What's Your Measure of 'Blogger Influence'?

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How To Measure ‘Blogger Influence’?

Photo credit sxc.hu

Ever since I became interested in the subject of ‘influence’ in blogging, I’ve wondered how best to measure influence.

I’ve always disliked ‘leaderboards‘ which rank influence by using an algorithmic approach – based on inbound links, or ‘reach’, or RSS count or some other metric.

But is that really ‘influence’?

Should a ‘make money’ blog be ranked based on the amount of money it makes a blogger? Or alternatively, by the amount of money the blogger makes?

Would a ‘change the world’ blog be better judged on the impact it has on readers or the change it helps bring about?

How about a ‘technology’ blog? Do we ‘rank’ it based on how effectively it implements technology? Or talks about it? Or influences the use and development of technological innovations?

And what metrics can measure influence in the multiple other niches?

Harder still, how would you COMPARE influence between bloggers and blogs in different categories?

Is a ‘John Chow‘ more influential than a ‘Guy Kawasaki‘? Is a ‘Dave Winer‘ more influential than a ‘Chris Brogan‘ or a ‘Steve Pavlina‘?

Of course, you could say: Does it really matter?

Let’s assume it does. How would you measure influence across niches – or even within one?