There is something unseemly about trying to rank blogging, but I’ve always been a stats guy and so this week I looked at the technorati.com blog “authority” rankings. I don’t really understand them, why rankings go up and down. From time to time we get questions here about why certain blogs are on the “Featured SBC Blogroll” while others are not. The Technorati rankings are one way of explaining why certain blogs are featured.
When I was a coach, I was a little bit of a stats nut – probably too much so. But its ingrained in my DNA somehow. So, here is a listing of the Top Southern Baptist Blogs as ranks by Technorati. I recognize this is probably unhealthy, but its Saturday and time for some fun.
Currently, the top religion blog is “Desiring God” – surprise, surprise. It is followed by The Resurgence and then by Rachel Held Evans. The top blog by a Southern Baptist is Trevin Wax’s “Kingdom People”, ranked eighth.
1) Kingdom People – Trevin Wax
Ranked 964th overall, the only Baptist blog in the top 1000 overall. He is ranked 8th in religion blogs, with a religion authority of 788.
2) Al Mohler
He is ranked 12th in religion blogs, with an authority of 760. His ranking in politics is also fairly high.
3) Provocations and Pantings – Tim Brister
His religion authority is 714, placing him 25th overall.
4) SBC Voices
We have a religion authority of 708 and a ranking of 27.
5) Denny Burk
His authority is 688 and he ranks 36th overall.
6) Between the Times
With an authority of 674, they rank 40th.
7) Perry Noble
I am actually not completely sure Perry is Southern Baptist – hard to tell from his website. But he appears in our blog roll, so I’m including him. He ranks 81st with an authority of 620.
8.) SBC Today
There may be some blogs that I don’t recognize, but the next Baptist Blog I was familiar with was SBC Today at 286th overall, with an authority of 201.
9) sbcIMPACT
This group blog comes in with an authority of 112 and a ranking of 477.
10) Mark Lamprecht, Here I Blog
Mark ranks an even 500, with an authority of 111.
11) Alvin Reid (in case someone tells me Perry Noble ISN’T Southern Baptist, he moves into the 10th spot).
Authority is 110, and his ranking is 528.
Others: Jared Moore – Authority 109, Rank 565
Ministry to Children – Authority 106, Rank 675
SelahV and SBC Tomorrow (Peter Lumpkins) – Authority 104, Rank 752
(another of Hariette’s blogs “daily IMPACT” is at 842, with an authority of 102)
Paul Burleson “VTMBottomline” is at 1005, with a 99 authority.
Gunny Hartman’s “Semper Reformanda” comes in at 94 authority and a 1057 rank.
Is Justin Nale Southern Baptist? His site, “Thoughts of a North Carolina Baptist” is at 95/1233.
Chuck Grantham, the “Goula Blogger” comes in at 95/1233 as well.
Wade Burleson comes in at 93/1345.
Observations
1) There is no question that Baptist Blogging is not as influential on these rankings as it once was. I looked at the rankings a couple of years ago, and there were probably 10 Baptist blogs in the top 150 or so. But things have slowed down in our little world. Look at Wade Burleson at 95/1345. He was a regular near the top of the rankings until he backed out of the blog world. Bart Barber posts every time the Kansas City Royals have a 5 game winning streak. I wish I could go back two years and see the ratings then.
2) These rankings fluctuate rapidly. Take a week or two off of writing and your blog rank plummets. Howell Scott is just outside the top 1500, but he took about a month off recently. Now that he’s back behind the keyboard, I’m guessing his ranking will be rising.
3) It is more than possible that I overlooked a Baptist blog in the top 1500.
4) Remember, there are currently 10,118 religion blogs, so being in the top 1500 blogs is nothing to sneeze at.
5) There are several of what I consider to be the better Baptist Blogs that for some reason don’t even appear on the ranking. I don’t know why Baptist21, Micah Fries and Downshore Drift by Alan Cross – some of the best blogs in our little kingdom, do not appear on the listing.
Some of you young whippersnappers with lots of technical expertise can explain that to me.
So, there are some statistics. What are they worth? Who knows? I found it interesting. Here is the link to the Technorati.com Religion rankings. Select “blog” in the toolbar at the top and enter your blog name to see where it ranks.
I considered an alternate title for this post: When Preachers can’t sleep and feel like wasting time!
