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50 Most Influential Blogs in Malaysia

February 6, 2007 by Gaman 

One of the topics that came across my mind last weekend was to compile 100 of the most influential blogs in Malaysia .

Currently, there’s no straight forward formula that I could use to determine who the most influential bloggers are in the Malaysian blogosphere. Granted, I could have utilised any metric to come up with a list but does it really represent the real influential blogs list?

 

Why Technorati?

I’ve decided to use Technorati to rank blogs for several reasons. While I am aware that it’s not without its flaws, the lack of other reliable and readily accessible metrics has made me think that Technorati is the best option I have.

One of commonly available metrics used to rank a site is the Alexa Traffic Rankings. The problem with Alexa is that it’s highly unreliable because it’s biased towards tech savvy or webmasters traffic. In addition, it has a limited reach and the only traffic counted is from those who have the Alexa toolbar installed in their browser.

To show how skewed Alexa ranking can be, let’s compare Sabahan.com with LimKitSiang.com blog. While, the later gets an average of 2200+ visitors daily, Sabahan.com still ranks higher in Alexa ranking even though it only gets a couple of hundreds visitors daily.

alexagraph-lksvssabah.png

Other metric that I could’ve considered using was the number of Bloglines or Feedburner subscribers a blog has. Problem is, the number does not always correspond to a blog’s traffic level where it can be used to gauge a blog’s influence.

Take KennySia.com as an example, it gets an average of 14,000 visitors per day but its Feedburner count indicates only 90 readers have became subscribes to the blog. Basing one’s judgment on this metric alone would exclude kennysia.com as one of the most popular blogs in Malaysia .

I suspect one of the reasons for the lower than expected count is that, local blog readers might prefer to visit a blog directly rather than reading it via their feed readers. This observation is based on my own Feedburner statistics where I found that most of my feed subscribers are coming from the US and the UK .

Other metrics such as Sitemeter could be useful but only a handful of blogs enable public access to their statistics.

 

What Defines Influence?

The next question one should ask is “what defines influence”?

Shouldn’t it be based on the number of people talking about you and your writings, or the number of feed subscribers or the number of unique visitors coming to your blog daily?

How about the niche where your blog belongs to? Shouldn’t it be taken into consideration when determining a blog’s influence? Surely a popular political blogs such as that of Jeff Ooi Screenshot is more influential than a personal blog such as KennySia.com right?

So, ideally I should come up with some kind of formula that take all the above into consideration to gauge the influence of a blog. But since I’m not writing a PhD thesis here, I’ve to come back to using Technorati to get some idea of who are the most influential bloggers in Malaysia .

 

Understanding Technorati Numbers

Technorati ranking is based on the number of links pointing at a blog in the last 180 days. The 180 day window means that ranks and link counts go up and down.

Technorati ranks a blog relative to other blogs in the world. In a way, it shows how much impact a blog has on the blogosphere in general.

Note that since blogs often have the same number of blogs linking to them, several blogs can share a ranking. The reason why I’ve selected top 50 blogs and ignored 51 to 100 is because this range can be sketchy.

Obviously more blogs share the same lower positions and it’s impossible to find all these unreported number of blogs that have the same rankings.

 

The Disadvantages of Using Technorati

One big problem using Technorati ranking to measure a blog influence is that it considers all links to be equal. So does it really measures a blog influence (aka authority) or merely states the popularity of a blog? Obviously these are two different things.

If a blog linked from 100 most authoritative, high trafficked blogs, would it has the same authority as another blog linked from 100 least authoritative blogs? Common sense tells us those two blogs are not similar but this is what Technorati fails to take into consideration.

Another problem with Technorati is that the ranking system can be easily manipulated. Given enough motivation, a group of bloggers can move up the rankings by constantly linking up to each other blogs.

Similarly a blog’s rank can climb faster due to the link exchange activities conducted by an overzealous blogger. Obviously it would get harder as you climb up the ranking tree.

A blog’s ranking could shoot up through the roof if a post or the blogger suddenly becomes popular (Rocky’s Bru? ) or a post got into the digg.com’s front page.

Old timers would naturally enjoy higher rankings because of the higher number of inbound links accumulated over time. This is obviously not one of Technorati’s disadvantages.

Those bloggers who are offering free Wordpress themes would have a better chance to rank higher in the list because their blog’s link would appear all over the place. Two of such bloggers who made it into the top 10 are Sapiensbryan.com and alexallied.com.

