Jason Calacanis writes "I’ve never bought into it since anyone can be on the A-list if they blog intelligently for a couple of months/years." I’m not sure what exactly his definition of A-list blogger is, but is that really true anymore? It seems like the volume of blogs, and especially the number of "pro" blog networks out there, has changed the landscape significantly.
Now, I suppose it might still be true to a degree, especially if someone focuses on writing and linking a lot on a small set of topics covered by an established set of bloggers. But that’s just more of the same, which is already imo a pretty big failing of a lot of the "A-list" bloggers, many of whom just regurgitate the same stuff a bunch of other "A-list" bloggers are talking about.
In terms of original content on a wide range of topics, I think it’s really much harder than Jason claims to rise above the noise. There’s definitely a lot of good stuff being written out there, but I feel like it’s getting harder, not easier, to find.
Looking solely at the tech blogging world and techmeme in specific, what new blogs have emerged as
significant voices in the blogging world over the last few months? While I’m sure there’s some confirmation bias here, the only one that really pops to mind is Marc Andreesen. And he’s a very special case for obvious reasons.
With the growth in volume of blogging, are there really so few new bloggers writing quality content that a bunch of established "A-list" bloggers writing slightly different takes on the newest iPhone or Apple OS happenings is the best stuff out there? I doubt it. But the way the blog ecosystem works, there’s a self-reinforcing effect that highly incents bloggers to write on the same topics that already established bloggers are writing about and link to each other. That trend keeps discussion in the blogging world a lot less interesting and diverse than it could be.