Business and Blogging

Times Online Offers a List of Top Business Blogs, with a Twist

by Des Walsh on June 13th, 2007

An interesting contribution to the blogosphere today, or rather to the blogosphere’s reflection upon and discussion about itself, with the publication of the UK Times Online article “The 50 best business blogs“.

It’s certainly an interesting list, with some readily recognisable blog names, such as Freakonomics, GM’s Fastlane Blog, and Boing Boing.

Author Rhys Blakely does not indicate how he came up with the list or what criteria he used to produce the “50 best”. Presumably it’s a list of the blogs he considers the best in the general category of “business”.

My personal view is that it would probably take a doctoral thesis to work out what makes a blog “best” in any category, so hats off to the author for his contribution.

That said, a business person looking at this list to get an idea of what a “top” business blog might look like could become somewhat confused. Because there’s a twist on what we’ve come to expect of lists of business or corporate blogs.

The twist is that some of the blogs are actually “agin” business. As the author says:

Internet blogs are taking on big corporations and winning. As the bloggerati continue to set the agenda Times Online provides the first full list of the 50 top blogs, corporate and anti-corporate alike.

The blogs are listed under categories, as below (with the number of blogs under each category indicated):

• ECONOMICS 3
• BANKING AND FINANCE 4
• CONSTRUCTION AND PROPERTY 4
• ENGINEERING 3
• HEALTH 3
• INDUSTRIALS 1
• LEISURE 2
• MEDIA & MARKETING 4
• NATURAL RESOURCES 3
• RETAIL 4
• LAW 3
• TRANSPORT 2
• TECHNOLOGY 7
• TELECOMS 4
• UTILITIES 3

A couple of the blogs listed under Construction and Property seem an uncomfortable fit: Number 10 Consumerist (”Shoppers Bite Back”) and Number 11 Just Food, on the global food industry.

Steve Clayton (my thanks to him for the link to the Times Online piece) is disappointed not to see more blogs from outside the USA and specifically from the UK. Hopefully he and others will help us become aware of more blogs of distinction (wouldn’t that be a better classification than some arbitrary or subjective notion of “top” or “best”?) from a larger pool.

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POSTED IN: Awards, Corporate, General, International, Small Business