While there’s nothing wrong with giving away free themes, this practice can still influence a blog’s ranking regardless of its content. Just for the record though, I think Sapiensbryan.com andalexallied.com have some good content in their blog.

There are several reasons why a popular blog is not included in the list.

  • A blog won’t make it into the list if it’s down and was not accessible when I conducted the search (eg http://www.sixthseal.com/ )
  • If a blog was moved from other domain, it’ll lose its previous ranking. Example for this is Teresakok.com which was moved from teresakok.blogsome.com.
  • If Technorati is unable to index a blog for whatever reason, it won’t make it into the list.
  • If you have a popular blog but you don’t write about local issues, you won’t be included in the list if I don’t know that you are a Malaysian. Although you do not have to be Malaysian to be included (eg shaolintiger.com)
  • Perhaps, I am just not aware that you blog exists

Despite the obvious shortcomings of how Technorati ranking works, I would say that it’s still the closest I can get to determine who the most influential Malaysian bloggers are.

I believe the number of inbound links correlates to a blog influence and authority to a certain degree. I don’t know to what extent but certainly it can’t be dismissed.

 

Wisdom of the Crowds

While the Malaysian blogosphere is a vibrant and diverse place, there are few well-established blogs which occupy ranking below the 15,000 mark.

The top 50 list below is by no means definitive or accurate. Having said that, let this be a starting point to get some insights into who are the most influential Malaysian bloggers.

If you know of any blogs which should be in the list (according to Technorati), please let me know in the comment section. Hopefully with everyone’s help and participation, the list will reflects the ‘real’ top 50 more closely.

 

Some stats

  • 28% of the Malaysian Top 50 Bloggers write about personal stuff
  • 16% write about politics
  • 16% write about technology

 

No Blog Title Technorati Rank Category
1 kennysia.com Rank: 234 (4,828 links from 2,406 blogs) Personal
2 SapiensBryan.com Rank: 604 (2,676 links from 1,577 blogs) Technology
3 Hemmy.net Rank: 1,667 (1,862 links from 932 blogs) Humor
4 JeffOoi.com Screenshot Rank: 2,009 (2,824 links from 836 blogs) Politics
5 LiewCF.com Rank: 3,346 (1,532 links from 613 blogs) Technology
6 Yasmin The Story Teller Rank: 3,594 (1,026 links from 585 blogs) Entertainment
7 Afdlin Shauki Rank: 3,750 (874 links from 569 blogs) Entertainment
8 PaulTan.Org Rank: 7,360 (863 links from 369 blogs) Auto
9 Alex Allied Rank: 8,367 (589 links from 345 blogs) Personal
10 Rocky’s Bru Rank: 8,402 (1,015 links from 344 blogs) Politics
11 Lim Kit Siang Rank: 8,593 (826 links from 337 blogs) Politics
12 Hot-screensaver Rank: 8,976 (531 links from 323 blogs) Personal
13 EVERiBODi LAFU ROJAKS Rank: 9,411 (785 links from 310 blogs) Humor
14 5Xmom Rank: 10,439 (1,131 links from 297 blogs) Personal
15 masak-masak Rank: 11,717 (648 links from 269 blogs) Food
16 smashin’ pOpstar Rank: 12,698 (669 links from 254 blogs) Personal
17 cheeserland.com Rank: 13,733 (439 links from 236 blogs) Personal
18 Kahsoon.com Rank: 15,091 (427 links from 218 blogs) Humor
19 minishorts.net Rank: 16,256 (398 links from 202 blogs) Personal
20 Patric Teo Tokkok Rank: 18,289 (282 links from 182 blogs) Personal
21 FriedBeef’s Tech Rank: 20,119 (356 links from 168 blogs) Technology
22 Amanz.net Rank: 21,013 (430 links from 161 blogs) Technology
23 Kickdefella Rank: 21,251 (505 links from 159 blogs) Politics
24 CyberHackz.net Rank: 21,381 (558 links from 158 blogs) Technology
25 SultanMuzaffar Rank: 21,514 (324 links from 157 blogs) Entertainment
26 Fireangel Rank: 21,668 (348 links from 156 blogs) Personal
27 Lagu Top Masa Kini Rank: 22,088 (298 links from 153 blogs) Entertainment
28 jasiminne anorexic penguin Rank: 22,088 (264 links from 153 blogs) Personal
29 Gobala Krishnan Rank: 22,200 (365 links from 152 blogs) Marketing
30 The Scribe A Kadir Jasin Rank: 22,200 (269 links from 152 blogs) Politics
31 A Gonzo Journal Rank: 22,371 (381 links from 151 blogs) Personal
32 As Suanie Sees It Rank: 23,740 (457 links from 142 blogs) Personal
33 Nizam Zakaria - Limau Nipis Rank: 24,396 (269 links from 138 blogs) Literature
34 Susan Loone Rank: 25,146 (509 links from 134 blogs) Politics
35 ShaolinTiger.com Rank: 25,286 (337 links from 133 blogs) Personal
36 Bibliobibuli Rank: 25,921 (329 links from 130 blogs) Literature
37 MichaelOoi.net Rank: 26,568 (290 links from 127 blogs) Personal
38 SaifulSham.com Rank: 27,158 (386 links from 124 blogs) Marketing
39 Faisal Tehrani Rank: 27,639 (169 links from 122 blogs) Literature
40 Raymond.CC Blog Rank: 27,690 (276 links from 122 blogs) Technology
41 RantingbyMM Rank: 27,865 (241 links from 121 blogs) Politics
42 Anwar Ibrahim Rank: 28,570 (185 links from 120 blogs) Politics
43 Eudcation In Malaysia Rank: 29,571 (298 links from 116 blogs) Education
44 SmartUsaha Rank: 29,935 (298 links from 113 blogs) Marketing
45 RotorBlog.com Rank: 30,287 (170 links from 112 blogs) Technology
46 Vincent Chow Rank: 30,287 (158 links from 112 blogs) Humor
47 Babe in the City - KL Rank: 30,844 (398 links from 110 blogs) Food
48 kyspeaks.com Rank: 31,740 (261 links from 107 blogs) Food
49 Irfan Khairi Rank: 32,439 (398 links from 105 blogs) Marketing
50 Aisehman.org Rank: 32,858 (314 links from 104 blogs) Politics
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202 Comments »

