What If the Z-list Were on Twitter?

Two years ago, Mack Collier ran an experiment. He wanted to see if the authority rankings of sites tracked by Technorati etc could be turned around. After all, there are many fine blogs out there - many who don't receive the links or recognition that they deserve. Calling this the Revenge of the Z-lister, Mack created a viral storm that transformed the ranking and profile of many blogs.

The way it worked was as follows - start with the current list (Mack started with five blogs) and then add your own five. When it wrapped up, the Z-list contained around 200 blogs each linking and re-linking to each other.

While this Z-list could be seen as a form of linkbaiting, there was also something immensely valuable in it - it brought together a community of participants. It activated people in a fun and engaging format. And it introduced those with the patience, to a number of fantastic new blogs and their authors.

Sometime later, Becky Carroll, Sharon Sarmiento and I reworked this list into a wiki format, breaking each blog into a category and providing a short description of each blog and its content. I was reminded of this yesterday by a message on Twitter. And then I thought, what would happen if the Z-list happened now? What impact would something like Twitter have on the amplification of such an enterprise?

Oh, and which new blogs would YOU add to the Z-list? I would add:

• AcidLabs
• MediaHunter
• AdspacePioneers
• Neil Perkin
• Charles Frith

And, in case you were wondering, the original/final list looks like this:

