Top Ten Black Blogs (Dec 2007)

The journey over the past four months in collecting information on the Top 10 Black Blogs has been wonderful. However, I am very open to ideas and suggestions from all BETF-Blog Readers on ways that this project can be more useful to you. What other features or information would you like to see in future iterations of this list?

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) is the driving force behind the Top 10 Black Bloggers list. We no longer have to complain when others put together a list of influential bloggers that doesn't contain anyone of African descent. Instead, we create our own dayum list. And our list is growing:

• Sept 2007 list ranked 75 Black blogs.
• Oct 2007 list ranked 300 Black blogs
• Nov 2007 list ranked 430 Black Blogs

Today we release the December 2007 list with 516 Black blogs in the mix. Share your village voice below if you want to know the ranking of your favorite Black blogs.

The only qualification is that the blogger needs to be of African descent. The blogger does not have to be a member of The AfroSpear or the Afrosphere Bloggers Association, although we invite all Black bloggers to join either (or both) of those organizations.

We do think that these Top Ten Black Blogs are important spheres of influence. Reach out and let them know that you appreciate the work they do. Hopefully, they will share their village voice with us right here on the BDPA Foundation blog or over on the Electronic Village

Anyhow, with no further ado, here are the Top Ten Black Blogs for December 2007:

1. Pam Spaulding: Pam's House Blend (Authority: 1,130 / Rank: 2,177) - [Politics]The blog won the 2006 Web Log Award as the Best LGBT Blog. Pam has been the top Black blogger since we began these rankings. Our hope is that Pam will share some of her tips with us on ways that she grew her blog over the past few years. Pam, are you out there?
2. Angel Laws: Concrete Loop* (Authority: 1,090 / Rank: 2,329) - [Entertainment] This is a Black celebrity entertainment blog with gossip, music, celebrity interviews, pictures and such. This blog has been in the #2 slot since we began the rankings, however, this month Concrete Loops is as close to the top slot as ever!
3. Fresh Crunkjuice: Crunk & Disorderly* (Authority: 787 / Rank: 3,968) - [Entertainment] This blog was created in August 2004, however, it didn't get serious until May 2005. This is an active entertainment blog. The motto is simple and direct, "In Fresh We Trust". Yo' Fresh ... consider giving us some link-love as one of your Fresh Picks!
4. Natasha E: Young, Black & Fabulous* (Authority: 762 / Rank: 4,146) - [Entertainment] Natasha provides you with all the hot gossip in Black Hollywood. Her blog focuses on the fabulous side of Black pop culture, trends and music ... all from a young, Black, and fabulous perspective of course. As we noted last month, Natasha discontined her blogspot-based blog in favor of owning her own domain. Her newer blog has moved up to #26 on the Black Blog Rankings. As such, we may have our first blogger with multiple blogs in the Top 25 next month!
5. La Shawn Barber: La Shawn Barber's Corner (Authority: 750 / Rank: 4,247) - [Politics] Freelance writer La Shawn Barber offers political commentary from a Christian perspective. This blog is new to the Black Blog Rankings as I simply never knew about it until Sis. Barber and I were on an NPR panel discussion last month. She is an insightful sister with a powerful political blog.
6. Oliver Willis: Oliver Willis (Authority: 678 / Rank: 5,041) - [Politics] Oliver began this blog in April 2005. His tag linke says that he is kryptonite to stupid. The popularity of his blog is obvious as we enter into a presidential election cycle that is topsy-turvy on both the Democrat and Republican sides of the aisle. It is worth noting that the top six blogs on the Black Blog Rankings are equally divided between politics and entertainment.
7. Sokari Ekine: Black Looks (532/ 7,745) - [Social Sciences] This blog began in June 2004. It is primarily about issues that impact our brothers and sisters in Africa. Sokari is currently in London. Her posts cover a range of issues such as gender violence, racism, sexuality, HIV/AIDS and cancer. Sokari and her guest bloggers are all progressives, Africanists and activists with a strong belief in the power of the pen to bring about change. Sokari is the highest rank blogger from outside of the United States in the Black Blog Rankings
8. Steve Spaulding: How To Split An Atom (469 / 9,160) - [Technology] How To Split An Atom is a blog about using, abusing, and surviving in the Web X.0 landscape. It's Internet culture, split open. Steve provides a sprinkling of life hacks, meta filtering, personal projects and journalism all at a break neck pace. This blog rarely goes more than a few hours without a new post. Personally, I hope that Steve is a presenter next year for both Blogging While Brown and BDPA conferences.
9. Paula Mooney: Paula Mooney’s Tips (Authority: 449 / Rank: 9,704) - [SEO] Paula is a powerful source of ideas for any blogger looking to increase their visitor traffic. Currently, she is working through some issues with the Google ranking folks, however she maintains her enthusiasm about the power of blogging. Paula was one of the first Black bloggers that I discovered when I entered this world earlier this year. She was a featured speaker at BlogHer in Chicago, IL. I hope she will be a featured speaker at the Blogging While Brown conference.
10. Darla Mack: Darla Mack News & Reviews (440 / 9,985) - [Technology] Darla is a sister with a technology blog that has a unique niche of Nokia devices, S60, Nseries, Eseries and Symbian. She focuses on mobile technology and nokia phone reviews. It says something about our society to realize that one of the top blogs in the Black Black Rankings is devoted to mobile technology.

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HONORABLE MENTION (11-25): Sandra Rose, What About Our Daughters*, Keith Boynkin*, Afro Bella*Entre les Lignes de Jo Ann, Rod 2.0:Beta, Republic of T, The Field Negro*, A Hot Mess!, Truth & Opinion, Stereohyped*, The Angry Black Woman, BlackProf.com*, Jack and Jill Politics* and Angry Black Bitch.

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Those blogs with an asterisk after their name are winners in the 2007 Black Weblog Award contest held earlier this year. Black Blog Rankings lean heavily on the Technorati Authority and Rank score for each blog. The Technorati authority and rank numbers are shown in parenthesis. The authority figure includes a number of factors including the number of blogs that are linked to this blogger over the past six months. The rank number indicates how many blogs are between the person listed and the #1 ranked blog in the world.

We figure that if your content is strong enough for others to link to ... that is a strong indicator of your influence. I am very open to hearing from you on other factors that should be considered in future Black Blog Rankings. Post a comment below if you are a Black Blogger interested in learning what your ranking is this month!


I eagerly anticipate your comments on this list.