Comment by Katana
2007-02-06 01:14:29

Gaman you forgotten bout me *sad* keke

 
Comment by Gaman
2007-02-06 01:20:16

Sorry.. but you are not from Brunei are you? :)

 
Comment by ShaolinTiger
2007-02-06 01:23:53

Nice post :)

I used to be around 400+ ranking on Technorati, somehow lost all me links.

Too many arguments I think haha.

 
Comment by Katana
2007-02-06 01:30:35

I’m Malaysian working in Brunei :P

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-06 01:46:08

Cool. I’ve included your blog in the list.

 
 
Comment by KY
2007-02-06 01:41:51

Nice post, but I think you might want to look into the technorati details on the #2 guy. Most of the links are from his own network. All powered by the same “Hi Tech blog”, not exactly linked from other bloggers.

A combination of technorati ranks and traffic details might paint a slightly better picture though. But great job nonetheless. :)

 
Comment by KY
2007-02-06 01:43:58

ops you’ve considered the issue, my bad.

 
Comment by lilian
2007-02-06 03:11:04

My webhost is #2!!!! Fhweet! His template is best ler. I used five of it on my blogs.

 
Comment by Wingz
2007-02-06 03:11:11

oh wow! just gotta know about this wonderful survey done by you a while ago. But i think Rojaks Is anything but influential la lol!

 
Comment by Raymond.CC
2007-02-06 08:11:06

I’m in your top 50 list? Nice!

 
Comment by Undertypo
2007-02-06 09:34:41

Cool. But anyway, could you reveal 51 to 100 as well. Many visitor sure like to see these list.

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-06 09:58:09

I can do that in my next post but I think it’s going to be a little sketchy. :)

 
 
Comment by Bryan
2007-02-06 10:03:38

omg!

Frankly, if the ranking is based on the number of feed subscribers, I’ll be at the spot of #97632252829.

Anyway, you must have spent quite an amount of time to come out with the list! Kudos to you!

Thank you.

 
Comment by Relax
2007-02-06 10:08:11

just a request
can u make a list base of quality as well
not being bias meaning not just bimbo n funny blogs
but also blogs on politics, tech, arts etc

that will be more meaningful IMO

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-07 15:11:27

Relax, it’s based on Technorati :)

 
 
Comment by menj
2007-02-06 10:14:41

Hmm…don’t think some of the blogs should be included because they were only created about less than 6 months, I don’t think that is fair to other blogs which have been around for far much longer.

- MENJ

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-07 15:14:17

I don’t think a blog’s age matter that much though. If a new blog changes the world today, it got to be on the list.

 
Comment by Nia Sng
2007-02-13 15:31:15

Aww… are you jealous of the Top 50?

