The most influential MLS bloggers?
Thursday, 19 February 2009
(Click to enlarge)
For those that don't know me personally (so all of my American readers), it may be news to you that my day job is not wordsmith and all-round football guru, but social media planner at Porter Novelli, the global public relations agency.
Part of my role is identifying online influencers (well, identifying ways of identifying online influencers), and one method we use is our proprietary influencer mapping tool.
The results look like the map above which - as you'll know because you clicked to enlarge it - shows a statistical representation of the most linked-to and most conversationally-active Major League Soccer bloggers.
The tool's analysis is practically flawless. Any error is my human error, and it is possible that this crept in while I was building the seed list for this map.
The size of each node demonstrates the number of inlinks to each blog/site (from all sites within two degrees of separation from those in the seed list, not in total). That's interesting, but doesn't necessarily give a reliable picture of where those blogs belong in the online conversation.
The really interesting analysis is betweenness: a measure of the centrality of each node within the network shown.
Right, that's the boring stuff out of the way. What does it all mean?
So, from the map I created, the top five most influential blogs are (drumroll please):
These five are closely followed by No Short Corners, The Touchline and 100 Percent Soccer.
I'm pretty happy with those results. After all, I'm no expert on MLS and I've heard of all of the top five. My only concern is that 3rd Degree is an FC Dallas blog rather than a wider soccer blog. This surprises me.
So here's what I'm wondering: does the map fit your perception? Are there any glaring omissions? Your feedback would be fascinating as I try to refine the influencer mapping tool's football capabilities.
16 comments:
Of the top 5 and others mentioned I had only heard (and read) Soccer by Ives and This is American Soccer. Another site I go to in season is American Soccer Network (ASN).
From a significance perspective things I wonder: is "MLS" the right level to measure? Teams maybe better followed at team specific sites where there is focal room to go in depth, and MLS league wide issues typically are political, have little to do with the game, and are boring...
In terms of the analysis, if I understand it is based on blog linking? I dislike these sort of analyses for two reasons - (1) they do not reveal how much or widely a blog is read and (2) they tend to favor blogs that are tactically stingy who they link to (the no-follow issue).
My favorite MLS blog... may be one I haven't found yet. I am checking out a few new ones after reading this post - so thanks!
Eric
Hi Eric, thanks for your comment.
The analysis is not based on a search, rather on a manually-created seed list (which, if I remember correctly, included Attacking90).
Team specific sites are an interesting prospect, I may have some looks at that in the future.
Your points about the analysis are correct. It is indeed based on linking, and your two points are valid. In my professional life, we don't take this data in isolation - in fact we do some fairly rugged research.
Please do feed back on any blogs you read and enjoy. I'm looking for more myself, as I'm pretty new (i.e. virginal) to MLS.
Thanks again.
Chris
Surprised that WaPo's SoccerInsider and DuNord blogs werent in the top 5. How much is the analysis dependent on the seeding list vs links/in out from the blogs.
You might find more blogs to include at http://soccerblogs/net/tags/major_league_soccer
Odd that WVhooligan is so often linked.
Chris, any way to get added to your seed list, or know where a rapidly emerging Sounders FC blog is on the list?
Chris,
Although 3rd Degree primarily covers FC Dallas, Buzz for years has provided extensive MLS draft coverage and articles of general interest to soccer fans. Plus the content is first rate and provides an in depth look at a MLS club from many aspects. I'm guessing these two factors put 3rd Degree (rightly) on top.
WV Hooligan? Really?
That site plagerizes everyone and especially MLS Rumors.
here's a hint, go to http://www.mlsrumors.net and what do you get?
WVHooligan.
Look at the post times of his stories and compare them to the real MLS Rumors and you will find WVHooligan's stories are often posted minutes or hours after MLSR.
WV Hooligan also got in hot water over plagerizing Clibing The Ladder, and 3rd Degree. This lead him to shut down until it all cooled off and he thought it would go away.
He doesn't belong on that list since nearly no one reads him.
Does it fit my perception? No.