Blog Name	Author	Location	Category	10 Word Description
Calico Monkey			Animation	Focuses on the  ToonBoom software to create animation.
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together	Tammy Vitale	Maryland, USA	Art	Art-focused, including thoughts on the art that Tammy produces.
Woolgathering	Elizabeth Perry		Art	Looking, thinking, drawing, being
World Blog Collection	ugyen		Blog aggregator	Blog listings categorized by type; goal to add 1000 links in ’07.
Blogging Secret	Louiss Lim	Malaysia	Blogging	Part personal but mostly blogging related site.
Blogging to Fame	Divya Uttam	India	Blogging	All aspects of online business from SEO to usability and blogging.
Blog-Op	Chris Lodge		Blogging	How to improve your blogging by Chris and others.
Daily Blog Tips	Daniel		Blogging	Tips to improve your blogging from tools to design.
Mike's Money Making Mission	Mike		Blogging	Making money using free blogs.
One Reader at a Time	Bob Glaza		Blogging	One blogger’s experiment in building and engaging with online communities.
Ruminate this site	The Ruminator	Maine, USA	Blogging	Reviews blogs and sites so that we don’t have to.
SMogger Social Media Blog	Linda Bustos	Vancouver, Canada	Blogging	The ethical use of social media for bloggers and other web users.
SuccessCREEations	Chris Cree	Georgia, USA	Blogging	Blog Consultant bringing the twin passions of business and blogging together.
Successful Blog	Liz Strauss		Blogging	The legendary Liz Strauss, blogger extraordinaire and creator of the SOB award.
Troy Worman's Blog	Troy Worman	Jacksonville, USA	Blogging	Focus on writing, ideas and connections
Copywriter's Crucible	Matt Ambrose	UK	Blogging, Copywriting	The importance of copy in corporate blogging
Copywriting Tuneups	Eric Rosen		Blogging, Copywriting	How to measure reading effectiveness and why it is important in the blogosphere
Dipping into the Blogpond	Meg	Sydney, Australia	Blogging, Tech	Blogging about starting an Internet company in the Sutherland Shire.
BrandSizzle	Anne Simons		Branding	Broad and deep insight into the branding process.
Own Your Brand!	Mike Wagner	Iowa, USA	Branding	Blog to help businesses re-imagine their brands.
The Emerging Brand	Anna Farmery	UK	Branding	Corporate branding blog focused on leadership.
The Engaging Brand	Anna Farmery	UK	Branding	Using technology and marketing knowledge to improve business communications.
What is Brand?		Japan	Branding	Japanese readers/speakers? Anyone?
Presentation Zen	Garr Reynolds	Japan	Business	(Site in English) Tips for great presentations, marketing, and business communications.
Bob Sutton	Bob Sutton	California, USA	Business	Discussions of “jerks” in business.
Perspective	Niti Bhan	Asia	Business	Health, wealth and the freedom to choose.  Archived blog.  New one is jugaad (http://www.nitibhan.com/jugaad).
Ramblings from a Glass Half Full	Terry Starbucker	Connecticut, USA	Business	Views on business life.
Simplicity Mary’s Blog	Mary Schmidt	New Mexico, USA	Business	Business development, marketing troubleshooting
Funny Business	Scrambled Toast		Business commentary	Wide ranging discussion on business with a funny and pictorial approach.
Creative Think	Roger von Oech	California, USA	Business, Creativity	Fun Ideas to stimulate your creativity.
The Copywriting Maven	Roberta Rosenberg	Washington  DC, USA	Copywriting	Marketing and SEO copywriting tips.
Brain Based Biz	Robyn McMaster		Creativity	Tips for stirring creativity in business.
Experienceology	Stephanie Weaver	California, USA	Customer Experience	How to create great customer experiences on the web and in the “real” world.
QAQNA	Tom Vander Well	Iowa, USA	Customer service	Business blog on call centers, quality assessment, and customer service.
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!	Tim Jackson		Cycling, Blogging	The irrepressible Tim MasiGuy Jackson and Co’s slant on bicycle marketing.
MineThatData	Kevin Hillstrom		Database Marketing	Tips for database marketing from the viewpoint of a DM wiz.
Design Sojourn	DT	Sydney and Singapore	Design	How to do good design and create clever products.
aialone	JT (Jon) Winebrenner	Canada	Design, tech	Design, innovation, as well as Jon’s cartoons!
Frozen Puck	Brock Skywalker	Canada	Eclectic	Making cool stuff with expensive toys
Africa Unchained	Emeka Okafor		Economy	Discussing issues and solutions in Africa.
Energy Blog			Energy Industry	News, information and updates on the Energy generation industry.
Movie Marketing Madness	Chris		Entertainment, marketing	Marketing with a focus on Hollywood.  No info on About page.
gDiapers	Jason	Oregon, USA	Environment	Corporate blog discussing environmental issues.
Time to Budget	Mona Weathers		Finance	How to gain financial freedom by controlling your finances.
Soloride	Paul Sanchez	California, USA	Fundraising	A project raising awareness and funds for children with dyslexia and learning differences
Girls Swimsuits	Preety		Girls	The name says it all, new site, small archive.
Home Business Wiz	Barbra Sundquist	Canada	Home business	Collection of resources about home business.
Working at Home on the Internet	Joe Hauckes		Home business, Blogging	Home business entrepreneurs and making money from home
Kristie T	Kristie Tamsevicius		Home business, Online Money Making	Fun, mom-geared work-at-home tips and advice on making money on the net.
Asia Inspection Community			Industrial	Blog for Inspection Engineers based in Asia. Includes job board.
Employment Law Colorado	Peter Mullison	Colorado, USA	Law	Resource for employers and employees on Colorado employment law
Leading Questions	Ed Brenegar	USA	Leadership	Real life leadership, organisational tranformation and practical tips for leaders of all kinds.
