October 11, 2006

brief mention in the f.t.

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Based on the Edelman/Technorati study I men­tio­ned yes­ter­day, The Finan­cial Times cites gaping­void as the most influen­tial blog in the UK.
Though it’s nice to get a men­tion, I don’t feel par­ti­cu­larly influen­tial these days. My focus has shif­ted away from the blo­gosphere a lot in the last year, towards the more capi­ta­list world of selling wine.
It seems to me that if there was a “blog­ging revo­lu­tion”, it has already hap­pe­ned. 2002 – 2003 were key years for me, and a lot ear­lier for peo­ple like Winer, Meg­nut or Doc. The genie is already out of the bottle.
Again, it comes down to my favo­rite quote from Clay Shirky:

“So for­get about blogs and blog­gers and blog­ging and focus on this — the cost and dif­fi­culty of publishing abso­lu­tely anything, by anyone, into a glo­bal medium, just got a whole lot lower. And the effects of that inc­rea­sed pool of poten­tial pro­du­cers is going to be vast.”

Shirky’s quote to me is the real story. The Blo­gopsphere and “Web 2.0″ are just small parts of this grea­ter whole.

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8 Responses to “brief mention in the f.t.”

  1. Chris says:

    Maybe “most influen­tial blog from the UK” would be more accurate?

  2. Phil says:

    Love the car­toon Hugh, but sadly the moral isn’t going to last — I went to see an online Media guy yes­ter­day, and he men­tio­ned the “blo­gosphere” almost as much as he said “funky” and “dynamic”.…

  3. churchpundit says:

    Con­grats! Again, I must say I find your stuff fas­ci­na­ting. I also find it extre­mely inte­res­ting that your blog is desc­ri­bed as “most influen­tial”! Not just most read, most hits, most rea­ders, but most influen­tial! Quite an achie­ve­ment. thus spoke churchpundit!

  4. John Dodds says:

    I agree with you Hugh and would be inte­res­ted to view the 2002 – 2003 blog­ging but your archive starts in January 2004. Has the rest disap­pea­red into the ether or is it still in existence?

  5. Hugh MacLeod says:

    my archi­ves 2001 – 2003 are currently down, john. i’ll get ‘em fixed eventually.

  6. Sam Sethi says:

    Con­gra­tu­la­tions Hugh. I agree, there was a period where you were at the cut­ting edge of web 2.0 satire with a great Bri­tish twist which often bust the self impor­tance bub­ble of the Valley Dige­rati.
    Your work with Stormhoek may have taken your eye off the ball slightly but we have spo­ken about when you are on fire you are soooo spot on with your alter­na­tive and som­ti­mes dark view of the web. Loo­king for­ward to seeing you and dis­cus­sing a few ideas.
    For now bask in your sweat equity and enjoy the moment. Pos­sibly open a bottle of Stormhoek’s finest and enjoy the day. ;-)

  7. Hugh MacLeod says:

    I wouldn’t say I was in a crea­tive lull per se, Sam… just my inte­rests have expan­ded beyond the web quite a lot this last year.
    Secondly, I think Stormhoek has done a lot to inform my view of how the web actually works… and its pos­si­bi­li­tes as a mar­ke­ter… more so than English Cut, even…

  8. Sheamus says:

    Hugh, you may be too close to the things hap­pe­ning in the moment, and thus, mis­sing the big pic­ture of what is hap­pe­ning in your life and with your life.
    Step back and see the lar­ger pers­pec­tive, and for good­ness sake, please stop appl­ying silly labels to your iden­tity, what you do and what you accom­plish i.e., “mar­ke­ter”. You are way more than “a mar­ke­ter”!!!
    You are ori­gi­nal! You are crea­tive!! You are thought­ful and thought-provoking across a range of of ideas and issues!!! You are an Artist and a damn good words­mith!!!! You have a uni­que pers­pec­tive on the world and the stuff hap­pe­ning in our world!!!!! And, millions of peo­ple bene­fit because they can see things and think about things in new ways because you have the balls to put your­self and your ideas out there!!!!!!
    Sam’s com­ments are right-on. And, take him up on his offer of dia­lo­gue and ideas.
    Rock on Hugh!!!