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Saturday August 2, 2008 ~ 27 Comments
I found this SBC blog ranking, from Les Puryear's blog, informative... particularly showing that some of the most vocal are not ranked as highly as I expected.
Thankfully, Technorati.com gives a realistic view of the influence a blogger really has, not just how many people he or she got to come by and defend their target of the day. This influence is expressed in a blog's "ranking." From the technorati website, A Technorati Ranking relates to the number of sources that point to a particular weblog relative to other weblogs. The more sources referencing a weblog, the higher the Technorati ranking.
On several occasions I have received calls from SBC denominational agency PR people (and a couple of agency heads over the years) saying, "This blogger is saying so and so... does anyone listen to him or her?" I always encourage them to consider the truth (or lack thereof) of what they are saying, but then to look at Technorati to see if anyone except his mother is reading the blog. Here is my analysis of the list by section (I took the liberty of numbering Les' list). The catagories are my creation and may not reflect the self-identification of the blog: ------------------------- The Reformed It is interesting to note how many of the top bloggers are self-identified as Reformed. They tend not to be overwhelmingly concerned with SBC politics. My guess is that most of the top SBC bloggers are read more by non-SBC (in addition to SBC) audiences. The Reformed movement is growing (particularly at Southern, but at other places as well). However, the numbers alone do not explain the Reformed domination of the SBC blogosphere. There are just not that many Reformed SBC pastors-- but perhaps, as a growing movement, they connect over the Internet. Tim Brister (I have already told him that I refuse to call a grown man "Timmy") is, I am quite sure, the only person on Twitter wearing a tie (see and follow his feed here-- I do). He is a great writer and good thinker and probably the most influential blogger in SBC life and just behind Justin Taylor and Tim Challies in the Reformed world. Steve McCoy is a well known in SBC, emerging, missional, and Reformed circles. And, I like his blog, but it could be because he first loved me. When I am on the road and people mention bloggers, Steve's name is mentioned to me more frequently than any other blogger. When blogging was young, I remember when some seminary professors complained about Steve's influence, saying he did not warrant such readership. (He used to have a now defunct blog, "Missional Baptist Blog," which was the target of their complaints.) And, yes, blogging (like a theological education, among other things), can put you in a position of prominence and leadership before your experience warrants it. However, Steve has been an entertaining and insightful writer and, if influence is measured by followers, then Steve has influence. Tom Ascol, of Founders fame, has been struck by lightning and yet still lives. 'Nuf said. Even Chuck Norris has not been struck by lightning. Tom is the director of Founders Ministries, a movement to promote Reformed principles in the SBC. Joe Thorn is bald, plants churches, and loves Jesus. Great guy-- and a former student. Joe has cut back on blogging some and I wish he would blog more. And, Said at Southern is run by uber-blogger Tony Kummer, who just lists and talks about things, well, said at (you guessed it) Southern (the seminary).
------------------------- Personal Blogs with Occasional SBC Comments Not sure how to define Micah. He reminds me of Joe and Steve, but still thinks the SBC might be worth saving. He is a good writer and an effective pastor. Also, I am not sure how to describe Kevin Bussey, but he is working on a book that should be interesting. (All bloggers are working on a book... grin.) I love his header picture and he is a good writer. Les Puryear's "Joining God," and Alan Cross' "Downshore Drift" are something of a reformist voice, but tend to have a softer tone than some of the others. Les' focus is on the small church.
------------------------- SBC Debate / Group Blogs I would think that two years ago, SBCOutpost who have reigned supreme. Today, it is down the list a bit and is about tied with its nemesis blog, SBCToday. One final site in this catagory is SBCImpact. Impact is something of a reformist voice, but it seems to have a less strident tone than the others, and also is ranked much lower.