Steve Olson	Steve Olson		Life	Chronicling one family’s quest for personal freedom.
Make It Great!	Phil Gerbyshack	Wisconsin, USA	Life coaching	How to take your life from good to great by focusing on relationships.
You Already Know This Stuff	Jodee Bock	Fargo, USA	Life Coaching	Reminding us all that what we need to know is already in our minds and hearts.
HolyMama!		USA	Lifestyle	Funny perspective on life from a stay at home Christian mom.
My Marrakesh	Maryam Montegue	Morocco	Lifestyle	Expatriate American with an eye for style, architecture and good living
Gangster Sonny			Mafia	Fascinated with all things mafia … from movies to weapons.
Talking Story	Rosa Say	Hawaii, USA	Management	Management and leadership, Hawaiian style.
AENDirect	Aen Tan	Singapore	Marketing	Freelance art director’s view on creativity and advertising
Being Peter Kim	Peter Kim	Massachusetts, USA	Marketing	Personal insights from the depths of Forrester (note: this is his personal, not Forrester, blog).
BizandBuzz	Gianandrea Facchini	Rome, Italy	Marketing	Brand building and marketing from an Italian perspective
bizsolutionsplus	Lewis Green	Connecticut, USA	Marketing	A passionate and respected author, marketer and activist.
Blog Till You Drop!	Laurence-Hélène	UK	Marketing	Marketing, advertising, branding, blogging
Branding & Marketing	Chris Brown	Ohio, USA	Marketing	Designed for business professionals with an interest in branding and marketing.
Business Garden		France	Marketing	French readers/speakers?
Buzz Canuck	Sean Moffitt	Toronto, Canada	Word of Mouth	Passionate exponent of word of mouth from Canada.
Buzzoodle	Ron McDaniel	Ohio, USA	Word of mouth, Marketing	Creating buzz with word of mouth marketing.
Christine Kane	Christine Kane		Marketing, Music	A recording artist, Christine harnesses the power of community to reach her audience.
CKs Blog	Christina Kerley	New York, USA	Marketing	Clever strategies, the new best practices, and the smart marketers behind them.
Conversation Agent	Valeria Maltoni	Pennsylvania, USA	Marketing	Connecting ideas and people—how talk can change our lives
converstations	Mike Sansone	Des Moines, USA	Marketing, blogging	Known as the blogging yoda (for insight not looks), Mike is a conversation generator.
CrapHammer	Sean Howard	Canada	Marketing	Marketing using new media.
Customers Rock!	Becky Carroll	California, USA	Marketing, Customer Experience	Marketing the customer experience; its importance for businesses.
Diva Marketing	Toby Bloomberg	Atlanta, USA	Marketing	The Diva herself, aligning technology, marketing and branding for businesses.
Dmitry Linkov	Dmitry Linkov	Moscow, Russia	Marketing, Business	Everyday and business issues
Drew's Marketing Minute	Drew McLellan	USA	Marketing, Eclectic	Where strategy and passion collide
eSoup	Sharon Sarmiento	Alabama, USA	Marketing, Entrepreneurism	Productivity, marketing, web media, small biz development and other stuff entrepreneurs ought to know.
Flooring the Consumer	C. B. Whittemore	New Jersey, USA	Marketing, Customer Experience	Improving the consumer experience, particularly in flooring (carpeting)
Get Shouty!	Katie Chatfield	Sydney, Australia	Marketing, Planning	Digital strategy and thoughts on blogging.
Golden Practices	Michelle Golden		Marketing	Thoughts on marketing for professional services firms, including lawyers and CPAs.
Hee-Haw Marketing	Paul McEnany	Texas, USA	Marketing	There is no box. New media marketing strategy thrown together with a few cuss words and a dash of panache.
Hola! Oi! Hi!	Katia Adams	New York, USA	Marketing, Multicultural	Thoughts of a Brazilian newly arrived in the US with a marketer’s point of view.
Jeremy Latham’s Blog	Jeremy Latham	Vancouver, Canada	Marketing	A marketing-business oriented blog on website development.
John Wagner	John Wagner	Texas, USA	Marketing	News and views on marketing, advertising, media, PR and grass-roots communications
Kinetic Ideas	Wendy Maynard	Oregon, USA	Marketing	Marketing tips, ideas, strategies, and musings for small businesses.
Logic + Emotion	David Armano	Chicago, USA	Marketing	The intersection of marketing, brand engagement and experience design. How to turn your passive consumers into active brand participants.
Marketing Hipster	Cord Silverstein	Raleigh, USA	Marketing	Online oriented blog on marketing and web 2.0 tools.
Marketing Nirvana	Mario Sundar	USA	Marketing	How corporate marketers can leverage the web & social media for better results
Mindblob	Luc	Brussels, Belgium	Marketing	Using alien intelligence to follow the path of ideas as they come to life.
Multi-Cult Classics	HighJive		Marketing, Advertising	Musings on Multiculturalism in the Ad Industry and Beyond.
Nick Rice	Nick Rice	Kentucky, USA	Marketing, branding	Marketing strategy combined with creative thinking and design.
On Influence & Automation	Douglas A. Karr	Indiana, USA	Marketing	A marketing and technology blog
OTOInsights	Jeremi Karnell		Marketing	Corporate blog focusing on using technology to create and sustain customer conversations.
Pardon My French	Eric Frenchman	New Jersey, USA	Marketing	Online strategy and marketing with great case studies of real projects.
Pow! Right Between The Eyes!	Andy Nulman		Marketing	The importance of surprise in business
Purple Wren	Sandy Renshaw	Iowa, USA	Marketing	Tools and techniques for communicating life through print and images.
Servant of Chaos	Gavin Heaton	Sydney, Australia	Marketing	Gavin’s rant on the world of branding and storytelling.
Shotgun Marketing Blog	Chris Houchens	Kentucky, USA	Marketing	Musings on marketing and related ideas.
Small Business Blogging	Andy Wibbels	Chicago, USA	Marketing, Tech	Using web media to market your business
