The Most Influential Technical Communicator Bloggers
The Technical Communicator community has many influential bloggers. Yet for an industry known for its communication skills, we were surprised by the lack of social media experience even among the elite. Astonishing, given the nature of the industry. I suspect that will change as Technical Communicators become more comfortable with today’s communication tools.
In compiling our ranking of the most influential Technical Communicator bloggers, we chose a variety of metrics to measure influence. Our Most Influential Blogger (MIB) formula consists of a weighted average across a range of metrics including Alexa, Klout Influence, Google Page Rank, Technorati Authority, and Twitter Followers.
In determining which bloggers are most influential the following criteria needed to be met:
- The individual needed to have a blog with regular updated posts.
- The blogger needed to have external activity on 3rd party sites like Twitter for additional influence points.
- The blogger’s focus needed to be Technical Communication subject matter
The MIB formula illustrates how much influence the individual has in relation to the other bloggers. These thought leaders were first scored for influence then compared to one another to create the top 25 ranking. For example, Scott Abel would have been the most influential had he been more active on Twitter.
Although Abel has 4437 followers, he is not active enough and does not engage others to promote his influence. According to Klout, “@scottabel needs to engage more with others or be more active to gain influence.”
The Top 25 Most Influential Bloggers in Technical Communications
The Top 25 in detail
Keep in mind the rankings are relative to the others on the list. That means everyone on the list has a much higher influence than the average active Technical Communicator Blogger. Note, most of the five dimensions that make up the MPV were taken in the last 3 days.
| Rank | Name | Alexa | Google Page Rank | Technorati Authority | Klout Score | Twitter Followers |
| 1 | RJ Jacquez | 150,000* | 6 | 637 | 48 | 3582 |
| 2 | Tom Johnson | 91,108 | 5 | 432 | 30 | 1274 |
| 3 | Scott Abel | 551,163 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 4437 |
| 4 | Sarah O’Keefe | 1,175,000 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 599 |
| 5 | Ellis Pratt | 1,433,000 | 5 | 0 | 27 | 642 |
| 6 | Anne Gentle | 1,234,176 | 5 | 100 | 14 | 981 |
| 7 | Aaron Davis and Scott Nesbitt** | 1,484,662 | 4 | 115 | 29 | 425 |
| 8 | Sarah Maddox | 1,487,000 | 5 | 100 | 24 | 328 |
| 9 | Rhonda Bracey | 447,462 | 4 | 434 | 18 | 156 |
| 10 | Gordon McLean | 1,968,396 | 5 | 112 | 20 | 215 |
| 11 | Simon Bate | 1,175,000 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 123 |
| 12 | Bill Swallow | 11,200,000 | 4 | 0 | 27 | 985 |
| 13 | Alan Pringle | 1,175,000 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 87 |
| 14 | Ben Minson | 2,380,000 | 4 | 420 | 16 | 143 |
| 15 | Colum McAndrew | 2,399,000 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 344 |
| 16 | Julie Norris | 4,101,000 | 3 | 0 | 31 | 426 |
| 17 | Paul Pehrson | 1,885,933 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 192 |
| 18 | Rahul Prabhakar | 3,534,000 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 655 |
| 19 | Ivan Walsh | 1,492,000 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 1745 |
| 20 | Tristan Bishop | 5,601,284 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 846 |
| 21 | Matt Sullivan | 8,694,000 | 6 | 0 | 11 | 295 |
| 22 | Bill Albing | 533,190 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 195 |
| 23 | Craig Haiss | 1,476,000 | 4 | 100 | 0 | 44 |
| 24 | David Farbey | 3,846,000 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 479 |
| 25 | Alistair Christie | 1,026,000 | 3 | 108 | 0 | 101 |
* Since the blog was located on a URL with other blogs, we triangulated traffic data on RJ’s blog to determine an approximate Alexa rank
** Since we could not distinguish Aaron from Scott on their blog or Twitter, we included them both
Follow the top 25 on Twitter with one click RJ Jacquez from Adobe narrowly emerged as the most influential over Johnson and Abel primarily due to his Klout score and Twitter use. He is well connected within the community and always has an engaged audience on his Technical Communication and eLearning blog.
