A funny thing happened when I started to calculate the December M20. None of the rankings were changing! So instead of copying and pasting, here's an early present and a little link love to the entire M20+ list.
As you can see, the list has almost doubled to 40 blogs. There are certainly more out there and blogging has clearly become mainstream. Just look at reactions from Blog World Expo and large corporations alike.
Additions are always welcome - please post links in comments! Also, if you're a client-side marketer and would like to be profiled - even if you're not in the top 20 - send in your story! See this post for details.
This effort is likely to change in 2008. If you have any ideas, let me know...
Gaurav Mishra is brand manager of the Indica range at Tata Motors and blogs at Gauravonomics. Hello Gaurav!
* How long have you been blogging?
I have been blogging since December 2005.
* How did you first hear about blogs?
I first heard about blogs in December 2005 from a friend who blogged.
* Why did you decide to start blogging?
I first started blogging in order to build an online repository of my creative writing, mostly poems. Over time, however, I have started looking at blogging as a tool to discipline my thinking and share my ideas with other people in my domain.
* What process, if any, did you work through from a corporate perspective?
For a very long time, my blog was basically a personal diary. As I started writing an increasingly large number of posts about blogging and marketing, I finally divided my blog into two parts in May 2007:
Now, most of my posts are about social marketing (often with an Indian focus). While I haven't directly used my blog in my work, I have often used insights from my blog at work, especially in the area of online marketing.
* What are your most and least favorite aspects of blogging?
My most favorite aspect of blogging is being part of a conversation via a marketing meme (like social media measurement, mediasnackers, or conversation age). I totally love it when I see some very smart marketing bloggers build on each others' ideas like this.
My least favorite aspect of blogging is maintaining the backend of my blog.
* What would you change with 20/20 hindsight?
Three times over the last two years, after periods of manic blogging, I stopped blogging completely for a few months and had to start all over again. In fact, I have just resumed blogging after a six month break. These breaks have often given a renewed focus to my blogging, but, in hindsight, I would want to be more consistent in my blogging.
* What three blogs have you gained the most insight from in the past month?
For insight per post, very few blogs beat Seth Godin, Hugh McLeod and Scott Adams.
[If you're a client-side marketer and would like to be profiled - even if you're not in the top 20 - send in your story! See this post for details.]
Enrique Burgos is Relationship Marketing Manager of SEUR (express delivery & logistics spanish leading company) and blogs at El Blog de Enrique Burgos. Hello Enrique!
* What is your URL and how long have you been blogging?
Since March 2007. In the beginning I wrote in english and now in spanish.
* How did you first hear about blogs?
Probably from one of the spanish gurus, Martin Varsavsky, founder & CEO of FON.
* Why did you decide to start blogging?
i thought I had to share many things, my thoughts, vision and perspective about relationship marketing, loyalty, web 2.0,...
* What process, if any, did you work through from a corporate perspective?
Nowadays, nothing. I want to develop something probably in 2008, but in my industry is difficult and it's not very expanded the usage of internet at all.
* What are your most and least favorite aspects of blogging?
Incredible expansion off your message, you can reach everyone all over the world. You are "obliged" to post very frequently, every day,...it's like a drug, you "need" to post.
* What would you change with 20/20 hindsight?
nothing
* What three blogs have you gained the most insight from in the past month?
- Martin Varsavsky Blog
- Enrique Dans Blog
- Sound off Blog from Manage Smarter
[If you're a client-side marketer and would like to be profiled - even if you're not in the top 20 - send in your story! See this post for details.]
Update of the M20. See text below for notes.
New entry on the list: Randy's Journal at #20. While all the numbers changed, which is to be expected after a month, most of the Google Page Ranks changed as well, which have otherwise been static over the past few months.
Methodology: The listings are blog title, blogger, company and [score]. Scores are a weighted calculation of Authority (20% Technorati ranking + 20% Google PageRank) + Attention (10% Alexa traffic) + Influence (50% Total feed subscribers).
Next update: December 2007. Additions are always welcome - please post links in comments! Also, if you're a client-side marketer and would like to be profiled - even if you're not in the top 20 - send in your story! See this post for details.
