File this under the, "Why it's a bitch to measure influence in the blogosphere" category. At the beginning of the year, I set up a quick blogger blog for a former employee at my agency, Lincee. She had been emailing around recaps of The Bachelor for a few seasons, but her email list was getting out of control, and she needed an easier distribution model.
So, here it is.
But I ask you this, how do you measure its influence?
Do links measure influence? Well, sometimes. But Lincee only has 28 links from 22 blogs. Not bad, but probably not enough to get on too many radars.
Can comments measure influence? Well, again, sometimes, but Seth would probably tell you that those aren't the end all be all. But for Lincee, she has 2609 comments across only 14 posts. Now, that's just incredible. That also includes 3 posts by me telling her faithful readers to hold their collective horses.
My only real point here is that metrics are relative, and are largely a product of the creators. Number crunching is a fickle thing, and it's not too difficult for whoever doing the massaging to lead others down the primrose path.
As an aside, Lincee has become a little bit of an ABC darling. She had a nice little story done about her on the local Houston news, plus The Bachelor host Chris can be seen regularly in the comment thread. I would have called bullshit, until Lincee was invited on the tell all episode at the end of the season. Smart move ABC. Screw your enemies, keep your friends the closest!
It's time for one of the major players to brand it's own department of blog metrics. Ahhhnold started it's Dept. of Human Nature this year. Who wants to be the first to bill for the Department of Blog Metrics™? Me, me - I do!
Posted by: Lori Magno | October 10, 2006 at 06:05 PM
Well, if you're putting together that department, can I get in on that, too?
Posted by: Paul McEnany | October 11, 2006 at 09:20 AM
Sure metrics can be "massaged", but 2600 comments on 14 posts is an awesome response. Obviously its not just about the numbers ... its about the community that is more than happy to speak up and participate. Sure its a bitch to measure, but its going to fun to try and figure it out ... good luck to the team that come up with the Google Analytics of blogging!
Posted by: Gavin Heaton | October 13, 2006 at 12:24 AM
Hey Paul ... thought you might like this too ...
http://swbu.blogspot.com/2006/10/lurking-in-dark-shadows-of-ip.html
Posted by: Gavin Heaton | October 13, 2006 at 01:16 AM
Gavin-
Thanks for the link tip!
I've spent a bunch of time trying to work through some sort of model for it, but I think we're just lacking the tools to get it right. Technorati and Alexa still have way too many problems to be the end all be all.
Or, I guess even more likely, there is no one-size-fits-all metric, so we'll just have to jump in and see for ourselves.
Posted by: Paul McEnany | October 13, 2006 at 09:15 AM