Holy Huffington Post!

We just got picked up by the Huffington post, The #1 Internet blog! And we add to that, the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Technorati, and New York Magazine. Maybe something going on here. The Wild Wild East is in the house! And not a single one of the other publications I write for can say that!

Post 400

Welcome to post 400. No candles. No fireworks. No band. No nothing. It's just work. And joy. And dedication.

That's what people don't understand about the Internet and social marketing. It's called do the work, shut up and sit down. If I had a dime for everyone who asked me how I do what I do, I'd be a wealthy man - but all I can tell them, is if they only did 10% of what I do, they'd be in a whole lot better shape than they are now. (and yes, they bitch and moan about that). Babies.The Wild Wild East Dailies is now rated #29,626 in the world - and in a world of over 100 million blogs we feel good.

But not that good. Our Technorati ranking is at 125. Okay, let's give that some perspective. The Huffington post is #1 at a ranking of 935. Seth Godin, a certified marketing guru and ten times published author gets 757 and my friend, Hugh MacLeod, a one time published author, scores a 535. Do I feel bad? No. Most blogs don't bust above a five. We're on our way. Happy 400! Want to score? You do the work. And I'll work on getting that book published.

What If Gutenberg Had A Blog? - Technorati Rankings Updated: Nothing Much Happened (XIV) in Munich Today

Many of you will have noticed that I've referenced Technorati and their blog ranking system in the last few posts. For those non-geeks, Technorati (Technorati is a portmanteau of the words technology and literati, which invokes the notion of technological intelligence or intellectualism.) is the arguable leader in blog search engines and provides a service that rates and ranks individual blogs based on influence in the blogosphere. "OMG! What does that mean?", the non-geeks wail! What that means is that Technorati tracks, not how many hits your blog gets, but rather how many other independent blogs have linked to your posts - and then they give you a ranking for that influence in the medium. Now over the years, Technorati has been widely criticized for how they calculated the rankings and it was, of course, people with crappy rankings who did most of the complaining. In 2006, someone pointed out that Technorati's "State of the Blogosphere" postings, which then claimed to track 27.7 million blogs, did not take into account MySpace blogs, of which there were said to be 56 million. As a result, it was claimed said that the utility of Technorati as a gauge of blog popularity was questionable. However by March of that same year Technorati had started tracking MySpace blogs. Last year Technorati claimed to be tracking over 120 million blogs worldwide.

And then it all hit a wall. With the popularity of blogs rising and magazines and newspapers shuttering by the thousands it became imperative that a clearer tracking and monitoring of the blogoshere was needed. So Technorati pulled the plug on their old rating system and started from scratch. They also redesigned their site and killed a few features that made bloggers less happy, but all-in-all the new ranking system seems to be a success by both tech professional and average user standards. Andy Beard of Internet Business Systems authors the previous two click-throughs. But enough of all this tecno-babble. I wanna know about me!

And so we go. Just to give you an idea of where WWED stood in February of this year take a look at my 2009 Annual Report post, which is really a recap of 2008. At that point Technorati had us placed at 520,00 in a universe of 120 million or so blogs but with the new system, initiated in the fall, we debuted at 53,000 and have now climbed to 45,120 - but keep in mind they have cleaned out their definition of the blog universe pretty well and eliminated the scam/advertising blogs that weren't updated or written by real people - so we're not sure how many blogs are in their total universe now. All we know is that they only track the real ones. Technorati now rates blogs on a tally of monthly metrics that are confusing as hell to us mere mortals but based on post frequency, other blogs linking in and some other closely guarded hocus pocus - but what the hell, we're moving up. And that's got to be a good thing.

To give you an idea of where that puts us in the total universe, lets look at a few benchmarks: Ranked as number one for as long as anyone could say the word blog is the Huffington Post with an Authority of 964 out of a total 1000. Coming in a lot lower but still with over a million hits a month is Hugh MacLeod's Gapingvoid at an Authority of 579 to place at 1925 - and he just published a best-selling book. So with WWED clocking in at an Authority of 118 and ranking 45,120 I feel about as good as I should, considering that I haven't published a farking thing, except the blog. So something is happening, but I'm not sure exactly what. All I know is that when I show my dad a report card with a better grade than last time, he gives me money!

The photos here are all from the public library here in Munich, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, and an exhibit they had on Gutenberg and his application of the printing press. As we now stand on the precipice of an entirely new information distribution system, the Internet, I can't help but wonder what Gutenberg would have thought of it and what his handle on Twitter might have been or blog might have looked like...


For more on blogs, blogging and bloggers, check here:

Advertising People & Blogs - The Travis Diaries VI
How to Write the Best Damn Blog in the World
Throw That Blog a Bone!
If Blogs Are Free Are They Worthless?
What If Gutenberg Had a Blog?
If You Like the Blog, Read the Book>/a>
2008 Annual Report - The Wild Wild East Dailies
Blog Redesign WWED
BarCamp Saigon 2008
Attraction vs. Conversion - How to Power Your Blog
Are the Bloggerati Missing the Market?

For more on digital marketing and social networking see:

Xing vs. LinkedIn: Round II
Trial and Error: The New Normal
What's Wrong With My Social Networking? Xing vs. LinkedIn I
Low Tech Germany. Who Knew?
Advertising People and Blogs
How to Write the Best Blog in the World
What If Gutenberg Had a Blog?
If Blogs Are Free Does That Make Them Worthless?
Detri-Viral Marketing II: The Top 10 Social Media Blunders
Bright Lights, Big Internet and the WWED
Saigon Digital Marketing Conference Successfully Avoids Plumbers Convention
A Tale of Many Marketing Conferences
Detri-Viral Marketing I: How Web 2.0 Can Go Against A Brand
Marketing Predictions for 2009
Barcamp Saigon 2008
"Ignore Everybody" is Born: A Plug for Hugh MacLeod
Are the Bloggerati Missing the Market? Asia has Risen,
Into the Gapinvoid - Web 2.0 Social Networking Born 20 Years Ago

"The most trusted man in America" dies: RIP Walter Cronkite

CNN) -- "Walter Cronkite, the CBS anchorman known as "Uncle Walter" for his easygoing, measured delivery and "the most trusted man in America" for his rectitude and gravitas, died Friday night in his New York home, CBS reported. Cronkite was 92. Cronkite covered World War II's Battle of the Bulge, the Nuremberg trials, several presidential elections, moon landings, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Watergate scandal of President Richard M. Nixon's administration. At his height of influence as CBS anchorman, Cronkite's judgment was believed so important it could affect even presidents. In early 1968, after the Tet Offensive, Cronkite traveled to Vietnam and gave a critical editorial calling the Vietnam War "mired in stalemate."

Noting Cronkite's commentary, President Lyndon Johnson reportedly said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America." Johnson announced he would not seek re-election less than two months later."

At the time Cronkite entered the medium of television, TV was to the world, what the Internet is today. An infant, a newcomer. He was and always will live as a pioneer and sadly, throngs will not gather at the Staples Center for an all-star memorial service. Let's just bid him farewell quietly. He would have liked that. He will be missed.