Technorati 100

All-around smart guy Tristan Louis has examined blog trends in the past year by taking the Technorati 100 from 2005 and comparing it against 2006. He found some interesting results, showing the dynamic nature of the blogosphere:

• Only 9 blogs moved up in the rankings, and there were 65 new entries to the list. That means only 35 of the 100 have stayed.
• Asian blogs seem to be “becoming a major force… In a world where globalisation is key, the blogosphere has not yet fully grappled with the impact of the Asian Pacific region and there probably will be some interesting discussion around this in the future.”

His conclusion:

If you take those numbers, it means that a total of 90 blogs (25 dropping within the list and another 65 dropping off the list completely) ended up with a lower position in 9 months. Combined with the fact that 9 blogs moved up, this means that 99 percent of the list was dynamic.

This, to me, was a pretty stunning revelation: while there is much obsession about who is and isn’t on those lists, it seems that their nature is a lot more dynamic than expected. Going beyond that, it also look like being on top is no guarantee that you will stay there (if anything, it is a guarantee that you will not, as 9 out of 10 blogs fell and 65 percent disappeared from the list altogether).

UPDATE: As Seth Finkelstein and others pointed out on Tristan’s blog, the algorithm for ranking the Technorati 100 has  changed in the past year, which also contributed to the changes in the list.