Technorati has once again come up with a formula who they say, determines who among bloggers have the most--or least--authority. Frankly, once again, I don't much care. I think Technorati deserves credit as a social media pioneer who has given us the power tool of discovery. I just wish they would drop the elitist obsession they seem to have with the "A-word."
It is such a top down word. It implies that some bloggers have more authority than others, when in fact all they can prove, through links or any other means is that some bloggers are more popular than others.
I could be a political blogger, and have only three readers and no links. Technorati could see I was a garbage pail with no authority. What if my three readers were the president of the United States, the president of Russia and the premier of China. Zero authority? If I could influence them to move toward world peace, I'd be the first Nobel Blogger.
I have argued this before. Relevance is different than blogging.
What is relevant to you or your company is different than what is relevant to me or my company. Last time I checked, Technorati said I was a more popular blogger than my friend and erstwhile client, Pat Phelan. But if you are interested in VOIP or low-cost telephony, I would wager that Pat has at least ten times my authority on those subjects and well he should. Technorati has no way of understanding topical relevance other than through tags and has no way to measure that pat is more relevant to some subjects than I could dream of being.
Do not get me wrong. There is power in popularity. In some ways and at some times, their influence is huge, perhaps greater than any other communications resource. When Scrapblog, a current client launched , it received a great deal of so-called "A-List" coverage and that coverage has been very helpful in cutting some very important deals and attracting the attention of investors and traditional press. It has made a huge difference for my scrappy client and I do not deny it.
But the A-Listers have not done the ultimate job. I didn't expect they would.
To succeed, Scrapblog needs to reach everyday people online, people who want to share pictures and clips of their kids and dogs and trips with a few members of their family or some friends. You will find most of them in the bottom of the Technorati authority bucket. Many, if not most of them, never have heard of Arrington or Scoble and think the A-List has something to do with getting into a trendy nightclub. But they are Scrapblog's most relevant audience and Technorati's estimation of their authority is absolutely irrelevant.
