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Is it suddenly uncomfortable at the top?

December 28, 2006

First let me say I am a big fan of Seth Godin.  He has a top rated blog I read all the time.

If you do not know who he is, he is the king of viral marketing.  The problem that has cropped up this week for him is that viral marketing lends itself to the underdog.  People like underdogs.  So when a blog meme by mat collier started picking up steam, Seth noticed and got involved.  The meme is a list of z-list blogs (non-top-rated) that are good.  I am very happy this blog landed on the list right away.

Seth was very kind to post the list.  He also did a Z-List Squidoo Lens with Plexo.

Here is how it is backfiring for him.  People are getting upset because it was supposed to be a list of the rest of the good blogs.  He claimed there is no A-List and added himself in the middle of the list.  (BTW, I agree there is no official A-list, but it is the spirit of the thing that counts.)

The Plexo thing is not working well because it starts at zero and lets you vote blogs up or down.  People log in and vote themselves or their friends up and everyone else down.  (I believe I am at -7 now)  Could it be that this blog is just that bad?  Maybe, but I find it curious that not a single person linked from the Plexo/Squidoo page to check this blog out.  None!  Yet I got a bunch of negative votes.

I have chosen to just not pay attention, but then I started noticing that a lot of people are getting their feelings hurt or upset by the negative numbers.

This will be interesting to watch.  Should Seth have stayed on the outside of this viral effort?  Is he too popular to participate in a grass roots effort?  Did he use his popularity to hijack the list?  (Not that he needs more links)

To sum it up, Did it just get lonely at the top?

Updated 12/29/2006 - Seth Replies well on his blog

Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments.

- Thank You!

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

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Comments

4 Responses to “Is it suddenly uncomfortable at the top?”

  1. Marti on December 28th, 2006 1:37 pm

    Let me be the first to say I came here from the Plexo list - LOL

    I like the idea, and it is kind of a shame that it couldn’t stay an “underdog” list for long. I suppose that is just the nature of the beast. People want to be popular, and will crush anyone who gets in their way.

    I think you have a terrific blog, and I will vote you “up” on the Plexo list. My blog started out strong, but have also been voted w-a-y down (in the 200’s last time I checked - LOL!)

    I’ve got a Squidoo Plexo you might find interesting (and I’m trying to find blogs to add links to it!) It is the Million Dollar Meme, asking questions about what a person would or would not do for a million dollars. You can answer any of the questions with a blog link back here - please stop by!

    Best wishes to you!

  2. Jon Miller on December 28th, 2006 9:05 pm

    Well said! I’ve been thinking of putting up a similar post. It seems like the Z-list has become more up a popularity contest where people vote for blogs they already know, rather than finding good, new blogs. My relatively new blog (”Modern B2B Marketing”) has -8 votes, I believe, and yet only 4 people have clicked through from Squidoo to check it out. My theory is that people are going through and giving negative votes to all the blogs above theirs in an effort to raise their relative ranking. Anyway, keep up the good work, and for what it matters I’ve given you an “up” vote.

  3. mindblob on January 4th, 2007 5:36 pm

    Hi Ron,

    There are two separated things:

    - Mack Collier’s original Z-List (and his love-link intentions).
    - Seth Godin’s Squidoo List (now hosted and moderated by Ray Edwards).

    Zeth’s “Z-List update post” was some kind of reply to the reactions people had to his lens. I think Seth is a smart person and that he had a good vision of the “potential” of the Z-List. I think he saw there was “something to do with it” (now weither things to get or things to give, I leave you the freedom of interpretation). Unfortunately, he obviously didn’t foresee the twist of the votes on his Z-lens. So he decided to step off the lens (smart again).

    See, although I do respect Seth for his achievements, I’m still concerned (and even more after that), about the fact that he doesn’t really engage conversation with the community. As a matter of fact, I think people miss that as well. They’d love to get feedbacks from him, to exchange ideas, to communicate, rather than “listen” to a one way monologue.

  4. Ron McDaniel on January 4th, 2007 5:45 pm

    I agree it is all kind of a non-issue. He did handle it well and I am sure he was not expecting that reaction.

    While he does not participate in online discussions much, he is very good at responding to emails. I have emailed him 4 or 5 times and always got a very generous personal response. I think he would just be overwelmed if he tried to respond to every post if he allowed comments.

    Just my thoughts. Thanks

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