Tell Ten Friends	Jordan Behan	Canada	Marketing	Marketing using new media to make connections.
The Branding Blog	Martin Jelsema		Marketing	Branding principals, opinions and prejudices he's developed
The Experience Curve	Karl Long	California, USA	Marketing, Social Media	Social media and marketing from an experiential point of view.
The Instigator Blog	Ben Yoskovitz	Montreal, Canada	Marketing	Entrepreneurial focus on marketing, ideas and building your business
The Marketing Minute	Drew McLellan	Iowa, USA	Marketing	Expert insight into marketing and branding. And Drew loves Disneyland.
The Viral Garden	Mack Collier	Alabama, USA	Marketing	Mr Community leads the way in using technology to create conversation.
Two Hat Marketing	Steve Miller	Washington, USA	Marketing	Views on targeted marketing.
Unconventional Thinking	Mark Stevens	New York, USA	Marketing	The art and science of growing businesses
Viaspire	A biz blog—Viaspire		Marketing	Marketing and Communications consulting firm blog
Popcorn n Roses	TC Kirkham and Kim Brown	Massachusetts, USA	Movies	Movie industry blog with reviews and musings.
Current World news			News	“Breaking” news across a couple of categories. Small archive.
Choice at Your Fingertips			News, Blogging	News and tips for making money blogging. No archive.
Blogtrepreneur	Adnan	UK	Online Money Making	How to be an online entrepreneur and also build community!
Can I Make Big Money Online	George Brian Manty		Online Money Making	Tips for making money online including research, design and blogging.
Dosh Dosh	Maki		Online Money Making	Trying to source legitimate methods for making money online.
Internet Bazaar	Guhan Mathivanan		Online Making Money	Tips and ideas for making money online.
Kumiko's Cash Quest	Kumiko	Tokyo, Japan	Online Money Making	Trying to make money online and sharing the experience.
Million Dollar Experiment heads Down Under	Rob St George	New Zealand	Online Money Making	Can thinking positively make you a cool mill? Rob hopes so.
Money Spider		England	Online Money Making	An experiment to see if can make money writing, plus some tips.
Quest to make money on the internet		UK	Online Money Making	Currently up to £128, this site makes money by letting out its posting space.
Above Popular	Mark		Personal	Motivated to make the world a better place.
Critical Fluff	Jayniek	Maryland, USA	Personal	Ranks various things in life with mulligans, crabapples, and pineapples.
Forged Euphoria			Personal	Some sponsored links.
OrbitNow!	Troy Worman	Florida, USA	Personal	Miscellaneous musings
The Sartorialist			Photography, fashion	Photos of fashion on the streets, geared to inspire designers.
Bullshitobserver	Todd Anthony		Politics	Politics and commentary.
New Millenium PR	Andrea Weckerle		PR	Bringing business, branding, marketing and PR together.
The New PR	Ryan Anderson	Ottawa, Canada	PR	Public relations in the online world.
Carpe Factum	Timothy Johnson		Project Management	Blog that focuses on the things you need to do to accomplish things. Especially big things.
Work, in Plain English	Penina S Finger		Project Management	A design and marketing focused blog on project management. Interesting mix!
turned out	David Turner	Illinois, USA	Religion	Minister blogging to connect everyone with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Evolution...not just a theory anymore	Greg Laden	Minnesota, USA	Science, Religion	Creation vs evolution, commentary and archaeology by an independent scholar.
SEO Blog			SEO	New site on SEO and use of blogs to improve rankings.
Flee the Cube	ICesar	California, USA	Small Business	Starting up a small business in web design.
Community Guy	Jake McKee	Dallas, USA	Social Media	Online and offline community building tips and tricks.
The Social Media Marketing Blog	Scott Monty	Boston, USA	Social Media, Marketing	Blogger with a maniacal passion for anything related to new media / social media.
A Free and Decent Blog Host	Unfathomed_Psyche		Tech	Technology news focusing on blogs and blog software.
Billions With Zero Knowledge	Austin Hill	Canada	Tech, Business	Changing the world with little bits of knowledge
Connected Internet	Everton Blair	London, UK	Tech	All things to do with technology, mobile phones and gaming.
darrenbarefoot.com	Darren Barefoot	Canada	Tech, marketing	Tech news, writing and marketing
Deepak	Deepak		Tech	Focuses on the technology of the Internet and loves Google.
MapleLeaf 2.0	Mark Evans	Canada	Tech	Tech news stories relating to Canada
Scott Burkett's Pothole on the Infobahn	Scott Burkett	Georgia, USA	Tech	Musings on technology, IT management, and online community.
Small Surfaces	Gabriel White		Tech	Interaction design, user interface design, user experience, usability and social trends related to mobile devices.
TechBuzz	Thilak	Mangalore, India	Tech	Tech new and reviews written by 17 year old in India. Awesome.
Masey.com	Rob Masefield		Travel	Design and photography blog.
Through the Lenses	Jas	Vancouver, Canada	Travel, Photography	Travel/photography blog includes stunning shots and photography tips.
Travel And Vacation On Blog			Travel	Lightweight travel guide/destination information on selected cities. Needs more.
The Best Guides to eCommerce with Favor			Viral marketing	Viral marketing tools, memes and SEO tips.
Web Metrics Guru	Marshall Sponder		Web analytics	Web analytics, in particular for blogs
The Future of the Web	Jesse Skinner	Canada	Web Development	Use of new technologies for the web.
Social Media on the fly	Mark Krupinski	Florida, USA	Web media, blogging	Learning social media on the fly
Asyuu @ Forest		Japan		Japanese readers/speakers? Anyone?

