It’s been a little over two months since I began working at Edelman, London. These two months have flown by. Honest, I really don’t know where the time has gone. But what I do know is that in these two months I’ve had the chance to work with some great people both in the office and around the world. I feel lucky to have been thrust head first into all of this. It’s great. And when each employee receives a letter from the boss telling you to be bold and make some mistakes along the way because success will come from those mistakes, you know you’re on to a good thing, right?
You would think by looking at the dates of recent postings on my blog I’ve had very little to say or do with regard to social media. The reality is, however, I’ve never been more involved in it. This blog’s on the backburner for the timebeing as I work on some (in my humble opinion) great projects. And to be honest, I kinda enjoy working in the background.
Which leads me onto the point of this post (Jeeze, two paragraphs to get to the point!). Prior to me joining Edelman you may remember the partnership which was struck between Edelman and Technorati. The deal was to fast-track localised versions of the T/rati interface in German, Korean, Italian, French and Chinese which we would retain exclusivity of for a certain period of time. Well, for the last few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside Steve, Wolfgang, Guillaume and a number of Edelman’s online team to study the data we had the opportunity to gather.
I won’t cover the specifics of the whole study because, quite frankly, the other Edelman guys can probably do a better job in their specific regions and Steve will probably cover it on a global scale. But what I will do is share a little information of what I’ve been up to. Okay, as a UK based employee you’d imagine I’d take an interest in the UK blogosphere. And I do. Like other UK PR bloggers I like to see bloggers from this neck of the woods making an impact in the media or in the blogosphere in general. However, we’re still at a point where there are no automotive processes to determine who are the most influential bloggers in this country due to the English language being spoken in various countries. No technology is available to decipher these blogs and, honestly, I can’t see anything coming close in the foreseeable future.
So this is where I came in. In order to get some idea of who are the most influential bloggers in the UK (according to Technorati) I decided to spend a considerable amount of time to put something together. Using my own knowledge of the UK b/sphere, Technorati’s tagging feature and some days of solid head down research I’ve compiled a list of UK 50 influential bloggers (according to Technorati).
This list is by no means definitive and I’m not claiming it is 100% accurate. But what I will say it’s certainly a good starting point to get some insights into the UK blogosphere. Which is what I believe we have done. You can download the UK50 here but I think the results found are more interesting:
* 70% of the UK50 post daily.
* 66% have written about a local company.
* 44% have discussed multinational companies.
* 22% cover news a politics.
* 12% write about global issues.
* 14% write about local issues.
Here is some general info I gathered when running a search through the UK50. This first graph shows how frequent they blogged about local organisations whereas the second focuses on multinationals. Interesting to see more discussion on multinationals.
As mentioned the UK50 list is not definitive. In fact I’d love some feedback on how to make it better or if indeed I’ve missed some prominant UK bloggers out. But for the time being this is all we (the UK b/sphere) have. I plan to add the data to a wiki and, in tune with the ‘wisdom of the crowds’ theory, ask for participation. The data was gathered toward the end of last month so no doubt some of the rankings will have changed as each of the blog gain new imbound links.
My colleagues from around the world will be posting more insights into their specific locations and you can read more about it on the Financial Times’s website. The data collected from each particular country is very interesting when you compare and contrast. More later…
Stephen is a communications consultant based out of the UK. You can connect with him on Twitter or check out his LinkedIn profile. | Email Stephen
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Pete Cashmore
I tend to keep it quiet, but Mashable is in fact a British blog based out of Scotland.
–Pete
Simon Collister
Hi Stephen
What’s Technorati?
I was concerned you’d been quiet for a while but this post make the silence worthwhile. Great – and I mean great – stuff!
Stephen
Wow! There you go! One of my favourite blogs too.
Thanks Pete.
Stephen
Hey Simon,
Thanks! But I’m sure you’re perfectly aware of Technorati!
