Meet your new weblog overlords

March 12, 2008 2:33 PM

The world's 50 most powerful blogs

via'The Guardian'; (YT).

posted by Flashman (73 comments total)

Well, 51st place isn't bad.
posted by cortex at 2:37 PM on March 12, 2008 [21 favorites has favorites]

These lists always make me scratch my head. WoWInsider is more powerful than the DailyKos?
posted by furiousxgeorge at 2:39 PM on March 12, 2008

icanhascheeseburger?

This is not the "power" you are looking for.
posted by yhbc at 2:40 PM on March 12, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

The fact that my blog did not make the list is further evidence that they don't know what they're talking about.

Hey! They forgot your blog too! Morons.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:43 PM on March 12, 2008

Don't scoff. icanhascheeseburger ordered a hit on a guy I knew.

True story.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:43 PM on March 12, 2008 [5 favorites has favorites]

Oh, please, don't. I read this in The Observer at the weekend, and it's a load of meretricious bollocks from a paper which long ago slid into irrelevance.
posted by Len at 2:43 PM on March 12, 2008

Don't scoff. icanhascheeseburger ordered a hit on a guy I knew.

MY BULLETS
LET ME SHOW YOU THEM
posted by cortex at 2:44 PM on March 12, 2008 [34 favorites has favorites]

Another dazzling triumph for The Groanian.
posted by Smart Dalek at 2:46 PM on March 12, 2008

What Len said. The UK needs some new newspapers, even the Indy is getting tiresome.
posted by brautigan at 2:47 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Yeah, when I was seeing things like 'icanhascheeseburger'in the top ten, I thought for sure Metafilter would be in there somewhere. Hell, some guy at the Guardian even name-checked it on the weekend.

Well, at least Gawker trumped Drudge.
posted by Flashman at 2:47 PM on March 12, 2008

BoingBoing and Kottke? Yeah, maybe 7 or 8 years ago. This is like every other "best of" type list, they basically just listed 50 popular blogs in no particular order. I think the only reason these are even done anymore is so they can be linked to on sites like MeFi/Reddit/Digg/etc., and people can call bullshit on the choices while driving up ad revenue.
posted by DecemberBoy at 2:50 PM on March 12, 2008

lame execution.

GUARDIAN STAFFER #1: Let's make a list and call it news. Pull the top earners from blogads, FM and whatever else we can pull out of our collective arse. We'll come up with ridiculous reasons they're powerful.
GUARDIAN STAFFER #2: Oooh! Let's! We should also throw in a "least likely to post..." line at the end of each.
GUARDIAN STAFFER #1: Great. I'm off to the WC to write it up, yes?
posted by tarheelcoxn at 2:53 PM on March 12, 2008

I've heard of maybe 20 percent of these. Either I am completely not "with it" as the kids say, or someone decided to turn their personal blogroll into a rent check... Huh...

(calls Jane Pratt with epically winning proposal)

Check out next months Jane, where you can find out who's "Current Mood: HOT" on my Livejournal friends list! Check the sidebar to find out the 25 hottest bands in the history of iTunes, decided by polling my "Most Played" playlist!
posted by bunnytricks at 2:57 PM on March 12, 2008

Remember when The New York Times shitcanned their "Circuits" techonology section because it was so hopelessly and irretrievably behind the times that every page of it they printed was money thrown down the toilet? yeah...
posted by shmegegge at 2:58 PM on March 12, 2008

I seriously wonder how much of this article's traffic is comprised of people wondering if (insert favorite blog here) made the cut, as compared to interest in finding the BLOGS OF POWER!
posted by JimmyJames at 3:02 PM on March 12, 2008

This isn't really from The Guardian, it's from The Observer, the Guardian's idiot cousin. The Observer is a Sunday newspaper owned by the Guardian (there is no Sunday Guardian). The Absurder has long battled with irrelevance, and has been thoroughly emasculated by its Guardian owners - as you can see, it doesn't even get its own website.

I have no time for the Absurder, it's full of filler like this. I still have great respect for the Guardian, which is doing a hell of a lot of valuable investigative work at the moment.
posted by WPW at 3:03 PM on March 12, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Drudge should be #1, but since there's little chance he'll like to them... well, this is all about linkbait, right?
posted by cell divide at 3:05 PM on March 12, 2008

Well, if your nickname was 'The Observer' you probably wouldn't be much of an ice hockey goalie though.
posted by Flashman at 3:06 PM on March 12, 2008

Grillo's name for Mario Mastella, leader of the Popular-UDEUR centre-right party, is Psychodwarf.