Comments

[C.B. Whittemore]

Gavin, the audacity of the concept staggers my mind...

[Douglas Karr]

Wow, lots of time has passed. You can find me on Twitter @douglaskarr

Also, I rebranded the blog to a better name and domain! Hope you find me.

Thanks!

[Ron McDaniel]

I think it is a great idea to do it again with twitter - I made a modification here -

http://blog.buzzoodle.com/index.php/2008/12/23/twitblogger-the-new-z-list/

Will need to start building again to include the twitter links and see who is really active in both.

[Toby]

Gavin - Google or T-rati juice or not .. it became a great resource especially after you, Becky and Sharon created that amazing matrix. Thanks again for the time and energy you invested. A huge undertaking!

Hope you and yours are enjoying a joy filled holiday season!

[Wendy Maynard]

Interesting experiment. My Twitter ID is @wendymaynard.

Best, Wendy

[sean h]

Wow, late to the party. What a great idea! Love to get on the list - http://hernaturehisnurture.com is a his & hers blog sharing and comparing insights from the very different worlds of Marketing and Genetics.

We both recently twitter too:

Nature - @alliejanson
Nurture - @shazell

[Haven]

Excellent .Thanks to share ......

[Internetbazaar]

Hi,

I was the owner of internetbazaar.blogspot.com and the website does not exist anymore. Can you please remove that from the list?