Last Friday I wrote a post called “Are inbound links the best way to measure a blog’s influence?”, where I challenged a study published by Edelman and Technorati.
That study ranked the top blogs in the UK by influence, but rankings were determined solely by links from other blogs. My big issue is that the quantity of links doesn’t tell you very much, not when many blogs listed in Technorati are spam blogs.
In any case, I don’t believe that PR professionals or media planners would subscribe to this link-based methodology to measure influence (or very much else for that matter).
So I promised a closer look at the top blogs in the UK, ranked by a more suitable metrics: unique users and page impressions.
After the jump, the results...
My feeling was that there were some major exceptions in the Edelman/Technorati study. And it turns out to be true, with the UK’s top three blogs not mentioned in the top ten of that study.
Some caveats first…
- This list is not comprehensive, since a number of bloggers have yet to respond to my call for data (or I haven't been able to unearth any). Perhaps we can fill in the gaps over time. If I have missed any blogs out then please get in touch (chris@e-consultancy.com).
- I have not included The Guardian’s commentisfree or any of its other blogs. I’d love to get some accurate data for these blogs, but so far I’ve drawn blanks.
- Nor have I included any data from the BBC blogs, as stats are equally difficult to unearth and besides, it is the BBC, so we can assume Big Numbers.
- I haven’t included those blogs operated by the few big media companies that have adopted blogs, such as Associated New Media and The Times. We can but wonder how they are getting on.
- Finally, a disclaimer: I was one of the founders of hecklerspray. I'm not inflating the stats, I swear!
For the purposes of comparison, super-popular US blog BoingBoing attracts about 2.2m unique users per month and generates a whopping 24m page impressions.
Well done to all those bloggers who made it into our Top 15. Send word if you deserve to be included (based on unique users / page impressions).
The Top 15 UK Blogs...
1. Mashable.com
750,000 unique users, page impressions are “in the millions” – data claimed from publisher
2. Hecklerspray.com
510,607 unique users and 750,123 page impressions
3. Girl With A One Track Mind
289,449 unique users
http://girlwithaonetrackmind.blogspot.com/
4. Tech Digest
At least 226,300 unique users and 341,000 page impressions
5. Shiny Shiny
At least 192,200 unique users and 372,000 page impressions
6. Iain Dale’s Diary
171,000 unique users
7. Londonist
132,254 page impressions in the last 30 days
8. Samizdata.net
113,429 unique users and 138,849 page impressions
9. Random Reality
102,071 unique users
http://randomreality.blogware.com/
10. The Bag Lady
At least 86,800 unique users and 189,100 page impressions
11. Plasticbag.org
86,778 unique users
12. eureferendum.com
85,188 unique users and 129,921 page impressions
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/
13. Chromasia.com
60,609 unique users and 734,615 page impressions
14. Loic Le Meur Blog
60,000 unique users
15. Tim Worstall
51,349 unique users
http://timworstall.typepad.com/
* Data is from September 2006, where known, and ranked according to unique users.
Notable exceptions and question marks (no data available, as yet, but would probably make the Top 15 list):
Gapingvoid
Belle du Jour
Coolest-gadgets.com
The Lair of the Crab of Ineffable Wisdom
Mind Hacks
Boris Johnson
Popjustice
The top ten UK blogs according to Edelman / Technorati (ranked by incoming links) :
Gapingvoid
The Layer of the Crab of Ineffable Wisdom (sic: Lair)
EU Referendum
Tech Digest
plasticbag.org
Samizdata.net
c h r o m a s i a
Londonist
Iain Dale’s Diary
Mind Hacks
Loic Le Meur Blog
The TechDigest top ten(“a mixture of the Edelman list, Technorati figures, information from internet data collection agency Hitwise and some qualitative data of our own”):
Gaping Void
Mashable
eureferendum.com
TechDigest
Shiny Shiny
coolest-gadgets.com
PlasticBag.org
samizdata.net
c h r o m a s i a
hecklerspray
Comments to chris@e-consultancy.com , or leave them below.
Chris Lake is editor in chief at Econsultancy, entrepreneur and long-term internet fiend. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin.
Posted 18 October 2006 12:20pm by Chris Lake with 2 comments
Tags: Web 2.0, Big Media, Research, Social Media, Blogs and Blogging, Startups, Murdoch, BBC
Topics: Content Management, Online PR & Social Media, Social Networks & Online Communities, Strategy & Planning
Sectors: Publishing, Media & Entertainment
Digg this
Stumble It!
Bookmark on Delicious
10 superb social media presentations
Site review: Woolworths.co.uk
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Online Advertising
Online Communications at Edelman
8:39PM on 18th October 2006
Hi,
If you read my initial post you’ll see that I didn’t claim that the data was full proof or 100% accurate. It was purely a means of looking at some influential/popular (according to Technorati) blogs in the UK blogosphere. I tried to create a UK version of what Technorati is already doing in other countries and languages. Something that can only be done manually due to multiple countries speaking the English language.
Again, if you read my post it says that we are taking the ‘wisdom of the crowds’ theory and asking for feedback and recommendations. Which I gratefully received both in the comments and via email and will be producing a new list shortly. But will be still open to recommendations and suggestions.
Just to go back to your mention of Mashable!, Hecklerspray and GWAOTM - take a look at the first comment from Pete Cashmore on my post. I didn’t know Mashable! was based out of Scotland. Something which Pete himself admitted he likes to keep quiet. However, it has since been added. And both the latter two are included… just not in the top 10. In fact, all bar one of your top 15 are in my list. The one which isn’t has been added so thanks. :-)
But as you admit your own list is not comprehensive so no doubt there’s another case for argument. I’m just glad I’ve generated some discussion around the UK blogosphere.
Couple of questions.
Is Loic Le Meur’s blog not French? Or at least would he not count his English written blog as US based?
What are your thoughts around including msm blogs? I.e. The Guardian’s Comment is Free which is written partly by professional journalists.
Also, any chance of changing the process to leave a comment on this blog. I.e. The sign up. Nightmare.
Cheers,
Editor in Chief at Econsultancy
11:27AM on 19th October 2006
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for your thoughts. The Technorati / Edelman study I was referring to was the one used by the FT (http://www.ft.com/blogreport), rather than your UK top 50. So I left Loic's blog in there for comparison reasons though in hindsight I should have removed it from the UK list.
Your Top 50 is based on the same methodology, i.e. links, as defined by Technorati. This would stand up if Technorati didn't include splogs, or any links generated via RSS. I hope Technorati invests some of its VC cash into this area.
If your study focused only on manual links then it would stand up a lot, lot better. That would really be 'wisdom of crowds' stuff. As is, it is heavily skewed by links *not* generated by humans.
That said, the methodology I've used isn't foolproof either - all analytics software differs, so it isn't exactly apples with apples. And you can be sure that I've missed a bunch of blogs out, and that new ones will emerge. Plus, the most uniques don't equal the most influential - compare Matt Cutts to some of the other SEO blogs; he gets less traffic but is one of the most influential SEOers in the world.
Discussion on UK blogs is great - long may it continue. More data please! Keep up the work in this area, it all helps...
PS - we're planning to change the comment process in the next site update, thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
c.