------------------------- Southeastern The Southeastern boys have a blog that is climbing the rankings (it takes a while to build up a rank and this is going up fast). It has some great content and I have added it to my "Noteworthy Items" many times. If you want to see the contours of the coming Great Commission Resurgence, this is the place to read. One bad thing-- no comments. My advice, open the comments-- you do not have to respond to them. Yes, one well-known faculty member from a certain seminary always asks 15-point questions (a joke, people), but you don't have to answer all questions that are asked-- I don't. 11. Between the Times - Rank: 105,966 ------------------------- Aggregator SBCVoices is a blog aggregator, and a pretty neat one at that, of all things SBC: 12. SBC Voices - Rank: 111,870 ------------------------- Baptist Identity These guys tend to be identified with the Baptist Identity movement (not to be confused with the Christian Identity movement). I vehemently disagree with about .7% of what they say which makes us enemies in the blogsphere (another joke people, but one that should make you think). More on these blogs: SBCToday is a team blog. They did a great series of interviews with the SBC presidential candidates. Their tag line explains their passion: "Restoring Unity through Biblical Discipleship and Baptist Identity." I mentioned them under debate blogs above. Bart Barber is the only blogger to ever apologize to me (and on his blog) about something he wrote-- that is pretty impressive. And, his Fifth Century Initiative is a pretty neat idea. Also, I thought his participation and willingness to collaborate (and compromise!) on the SBC regenerate church resolution was a sign of character and a model for the future. (I commented on that resolution in church this morning, so thank you Bart). I don't think I have ever met the guy who runs SBC Tomorrow, though he is a frequent commentator on many blogs and always signs, "with that I am, Peter," which seems a bit self-evident to me if that is your name. However, he is reviewing Tony Jones new book, The New Christians, and I have been following his review. He has some insightful comments. And, Tim Rogers a Southern Baptist in NC once gave me a ride at a conference, so I like him. I took a picture of him at the SBC and it came out blurred-- I was hoping to put him on the Twitter. So, even though his ranking may be low, he loves Jesus and cares about missions, so I like him. Great passion from these guy on distinctives-- and I think distinctives matter.
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The SBC blogsopshere has been quiet lately and I think I like that. When it cranks back up, I hope it will be about missions, evangelism, and cooperation... but we will see! Now, feel free to comment below... did I describe them correctly? Any I missed? Etc. Posted on August 2, 2008 at 5:35 PM ~ 27 Comments Tagged with: bloggers, blogs, influence, sbc, technorati 27 CommentsLeave a comment |
  
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I was just thinking about blogs and denominational life earlier today. It is true they have caused quite an uproar over the last couple of years, but just about the time some of the older guys are figuring out what a blog is the younger guys are abandoning them for things like twitter. My guess is within a few years only 1 or 2 of these blogs will still be around.
Just like few people make good journalists, few people make good bloggers. It takes writing skill and a large amount of time to come up with posts people want to read. It is much easier to come up with short statements and sentences. I think you will see a lot more people moving to short form things like twitter, pownce, friendfeed, etc.
You have to admit it will be funny listening to Old Southern Baptist Pastors at the convention talking about something called Twitter.
Ed, Technorati actually just instituted some changes that make it more accurate than it used to be. The links to a site are only good for six months now, which adds to the immediacy of the ranking. What was hot 9 months ago might no longer be.
Thanks for the nice comments. I've actually finished the book and working with a literary agent who gave me a template to work with. I'm praying he can get me a publisher.
I think that blogging has a future if people have something to say. Those who only want to complain about the SBC will not last long. Ultimately, blogging, just like any writing, is a creative endeavor. If you are not being creative, then you really need to shut the thing down.
More people in my church read my blog, which I like. It is a great ministry tool and I regularly have people stop me after a service to talk to me about something that I wrote that week. I am probably more satisfied with my blogging now that I have ever been.
Micah - Twitter? If people abandon blogging for Twitter, then it is literally the end of the human race as we know it. Of course I am being dramatic, but I would much rather know what you think about substantive issues than to know that you had Cheerios for breakfast. :)
Perhaps less scientific, but perhaps more fun as well, was Tony Kummer's March SBC Madness whereby he had a bracket style tournament of SBC blogs. Folks voted to thin the herd from the original 64.
