Before making our predictions for 2006, we revisit 2005 in a list of the Top 10 interesting people in the Blogosphere in 2005.
1. Matt Mullenweg, WordPress
The rising star of the blogosphere took a few blows from supposedly friendly folk this year, and yet bounced right back with the launch of a new company, and took the mantle of the blogosphere’s most popular DIY blogging script WordPress. He’s making friends with the likes of Scoble and Winer (although I’m not sure that this is particularly a good thing) and others are starting to listen.
2. Mena Trott, Six Apart
Despite a rollercoaster ride of a year for her California based company, Mena Trott continues to entertain us all, whilst continuing to wear a coat made of teflon. Despite any criticisms from the likes of the Blog Herald and others, you’ve got to give her credit for tanacity and staying power.
3. Jason Calacanis, Weblogs Inc., (AOL)
Jason made the list last year, but this year he makes it for another reason, legitimising the value of blogs as a serious and profitable media play by selling Weblogs Inc., for a rumored $25 million to AOL.
4. Michelle Malkin
This right of center political blogger where’s a similar teflon coat to that of Mena Trott, but the rubbish thrown at her by her enemies in the left make the criticism levelled a Mena look like a English tea party. Malkin continues to grow from strength to strength and now regularly features in the top 10 lists of blogs. There is apparently no stopping this amazing powerhouse of the political blogosphere.
5. David Krug (aka Liberal Cowboy), Jack of All Blogs & the Team at Go Flock Yourself
The rise of the anti-Web 2.0/ blogosphere spin bloggers are best typified by Liberal Cowboy and the blogger or bloggers behind Go Flock Yourself, leading the charge against what some would consider to be the ruling elite of the blogosphere and their marketing/ Web 2.0 newspeak (or is that newspeakr?)
6. Nick Denton, Gawker Media
It wouldn’t be a list without Nick on it, and he again makes it this year. After an attack of the mutant pies earlier in the year, Nick launches and cancels blogs with ease whilst denying that he will ever sell out, whilst still looking for love. We love Nick, we always will, and he lives by the very values his bloggers post about on his blogs.
7. Rupert Murdoch, News Corp
Often totally over looked by many is that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is the owner of the largest blog provider on the planet: MySpace, with around 40 million + blogs. Murdoch knows his stuff and he doesn’t usually make stupid acquisitions. Expect his influence over the blogosphere to increase in the comming year.
8. David Sifry, Technorati
David Sifry should nearly qualify for the Houdini award for greatest escape this year as he turned around the nearly terminal Technorati into a fast, useful, and once again much loved search portal of choice for the blogosphere.
9. Darren Rowse, b5media
OK, great big disclosure here, I’m a fellow shareholder with Darren in b5media, but even if I wasn’t I’d be putting him on this list anyway, because 12 months ago virtually nobody had heard of Darren, and yet know he’s arguably the blogospheres best known Problogger, and makes more than I do in a year in a month through his network of blogs. As well as being a founding partner in b5media, Darren has also had fairly entensive coverage in the Australian media this year as well, helping to build the profile of blogging in a country in which most of the media still refer to blogs as online diaries.
10. Frank Warren, Post Secret
A visionary with such a simple idea that has made such an enormous impact on so many, that Post Secret is (at the time of writing this) No. 3 at Technorati.