Honorable Mentions
Larry Kunz, Julio Vazquez, Janet M. Swisher, Edward Martino, Keith Soltys, Miriam Lottner, Susan Wu, Rachel Houghton, Peggy Harvey, Rachel Peters, Edward VanArsdall, Kai Weber, Gautam Soman, Chris Borokowski, Andrew Brooke and Bill Kerschbaum just missed making the list only to be outdone by their more social media savvy peers. Did we miss anyone? What did we get wrong? Please give us your thoughts by commenting below.
Are you one of the Top 25 “Most Influential Technical Communicators”?
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Jul 29th, 2010 at 12:24 pm
Heh, I like the pencil-wielding robot badge. Thanks for putting this list together!
Jul 29th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Oh, wow – an honorable mention, how cool!
Jul 29th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Great post! It seems like there's a really strong groundswell going on – with MindTouch playing a big part, thanks – to increase the strategic value of technical communicators (thanks for not calling us just doc writers!). Seeing who has the biggest megaphones helps us all. keep up the great work.
Jul 29th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Thanks for compiling this list, I'm honoured to be included in such illustrious company!
Jul 29th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Mark,
Thanks for the mention on the list and, by extension, the vote of confidence. Aaron and I are delighted and honoured to be in such good and interesting company!
>Since we could not distinguish Aaron from Scott on their blog or Twitter, we included them both
It's a team blog and a team feed, so we're kind of indistinguishable in those venues. In case you're wondering, in the photo in your montage Aaron is on the right and I'm the guy with the goofy smile on the left
Jul 29th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Wow, I'm honored! Congratulations to all my esteemed peers!
Jul 29th, 2010 at 9:29 am
[...] I’d like to take a moment to thank mindtouch and Mark Fidelman for even considering me in the evaluation and ranking of influential technical communication bloggers. I am honored with the distinction of being placed in the top 25. [...]
Jul 29th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Wow! I'm honored to even be on the Honorable Mentions list!
Jul 29th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Thanks for the honorable mention – this section should have included everyone's links too!
Jul 29th, 2010 at 1:04 pm
[...] See the article here: Top 25 Most Influential Technical Communicator Bloggers [...]
Jul 29th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Good list. I'd like to see more detail on how the rankings were calculated. Next time, I'd like to suggest some additional items to measure influence:
- Bookmarks on delicious, stumbleupon, etc.
- Fans/likes on Facebook
- # of incoming links from other bloggers/tweeters in the top 25
- avg number of comments per post (one possible measurement of influence and engagement)
Tx!
Jul 29th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
These are good suggestions Rick. I'll try to incorporate next time. The difficult part is finding all of the information you've listed above and making sense of it.
Jul 29th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Andrew, feel free to add your link in the comments.
Jul 29th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
What a lovely surprise to be jealously reading Colum's blog post about his place on this list…only to find myself there as well! Thanks for the invitation to include our personal links in these comments & I'll be writing my own blog (brag) post about it later today!
http://blogs.roundpeg.com/
@mattrsullivan
Jul 29th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Honoured and hugely flattered! Look out Rhonda and Sarah, I'm coming after ya!
Jul 29th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
What an honour! Thank you for mentioning me and my blog and for compiling the MIB formula. It's a very interesting exercise. Thank you too for the badge, which my blog now sports with pride and pleasure.
Cheers, Sarah
Jul 29th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
[...] got a bit of surprising and flattering news earlier today: we’ve been named among the 25 most influential technical communications bloggers by the folks at MindTouch. Thanks to Mark Fidelman and the folks at MindTouch for the vote of [...]
