I'm Not a Number but I Play one on Advertising Age

Ever been to a cocktail party and seen a name tag that said "Hello, my Name is #97". Of course not, but that's what Conversation Agent's ranking is in The Power 150 today. My name is Valeria Maltoni, you know yours. In fact, chances are *I* know yours if you've made at least one comment here. We're not rankings, we're people.

The difficulty of objectively quantifying conversation is that it is hosted and facilitated by people. People are subjective and their thinking is evolved in the flow of learning and interacting. Many of us blog to share what we know so we can learn from what others learn; to stabilize information so we can have a starting point for discussion, etc.

Todd And(rlik) started The Power 150 many months ago and maintained it out of sheer passion. He did it to share with others a list, in part his list (one of the four ranking criteria), of marketing blogs. We all took it as we take every other list announced by a peer -- with delight. The opinion of a peer is respected in the same spirit it is given. We blog because we want to publish independently of outside affiliation. Subjective in social media is good, in fact it is best.

The breaking news by Todd And is that Advertising Age, a well respected and widely read publication, is going to take the list to the next level. What that means is left to the imagination (more comments here).

I value your opinion and insights, you are my customers and I am yours in conversation. Where do you see this "partnership" going? The freewheeling thought that is the currency of the blogosphere cannot be easily taken on in the same way and spirit by commercial entities. The spirit of social media (subjectivity), may not be translated as more of the same in main stream media. Their criteria are different and more commercial. That consideration is the topic of my weekly post at FC Expert blogs.

Join the conversation.

UPDATE: It looks like the comment function at Fast Company is still going through an approval process and I do not have a firm commitment from anyone at the online magazine on when the comments will be activated. I do want to capture your reactions and realize that you'd rather have them on record there. All I can offer is an alternative home here.

Comments

[Cam Beck]

Love the title. :)

[David Armano]

Valeria,

Being "ranked" has it's pros and cons. No one likes to be a "number" (unlesss it is uno)

But at the end of the day, even though I don't know how AdAge will use the list—I do think it provides blogs in this genre with a bit of credibility. Personally I believe that mainstream acknowledgment of blogs is a good thing.

Guess we will have to see if this has an impact.

[Mark Northern]

Well, you're still numero uno in my book. As a former "ad guy," I always liked Adweek better than Ad Age... but... it's nice to be recognized. Congrats.

[Valeria Maltoni]

Cam -- the first comment on a provocative post is always the most welcome ;-)

David -- yes, I agree. And you're getting close, which is good. My post was written using AdAge as an example, of course. One close to home, admittedly. The question begs to be asked, as you did so aptly from the Web 2.0 and experience + story today. How are we going to play together, given that we come from two different places? I like Bruce's hands-on approach a lot.

Mark -- it is nice to be recognized. I want to emphasize that. As well, if it weren't for Todd's work, we would have no list to begin with.

[Russ]

Valeria,

You had me with the entry title,
"I'm Not a Number but I Play one on Advertising Age"

love it

[Carolyn Ann]

Well, I'm not sure what my name is... (But then again, maybe I am!)

I've never understood those ranking things; it's a bit like the salesguy telling me that "everyone" is buying their product. Well, I'm not "everyone", I'm "me". Maybe I have a different perspective on that, having gone through a lot to discover who "me" is, but I can't help but feel that efforts at "top ten" (or whatever the number is) are futile.

Is counting really that important? Is the prestige really so great? you write a good blog, but I'd never presume to judge it in comparison to others. One might as well ask if Ginsburg is better than Whitman: it's not a question that can be answered. You provide an insight that unique to you; others may not be so fortunate in their expression.

I'm sorry (well, as a figure of speech at least): when someone tells me that they're number one, all it tells me is that they're too cautious to annoy anyone. And that, last I checked, can never be counted as honest opinion.

Carolyn Ann

PS I referenced you in a posting of my own. Motorcycles and women. :-)

[Valeria Maltoni]

Russ -- incarnations of that concept have always fascinated me. The point is that sometimes we believe the fiction we create.

Carolyn Ann -- you gave me a chuckle. I had a conversation with a rep. from Chase Visa (wrote about it at FC a long time ago) who told me those exact words. "Everyone was switched to MasterCard!" "Well," I said "I'm not everyone, goodbye." Good pick up on being too cautious and not taking risks. There's also a little bit of validating yourself by associating with those who are perceived as smart. That is human, we all do it. Can't wait to read your post on motorcycles!