Oct 1 – Updated! This post has been updated to now include the entire 25 Most Influential Content Strategists. The announcement was made today on-stage at LavaCon. Congratulations to Joe Pulizzi of Junta42, who was named The Most Influential Content Strategist. Keep reading to learn why we put this list together and how we arrived at the Top 25.
At the upcoming LavaCon 2.0: The Conference on Digital Media and Content Strategies, our very own Mark Fidelman (follow Mark here on Twitter for the latest news and commentary on content strategy and technical communication) will be delivering the keynote address “Why Content Strategists are the Next Corporate Rock Stars.” In the keynote, Mark will discuss the incredible value content strategists will bring to the enterprise in the coming years as skills such as content delivery, discovery and curation become required to rise above the market clutter—the very same principles that MindTouch 2010, the Killer App for Strategic Content, was designed to support.
In keeping with the theme, we set out to identify the leading content strategists in the industry today—the Rock Stars that are continually pushing the content strategy conversation forward. We evaluated hundreds of members of this community and created a measurement that took into account a wide range of metrics including, but not limited to internet presence, work on standards bodies, influence and community engagement and participation.
Today in conjunction with the team at LavaCon, we’re announcing a portion of the entire Top 25 list. You can find the full list and presentation below. Who did we miss? Use the comments section below to let us know what you think!
25. Jennifer Palmer
23. Maxwell Hoffman
21. Ruth Kaufman
20. Corinne Schmid
19. Ann Handley
18. Rob Rose
17. Elena Melendy
15. Joe Gollner
14. Lisa Welchman
13. Seth Gottlieb
12. Rachel Lovinger
10. Sarah O’Keefe
9. Bill Trippe
8. Rahel Bailie
6. Scott Abel
5. Ann Rockley
4. Brian Clark
3. Krista Stevens, on behalf of A List Apart
1. Joe Pulizzi
Is your name on this list? Share this recognition with your colleagues by adding one of the badges at the bottom of this post to your website or blog!
<a href=”http://mndt.ch/content-strategist-preview” title=”See the Full List”>
<img src=”http://cdn.mindtouch.com/blog/content-strategists-rock-star3.png” alt=”I’m a Content Strategist Rock Star” border=”0″/></a>
<a href=”http://mndt.ch/content-strategist-preview” title=”See the Full List”>
<img src=”http://cdn.mindtouch.com/blog/content-strategist-rock-star2.png” alt=”I’m a Content Strategist Rock Star” border=”0″/></a>
<a href=”http://mndt.ch/content-strategist-preview” title=”See the Full List”>
<img src=”http://cdn.mindtouch.com/blog/content-strategist-rock-star.png” alt=”I’m a Content Strategist Rock Star” border=”0″/></a>
Okay, I'll bite, because it's Friday.
Here's my predictions for who will (read as should) be in the top ten, in no particular order (you knew this was going to happen):
* Kristina Halvorson
* Rahel Bailie
* Karen McGrane
* Jeff MacIntyre
* Margot Bloomstein
* Gerry McGovern
* Joe Pulizzi
* Eric Reiss
* Colleen Jones
* Rachel Lovinger
** Richard Sheffield (wild card for having written the first book on the subject)
Yes. That's right. There's already a problem with the list.
I indicate these people because as somebody who has followed content strategy closely for the last 20 months or so, these people have consistently been open proponents of content strategy, visible in the conference circuit most related to content strategy, have prominent social presence, and so forth.
If you ask anyone who has heard of content strategy before to name the 10 most prominent content strategists–no metrics, just heard of– you're likely to get at least 8 out of these 10 names.
Look forward to the final names.
Btw, I had no idea these people played in rock bands.
Thanks for the input Destry. It\’s great to be introduced to more content strategists.
I'm attending this conference and interested to see who the Top 10 are… should be a great session.
Awesome! I'm looking forward to attending and learning more about Mark's keynote, "Why Content Strategists are the Next Corporate Rock Stars."
I can't wait to see who the top 10 are – I'll be there in person at your session to hear the announcement at LavaCon!
I'll be at LavaCon and can't wait to see who the top 10 are!
MindTouch's continued support and recognition of the unsung heroes of various industries is great. Thanks for shining a light on a great space and a great topic.
Curious to see who the top 10 are. Really looking forward to LavaCon!
LavaCon is the best place to connect to the leading edge of techComm. My top guesses are Ann Rockley, Rahel Bailie, Sara O'Keefe, and Scott Abel. After that, I'll just wait to see!
All of the above mentions deserve shout-outs for their continuing efforts in professionalizing CS, but the whole "rock star" promotion angle really is kind of silly.
I must agree with the majority of the other comments. Definatly follow up on this post!
Well, I go away for a couple days and see this. I'm honored and humbled (surprised as well). Since I know most of the people on this list, that's the true honor. Thanks for putting this together.
I'm sorry to say but you have possibly made a big mistake in choosing the Number Uno, and possibly even others . Juntajoe is an networker not a content strategist. I saw his twitter page and am not really very impressed though his following , linking and listing is extremely good . He may be a superb SEO networker…..but content strategist ????? If you go through his Klout ratings it is 41 and the analytics engine will explain you why timoreilly at 87 , chetan_bhagat at 73 and even JohnKremer at 71 is so much better in creating and sharing strategy. Nonetheless I think this is your first shot at content analytics…..it is an commendable effort which could do with dinetuning
I am honoured to be on the list, but honestly think that the podium should be enlarged to include Richard Sheffield and Margot Bloomstein and hey, where is Gerry McGovern? They certainly have contributed to the conversation and use social media as much as anyone else on the list.