Goddammit , Berlusconi influence over media is so strong that even the Guardian trembles at referring to Berlusconi as "psycodwarf" the way Grillo does.

cell divide writes "well, this is all about linkbait, right?"

Possibily, but in Italy Grillo is really quite influential. In U.S. Foxnews would be attacking him on daily basis for lack of respect for authoritae !
posted by elpapacito at 3:07 PM on March 12, 2008

Saw this the other day... say BoringBoring was number one and then just did a quick scan through to see if mefi was listed.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:10 PM on March 12, 2008

Don't scoff. icanhascheeseburger ordered a hit on a guy I knew.

MY BULLETS. LET ME SHOW YOU THEM

Oh, how I wished we still had the .img tag!
posted by ericb at 3:13 PM on March 12, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Drudge should be #1, but since there's little chance he'll like to them... well, this is all about linkbait, right?

it might be, but on the other hand we're talking about a guy who has broken two stories and only because he will publish every single rumor that he hears, even if it's just a single email from nobody in particular.
posted by shmegegge at 3:17 PM on March 12, 2008

I was confused by no mefi as well until I checked the definition of 'power' and discovered that one meaning was ability to get extra-base hits. So now this makes total sense, knowing that none of the mods can hit a curveball.
posted by waraw at 3:28 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I think MetaFilter isn't linked because it's less blog than forum.

I'll show myself out.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:32 PM on March 12, 2008

Top 50 weblogs?

Drudge?

icanhascheeseburger?

And who the hell is Kottke?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:34 PM on March 12, 2008

I've passed gas more powerful than some of these blogs.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:37 PM on March 12, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

You've passed gas more powerful than some neutron stars.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 3:40 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I don't trust any Top N list that isn't on VH1. You know, like "Top 50 Most Shockingly Awesomely Bad Sexiest Metal Fashion TV Moments of 1985."

But yeah, lists like this are beyond easy to write, and they get our inner Comic Book Guys to register our disgust on the internet. ("Worst. Top 50 list. Ever.")
posted by Metroid Baby at 3:52 PM on March 12, 2008

HuffingtonPost? Is this a list of influential blogs or a list of blogs of people who think they are influential?

In short: FAIL
posted by DU at 4:01 PM on March 12, 2008

Powerful? Please.
posted by Dave Faris at 4:05 PM on March 12, 2008

Oh, and the stupid taglines at the end of each SUCK so THERE
posted by waraw at 4:05 PM on March 12, 2008

By the Power of Greyskull Blogistan!

We're right where we want to be, folks...off the radar. It makes it easier for us to execute our plans for world-wide dominance if no one hears about us until we strike.
posted by never used baby shoes at 4:11 PM on March 12, 2008

Not only powerful, but sexy. Have you seen the muscles on Huffington's Post?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:38 PM on March 12, 2008

Dailykos doesn't make the list? As far as I know it's the only one with guest posts from Barack Obama, Keith Olbermann, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, John Kerry, etc...
posted by empath at 4:42 PM on March 12, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

Now, is this Doomsday "powerful" or Mixelplix?
posted by hojoki at 4:48 PM on March 12, 2008

Of course, Your Favorite Top X List Sucks, but really, Kottke scores #3? Kottke?
posted by Ogre Lawless at 4:58 PM on March 12, 2008

There is some weirdly incestuous shit going on with this. Xeni Jardin and that other Boing-dude were on the cover of the Guardian Saturday magazine a few weeks back, and since Nick Denton was profiled there on Sunday, by his old school-chum the Observer restaurant critic, not a day has gone by without some reference to 'Manhattan Media, Gossip and Culture' blog Gawker.
I do love Gawker (for it's hip, and irreverent) but I wouldn't want to live in a world where it wielded any sort of power.
posted by Flashman at 5:03 PM on March 12, 2008

Scrolling through that page listlessly, I realised that I actually like and give a shit about maybe 0.000001% of the Internet. Who has the time or the inclination to read all of these talking heads talking talking talking every day? Honestly. Just thinking about it makes me bored.
posted by loiseau at 5:15 PM on March 12, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Kottke who?
posted by bwg at 5:22 PM on March 12, 2008

The Most powerful blogs still haven't gotten rid of Putin and his puppet Medvedev and given the heads up to those poor citizens of Russia.
Nor have they deposed Berlusconi and his hold of 'media' that any sukka citizen in Italy would notice.
Nor flebish Canadians for the 'give it all to the US our resources-oil sands included' Prime Minister Harper.