On a different note. I’ve heard there are a few North East PR agencies taking note of Green/you and are looking for social/new media practitioners.
Ashley
Good to see that Tech Digest has made the list. For some reason we tend to slip under people’s radar as until today we were hosted in the US.
Interesting how most of those blogs have been around for 3/4 years – this makes Pete’s Mashable sucess even more impressive.
Helen Keegan
Are you also measuring number of subscribers?
And what does ‘influence’ mean? Should this be by topic area? In which case, it does beg the question of how do you define the topics. Definitely worth exploring I’d have thought… I expect there’s some kind of formula you’ll be able to create like (x external links + no of subscribers)* ?? =influence – you get the idea!
Will keep an eye out for for further posts on the topic.
Stephen
Ashley: TechDigest was one of the first to be added. It’s a great blog and one I know is very popular.
Helen: No we aren’t measuring subscribers since it’s impossible to do so at this time. I.e. Not everyone uses FeedBurner to track subscriptions.
We measured the number of inbound links from other blogs. This is T/rati’s way of measuring ‘authority’.
But I agree, if we could get a measure of subscribers, links, possibly traffic and mix them in a pot to come out with a solution it would be great.
I’ve received some great feedback in comments and by email so I’m quite inspired to look into it further. Would much prefer help from the UK b/sphere as opposed to doing it on my own. Anyone?
David
What about Tall Skinny Kiwi, he may not have been born in the UK, but he has lived in Scotland for three years?;
http://technorati.com/blogs/http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com/
Stephen
Thanks David. I’ll add it now. Do you know of anymore to make the list better?
Thanks again.
Justin
Good to see you back blogging Stephen and this looks like a nice piece of work. I’ve often been asked by clients and colleagues to produce this type of information and as you know it’s a near impossible task and a real case of finger in the air stuff. It’s great to see people taking this up as an issue and it will be good to see the top 50 list grow and develop .
David
Stephen, thanks for the reply. I can see how hard it is but there may be some top UK blogs on the BBC, as it has its own blog network now e.g.;
BBC NEWS Editors (1,061 links from 400 blogs)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors
more BBC blogs on;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/
Stephen
David,
We cut out all msm (mainstream media) blogs in all countries/languages. It was kept consistent throughout.
mel starrs
Nice list. I would make the following comment about Technorati’s method (and this is their foible not yours) but I would personally rate someone with 1152 links from 636 blogs higher than 1810 links from 502 blogs (your no’s 11 and 12). No. 11 is getting 3.6 links per blog, but No. 12 getting 1.8 links per blog. Is it not more ‘popular’ to get links from many blogs than many links from a few? Anyway, I’ve made this as clear as mud – what I’m trying to say is that a few reciprocating bloggers can beat the technorati system and move up the rankings by constantly loving up each others blogs. Or even one mad demented fan could push the rankings up. Alternatively, one excellent post which is uber popular could give the many links from many sources. *Sigh*. This measurement business is harder than it looks!
Stephen
Hah! Thanks Mel,
Definitely food for thought. Good luck with the MBA by the way.
Al Carlton
The’s a nice list and there are some great blogs (thanks for giving me something to do at work this Friday afternoon
)
I woudln’t call myself a prominent UK blogger but my Technorati stats seem right up there
Rank: 1,554 (4,402 links from 942 blogs)
Is there anything I can do automagically to indicate the blog is run from the UK?
Stephen
Thanks for that Al. The guys from Shiny Shiny already passed on your url so it’s already added.
I don’t think there is anything you can do actually… hence my manual list.
Thanks for stopping by…
diamond geezer
Are you hoping to keep this list updated?
Your Technorati data seems to date from the end of August, and I should be a lot lower down your UK50 by now…
Armin
Looking at the companies you mention on your local vs multinational comparison, is that really such a surprise?