Menj: The big difference between your material and those on the Top 50 is that the latter’s material doesn’t sound bigoted.

 
 
Comment by bibliobibuli
2007-02-06 10:16:40

wow! very many thanks!

i had no idea i was “influential” and it makes me very happy to be so recognised, especially among such impressive bloggers

could i point out that i’d describe my blog as being about books and writing rather than personal?

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-06 10:28:06

You are right. I must have confused myself between your ranking and that of shaolintiger.com which I said was about literature! It’s corrected. Thanks.

 
 
Comment by Undertypo
2007-02-06 10:38:53

Menj, but if these new blog managed a decent traffic and links, why must we de-listed them?

Blog age doesn’t mean the blog will be popular or ranking well in technorati.

Comment by menj
2007-02-06 10:50:00

Well decent traffic and links does not mean that they are “influential”, I thought the point of this post was to demarcate which blogs are the most influential in the Malaysian blogosphere? Of course some of these blogs are being run by individuals who are already influential in the real world, but this is the WWW and from the viewpoint of the WWW they are noobs, so why should they be accorded special treatment?

- MENJ

 
 
Comment by Lorna
2007-02-06 10:40:23

Very nice list. I think I haven’t visited at least 90% of the blogs in there, though a few I’d rather stay away from, due to personal dis-interest(like AnwarIbrahimBlog.com, ahaks!).
Shoot, you must’ve studied the blog ranking techniques for quite some time already, haven’t you? How will I ever find the time….

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-06 11:01:25

I’ve known about 60% of the blogs but it took me the whole weekends to complete the puzzle LOL

 
 
Comment by pinolobu
2007-02-06 10:48:46

So, sabahan.com is number where?

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-06 11:00:42

At 51 :)

 
 
Comment by Linken Lim
2007-02-06 11:26:43

Hi, Gaman,
Sorry lah, No 51 already booked ! Cool collection, anyway. Hope mine will be included in the 51 to 100 list. Or perhaps in the 100 to 1000 list :)

 
Comment by Chris
2007-02-06 12:09:16

Why isn’t “Rojaks” in the list geh???

 
Comment by boo_licious
2007-02-06 12:15:37

Great work and thxs so much. I must admit, I never thought my blog was influential but seeing these results does make me proud to be in the list with other M’sian bloggers I admire.

 
Comment by bibliobibuli
2007-02-06 13:03:06

thanks for the correction, gaman

so litblogs now make up 4% of the most influential blogs? not bad.

menj - it isn’t about traffic, i get nowhere near as many hits as many others on the list, but i do have a great deal of reader-loyalty

if by no. of hits i doubt i’d have made the list

anyway, thanks for your hard work and for pointing the way to other blogs i need to read

 
Comment by babe_kl
2007-02-06 14:31:36

didnt realised i was in the list until boo_licious informed me. i can never imagine my simple makan blog can be influential in any way but it’s great to be in there together with the giants. thanks for your effort for compiling this.

 
Comment by smashpOp
2007-02-06 14:32:39

hey hey im no. 16 ! ahahah thanks a lot. didnt expect to be at that spot tho. :D

 
Comment by Undertypo
2007-02-06 14:39:09

Forget to add in here.
Number 3 spot suppose belong to ZEO.

http://technorati.com/blogs/http://zeo.unic.net.my

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-06 15:59:11

Noted. Thanks.

 
Comment by Gaman
2007-02-07 10:28:54

The account is current suspended by the hosting company.

 
 
Comment by bibliobibuli
2007-02-06 14:39:29

sorry, i can’t count

so faisal tehrani, nizam zakaria and me

6% litblogs!!!

 
Comment by Susan Loone Subscribed to comments via email
2007-02-06 14:42:55

Many thanks. Glad to be included in your 50 most influential list. But you can please put my blog name as Sloone or Susan Loone. I am at No. 34. Thanks a million.

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-06 14:47:50

Done :)

 
 
Comment by Susan Loone Subscribed to comments via email
2007-02-06 14:53:06

Thanks for your effort, I am sure we bloggers really appreciate your hard work! :)

 
Comment by manhon
2007-02-06 15:49:01

I’m not sure how you actually conducted the scrape from technorati, a glaring absentee from your list is Education In Malaysia.

Please review your methodology and do a second pass and see who else have been left out.

Good effort nevertheless. Thank you.

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-06 15:57:34

OK will add that soon. Thanks for the feedback.