I am surprised MLS Rumors isn't on this list. They get a ton of traffic judging by their comments and their Alexa ranking compared to some of the sites on your list. You really ought to take traffic into account, having a lot of sites linking to you doesn't make you influential, readers do.
Look what you've started, Chris. I won't even bother asking about a certain new American soccer blog on the block, mainly because I'm scared of the answer, but also because I did so without actually doing so. Bloggers all have egos (it's the nature of putting ourselves out there like we do) and you've just used a thumper to call all the egos swimming in the desert.
putting grammar and spelling mistakes aside, 3rd Degree is absolute heaven. Its the first soccer website I check each day, followed by mlsnet.com, skysports.com, bigsoccer.com... but the browser finds its way to 3rd degree first because I know it has the best truths (and least rumors and general junk) and is typically first to press. Buzz has a relationship with FCD's coaches, their FO, and all they players, plus relationships with the team-by-team experts of all other MLS teams he can share with... plus its not just Buzz, the supporting cast contribute much as well. Buzz has a way of getting these guys to talk and tell the truth, and its rare to find that... and when they do talk in cliches and beat around the bush, Buzz is still able to translate the actual words that come out with the actual message that they are sending. The coach may say, 'Yes, Ze Roberto is someone we are looking at, as well as others', and Buzz will be able to report back when Roberto is the #1 target, or a very likely transfer or whether its more of a wish or pipe dream.
metros11 - so you are criticizing WV Hooligan for plagiarizing MLS-Rumors, the site that steals ALL of its info (except for the crackball emails which are mainly meant to get a rise out of them)?
Intriguing.
Wow, what an amazing response. Thanks all for your comments, taught me a lot about the MLS blog scene.
@ Oscar M - Thanks for the tips. The analysis is based entirely on the seed list. The tool finds all links in/out of sites within two degrees of separation from those on the list. Clearly this is quantitative, so it doesn't give a full picture.
@ Dave Clark - I'll be doing another chart based on the feedback from this one (and updating the seed list accordingly). So any more suggestions from you guys - who know the scene better than me - would be very welcome.
@ Anon - Cheers for the info on 3rd Degree. Glad a deserving blogger came out on top of a very black-and-white analysis.
@ metros11 - Thanks for the tip-off about WVHooligan. It's info like that that needs to be combined with the chart to make it at all useful. As I've said, we try at work to add some qualitative knowledge to all this stuff.
@ Cooper - agreed. In my professional life, we never take these maps in isolation.
@ Jason D - That was the idea ;-)
@ giggshasscored - Again, thanks for the info on 3rd Degree. Great that Buzz has such a fantastic reputation.
When will you be doing the next seeding? Is there a way for any of us to do our own?
Hey Chris,
Another thing about MLS Rumors is that get a fair amount of traffic from outside the US. Not sure how that affects influence but they are linked with MLS fans in the UK, Germany and Brazil.
Also, they tend to be a little ahead of the days news. Case in point today they published this:
http://www.mls-rumors.net/2009/02/expansion-economy-takes-it-toll-miami.html
Hours later these articles started appearing in the press:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/soccer/02/20/barca.mls/
http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/barcelona-rethinks-bid-for-mls-expansion-club/?ref=sports
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/soccer/story/913490.html
They're often cited on Fanation Truth and Rumors and Goal.com so you should definately seed them.
More comments? You guys are spoiling me!
@ Anon - I'll do another map in due course, when I've had a chance to work up the seed list based on all my feedback. Unfortunately I can't share the tool, it's kinda a work thing. Sorry about that. I'll try to be as open and honest as I can about this map and any others I do. If you have any recommendations for the seed list, please let me know.
@ Chavez - Thanks for the advice. Interesting links, too.
I would love to see a team specific one. North of the border there are no general MLS sites, which might make sense when you only have one team. I think the Toronto FC blogging world is healthy (ok I write one) and the various supporter's groups have popular forums.
I think this would be a bit different for team specific maps, but I'll certainly look into finding a method.
What's your blog? I'd like to make sure it's on my MLS seed list.
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