Geeks and people generally interested in technology are probably still vastly overrepresented among the bloggers and in particular in your Top 50. Meaning they are much more likely to blog about their latest annoyance with Microsoft/Dell/Samsung/add as appropriate (i.e. tech companies, mostly US based MNCs) than having bought their milk at the Tesco/Sainsbury/Co-op/add as appropriate (i.e. local supermarket).
I would guess if you were to review all UK blogs (if you were able to find them…) the picture would start to change as you start including teenagers and grandmothers blogging about what impacts their daily life. On second thoughts, may be not, considering how influenced we are by American and worldwide brands…
And to add to your list: I’m not entirely sure, but isn’t Nick Denton a Brit? http://www.nickdenton.org/ You’ve got Tim Worstall (living in Spain afaik), so technically you should include Nick assuming he’s a Brit.
Stephen
DG: Yes I’m planning on keeping it updated. Obviously it will have to be done manually so it can’t be up-to-date every day. The data was gathered toward the end of September.
Armin: I wouldn’t say it is a suprise per se but I do think the data is interesting.
Re: Nick Denton. Good question. He is a Brit but he’s living in the US and has a US company. Maybe if I link to him a few times he might tell us if he classes his blog UK based or US based?
Armin
Stephen,
I guess that’s the problem with the internet and our mobile society: How do you class things when we transcend borders?
I’m an “expat” myself, from Germany originally, but have lived in England for most of my working life. I blog in English, mainly about topics from my life here and my visits to Scotland. I would classify my blog as a UK blog.
A German friend of mine living in London makes this more interesting: While he’s writing in German (well, most of the time, you’ll find the odd English sentence) his focus is London and living in London (in case anyone is interested, it’s London Leben, London Living). Hardly any mention of Germany there. So from the language point of view (and most of the readership) definitely a German blog, but the content I would classify as UK content.
This question will probably apply to most “expats”, in particular those living in countries with a different language than their own, e.g. all the Americans blogging from Germany. Unless us lot get a special category
Stephen
Hey Armin,
You’re right. I guess deciding where a blog is based isn’t all plain sailing and let’s not forget, the internet knows no boundaries. However, I think nine times out of ten you could probably make a reasonable judgement.
For me personally, I would say your blog is a British blog. But for your friend’s I would say it is more catered to a German audience. Almost like he’s writing about his experiences of living in London to his friends in Germany.
I think if it is a British blog it would be written in English. Remember, the majority of Brits don’t speak a second language. **Ignorant I know!**
Anyway, that’s just my opinion.
Gordon
Ohhh another list, goody!
We can all, once again, start to ponder whether such lists are a good thing, promoting those that obviously don’t need promotion, or a bad thing, setting up exclusivity and barriers to those bloggers who whilst they aren’t linked as often may write better blogs?
And no, this isn’t sour grapes (I’m sure I’m 51st.. not) but this kind of top xx list has been done to death by some of the ‘top’ US bloggers and was, in part, responsible for the start of the BlogHer conferences.
Still, it’s all good interesting stuff, after all there is nothing us bloggers like talking about more than ourselves! right?
I guess the question is, ok, you’ve compiled a list, but what can it be used for?
Stephen
Hi Gordon,
In PR terms it could be used for a number of reasons. For example, traditional PR folks might look at the circulations/readership of publications they’re wishing to target. That way they have an idea of how many ‘hits’ they might get and the demographic reading it. We don’t have anything like that in the UK b/sphere.
Also, if a certain influential/popular UK blogger is writing about their detest for a particular organisation or brand then no doubt it will create a negative word-of-mouth effect through the high level of influence/popularity.
We’ve seen in a number of case studies that this can prove disastrous to a company and its reputation.
Watching Them, Watching Us
Another metric for getting an idea of the relative influence of a blog within “blogspace” or the so called “blogosphere” is to look at the number of Bloglines or other syndication feed aggregator subscriptions.
