MORE ON THE AO TECHNORATI OPEN MEDIA 100

A few weeks ago the AO Technorati Open Media 100 list was announced.

The concept was started by Tony Perkins, founder of AlwaysOn, to recognize those in this new, new media space, and he thought Technorati would be an ideal partner to work with in creating this list. We pitched Dave Sifry and his team and they loved the idea. I thought it was a great idea and a fun project to get involved in.

Initially Valerie, who is a marketing consultant for AlwaysOn, and I worked together on the project. Valerie established the framework and I led the process to fill in the blanks and research hundreds of people, blogs, and websites. I guess I was the middle relief pitcher to Valerie's start. The Technorati staff provide assistance throughout the process, and Niall Kennedy and Valerie led the final stage and both played closer as Jill, our editor and umpire, smoothed out the final plays.

Due to my wedding and honeymoon, I couldn't participate in the final innings of completing the AO Technorati 100 list, but what could I have done?

The initial stages of the list didn't go so smoothly, but in the end I believe most people were excited or satisfied. There were some silly complaints and questions as to why certain people or categories were left off, but those reactions are always expected when such lists are created. Even I was disappointed in some aspects of the list and I was part of the core team. Since I left for my honeymoon, I felt like I was part of a fantasy football draft and I didn't get to participate in the final rounds when a lot of action occurred... trades and deals without my say. Whatup with that!

Anyway for those voices that felt they were ignored or their favorites forgotten, believe me it wasn't an easy process. Here are some of mine that got ignored:

Issac Mao, a leading Chinese blogger whose Chinese language blog isn't tracked by Technorati but has a made a significant impact in the English language blogosphere through his less visible English blog.

Orkut Buyukkokten, creator of Google's Orkut service.

Lili Cheng, head of Microsoft Research's Social Computing Group.

David Sifry, founder and CEO of Technorati. I disagree with people who say he can't be on this list because he's helping to create it. Since on merit alone he deserves to be on it, he should be on it.

Andrew Anker, EVP of Corporate Development at Six Apart. Some argued that there were too many Six Apart people in the 100, but who cares? Merit again should have won over.

As for some "Honorable Mentions":

Mitch Ratcliffe, founder of Persuadio

Nick Schulz, Editor-in-Chief of Tech Central Station. Simply a great source of opinions.

Wretchard, founder of Belmont Club. Great writing and thought-provoking posts.


Anyway, for those of you who have or will receive the AlwaysOn blogozine with the full feature of the AO Technorati Open Media 100 article, I apologize for some of the typos and handful of mistakes in the descriptions. I wasn't part of the final edits :), but I do apologize on behalf of our team.

There is a casual gathering of those on the 100 and the honorable mentions tomorrow, so it will be cool to meet and talk with those I never met.

[other tags: OpenMedia100, OpenMedia]