How do I Love Z? Let me Count Z Ways...

What started as an idea at The Viral Garden by Mack Collier, has gone, well, viral and has earned its own Squidoo zlist where voting for your favorite blog has never been easier. I made the list early thanks to Drew McLellan of The Marketing Minute.

If you have a Squidoo account, you can go and vote for your favorite blog. As Mack did, I also noticed that many 'famous' blogs started making the list. We all read them, we all know them, now maybe their authors will begin to know the rest of us. Linking to the famous is like hiring IBM, let's take a chance on discovering the talent behind all the others.

[Note: I encourage you to read the FAQs at Squidoo and learn why it is a good idea to create a business and nonprofit lens. We will be spreading the word on the Fast Company readers' network listserv in Philadelphia next.]

Now the link love with one assignment for each of the bloggers listed below:

1. Go find three (3) blogs you do not know -- I stand behind the initial meme launched to make the less known shine -- meet the person behind the blog, and figure out a way to help them with a project, an idea, or a new connection in 2007. Make something happen, together.

And now, here's Z ways:

BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Andy Nulman
Billions With Zero  Knowledge
Working at Home  on the Internet
MapleLeaf  2.0
Darren  Barefoot
Two Hat Marketing
The Engaging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
Conversation Agent
The Copywriting  Maven
Hee-Haw  Marketing
Scott Burkett’s Pothole  on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding &  Marketing
Carpe  Factum
Steve’s 2  Cents
Simplicity
Popcorn n  Roses
On Influence &  Automation
Servant of  Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Make it  Great!
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
Urban Jacksonville
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs  Blog
Design  Sojourn
Frozen  Puck
The  Sartorialist
Small  Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
¡Hola! Oi!  Hi!
Shut Up and  Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art,  Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the  fly
Jeremy Latham’s  Blog
SMogger Social Media  Blog
Masey.com
37 Days
A Clear Eye
Alex Halavais
Blog Brothers
Brand Autopsy
Brand Soul
Crossroads  Dispatches
Drawn
eHub
gillianic tendencies
Good Experience
Hitchhikers Guide to the Blogosphere
Hobopoet
How to Save the World
Josh Hallett
Joy of Six
Learned on Women
Listics
my topography
New Charm School
Occupational  Adventure
Orbit Now
Pause
PureLand Mountain
Simplicity
Songs of Experience
Talking  Story
Time Goes By
Tomorrow Today
WonderBranding
World Changing
Tertiary Education
Joyful Jubilant Learning
Creative Think
8wishes
Movie Marketing  Madness
Blog Till You  Drop!
Get  Shouty!
One Reader at a  Time
100 Bloggers
Critical Fluff
The New PR
Own Your Brand!
OTOInsights
bizandbuzz
Work, in Plain English
Buzz Canuck
New  Millenium PR
Pardon My  French
The Instigator  Blog
AENDirect
Diva  Marketing
Marketing  Hipster
The Marketing  Minute
Funny  Business
The Frager  Factor
Mindblob
OrbitNow!
Open The Dialogue
Word Sell
Note to CMO:
That’s Great  Marketing!
Shotgun  Marketing Blog

This is just a list, albeit a really good one. Relationships are a contact sport. I already picked my three (actually it's more than 3 for me) I'd like to get to know better. If you're ever in the Philadelphia area, or planning a visit, make sure you let me know so we can meet for coffee, lunch or drinks. I am heavily in favor of making things happen.

Comments

[Mack Collier]

Thanks for helping to spread the virus, Valeria. And while the links and traffic are great, the real gift from this meme is finding great new blogs to read, before this I had never heard of your blog, now I've already subscribed and love it!

Merry Christmas!

[Phil Gerbyshak]

Valeria - Thanks for including me in your list, and thanks for not waiting for a meme like this to reach out. I've enjoyed getting to know you a bit in 2006, and look forward to more of the same in 2007! Seasons best to you and yours!

[C.B. Whittemore]

Many thanks for mentioning Flooring The Consumer!

[Valeria Maltoni]

Now this is some dedicated blogging here!

Mack - your idea was readily spreadable, look at what you've done.

Phil - you make it fun and I read a lot more than I let on.

C.B. - pleased to meet you and interested in discovering your blog.

Thank you so much for visiting. Let's continue the conversation with each other. There are talent, passion, and plenty of ideas just waiting to tip on this list.

[Steve Sherlock]

Thanks for taking part in spreading these links. For the record, the links from 37Days through Joyful Jubilant Learning come directly from my blogroll. I added more in two other postings to extend the listing but these additions were not as neatly presented and I assume thereby not replicated. See neatness does count!

[Chris]

Unfortunately, the Squidoo z-list has gone terribly wrong, and demonstrates the limitations of Digg-style social media.

That's a pity, because what has happened at Squidoo was certainly not Seth's intent. The idea behind the z-list was to showcase some lesser-known blogs and to expand our social circles. Instead, several bloggers couldn't resist pimping their sites by begging readers to vote for them -- as if it were a competition or something.

The problem is that, like Digg, you can vote an item on the list up or down. It didn't take long for unscrupulous partisans to realize they could game the system by both voting *for* their favorite blog and *against* everyone ahead of it on the list.

That's why only 10 blogs out of 271 at the time of this posting have positive scores. The ranking is now entirely meaningless and rather contrary to the z-lists's original intent.

Oh, well. I've already found a couple of great new blogs thanks to the list, and have added them to my RSS reader. I'm grateful to Seth and Mack and everyone who put the z-list out there. It's a great idea, even though it shows how social media can be distorted by antisocial behavior.

[Doug Karr]

Thanks for the mention!!!

[David Armano]

Valeria,

I think you stressed the correct thing here. It's even more impactful when you narrow done the list and establish a more meaningful and achievable goal of getting to know a few more personally in addition to being exposed to the sheer number of more blogs.

I'm a big fan of "going deep" in addition to broad. Developing a few relationships may have advantages over "connections".

Hmmmm, this could be a good theme for 2007. But I already know you're onto it. :)

PS, my "ranking" is getting close to the negative range according to that list. I hope it gets there quickly as there are some fantastic blogs in the "negatives" that I would love to be associated with.

;)

[Drew McLellan]

Valeria,

Do I know a great blog when I see one? Your blog and your voice just get better and better.

Like David and Chris, I was pretty disappointed to see what a few fools will do to a stellar idea.

Fortunately the good outweighs the bad. Lots of new blogs, new thinking and down the road, new friends.

Drew

PS -- I figure when my "score" is about where David Armano and Tom Peters' scores are -- I am doing far better than I deserve to be!

[Jennifer Warwick]

Thanks for the link to the New Charm School - and for writing such a terrific blog. I can't believe I never came across you before, but now you're a "must read." Keep up the terrific work!

Best wishes for 2007!

[Chris Kieff]

"Never underestimate the power of a small group of dedicated people to change the world. Indeed, it's all that ever have."

by Margaret Mead

The Z-list is the embodiment of this quote. Thanks for adding us.

Thanks,
Chris

http://www.msco.com/blog
written by Mark Stevens the author of:
YOUR MARKETING SUCKS