The Top (insert type) Bloggers Lists

I am waiting for a couple of videos to be available on YouTube so I can play with the remixer on TestTube and finish the Cambodia Video Blogging Workshop materials and screencast.  Seems like the "top bloggers lists" or "the best of XYZ blogs" lists are circulating.

Yesterday, Stephen Downes wrote about the Top EduBlogs lists (he is the only one on the list to have both an organizational and personal blog on that top 30 list).   Stephen goes on to critique automated rating services like Technorati.

For one thing, I don't agree with McLeod's argument that "The hubs and superhubs are the essential connectors, the glue that holds the network together."

For another, I agree with Jennifer Wagner. "No one should ever feel 'not good enough' to blog." Nor should they feel that rankings - Technorati or otherwise - are in some way indicative of the quality of the writing, despite what McLeod claims.

Don't believe in the myth of 'rankings'. These matter to commercial media and advertisers, people who are more interested in counting eyeballs than insights. Even were the Technorati (or Feedburner) rankings accurate, they wouldn't be work the paper they were written on. Even the idea that there could be a ranking of 'best' bloggers is mistaken. Blog beauty (as in all other things) is very much in the eye of the beholder - and whether any blog, including this one, is of any use to anyone varies according to who is reading and what they're looking for.

What about rankings that not automated, but peer recommended?   A few days I noticed a "20 PR Powerwoman blogs" list which has morphed into the magical list of outstanding women bloggers and question, "Who is Missing?"  Is a peer recommended rating any more accurate than an automated one?

Amy Gahran (who should be on any list of best bloggers whether automated or not) wrote a related post pointed by Stephen Downes clarifying feedburner's reach metric.

My blog isn't on any of those lists --  I don't blog about PR nor I am totaly focused on education blogging.  However, I was honored to see this slide in a presentation about nonprofits and social media.

Comments

[Rebecca Krause-Hardie]

Nice slide Beth! I must do something about getting you on those lists!

[Amy Gahran]

Awww, thanks Beth. You rock!

- Amy Gahran

[Stephen Downes]

> What about rankings that not automated, but peer recommended?

Still meaningless.

The presumption is that there can be a single list of the 'best' blogs. It is this presumption that is false.

It's like the size of your clothing. You may wear size 2, size 4, whatever. And we could tally the sizes worn by everybody (or even the sizes they want to wear, or the sizes they thing are best, or whatever), and come up with a list: sizes 2,3,1,4...

What meaning does such a list have? Would you start wearing size 2 because it is the 'best' size? Would you begin recommending 2 to your friends? Would you feel you are too small if you're size 1, too large if size 3?

There is probably an ideal size for you; it will be a function of your height and bone mass and activity levels and so on. These are unique for each individual.

Same with blogs. What works for you might not work for me. My list of 'top 10' blogs will be very different from yours, very different from Technorati's, and very different even from other edubloggers'.

If I had such a list, that is. My list of the 'top ten' varies from minute to minute - depending on what I'm up to now.