USA Today has nearly double the circulation of the New York Times. Does it have twice the authority? I have my doubts. According to Technorati, BoingBoing has many times the links of Doc Searls. Does it have greater authority? I think not.
Big numbers do NOT necessarily mean you have the biggest influence. If you have a political blog and you have only three readers but they happen to be the US, Russian and Chinese heads of state, your numbers may suck at Technorati and PubSub, but you most assuredly have great influence. Actually, the thought belongs to Scoble, but as his partner, I get to steal it.
Technorati has recently started showing this cute little slider which lets you determine who the most popular bloggers linking to a blog are. It has been using the word "authority" where it should be using the word "popularity" pretty much since it started.
But with this slider, the malapropism is getting much more notice and has stirred up a furor in the face of all the "A-List" controversies going on. This is unfortunate and Technorati is fomenting a misconception that was not really a problem in the good old days of the blogosphere, say last month.
But it is time for Technorati to change its language. Ratings are interesting, but of obviously debatable importance. Using them the way they are using the term seems to me to be stirring up an unnecessary fracas.