 
 
Comment by Friedbeef
2007-02-06 18:55:02

Just a note: Another reason why Kenny Sia’s feedcount is so low because he split it up (don’t ask me why). His RSS feeds have . Thanks for the listing anyhow, I never imagined I would reach #29 :)

ps. I think another way to look at this list is the 50 most influential INSIDE the blogosphere. Sites like education in Malaysia (which would have been ranked #43 by the way if you included them) are much more influential outside the blogosphere.

Hmmm… I’m gonna do a post about this

 
Comment by Joneh
2007-02-06 21:42:05

I am sure i am not qualified to say here. not even in a million list. but i have to salute gaman for what he did. Im proud to be associated with gaman for im a sabahan too. not relative or whatever. just me being proud of him.
From my newbie list, i have to say the most influential blogs in Malaysia are, in the order i have to know them firsthand are 1)Gobala Krishnan(29)-because i learn wordpress 2)LiewCF(5) - because im using his theme and very helpful 3)sabahan.com - because he’s a gaman and sabahan. the rest are outside M’sia. Now thats i considered influential. To the rest, im sorry. either i’ve you later after knowing sabahan dot com or never heard you before. oh ya… 4)Raymond.cc(40) for his computer tech info. :D
Ok, dont shoot me. Just being honest. im proud in my area. the ultimate rc info provider in malaysia.

 
Comment by Wahlau.NET
2007-02-07 00:06:38

wow…kennysia….love his site

 
Comment by Ahsoon
2007-02-07 00:08:10

Hi, you’ve done a great job, Tabik to you!!

anyway my ahsoon has screw up with technorati, duno why? the lastime I was ranked 28k+.
Nvm, just hope that my AhBoon will be in your Top50 of 2007.

 
Comment by korokmu
2007-02-07 01:11:53

Your efforts to make the list are paid. :)

 
Comment by smartzul
2007-02-07 04:44:42

Thanks for include my blog.. :)

Nice job and list!

 
Comment by Aaron Tan
2007-02-07 10:40:47

wakakaz.. kennysia top of the pile!

 
Comment by Blogger
2007-02-07 12:10:18

Although this a good job you do, but this list meant nothing really. I mean, like certainly Jeff Ooi’s blog more influential than no. 2 and 3. And No. 2, as you say was up there because of the free Wordpress templates he offered, not that he is popular. Then, this is all based on technorati link. There are good blogs that are not being linked. It no mean that being linked a lot, is popular. Me agreed with this person called Menj. Traffic and links do not mean most influential

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-07 12:28:08

Obviously everyone has their own ‘perfect’ top list in mind. ;) If nobody likes to link to a particular ‘good’ blog, may be it’s just not ‘good enough’?

Comment by Glam
2009-01-28 00:17:40

I cannot disagree with Gaman.We can all have our 50 most popular blog lists, and dsave for a few, most will differ for many good reasons. i am a new blooger and I will never ever make it into your Top 50 list, not even in your 100 list - but still, whatever the case may be, I admire your effort. At least, you started the ball rolling…

(Comments wont nest below this level)
 
 
 
Comment by Diana Subscribed to comments via email
2007-02-07 14:22:12

Sure or not? One of them is from Brunei that I don’t care to mention who. Maybe he sounds Malaysian.

 
Comment by colbert
2007-02-07 14:38:28

oh man. I lost to SAifulsham….nvm lar. I know those guys and they are cool

 
Comment by Katana
2007-02-07 14:52:26

Diana, I am working in Brunei but I am still a 100% Malaysian. Well I don’t see any rules in this list that says only Malaysians living in Malaysia qualify. :P

 
Comment by ah dam
2007-02-07 15:34:27

you totally forgot bout niknazmi.com.but nice piece there.

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-07 15:41:40

I did ran a check on niknazmi.com but unfortunately it was not properly indexed by Technorati.

 
 
Comment by 5xmom
2007-02-07 17:35:58

Best recipes, foods and travel
* Rank: 31,849 (738 links from 108 blogs)
* URL: http://www.malaysiabest.net
(from Technorati)

Wakahkah, just want to jump in with my figures. This is one of my food blog call malaysiabest. When compared, I think masuk jugak kat empat puluh lapan. Never mind, saja wanna tumpang glamour.

Comment by Gaman
2007-02-08 17:15:57

I’ll update the list soon and see if I can include this blog :)

 
 
Comment by Adam OK
2007-02-07 20:31:35

Great work. It’s really interesting. I Dugg this story too.

 
Comment by zewt
2007-02-07 22:01:04

cool…. my inspiration!