.
I am not concerned about my own popularity here. I have been fortunate enough to make amazing connections with some really cool people, and engage in some truly wonderful conversations. I’ve also built an audience I am happy with, who consistently post insightful, interesting comments and whom I wouldn’t trade for all of the Digg crowd. Hell, according to this Neomeme fits comfortably within the C-list. That’s better than Kathy Griffin, and she was on Celebrity Mole.Rather, I’m more concerned about the dozens of excellent blogs I have run across, many with content better than anything I or any of the A-listers can produce, that are completely dead. The blogger can post long, in-depth posts multiple times a day, but very few people read them. No comments on any posts, Technorati rank in the six figures. Undeservedly and unfairly obscured, overshadowed by the popularity of others. That sucks, in terms of traffic and popularity. But in absolute terms, it doesn’t matter.
All of us _-list bloggers are celebrities in our own right. Consider the following- even a very obscure blog probably gets a couple of dozen hits a day. That can add up to hundreds of hits a month. Not much in Internet terms, but consider that amount of visitors in real-world terms. As early as ten years ago, short of standing on the street corner and yelling, there was no way for the average person to quickly spread his message to hundreds of people. Even the smallest bloggers have relatively large spheres of influence, in absolute terms.
Does that put us on the inner circle of the A-list? Hells no. But it does grant us all the capability for enormous influence. The Internet is not fully egalitarian. No system ever is. But blogging, without a doubt, is the most empowering paradigm in the history of human communication. So maybe Calacanis is right. Maybe the A-list doesn’t matter. Maybe he doesn’t matter. Maybe all that matters is that someone out there reads your ideas and, in some minute way, your thoughts reach across all sorts of boundaries and touch someone else. You don’t need to be on a list or have friends in high places to do that. All you need is a single thought and a single blog.
I conclude with a personal story. On December 29, 2006 I decided to start blogging, mostly to continue the amazing conversations with amazing people whom I have met on forums and newsgroups. I knew nothing about the blogosphere, and had not even read any blogs regularly. About two weeks later, I wrote a post on a simple password algorithm I had been using personally. That little post went on to get over 1500 Diggs, 50,000 unique visitors, and has been translated into 8 languages. Most importantly, it generated over 100 comments from visitors with password tips of their own. Did that post launch me into some kind of elite list? Did it make me friends among the influencers of the blogosphere? No, of course not. But it did generate valuable, meaningful conversation, conversation a bookmarker on StumbleUpon described as “more valuable than the post itself”.
We can all generate meaningful, interesting conversation with our blogs, regardless of who our friends are. The next post on your obscure little blog can be your breakout hit. You’ll(most likely) never make it on the A-list unless you’re Jason Calacanis’s secret bastard child, but so what? It still is possible to, for a brief 15 minutes of fame, to reach out to a lot of people and generate interactive content that is far greater than the sum of its parts. And, ultimately, the conversation that we all build with every post, thoughts and ideas,memes forming and merging and living, ultimately, that’s all that matters. With every post, you create a new living,mutable, fast-moving idea, whether you’re Robert Scoble or Joe Nobody. What more could we ask for?
So, what do you think? A couple years of posts like this, and will I be posting that there is no A-list in 2009?
Related Posts:
A domain name, at last
Social Media in Blog Form
Selfcasting
Hey, you there in the corner! You should be our next featured blogger…right?
Tech Train: Tracking a Meme Through Space and Time
Yes!
No!
Thank you for the breadth of commentary and diversity of opinion.
It seems that every few months I read on someone’s blog about this Alphabet list. I really don’t understand all of the anger and animosity that a lot of people hold towards Scoble and co.
Sure they get a lot of subscribers and hits. But what a lot of folk are forgetting is that these folk only cover one sector of the whole blogosphere: Tech. They aren’t controlling the whole thing or even shaping the whole thing because they only write about one thing and that is tech related news. If you consider yourself a tech blogger, then sure, Scoble, Arrington, Om Malik, etc. present some formidable competition. Truth of the matter though is that they most tech based blogs are just rehashing what they read off of these other sites.
