Thanks Aswath
I'm glad somebody said it, more link love than a list a dedicated list.

Aswath, as a creator of a list, I can say that it is not an easy task. My ranking system was based on a bunch of different factors, but it was mainly based on who has the most influence within the industry.

With this being said, I can tell you that those who were not on the list are probably not well known outside of the "inner-circle" of our industry.

Lists are often popularity contests and those that appear on the list are some of the more visible folks at every conference, expo and event within the industry. Being a popular or top blogger, I believe is not just about your thoughts and writings, but about how you brand and market yourself, what your job is, the company that you work for, how long you have been in the industry, how many friends you have and who you know.

The folks who are always mentioned and are always at the top are all well known, have influencial friends and have been here for a long while.

How does it go...it is not what you know, but who you know that counts in life?

How does it go...it is not what you know, but who you know that counts in life?You are right, what was I thinking.

Thanks for you clear and concise explanation Garrett, telephony's gain is definitely politics loss.

The VoIP Weblog was mentioned in VoIP News' list, but my name wasn't, nor was phoneboy.com, which doesn't do as much VoIP-related stuff since I took over The VoIP Weblog. It's easy for the "who" to get lost on Creative Weblogging blogs, I think, so it's somewhat excusable.

Thank you for mentioning my name. I read all of these blogs and try to explain my own point of view from time to time. For instance I sometimes feel like I am the only one who advocates that free calls are a great thing. :)

Aswath, that makes sense. I created a technorati-based list last year, but this year it doesn't make much sense since technorati changed the way the assign their rank. In addition, they never solved a BIG problem, that I experienced myself: if you change domain, you lose your rank. My authority was 220 on technorati with lucafiligheddu.blogspot.com, then it dropped to 0 on June 2007 when my domain became www.lucafiligheddu.com. Now it's 110, but it's hard to go back to 220 or something, it takes time... Phoneboy or Vinay have similar problems. I believe that a good way to measure the popularity of a blog is a mixture of:

- backlinks in the last year
- visitors/pageviews
- subscribers

I know blogs that have 2000 subscribers but barely 1000 pageviews/day. It's hard to make a good list, but I think all the players in the VOIP blogging are here and that's great.

Sorry to say but don't agree with garett about being popular among a bunch of people. Just because i know you, would you rate a crap blog as influential? Then it makes no sense.

The blog is influential if it has a reader base. Whats the defination of being a famous personality? How popular you are in the society overall not in a page 3 circle.

As luca pointed out perfectly, the backlinks + visitors +subscribers base is something that need to counted while ranking a blog.

I can bet my blog would beat atleast 10 people you posted in the list :-)

Thanks ashwath and Pat for noting me down. Markus and phoneboy are definately one of the upcoming VOIP bloggers even though we are new to the scene.