Very interesting tidbit tucked away in this TechCrunch article a while back (that I forgot to post about) about Google Reader:

On the stats side, the video provided some interesting insights: two thirds of all feeds only have one subscriber…

Keep that in mind if you’re starting your own blog. Just two RSS subscribers and you’re already in the “elite” minority. So when we rush to predict the death of newspapers and radio shows, realize that most of the Technorati numbers are totally worthless. Marc Andreessen called it “Tech Crunch 50,000” and now you can see what a disproportionate influence those types can have in implying influence. We can be cliche and call this the “Wild West” or a land grab or whatever, but this point is that the people in positions of “power” online now, will not be the same ones in 6 months or a year and certainly not 5 years simply because they’ve made significant relative gains but few actual gains. So all that stuff about RSS subscribers, hits, pings, trackbacks, Technorati authority, blogebrity, it doesn’t mean much. Here are the things that I think will matter:

[*]Do smart, normal people read your work?

[*]Do you get emails from a variety of people?

[*]Do you write about non-tech things?

[*]Do you have success/interest offline?

[*]Even so, are you flying under the radar of today’s pundits?

[*]When you link or recommend things, do people actually listen?

[*]If you reread you archives, are you still relevant? Are you impressed to read what you’ve written or do you squirm?

If you’re a relative nobody like me, these are all questions you should base your strategy around answering and benchmarks for who you should bet on. If you’re on top right now, and they might be signs to cash out while the money is still there.

If I was an advertiser I would look for ways to surprise people in a good way. What if you ordered something from Amazon and when it arrived you were informed that the shipping had been refunded courtesy of Comcast. And while they were at it, they decided to let you know that you could sign up for HBO at 30% off?

Or, even better: You ordered Tucker‘s book on and he’d worked it out with Amazon to personally cover the shipping cost. “And in case you hadn’t heard, the book is being made into a movie and it hits theaters in Fall 2008. Here is a list of show times for your zip code.”

Seems to me like it’s better to get to the right people in the right way than ten times as many people in the easy, obnoxious way. But what do I know, a 2 million dollar SuperBowl commercial or advertising on the little conveyor belt dividers at the grocery store are great deals.