If you ask me, this so-called power and influence that people attribute to Scoble and Arrington is really smoke and mirrors. The people, IMHO that are actually shaping and influencing the blogosphere are people like Om Malik with his GigaOm network and Paul Scrivens with the 9Rules network. The 9Rules network points a person to ALL TYPES OF CONTENT, not jsut tech related blogs. That to me, is the real power, because they are attracting readers with a wide range of interests from ALL OVER THE WORLD.
This Alphabet List talk is all bullshit…not because of who you say is on it, but because in the grander scheme of things, IT DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER. If people are using Del.icio.us and Technorati the way that they were meant to be used, great, obscure content WILL GET FOUND. Arguing and complaining about the Alphabet List doesn’t do anyone any good because all it does is reinforce this idea that a SMALL GROUP OF BLOGGERS holds more sway and influence over a LARGER GROUP OF BLOGGERS. In the immortal words of Jay-Z: “I can’t get with that…”
Ahh… proof that I’m safe from being grouped in the A-List… you didn’t even bother linking to me.
Kidding.
I’m never quite sure who reads these “A-List” blogs anyway. Scoble’s pretty much a gossip columnist, for example - all those parties …
Frank: Maybe I’m biased because I live in the tech blog/Web 2.0 world, but as far as the blogosphere goes, tech bloggers play a huge role, because they are the early adopters of all technology, including blogging. Despite 55 million blogs(of which 70% are pure spam), blogs are nowhere close to hitting the mainstream. In absolute terms, none of these guys are big influencers. Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook is a huge influencer. Youtube is a huge influencer. Bloggers are not, but in the blogosphere, a few A-list bloggers dominate the debate and direct the discussion- witness the meteoric rise of Twitter exclusively due to adoption by a few A-listers. In the blogosphere tech blogs dominate- just look at the Technorati Top 100- TechCrunch is far above GigaOM, not just in terms of links but also in terms of favorites.
Unfortunately, people DON’T use del.cio.us and Technorati they way they were meant to, instead preferring to stick to a few top blogs they know, only perpetuating the domination of the blogosphere by the A-list.
I really enjoyed that, Ilya.
I got my Technorati rank to around 2000 in a year’s time which might mean A-list or B-list by some people’s standards (not mine — I think return readers/commenters over pageviews/blog links is a much better metric).
It was a lot of hard work, but it was also at least 50% doing the things to get traffic and popularity (also hard work, but can actually make your content suffer).
So how much will an A-lister need to pay AT&T for using “their pipes” in the future. Blogging will no doubt become just another media industry with agents, deals, DRM, and cut throat tactics. Our local newspaper even has a “Blog Log” section, which is silly since _blog_ only rhymes with _log_ because the word log is embedded in _blog_. Why not have a “Classified Classifieds” section too?
I loath the sort of ignorance spread by marketeers who bunch people into neatly defined groups. The A, B, C. . . stuff is just another lame tactic that will show its obsolescence as search tools improve.
There goes 3 minutes of my life wasted.
Admittedly I have NO CLUE who any of the people you mentioned are (sorry folks) but did enjoy your blog post (found on that ‘how in the heck do they come up with it?’ Today’s Hot Posts on WordPress) and wanted to tell you so.
I especially liked: “We can all generate meaningful, interesting conversation with our blogs, regardless of who our friends are. The next post on your obscure little blog can be your breakout hit.” I started blogging in January just to be in touch with my friends, but I’ve since found it a venue to end up reaching out to people I never imagined. And within the past week to help folks get info on the Menu Foods pet food recall. After all of that has died down, I’m sure my blog will go back to just my buddies and the drive-by reader or two…and that’s fine by me. Hmmm, that make me a Z-lister?
engtech: Thanks so much for your “inside” commentary that it does unfortunately take more than quality content to build an audience. Having experienced the occasional wave of Digg traffic, I agree completely that readers who engage the posts directly are much much more important. That said, it’s nice to see that you’re not getting caught up in all this “We’re celebrity bloggers” bullshit and still participating in the conversation with everyone instead of getting naked with Scoble.