A blog with lots of links, i.e. a high Technorati rating, but with very few busy people actually bothering to keeping an hourly watch on the latest postings via a syndication feed, is not, perhaps, as influential as you might think.
See how a Bloglines ranking changes Iain Dale’s list of top UK political blogs, for example.
Footblogger
I find Technorati very US-centric and not very reliable at tracking the popularity of UK sites. Most of the very popular football blogs (not including my own, I might add) fail to make much of an impact on Technorati, despite their enormous success.
Footblogger
Sorry to be annoying, but do you know the email and website fields in your Leave a Comment box are white text on a white background (in Firefox at least)… thus leading to the URL typo in the post above.
Ham
It was quite exciting to scrape in at no 50! Just an obseration – whatever the criteria for significance the Technorati uses (and I really wonder sometimes) it is self-perpetuating – because it identifies blogs as being influential, they become such to search engines etc.
mike
I have a fatal fondness for these sorts of lists. I used to compile my own annual chart of most-linked UK blogs, but haven’t updated since May 2005 – so this is an interesting snapshot of how things have developed since then.
Sure, basing things on Technorati rankings is not without its flaws – but given the options available, I think it’s the most reliable method.
What always fascinates me about these lists is the variety – blogs are thrown together who are barely aware of each other’s presence. As such, it’s a salutary reminder that when most of us reference “the blogosphere”, we usually err towards meaning that part of the blogosphere which we inhabit and understand.
There also seems to be little correlation between a high Technorati ranking, and the avaerage number of comments received. Looking through some of the more unfamiliar (to me) sites, I was surprised to see how many posts attracted few (if any) commments.
Andrew Ian Dodge
If you want to know what Google thinks of you (ie Google Rank) I would recommend URL trends. It has the bits you to know about how important your blog really is…
Paul Sutherland
I hope I am a prominent British blogger. Would like to be more prominent though! Mine is a space news blog and one that the Houston Chronicle picks up through Blogburst (I have this fantasy that all the guys at Nasa mission control are reading my posts!). In fact I’m a professional journalist who went freelance last year after many years in Fleet Street with the aim generally of bringing the excitement of space science to people through the popular media.
Paul
Stephen
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately your blog doesn’t make it on to the list. I’ve just ran it through Technorati. You can see here.
Roger
You can track the local British conversation on British Blogs – see “The Buzz” section on the RHS.
davidvogt
Your article is very informative and helped me further.
Thanks, David
Alternative Energy Blog
After receiving a flattering solicitation today describing me as an A-list blogger (which I’m definitely not) and wondering how the PR agents of large corporations are finding my blog I googled “list of top bloggers” & “most influential bloggers” thus ending up here. As a UK blogger (albeit with a global viewpoint) with five digit feed subscribers and listed on Bloglines’ “Top Blogs”, might I qualify for the UK top 50??
James
Alternative Energy Blog
Stephen
Hi James,
The list (which is quite outdated now) was based on Technorati rankings. I’ve just done a check to see if your blog would be included but your ranking is over 18,000. If I remember correctly, the least ranked blog is around the 15,000 mark.
Thanks
Alternative Energy Blog
Stephen thanks for your reply.
I think this is where the limitations of Technorati are apparent. If we take the blog ranked 50 on the list (a Deeper Look Weblog) it has according to Yahoo 16,911 backlinks vs. 65,618 for the Alternative Energy Blog. According to the sitemeter counter on its page, a Deeper Look has 69 daily visitors, while the Alternative Energy Blog receives many times that. I couldn’t find any figures for RSS subscribers but I doubt its approaching the 5 figures the alt-e blog receives. So in terms of backlinks, site visitors and RSS subscribers the Alternative Energy Blog ranks higher than the number 50 blog on the list. (I haven’t gone into Google keyword ranking as I’m not sure which keywords are relevant to “A Deeper Look”.
I stopped using Technorati awhile ago and I’m not the only one:
http://kottke.org/05/08/so-long-technorati