C.B. Whittemore blogs at Flooring The Consumer, #9 on the October 2007 M20 list. She is Director of In-Store Innovation for Solutia Inc.’s Wear-Dated carpet fiber division. Her blog focuses on marketing and the consumer retail experience, especially in flooring.
Here’s more on C.B.:
*How long have you been blogging?
Since June 27, 2006 – to be exact.
*How did you first hear about blogs?
I first became aware of blogs in late 2003/early 2004 while researching marketing to women, the retail experience and word-of-mouth marketing. Most of the ‘sharing’ of perspectives was done then via newsletter, but blogs were cropping up. As newsletters converted to blogs, I subscribed to them. I didn’t immediately realize that these were blogs; I did, though, consider them rich and interesting, relevant and wonderfully fresh because of their frequency. Andrea Learned’s Learned On Women comes to mind, as do Tom Peters and David Polinchock’s BEL Brand Experience Manifesto.
I passively monitored the medium as articles appeared more frequently in USA Today and The New York Times. Then, in mid 2005, MarketingProfs offered a webinar about building word-of-mouth through blogs. The presenter suggested a Dummies book which I devoured, dog-eared, highlighted and filled with stick-em notes.
I took the blogging plunge after attending an Innovative Marketing Conference sponsored by Corante and Columbia Business School. Everyone in the room was living innovative marketing; they all blogged. Through their blogs, they contributed a third dimension to the learning and interaction.
*Why did you decide to start blogging?
I’m fascinated with non-traditional marketing, with marketing that takes smarts rather than big budgets. That’s why blogs seemed so interesting. But, I needed to experiment for myself. I initially saw value with blogging as a self-publication mechanism in support of one of my roles. So, I focused on those topics - researching marketplace consumer and retail trends – to publish relevant content more frequently than I was able to via the major industry publication. The blog not only meant keeping the subjects top of mind, but it also created a credible reference point for our field force to go back to at any time.
*What process, if any, did you work through from a corporate perspective?
Given the low investment [my time after hours; free blogging platform, analytics, etc.], I only mentioned Flooring The Consumer once I had figured out the mechanics and published my first post, a trade article about women in the flooring industry. I promoted that article to one of my customers, who contributed a post, then analyzed a multi-part interview of two well-respected women in the industry [who also contributed posts] – and gotten wonderful reactions [via email or phone, rather than from blog comments] in support of the blog and the topics it addresses.
Two months later, at an internal sales and marketing meeting, I physically took my colleagues through the blog, explaining what it was, how it worked and how to subscribe. My boss stood up and encouraged everyone in the room to subscribe! Pretty cool!
As the blog has evolved, my peers have contributed, and our direct sales force [i.e., Wear-Dated Representatives] have helped me share stories about valuable retail practices or outstanding retailers in their regions. It’s a useful means for promoting great flooring retail experiences.
*What are your most and least favorite aspects of blogging?
Most favorite: the richness of the exchange, the intensity of the learning, meeting like-minded marketers willing and wanting to experiment, who exude passion about their area of focus. Being able to increase the depth of content via links; creating a means of engaging readers to elevate the flooring category. Sharing information that I’m fascinated with…
Least favorite: I need more time to keep up with conversations and experiment more.
*What would you change with 20/20 hindsight?
I might have done more listening and commenting on blogs before getting started [i.e., the recommended approach] to jump start the process. I didn’t. But, I got going and learned a great deal in the process. Thanks to many very generous bloggers like Mike Sansone who noticed me early on, welcoming me into the marketing blogger fold, and Susan Abbott and Stephanie Weaver who invited me to participate in the first ever Bathroom Blogfest in October 2006 [coming up again in October 2007], it wound up that none of that mattered. I’ve tried to make the most out of every unexpected and unusual opportunity that the blogosphere offers [e.g., The Age Of Conversation, Blog Action Day] to participate and learn even more.
*What three blogs have you gained the most insight from in the past month?
- MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog featuring many of my favorite marketing bloggers
- Toby Bloomberg’s Diva Marketing Blog
- David Meerman Scott’s Web Ink Now
*Anything else?
Blogger voices are intense. They are passionate. They constantly teach new approaches, tools, solutions, ideas. It’s an amazing experience! I encourage everyone to try it in some way.
[If you're a client-side marketer and would like to be profiled - even if you're not in the top 20 - send in your story! See this post for details.]