I say crock.
Double crock 'o shite, that 'list'.
Next.
posted by alicesshoe at 5:29 PM on March 12, 2008

I totally agree that this list is awful, but I'm curious as to who MeFites would include in an actual list of, say the top 10 most influential (vs. powerful) blogs. DailyKos does seem like an obvious omission. The other one that stuck out for me was Pitchfork, which love it or hate it does seem to have an undeniable influence on its chosen sector of the music industry. What else did they miss?
posted by whir at 5:52 PM on March 12, 2008

Some irrelevant little cooking blog is on there*, but MeFi and Kos aren't? I've probably seen more useless lists, but I couldn't tell you when.

* Seriously, not even in the top 50 most important cooking blogs, and possibly not even in the top 50 most important cooking blogs by women in Paris.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 6:07 PM on March 12, 2008

The other one that stuck out for me was Pitchfork

Pitchfork isn't a weblog, but you are right in that there are a shit ton of popular music weblogs and the only music site listed is Popjustice (which I can honestly say I've never, ever heard of.)
posted by eyeballkid at 6:32 PM on March 12, 2008

No Kos? No Slashdot? I should think the first "blog" that was capable of crushing unsuspecting websites out of existence should at least rate an honorable mention.

And what of 4chan? Sure it's obscure, arguably not a blog, and hasn't received much media attention, but many if not most of your internet memes started there (or on the forums of Fark or SomethingAwful).

I'm with bunnytricks: someone turned their bookmarks into a paycheck.
posted by valkyryn at 6:34 PM on March 12, 2008

michelle malkin? now i can't take the list seriously.
posted by brandz at 6:37 PM on March 12, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

but on the other hand we're talking about a guy who has broken two stories and only because he will publish every single rumor that he hears

They were ten years apart, that's pretty damn impressive.
posted by smackfu at 6:38 PM on March 12, 2008

I'm curious as to who MeFites would include in an actual list of, say the top 10 most influential (vs. powerful) blogs.

I'd say Digg, Fark, MeFi, Reddit for linkfests,

TPM, DailyKos, LGF, Huffington Post for politics,

Slashdot, Engadget for tech.

It feels like BoingBoing should bump one of these - but I'm not sure which.

Pitchfork isn't really a blog.
posted by Ryvar at 6:43 PM on March 12, 2008

I wonder what kind of sampling method they used for this? And do they have numbers on std. dev for us? Is this a full population survey, or did they talk to 3 blogs and extrapolate the rest?
WHAT'S YOUR METHODOLOGY?!?!?!
posted by blue_beetle at 6:50 PM on March 12, 2008

Kottke who?

It's a polish cookie.
posted by davejay at 7:02 PM on March 12, 2008

MetaFilter...

Least likely to post: Approval
posted by Navelgazer at 7:03 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I thought zombo.com would make it for sure. Certainly the first website I check every day.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:09 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

someone turned their bookmarks into a paycheck.

No. Not someone. It took NINE people to compile that awesome list.
posted by Dave Faris at 7:21 PM on March 12, 2008

Oh, how I wished we still had the .img tag!

That picture is soooo fake. That's definitely not a machine gun. :(

Also: I'll echo the "wtf no slashdot?"
posted by ODiV at 8:40 PM on March 12, 2008

1. The Huffington Post
2. Boing Boing
3. Techcrunch
4. Kottke
5. Dooce
6. Perezhilton
7. Talking points memo
8. Icanhascheezburger
9. Beppe Grillo
10. Gawker
11. The Drudge Report
12. Xu Jinglei
13. Treehugger
14. Microsiervos
15. TMZ
16. Engadget
17. Marbury
18. Chez Pim
19. Basic thinking
20. The Sartorialist
21. Students for a free Tibet
22. Jezebel
23. Gigazine
24. Girl with a one-track mind
25. Mashable
26. Greek tragedy
27. Holy Moly
28. Michelle Malkin
29. Cranky flier
30. Go fug yourself
31. Gaping void
32. Dirtydirty dancing
33. Crooked timber
34. Beansprouts
35. The offside
36. Peteite Anglaise
37. Crooks and liars
38. Chocolate and Zucchini
39. Samizdata
40. The daily dish
41. The F word
42. Jonny B's private secret diary
43. Popjustice
44. Waiter rant
45. Hecklerspray
46. WoWinsider
47. Angry black bitch
48. Stylebubble
49. AfterEllen
50. Copyblogger
posted by humannaire at 8:47 PM on March 12, 2008 [5 favorites has favorites]

My god that's a stupid list. The Huffington Post? Seriously? When has the Huffington Post ever gotten anything right?

