1. Jason,
Are you calling your readers "losers"? Or are "losers" just people who have acknowledged that there are actually different levels of popularity in the blogging world. just wanted some clarification.

BTW, thanks for the updated list of your "link, and link back" inner circle. Can we get some "unknowns" thrown into that list just for laughs?
If only there was a list of cool and uncool people in high school.......... it would have all been so much easier.....

Posted at 8:12PM on Mar 19th 2007 by cheapname

2. Amen Brother.


Douglas and I were obscure struggling comedians before our vlog.

If you want to be watched, make something worth watching. If you want to be read, make something worth reading.

Done and done.

Posted at 8:12PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Kent Nichols

3. Maybe all that's true, but do you not think that someone who has, say, 30mins every couple of days to write a blog post might be just as interesting as any of those people on the list? They just have no time to promote themselves, or churn out the thousands of posts required to move through the ranks. Yet maybe their voice is far more important than yours or Arrington's or Scoble's. We just don't know, because we can't find them.

The A-list system is inevitable. In every ecosystem there is a hierarchy. I just think its important that the existence of such a hierarchy is recognised by those lucky enough to be at the top of it. Scoble does recognise it, and takes it upon himself to read thousands of blog posts a day. That's clearly not a scalable system, and he shouldn't feel that he needs to do that to remain non-elitist.

Posted at 8:26PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Huw

4. In summary jason's just saying these people have paid their dues and have been consistent and grinded it day in and day out and haven't gotten to where they are by shear luck.

Posted at 9:09PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Jeff O'Hara

5. Gee, looks like Tony's deepjiveinterests is down. Evidence of the A-list conspiracy at work.

Kidding! Great post.

Posted at 9:23PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Webomatica

6. Scoble can't get written up anywhere unless he whines; you couldn't accomplish anything at Weblogs Inc.; Perez Hilton attends depressing parties frequented with C-list celebs; Steve Rubel is a joke and his employer Edelman is famous for screwing up Microsoft's PR; Ze Frank was already a talented web designer and public speaker; Adam Curry is just building a network to sell or fail; I'm living in an attic room deferring my student loans; and wasn't Elizabeth Spiers supposed to be the next Nick Denton by now?

The rest, sure, they've done well for themselves. Still, please respect your readers enough to spend more than ten seconds picking examples.

Posted at 10:08PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Nick Douglas

7. We all know there is no list, just as there is no real list with movie stars. I don't understand why you keep saying it doesn't exist and then go on to show people who are on it and before you had a bullshit guide for getting on it. As Kent said the only real way to gain respect and become popular and have people give a shit about what you have to say is to make good content. If you are complaining that no one cares about what you say or that no one watches you vlog, well, there's a reason for that. Either you are expecting too much too soon or your content sucks.

And you list people who were nobodies and now they are A-List. So what? Everyone on that list did something great or interesting or cool and thats how they got where they are now. Peter Rojas started a gadget blog that was awesome so people read it. You started weblogs inc. Zefrank made a viral flash toy then a really cool site, and it's been a series of projects ever since.

Jason, if there was an A-List, you would not be on it, you were on it because of weblogs inc, but now no. Maybe you can get there when your podcast gets more popular.

Posted at 10:14PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Ben

8. Dude, excellent, and I agree with most of this, but in about a year I reached a level of success I can manage, it would be harder to incorporate more. But thanks for the words.

Posted at 10:26PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Dan

9. Let's hope Nick Douglas never makes it to the A-List because he doesn't have a clue about anything. I saw the guy at SXSW and had to get up and leave. Like the internet needs more ignorant children pretending to be cool.

Posted at 10:42PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Cole

10. you know what, um, forget what I wrote and just look at nick's comment.

Posted at 10:47PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Ben

11. Oh please... start consistently linking to the thousands of bloggers toiling away in anonymity and producing excellent content every day, and then tell me there is no A-list. Add a new blog to your feeds every day based not on the amount of link love it gets from your friends but on the content of its posts, and then tell me there is no A list. Befriend a promising new writer on blogger.com or wordpress.com instead of yet another VC you met at that TechCrunch party, and then tell me there is no A list.

