Seth Godin plays Santa to Z-Listers

Wow--this was a very nice Christmas present! I wake up this morning to find that Seth Godin has been gracious enough to include eSoup in a list of recommended reading in his post What to read now/next.

How did he know that's what I wanted for Christmas? :-)

The story behind this is that the Z-list meme that Mack Collier created a couple weeks ago has been making it's way around the internet and has managed to fall into the hands of Seth, who not only shared the link love on his blog, but also created a Squidoo lens to rank "good blogs", which appears to be based on the Z-list.

Now, I can understand Mack's thoughts when he points out that the whole Z-List idea, which was to bring recognition to really good, non-famous, under-ranking blogs, is quite diluted at this point cuz the list on Squidoo includes several A-List blogs such as Seth's own blog, Tom Peters, Creating Passionate Users, and other blogs we're already all too well acquainted with.

Of course, Seth's blog is #1 (why am I not suprised?). As I was going through the list voting for my genuine Z-list compatriots, I thought, what is the use of voting for "good blogs" on Squidoo? What is really the point?

We've sort of ended up creating a Squidoo version of Technorati with the already popular blogs rising to the top again, which is sort of ironic, cuz the purpose of the Z-list was to uncover new, undiscovered talent in the blogosphere.

It's a kick to get a higher ranking in Technorati or Squidoo, but the really fun part of blogging is meeting folks near and far who share interests, have compelling ideas, and are great writers and storytellers.

The thing that is really precious about the Z-List is that I've been able to find lots of blogs that I love (check out eSoup's newly expanded blogroll!) that I never would have found if not for Mack's Z-list creation.

So, the Z-list has entered a new dimension, but what the heck--I'm extremely tickled to be included in a post on Seth's blog since I've often referred to eSoup as "Seth Godin's Other Blog" due to the fact that I can't seem to resist linking to him on almost every post he writes.

Thanks to Seth for sharing the Santa link love! 

Comments

[Mack Collier]

Sharon glad to see that good blogs like yours continue to get the attention they deserve. Merry Christmas!

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Thank you Mack! Merry Christmas to you too!

-Sharon

[Carolyn Manning]

Sharon, I'm thrilled to be added to your blogroll. Thank you. One of these days, I'll figure out how to do that at my place.

Merry Christmas.

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Hi Carolyn!

It's my pleasure--I loved your blog at first site. I know I'll enjoy visiting it on a regular basis!

Merry Christmas!

Sharon

[Frank Roche]

I posted an OPML file of the Z-list feed...trying to make it a little easier for people to read the list.

Hmmm...couldn't get the HTML to go, so here's the link: http://www.knowhr.com/blog/2006/12/24/z-list-google-reader-and-opml/

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Thank you Frank!

Merry Christmas!

-Sharon

[Gavin Heaton]

I agree on the Squidoo lens ... it really is defeating the purpose!

Nice to see you are getting plenty of comments from the other z-listers too!

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Thanks Gavin! And it's easy for Seth to say that there is no A-list and no Z-list, that there's only good blogs.

Obviously the blogs on the A-list are good--I admit, I'm addicted to Seth's! But it's nice to be open to finding fresh ideas, which come from a wide variety of different minds.

Cheers,
Sharon