Iain Dale's rankings

Iain Dale is a popular British Conservative blogger and pundit who has a penchant for cataloguing and ranking the British political blogosphere. He's published a new book with this year's rankings, and offered up much of that information on his blog.

My company was fortunate enough to sponsor the book featuring Mr. Dale's popular list, and a number of my colleagues have offered some insightful essays that were included in the book. They include an introduction to the list and some thoughts on its relevance in British politics, a fact-filled piece on "why blogs matter," and a thoughtful piece on the the role blogs play in French politics. I even took a crack at describing the state of the American political blogosphere in 2007.

I realize that a book is a curious medium to describe the blogosphere. Part of the fun will be going back to it in the future and see how things have changed.

As for the rankings, I've always believed that where you "rank" isn't really as important as what you do. In social media, the most relevant audience or community is always more important than the largest one. I will say this, however - Mr. Dale's rankings have already sparked some interesting discussions and great fun. People are talking about how technology influences politics and vice-versa. Those are wonderful conversations, and Mr. Dale deserves great kudos.