The ugly truth of the matter is that statistics mathematically prove that somewhere out there, for every post you or Scoble or anyone else(including myself) writes, there are 100 better posts out there, languishing in obscurity. That's a fact you can't deny. 55 million blogs. 55,000 of those are statistically in the top 0.1% of all blogs, several standard deviations above the norm. Can you list 55,000 A-listers? Of course not. Are there 55,000 bloggers out there who, despite their lack of connections or powerful friends deserve to be on the A-list? Of course.

Take a look at Steve Rubel- he is one of the few A-listers I truly respect for not forgetting his roots and activelyreaching out to unknown bloggers.

Posted at 11:27PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Ilya Lichtenstein

12. URLs are stripped out of the comments, but this is the link I wanted to point to when I said that Steve Rubel actively reaches out and makes himself accessible to unknown bloggers;

http://www.micropersuasion.com/2005/03/pitchme_delicio.html

Posted at 11:29PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Ilya Lichtenstein

13. Quite possibly the most intelligent post you've made in months. The sad thing is that you shouldn't have had to post it. I generally have a problem with people who think of the world in terms of "lists." Who cares what list someone is on? If you like to read, listen or watch them, thats all that matters.

Posted at 11:34PM on Mar 19th 2007 by Bill Streeter

14. Hah. Word up to that.

Posted at 7:08AM on Mar 20th 2007 by Marston

15. Although I don't "blog" about Web 2.0 I have become an a-list blogger out of nowhere for the niche I serve - the songwriting community. I went from being a local guy that won a few songwriting contests to a guy with really great songwriter connections with the elite songwriters/producers in Nashville, NYC, and LA. Kinda cool man. It wasn't until I had spent a considerable amount of time on legitimate content, useful linkbait, and opening myself up to others in the community that it happened. It was almost a year before I started getting my "street cred". I still maintain that most people underestimate what it takes to work for that respect. As you have mentioned before Jason, it is really easy to start a blog - quite another to break past the "three month wall".

Don
www.bloggingmuses.com

Posted at 7:50AM on Mar 20th 2007 by Don M

16. Agreed. And add the best list will always be the wine one :-)

Posted at 9:11AM on Mar 20th 2007 by Laurent Bazet

17. To some of the confused folks who think I'm writing to all bloggers who are not "huge" (as in blog "huge"): I'm writing about the folks who are complaining that there is an "A list holding them back."

I am NOT writing to the people who might have a low-traffic blog about their lives, for their friends and family, who are NOT complaining that they are being held back by the A-List.

This post is for the cry babies ONLY. The folks who believe that their lives are defined by the "A-list" keeping them out of the inner circle.

Posted at 12:54PM on Mar 20th 2007 by Jason

18. 2400 hits a day makes a person A list? I'm closer than I thought!

Honestly though, some people grandfathered into the proverbial "A list" simply for being around for 3-4 years before the other 50 million plus blogs were added to the online shouting contest. With more competition out there for visibility, a newbie blogger greatly benefits from the assistance of linkage from a more established blog.

Of course if your content is krep, doesn't matter who links to you or how often you post. So I agree with what Kent said in the 2nd comment, do something worthwhile and quit complaining about your lack of exposure. It's much easier to get noticed if you do something worth noticing.

Posted at 9:40PM on Mar 20th 2007 by Chris

19. What you say is absolutely true. Most bloggers seem approachable, transparent, and actually thrilled to meet new people and talk to them, if the people are decent writers with decent perspectives. And it does take 3-8 hours a day for a long time to get known. And how is that different from any other endeavor? Overnight success is b.s.

Posted at 10:42PM on Mar 20th 2007 by francine hardaway

20. Jason, I agree with you. My experience of taking on the blogosphere is that if you have compelling content and a level head, the world with give you a fair go. You don't need the special friends, the Silicon Valley weekend parties or whatever else people claim you need to really make it. There is special leverage in certain connections, but it's my experience that the content speaks for itself, as long as your online marketing/promotions is up to speed and you're not afraid to yell loudly in your own voice.

Certainly you're not afraid of that!

- Alister

Posted at 11:21PM on Mar 20th 2007 by Alister Cameron, Blogologist