Sam: TechCrunch just hired an outside CEO. I imagine an agent for the likes of Michael Arrington is not far ahead
SoCalMuchacha: Thanks for the praise- I really appreciate it. I(and most of my regular readers) know who those guys are because we spend entirely too much time in the tech blog blogosphere- as I have pointed out above, in the grand scheme of things none of these guys matter outside our (admittedly expanding) tech geek circle. Good luck with your blog.
Great post. The one thing I’ll always love Chris Pirillo for is that at Northern Voice in 2005 he sat on stage and said, “Every one of the A-list bloggers will tell you that they don’t care about stats. And that may be true. But I’m here to tell you that before they were A-list they sure cared!”
Another interesting thing to note is that the generally accepted list of A-list bloggers does not actually include most of the top bloggers nowadays; it includes only top tech bloggers. I don’t see Perez Hilton in many of these lists. And tech blogging, while it was the cutting edge when blogging was new, is now in the position of an old boy’s club, exactly. It’s an established power structure that gained hegemony in the early days of the field and is now being surpassed by the new blog entrepreneurs. Is Denton on your list? Jessica Coen, who could possibly be the best blogger in the world?
Non-technical blogs are going to make the old A-list obsolete. Of course, they’ll just generate their own A-list, but still. Motion is progress, isn’t that what the dotcom bubble taught us?
good analysis.Very encouraging for almost a non starter like me.
It would be interesting to read your posts after you get into A list- or are u already there?
Review your post once you reach A list and let me know.
Just kidding
all the best
@rc: Interesting thought on the “A list” tech focus. Another reason may be because people usually refer to the Technorati Top 100 when it comes to “what is an A lister” and that is only driven by getting links — something that is easier if you’re technically inclined or focused on writing about blogging.
Political blogging and celebrity blogging are huge though. I think Fugly is the only blog that gets read regularly in my house by someone other than me.
Rukmani, I’m on the C-list at best. but as I’ve said, I wouldn’t trade the great conversation we have here for ten times the traffic.
[…] [ALIST] The Blog A-List Exists and I can Prove It (neomeme.wordpress.com, 2 saves) […]
[…] attention. Because if you were, you’d see it all around you. To close, I’ll quote neomeme: “For some reason, it is only the A-listers themselves who deny the existence of the list of […]
[…] Additional Reading: Neomeme […]
Good post and as usual with good post gems can be found in the commetns - like engtech comment
I also meant to add - Subscribed!
Thanks Steven
Well said…
You’ve articulated my issues with the blogosphere perfectly. Not only the experiences that I’ve had with my new blogging adventure on the 08 election (which is only a few months old), but with my previous (and now defunct) personal website.
Back in December 2005, I was sued for defamation by a corporation for basically saying that they sucked on personal weblog. At the time, the site was read by maybe 5-8 people a day and I was truly shocked that I was sued. In 2005, I was 23, a recent college grad and definitely not prepared to deal with a $3 million dollar lawsuit.
Foolishly, given the enormous threat that such a lawsuit posed to the blogosphere, I anticipated receiving tons of support. Money and direct help would have been great, but honestly, I was really seeking moral support. Unable to afford an attorney, I spent about 7 months and countless hours learning the mechanics of a lawsuit, pouring of case law and preparing pleadings. Despite incalculable direct appeals to bloggers to at least reference the lawsuit, the litigation received almost no attention.
Fortunately, I won. The first blog lawsuit in my state came and went without anyone really noticing. I wonder if people would have paid attention had I lost and been ordered to pay the $3 million in damages. Would bloggers have jumped up then when it was too late? I’m not sure. I can say though, that my experience during that ordeal has certainly left me with perspective on the blogosphere that’s similar to the one you described above (and probably much more negative).
Great post!
AsC: I am sorry I didn’t support you. I don’t remember your case, though. But that’s the kind of thing that should have gotten more coverage (I’ve been threatened by such a case too and couldn’t afford the lawyers either).
AsC, thanks for sharing that story. Unfortunately, as Scoble says above, the ordeals of “lesser” bloggers often fly under the radar of the big boys. As has been posted elsewhere(I forget where), the blog A-list does not just spread the news- they ARE the news. I hope you countersue the corporation who wrongfully tried to stifle your free speech for the legal fees you paid to yourself.