Jul 29th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
[...] Straytegy links continued By admin, on July 29th, 2010 Mark Fidelman’s post on the most influential technical communicator bloggers offered some interesting metrics. Using the MIB (most influential blogger) scale based on Alexa, [...]
Jul 29th, 2010 at 11:35 pm
LOL. I'm running as fast as I can.
Jul 29th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
[...] http://www.mindtouch.com/blog/2010/07/29/the-most-influential-technical-communicator-bloggers/ [...]
Jul 30th, 2010 at 12:53 am
I was pleasantly surprised to see my name here. What makes it even more special is that I am the only Indian in the list. Thank you so much! And congratulations to my fellow technical communicators from all across the globe
Jul 30th, 2010 at 1:45 am
Way cool! It's an honor to appear in such great company, and I really appreciate the time and effort you put into this list. Congrats, fellow bloggers!
I agree with Anne, that robot badge rocks! I'm gettin' one. ;o)
Jul 30th, 2010 at 4:37 am
I'm honoured and humbled to be listed in such illustrious company! And thanks for the badge, which is proudly displayed on my blog now.
Jul 30th, 2010 at 8:42 am
Thank you Mark
Jul 30th, 2010 at 9:44 am
Nice to see many familiar names in the list. You all definitely deserved this honor. I've just posted this on StumbleUpon.
@Anne & Craig: I also like the robot on badge. He reminds me of the droid in our logo.
Jul 30th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
You guys are smart. Really smart! Your list is s brilliant idea for so many reasons. Thanks for honoring me. I look forward to learning more about your products and the direction you are heading.
But, Twitter? Really? That's so 2009. Where are the Facebook influencing factors? It's the largest social network in the world and one giant influence-fest. And, no Linkedin factors? Not even "recommendations" or something? Anything? LOL
Maybe next year you'll find a way to dump the outdated "Alexa" scores (which are so meaningless, in my view) and the Google page rank (which measures my blog but not my influence nor any place else I guest blog, write articles, contribute content). This is the same for everyone on the list. I'm not bitchin', just sayin'.
Everything is changing so quickly it's difficult to keep up. The metrics we desire today often aren't available until many tomorrows later. I'm very impressed you took the initiative and reached out to the technical communicators you are trying to reach and engaged them in way that got their attention. So many software and services firms struggle for years to do what you did in just one effort. Kudos. Brilliant. <trigger applause sign now!>
Now, that the fun part is over — let's see what you got! Anyone up for a demo? I've got clients who really need a flexible authoring environment … and I have to say, if they could create a site as beautiful, well-organized, and useful as your website, they'd be elated.
You do use your own software to create your website…don't you? (just checkin')
Scott Abel
The "third place" Content Wrangler <– LOL
Jul 30th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
I may need to consult you on next years MIB formula Scott. And yes we do use our own software
Jul 30th, 2010 at 10:00 am
Scott's comments about using other/better metrics pretty much echos my sentiments from earlier. Regarding the focus on Twitter, I've come to the realization that I may be doing it all wrong… http://bit.ly/d426wc
Jul 30th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
[...] The Most Influential Technical Communicator Bloggers [...]
Jul 30th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Contracts RJ, Scott et al!
BTW, if anyone wants to meet these people in person, three of the top four (and several others on the list, plus Mark Fidelman) will be speaking at LavaCon 2.0: The Conference on Digital Media and Content Strategies in San Diego in September: http://lavacon.org
Jul 30th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
I can see it now: this list will become an annual competition in the community. For the experienced writers who don't blog/tweet enough (raises hand), getting on this list is something to strive for as well. Thanks for putting this together.
Jul 30th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
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Jul 30th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
I'll consult with all of you on how we measure influence for next year's list. I'd like to hear some ideas from all of you on how to measure Facebook influence on Tech Comm (I can't conceive of a way due to it's focus on many areas, but let's discuss). And LinkedIn, you may have recommendations, but maybe they are unrelated to Tech Comm.
Again, love to hear your thoughts on improving the formula. I believe we got it right this year, but we always want to improve.
