One of the commentator of Mapiles.com asked this: “Hi, so how do you measure influence? and impact? By the number of hits?” This question is actually raised in connection to the latest writing project organized by the Digital Filipino which is the “Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs in 2008“.

I will not answer directly that question. However, I will give you my thoughts on how to spot the emerging influential blogs in 2008.

Actually, the blogs you listed in your own list of 10 emerging influential blogs are really emerging influential blogs among the blogs you found in the internet. You listed them based on your own judgment. But don’t forget that you are just nominating them, and your nomination will be counted as 1 vote to each of the blogs in your own list. The final list of the emerging influential blog will be made by Ms. Janette Toral. The 10 blogs with the highest number of nomination or votes will be considered as the top 10 emerging influential blogs in 2008.

So, how can you spot the emerging influential blogs in 2008 that can be included in your own list? Well, the process is just simple… You only need to check the following:

1. Date of the Start of the Blog. According to the instruction of Ms. Janette Toral, the blogs that can be included in your own list of “10 emerging influential blogs in 2008” are those blogs that started on July 1, 2007 to the present. In other words, all the blogs that started anytime from July 1, 2007 to the present are already considered “emerging” … only “emerging“… but not yet “emerging influential” (lol) blogs because we need to consider the things below to know if they are really “emerging influential” blogs.
2. The Traffic of the Blog. Actually, not all blogs that have high traffic are influential blogs. But it is true that influential blogs have enough traffic. Just check the traffic-counter or the buttons of the blog-ranking system that the blog has participated.
3. The Number of Feed Subscribers. Almost all blogs display the number of feed subscribers. Usually it is displayed at the right side of the blog.
4. The Number of Commentators. Just check the number of commentators in each of the posts of the blog.

But what if the blogs you listed on your own “top 10 emerging influential blogs” have few number of visitors, feed subscribers and commentators, is it fine? Of course, yes. Tere’s no problem if the blogs you listed on own list of “top 10 emerging influential blogs in 2008” have only few visitors, feed subscribers or commentators as long as (just like what I said above) those blogs started anytime from July 1, 2007 to the present. After all those blogs in your own list are really the top 10 emerging influential blogs in 2008 among the blogs you found in the internet. So, it is of course true that there are blogs that have higher number of visitors, subscribers, and commentators compared to the blogs in your own list, but it just happen that you didn’t found them before completing the list.

I hope this post helps.

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