[…] appreciation to Stop Crying, which was mentioned in several places around the blogosphere, at least once as the “final […]
[…] I think this blog has tremendous potential to effect change throughout the blogosphere. Right now, the A-list bloggers make the news. Anything an A-lister discusses is quickly picked up on and commented on by dozens of other blogs. Community blogs like this one, where anyone can participate even the playing field. It remains to be seen whether the community picks the best story ideas. But with a self-selecting crowd of entrepreneurs and technologists, using real names, there should be little trolling or stupidity. […]
Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! iforlvysyloh
I find the idea of an A-List a pretentious wank, but then, maybe I’m just jealous that I’m Z-list?
[…] kurze Blick über die Gender-Grenze zeigt: Frauen sind beim Netzwerken viel zögerlicher. Was ja auch nur logisch ist, denn […]
[…] video reporting will follow the same path user-generated text reporting(blogging) went- an A-list of citizen reporters will rise to notability, and become “corporate”- and the rest will […]
Hello, very nice site, keep up good job!
Admin good, very good.
It turned out I was a victim of identity theft. After spending a great deal of time fixing the problem I became paranoid about using credit cards anywhere. It took me about half a year to get over it. Now if I need a credit card I go to
discover card apr for life
There are so many tricks the bank use to make their reward programs sound enticing. But usually it’s not that easy to get a cash back bonus. Some of them want you to make your purchases at particular places. Or sometimes you have to spend a certain amount of money. Before applying for a credit card scrutinize the details at
apply for discover credit card now
M1NOY2gXM5
Credit cards are great if you can manage your money wisely. I always shop around for credit cards. I’ve figured out that official bank sites are not really helpful because you can’t compare there offers with those of other banks. So now I use
п»ї
hiohwrkhcsnzd
It’s true, the A-Listers may have more contacts but you have to remember they all started somewhere too!
I am a 40 yr old student. This is the limit age. At this age what is my chance to get a low rate student credit card? Please advise if you know. Can I apply at
3.9% apr discover credit card
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce
Good day! Me credit is good enough. I am an active traveler therefore use frequent flier card to earn bonus miles. Now I am looking for one more rewards card. I am going to apply for a new one online at the site. But do not know for sure whether it is a real site or not. Could you answer me as soon as possible?
discover o% apr for life transferred balance
I must say this is an interesting post and conversation. I just joined the blogging community a short while ago and have yet to familiarise myself with its inner workings. Do the so called A-list and other categories refer only to tech blogs or is it just that the tech blogs get the most attention? How much room is there for other topics of a more personal nature?
I think the A-list bloggers are mostly people either blogging about make money online, or tech stuff. If you were to have a blog about the best cd rates like me, or a blog about ants, then I doubt you could ever be an A-list blogger. A lot of it comes down to what subject you choose.
Thanks for information.
many interesting things
Celpjefscylc
YOU WROTE A MOST INTERESTING BLOG HERE.
WHILE I’M SURE THAT THERE IS AN A-LIST OF GOOD OL’ BOYS (AND GIRLS), IT MAY ACTUALLY COME FROM NETWORKING MORE THAN THE CONTENT OF THEIR WEB SITE .
SOME PEOPLE BECOME EXCELLENT CARPENTERS, MECHANICS, OR MUSICIANS. WRITERS ARE NO DIFFERENT ,(ESP. BLOGGERS) IN THAT THEY ALL USE TOOLS. SOME ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS AT USING ALL TOOLS AVAILABLE TO THEM.
GO TO THE TECH SITES FIND THE TOOLS (LEARN HOW AND THEN)USE THE TOOLS!
HAPPY WRITING DAYS TO YOU ALL!
TODD
Evolving demographics causes drop in…
For example, he said, a student with a speech challenge might need a communication device so they can attend class…
Buy percocet online….
Buy percocet online. Buy percocet online no prescription. Buy percocet online without office visit….
263985d8dc01…
263985d8dc013b56dd41…
With two many bloggers already filling the net, it would be a real hard job getting into that A-list.