Jul 31st, 2010 at 3:40 am
Also, four of the people listed are speaking at Technical Communication UK 2010 (http://www.technicalcommunicationuk.com/) in September – Ellis Pratt, Gordon McClean, Colum McAndrew, and me!
Jul 31st, 2010 at 4:42 am
[...] was surprised and flattered to find myself included this week on MindTouch’s list of the Top 25 Most Influential Technical Communications Bloggers (and I have added a badge to this blog to prove it!). It’s a great honour to be include in [...]
Jul 31st, 2010 at 12:17 pm
As a novice writer looking to break into technical writing, I'm so glad to find such an active community of technical writing bloggers. I've subscribed to many of them in the hope that I can learn from the best. I really appreciate everyone's efforts.Congrats!
Jul 31st, 2010 at 6:34 pm
That was the idea Rachellu. Thanks for the feedback.
Jul 31st, 2010 at 8:53 pm
[...] week Mark Fidelman of Mindtouch posted a list of the 25 most influential bloggers in the technical communication community. I was amazed and honored to see my name on the honorable mentions list. I’ll do my best to [...]
Jul 31st, 2010 at 10:00 pm
Chip: Good point. Writing is not what we do…we communicate and we more often (today, at least) have to consider the type of communication, how the audience will consume the content, and many other factors. I'm glad the founders of the STD had the wisdom to call our largest member organization the "Society for Technical Communication" and not the "Society for Technical Writing". Now if we can just get many of the die-hard writers to realize this….alas, times, they are a changing.
Jul 31st, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Aaron and Scott both deserve the kudos. Great job of the years guys. I love your work!!! Miss seeing you. Hopefully, again soon.
Jul 31st, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Of course, you deserve to be here. I'm glad you share your wisdom with everyone. Thanks for all you do!
Jul 31st, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Actually, you deserve a place on the list — without a doubt.
Jul 31st, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Rahul: You deserve to be on the list for all the good work you do. Keep up the effort.
Jul 31st, 2010 at 10:05 pm
I'll be there again this year….and talking about some pretty interesting stuff. So will dozens of great presenters and really smart folks. Do yourself a favor and plan to attend this year's Lavacon Conference.
And, if you want to save a few bucks on registration use the discount code: THECONTENTWRANGLER and you'll save some dollars.
http://www.lavacon.org
Aug 1st, 2010 at 12:47 pm
It certainly came as a surprise to see my name on a list of “influential” technical communicators.
http://www.mindtouch.com/blog/2010/07/29/the-most…
Of course, they are giving me credit for a lot of what is done at KeyContent.org, which is only partly due to me. A large part of the credit must go to Rick Sapir who has contributed a lot as well, and without his work, the site would not be up and running. Together with Sherry Steward and Ann-Marie Grissino, we have kept up the web site for KeyContent.org for many years now.
I hope to be doing more blogging (and communicating in general) about the profession. There is much to say; the profession is facing so many challenges as the way we communicate changes. From user generated content and social media to content strategy, information architecture, and content management systems, the very act of communicating is getting amplified and scrutinized as never before.
If I can help articulate the direction things are going, or at least describe where we, as professionals, are going, I will have served the professional community well and paid them back for the recognition acknowledged in this ranking. Thanks to Mark Fidelman for the wake-up call to start blogging in earnest.
I have always thought of myself as an Explorer. Mark’s blog called my attention to my Klout Classification. I’m glad to hear that someone else also thinks I’ll “be moving up”.
Aug 1st, 2010 at 8:56 pm
That's my favorite too. We have an awesome new tshirt with three robots which represent: Author, Discover, Curate.
Aug 1st, 2010 at 9:03 pm
Agreed, Alexa is useless. Facebook is hard to factor. LinkedIn is a great idea. All in all though, I think it's clear this is a really solid and credible list.