The (top) Final 4 were:
1. Reformissionary (Steve McCoy)
2. Founders Ministry Blog (Tom Ascol)
3. SBC Tomorrow (Peter Lumpkins)
4. Ed Stetzer
That's not too far away from your current figures.
Ed,
"Reformist ... less strident." Bowden says that's our new motto. :)
Just curious, how long ago did you get these ratings? Do they change quite often or dramatically? Because it seems like sbc IMPACT is up to 133,199 this morning. (?)
Micah, I am with Alan on this one. Twitter brings out my smarmy side, not my thoughtful side.
I hope blogging is not replaced by Twitter. (But, I do think you are right that most of these blogs will be gone in a few years.
Gunny, I do remember that. It is interesting that they were similar.
Geoff, no idea. I took the rankings from Les. Maybe Les' ranking sent thousands of new readers to your site. Grin. And I am glad you liked the new motto.
Tony an "Uber-blogger?" That's just funny. I enjoy reading the blogs at http://sbcvoices.com Good variety of thoughts represented - most days.
As one who has the privilege of reading Kevin's book.... definitely look forward to it being in print one day. And no, I am not getting paid to say that. lol Kevin is a good writer with much to say.
All bloggers are working on a book? NOW someone tells me! (bigger grin)
Okay, seriously. I think that it has been shown time and time again that blogging can really hurt the SBC or any thing for that matter when not done in manner pleasing to God. I'm often asked why I do not write about all my connections throughout the SBC. Simple. That's not why I blog. If one person receives encouragement, is motivated to serve, and etc.... - then I've been heard. More importantly - His Spirit has been.
That's the change I seek.. I pray it is contagious.
As always.. praying!
I am sure my little website/blog ranks really low, but man am I killer on facebook lol.
Ed,
i'm disappointed. You had a perfect opportunity yesterday to drop some Blue Oyster Cult lyrics in your sermon... "Don't Fear The Reaper."
Oh well, better luck next time.
ME
Ed,
Interesting post. Only Southern Baptist types would really be interested in their standing in the blogosphere. :)
Our infatuation with pressing toward the top of the heap keeps us triumphal and announcing whose blogs are the best.
Personally, I read few SBC blogs even though I am an (in)frequent contributor to the Outpost. I do read blogs, keeping up with more than 100 as I am able. I prefer those outside our camp to gain insight that is not so homogeneous. I track those I disagree with, Professors I know, other theologians and friends.
Blogs and the SBC. Well you know blogs are like pornography to most who do not get blogging. Blogs for the past few years have been the "tracts" and "PR" material that was once distributed by mass mailing and phone campaigns.
One thing is certain. Everyone knows that to mention Stetzer on their blog means more traffic, if not from your office the maybe your critics. :)
We love your blogging Ed ... it either gives us something good to think about or fodder for the "other" guys.
SBC Pastor's Conference Messages, 2009
"The Trouble With Twittering" by Frank page
"Great Commission Twittering" by Danny Akin
"The Temptation To Twitter" by Bart Barber
"With That, I Am Twittering" by peter Lumpkins
And
"Missional Twittering" by Ed Stetzer
Panel Discussion Led By Ed Stetzer: Lifeway Research Results: "Twittering trends Among Evangelical and Non Evangelical, Southern Baptist and Non- Southern Baptist, Missional, Reformed, Emerging, Emergent and GCR Christian Church Platers and Established Church, NKJV Reading and HCSB Reading pastors and Laity" (Statistical Variance .000777%)
Ed,
Interesting. I'm glad also my few posts on TNC by Tony Jones have held heat, even if only a little.
By the way, I lived about a mile or so behind where you now serve as Interim. We weren't members at FBCH but our children attended many of their ministry event stuff...
Chuck,
Me Twitter? I just now got the nerve to attempt Facebook! Change comes much too quickly for an old man.