This is idiocy of the highest caliber.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:20 PM on March 12, 2008

That's not true, shmegegge. I emailed Drudge about this story and he never blogged it.
posted by slogger at 9:23 PM on March 12, 2008

Next up: The World's 50 Deepest Puddles.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:51 PM on March 12, 2008 [3 favorites has favorites]

My blog can destroy entire fucking galaxies with its eyelashes. Each month that passes without a new post merely deepens the pool of its chthonic power. Just loading the meta tags in the header in any browser that doesn't have a BlogPower Blast Shield extension installed will melt your nipples into glowing slag.

You have been warned.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:01 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Dooce? Seriously? You get fired, crap out a kid and you're the fifth most influential blog on the internet?

Someone tell me it isn't true.
posted by youcancallmeal at 11:09 PM on March 12, 2008

It's a polish cookie.

*crunch*

Mmmmm ... crumbled up cookie things ...
posted by bwg at 11:17 PM on March 12, 2008

Dooce, winner of three awards and a lifetime achievement at the 2008 Bloggies. Love her or hate her, Heather may have the most widely recognized personal blog right now, at least in the U.S.

How that recognition turns into power, I'm not sure. But then I'm unsure of the power of HuffPo except to piss people off. Honestly, has anyone ever linked to a post on HuffPo with approval?
posted by Dreama at 12:03 AM on March 13, 2008

a lifetime achievement at the 2008 Bloggies

Dear AskMe: I have an combination of cigarette smoke and Coca-Cola in my sinuses, how do I get the burning to stop?

How that recognition turns into power, I'm not sure.

They mean power over other bloggers. It's sort of like how the tallest Barrinean in the village got the nicest mud hut, but without the usefulness.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:10 AM on March 13, 2008

Jesus. Without clicking the link I could name the first five. Not because I'm in lock-step with the blogging thing but because they're the same fucking five whenever someone trots out another "Top" list. With all due respect to the web logging pioneers and the guardian uk, we get it. They're hot shit and have been for awhile. I have links to the previous seventy-three articles and top lists proclaiming such. Pardon me if I don't tea bag Seth Godin or Kottke every time they reinvent the art of putting text on a web site.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 12:39 AM on March 13, 2008

Possibily, but in Italy Grillo is really quite influential.

To expand a bit on elpapa's statement, Grillo managed via his blog to organize a protest that gathered approx. 300,000 signatures to begin the process for a People' Referendum to boot out politicians convicted of crimes as well as create a two term limit. Traditional (Italian) media had little to no coverage of the protest until it was already over.
posted by romakimmy at 4:32 AM on March 13, 2008

GUARDIAN STAFFER #1: Let's make a list and call it news. Pull the top earners from blogads, FM and whatever else we can pull out of our collective arse. We'll come up with ridiculous reasons they're powerful.
GUARDIAN STAFFER #2: Oooh! Let's! We should also throw in a "least likely to post..." line at the end of each.
GUARDIAN STAFFER #1: Great. I'm off to the WC to write it up, yes?


Having worked with journalists as a (former) PR person, tarheelcoxn has it just about right.
posted by onepapertiger at 5:21 AM on March 13, 2008

a lifetime achievement at the 2008 Bloggies

So wrong.
posted by smackfu at 7:03 AM on March 13, 2008

I spend the better part of my day on the internet, poking into its corners and tunnels, and I've never heard of some of these blogs. But I did recently notice the kids on my lawn.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:41 AM on March 13, 2008

Let's see, no:

Popbitch
Guido Fawkes
Iain Dale
Slashdot
The Register

A poor example of 'churnalism'.
posted by dmt at 9:04 AM on March 13, 2008

Dooce. Pfftt. There are hundreds of blogs that are equally well written about motherhood, depression, and losing a job over doing something dumb. I'll never get the whole "OMG IT'S DOOCE" crap.

Well at least Pirillo isn't on there.
posted by dasheekeejones at 4:46 PM on March 13, 2008

'churnalism'

Oooh, I like that one. Wish I'd thought of it.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:17 PM on March 13, 2008

I love Cheezburger but seriously, if any cuteblog is going to get mentioned it should be Cute Overload, since they basically spawned the cuteblog universe.

(Speaking of which, why are both sites, but particularly Cute Overload, paaaaainfully slow to load?)
posted by loiseau at 9:38 PM on March 13, 2008

Awesome list, very helpful.
posted by entrepreneur35 at 5:29 PM on March 14, 2008

WoWinsider. Dear GOD.
posted by tehloki at 6:32 AM on March 15, 2008