Max Kalehoff blogs at AttentionMax and is #13 on the October 2007 M20 list. He is currently the VP of Marketing at Nielsen Online and blogs about marketing, media, and life.
Here's more on Max.
* What is your URL and how long have you been blogging?
My blog is AttentionMax, and it's dedicated to my views on marketing, media and the intersection with my personal life. It has a big emphasis on interactive marketing, research and analytics, reflecting my career. It's been around since January 2006.
I've been blogging -- sort of -- since 2004, as I created BuzzMetrics' CEO blog as well as led the strategy for Hitwise's analyst blogging platform, when I was consulting for both of them. I've also been writing oped columns for MediaPost since 2004, and blogs are integrated into the email/Web publishing platform. I also created a video blog called Engagement By Engagement, which is in remission until there's some significant new momentum in advertising engagement. (But it's still the single richest place for industry viewpoints on engagement.)
* How did you first hear about blogs?
I think it was back when I worked at Media Metrix in 2000. Yes, even back then there were a handful of blogs and personal publishing platforms which met reporting standards in the syndicated media reports.
* Why did you decide to start blogging?
I started because I was curious -- plain and simple. That said, there are key reasons why I continue:
* What process, if any, did you work through from a corporate perspective?
For the record, my blog is independent from my employer, and I'm legally required (as most of us are) to comply with standard corporate electronic communications policies while serving as an employee. I try to avoid blogging directly about my company, unless there is some very material or relevant development consistent with my blog's focus. Instead, I try to cover larger trends and observations that are in alignment with my industry and company.
While independent, I believe my blogging directly benefits my work because it enables me to have a more compelling voice in my industry; it's a platform for ideas and it empowers two-way communications with key stakeholders. In fact, I receive a lot of press interviews, speaking requests and sales inquiries through my blog. Importantly, I redirect a lot of my thinking and writing directly to workplace scenarios, whether it be tactical analysis or thought-leadership.
Finally, I emphasize that AttentionMax is my personal blog. It's a reflection of me, the person, the consumer, the husband, the new dad, the average suburban guy struggling to make sense of consumerism's marketing assault on my psyche. I'm not some faceless talking head, and I think that appeals to people. I was born with a certain level of honest sarcasm which I can't pretend to withhold, and some people love that while others can't stand it.
* What are your most and least favorite aspects of blogging?
My favorite aspect of blogging is the process of organizing my thoughts and presenting them. I also like experimenting from a Web publishing standpoint, including the technical aspects of interactive which I mentioned above. I also like getting feedback, whether through comments or directly via email, or in person. Blogging tends to introduce you to people who you otherwise never would've met, so that's pretty cool.
My least favorite aspects are when other bloggers are rude to you; some forget there's a real person on the other end. And as much as I like the technical aspect of blogging, technical meltdowns can get frustrating. Fortunately, I have supportive friends to help me there.
* What would you change with 20/20 hindsight?
I would've adopted the Wordpress platform from day one (versus Moveable Type), and I would've started AttentionMax two years earlier than I did.
* What three blogs have you gained the most insight from in the past month?
You only asked for three, but I also pay attention to my colleague Pete Blackshaw. I also pay attention to you. For anyone interested in which blogs I direct my attention, see my blogroll on AttentionMax. I recently cut my blog blog feeds from about 250 to 70. I'm finding I get more value out of paying attention to fewer versus more.
* Anything else?
Another thing that I think is kind of eerie, but also kind of cool, is that my blog will be around longer than me. Blogs are major manifestations of our identity, and the prospect of them living on far after our time on earth is an interesting one. With so many millions blogging, imagine the rich personal accounts that future generations will have when researching and interpreting history.
I also am curious about the splintering nature of electronic expression. Sure, I nurture my blog, but I'm also active on a host of other digital communication platforms, like Twitter and Facebook. I suppose the individuality of my blog will keep me going indefinitely. I've never been so loyal to any other social-media platform, other than my AIM account.
Finally, I consider myself a perpetual novice, constantly in experimentation mode. So any constructive feedback from anyone is welcomed.
[If you're a client-side marketer and would like to be profiled - even if you're not in the top 20 - send in your story! See this post for details.]
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