With that, I am...
Peter
You should have had a heading for "Just Barely SBC Bloggers" for Perry, Gary, Lovejoy and your's truly. :-)
T-rankings for this bunch:
Shawn Lovejoy - 62,921
Chris Elrod - 49,065
Gary Lamb - 15,654
Perry Noble - 3,010 (no joke)
Just barely for you... indeed!
Perry at 3010. Wow.
Trevin Wax (Kingdom People at trevinwax.com) comes in at 19,506.
But, in most of those cases, you guys don't talk much about SBC life, so that may be why Les left you off.
Ed- So I'm hard to define? I kind of think that's a compliment. :-) Thanks for the positive words. I appreciate it.
"The more links reflect wider readership and greater circulation of written material."
In general, there's actually only a very loose correlation there. Because Technorati's ranking is solely about how often a blog is cited, it's not a reliable measure of a blog's readership.
While in the SBC blogosphere, more links may indeed mean that more people are reading those blogs, that's definitely not the case across the board. Your blog could be read by 100,000 people/month, but if those people don't have blogs, or if your material doesn't lend itself to being linked to, your Technorati "authority" could be incredibly low.
To determine true readership, you have to combine the number of readers reading via a feed reader with traffic measurements from a service like Quantcast.
Here's how the top 10 blogs from Les's list fare in terms of monthly visitors, according to Quantcast:
Ed Stetzer - n/a (can't be measured since your blog lives in a subdirectory rather than living on its own domain or subdomain ... but everybody I know reads it)
Provocations and Pantings - 7,273
Reformissionary - 2,459
Founders Ministries - n/a (for the same reason as above)
Joe Thorn - 0
Said at Southern - 3,512
Micah Fries - 2,239
SBC Outpost - 3,317
SBC Today - 0
Confessions of a Recovering Pharisee - 1,840
(Note: Quantcast's estimated visitor counts are way low on sites that aren't using their tracking code -- so the numbers above are quite likely much, much greater -- but they're consistently low across the board, which makes it possible to compare different sites against one another.)
How about SBC Outhouse? http://sbcouthouse.blogspot.com
His posts are long, but his perspective is unique.
"Have you ever seen a person sitting down ask you to stand? No Sir. That’s because the folks who have to stand really want to sit down, but they can’t, so they insist on everyone else having to endure their misery. My son says he also thinks that standing is Biblical. My response to that was that at the time the Bible was written, the padded pew hadn’t been invented yet, neither had the barcolounger or for that matter even the folding Wal Mart lawn chair."
Ed,
The reason I did not include Shawn, Chris, Gary, and Perry is I've never read their blogs.
If my post did nothing else, it has introduced me to bloggers of whom I was unaware.
Thanks for the mention.
Les
You mean there are other blogs out there besides yours???? They haven't just given up yet? ;P
Et tu, Brute?
Grin.
Malcolm, you are just like Jesus... The same yesterday, today, and forever!
Thanks for dropping bý and I love it.
Ed
And, Ed, you are just like the third Person of the Trinity... Always prompting my conscience regarding the Great Commission.
Don't let that compliment go to your big, fat head.
Grin.
Malcolm
Wow! Two people clicked on my blog from your page, Ed! I am officially cool now. *grin*
Ed,
I think you would like this blog. It has to be one of the funniest blogs in the SBC.
http://www.thedailysoapbox1.blogspot.com/
Probably less official, but there is a poll on GoingtoSeminary.com regarding favorite blogs. Several from this list are on there right now (including yours Ed)... However, Tony is trying to swing the vote by posting a link from saidatsouthern and has currently taken the lead.
And completely unrelated, this was hilarious! Keep on Twitting Ed.
"One bad thing-- no comments. My advice, open the comments-- you do not have to respond to them."
I agree. They also do not have to keep any comment up if they think it does not stay within the sphere of interacting with ideas, but goes against Ephesians 4:29.