Yes, MindTouch is powered by MindTouch. As for Demo…I'd like to have every person on this list to participate in the coming year in a webinar and communicate the importance of Tech Comm. What about a Tech Comm podcast? Who's running one? Every one in this post should be highlighted.
Aug 2nd, 2010 at 6:14 am
Everyone is invited to check out what Julio Vazquez and yours truly are blogging over at the SDI website. Maybe not influential, but still worth a read.
With 25 names in the list and 14 honorable mentions, it looks like the numbers above 39 are up for grabs. I'll take 42. You don't need much else when you've got the answer to life, the universe, and everything.
Aug 2nd, 2010 at 7:54 am
[...] Because of this recent immersion I took a nerds-eye view of the recent post on the MindTouch blog, The Most Influential Technical Communicator Bloggers. Pretty exciting to be in such esteemed company. Excellent to have a badge to display, check it [...]
Aug 2nd, 2010 at 11:40 am
Brilliant – to the list and the blog! Great – both fronts!
Aug 3rd, 2010 at 1:26 am
Thanks Ellen.
Aug 2nd, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Way to go Rahul! All the best and looking forward to greater things from you.
Aug 3rd, 2010 at 8:35 am
[...] week, after Mindtouch released its top 25 elite blogger list, most of the tech comm blogosphere was taking bows and saying congratulations and writing posts [...]
Aug 3rd, 2010 at 12:19 pm
I am grateful to be named alongside so many incredible industry icons. Thank you, Mark, for giving our profession this additional recognition. Technical Writers (called "Information Developers" where I work) have been making a powerful impact on customers for many years. Your acknowledgement shines light onto our collective progress. I like to think of us all, collectively – not just those on this list – as "Team Techcomm", out there saving the day for our readers in their moments of need.
Aug 3rd, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Hey I got it, http://pagerank.softsutra.com/ to Check fast bulk pagerank of websites…
Aug 4th, 2010 at 9:44 am
[...] in and out of cell coverage, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was included in a list of Most Influential Technical Communication Bloggers that was compiled by MindTouch. I’m back home today, so can now write about it [...]
Aug 5th, 2010 at 12:11 am
Many thanks for the honorable mention!
Aug 5th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Thanks for this awesome list. But Larry Kunz, and Julio Vasquez are most certainly influential and belong here somewhere. Does a blog not count if it's on a corporate website? Doesn't seem right.
Aug 9th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Thanks, Andrea. Check out the SDI blog for more on the subject.
Aug 10th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Thank you for coming up with the measurement criteria, reviewing my blog and online presence, and adding me to your list. It's indeed an honor, and I'm most appreciative.
Aug 14th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
We've added both Larry and Julio. As I explained to Larry, because of the difficulty of obtaining the MIB info for Larry separate from Julio – and the difficulty of sorting out SDI traffic from their blogs, was too difficult to discern at the time. We've received more information since then which has placed both Julio and Larry on the list.
Aug 17th, 2010 at 6:09 am
[...] | Blogging/WordPress, Runoff, Technical Communication If you’ve read the responses of the 25 most influential tech comm bloggers and honorable mentions to being listed, you may have noticed that I haven’t said anything [...]
Aug 18th, 2010 at 10:58 am
Many thanks to Mark Fidelman and MindTouch, Inc, for taking the time to highlight the positive impact and the importance of Social Media in our Technical Communications industry. I'm honored to be on this list among great company. Thank You!
Aug 24th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
[...] Comments rjacquez on The Most Influential Technical Communicator BloggersMark Fidelman on The Most Influential Technical Communicator BloggersAndreaJWenger on Interview with [...]
Sep 3rd, 2010 at 12:34 pm
[...] At roundpeg, it makes us proud to be included in the mindtouch list of Top 25 Most Influential Bloggers in Technical Communications [...]
Sep 17th, 2010 at 8:06 am
Breaking News: Also see MindTouch and LavaCon's new list, The Top 25 Most Influential Content Strategists.
Who do you think are in the Top 10?