Blog From Cebu To The World » Influential Blogs

Anonymous No More, Blogging Meets and the 2009 Emerging Influential Blogs

ceblogger — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:20:36 +0000

Imagine these things happening when you meet with online fellows face to face for the first time. “Ah, you look younger and slimmer in your avatar!”, one may say. Or you may have a preconceived picture of you blogging idol. “Does he really look like a rockstar?” And perhaps you try avoiding someone because you passionately wrote something against what he’d written in the past. Oops…

Yes, we’ve meet online. We’ve agreed, disagreed. Exchanged lols and ahs, and even greeted each other in our tweets. We may have smiled or red-faced in anger while reading a post. Because we’ve hid in anonymity, we can always say we’re just expressing our opinions in the guise of objectivity, even though conventional wisdom teaches us that it is just a matter or perspectives.

So, we need to meet at least once, when opportunity arise. It is always different if you move from being online friends to real friends. (Online friends can be real friends too. But the bond is as fragile as our internet connection) Hmmm… But are we sure we are what we are as what we’ve written in our blogs? You did not tell me your name, did you?

But because we’ve met outside the virtual realms and become friends, we learn to read with our hearts and not just by what our eyes have seen. Ok, so enough with the drama.

Three Saturdays ago was the EB of Ms. Janette Toral’s writing project, “The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009”. In a blogging event, you don’t really have that much time to mingle. You have to listen to speakers and their presentations, and there are just too many people.

So, I suggested to Doc Z, Jan and Elmot that we meet hours before the event. There were nine of us who showed up at MOA: Jhongmed, Lyle(Filipino Web Programmer), Jan, Elmot, Roel (Money Maverick), Boni (Third World Geek), Doc Z, and Yatot. It was really exciting, meeting people for the first time, sharing stories, swapping cards, and listening to blogging experiences, both serious and funny. I had fun, really. It was also an honor to have with us, Jan, the venerable winner of the 2009 Emerging Influential Blogs, and Doc Z too at no. 4. It was the first meet-up of the jedibloggers minus Jena, Kelvin, Luke, Roy and 50+ others. And someone mentioned influenza bloggers. It was the influenza bloggers’ first meeting too.

Then after a few drinks (coke, coffee and san mig light for Lyle) we proceeded to main EB and had our pictures taken with the PAGCOR sign at the background. (hey guys, email me a pic of that, will you?) Ah, this post comes very very late. But anyway, it’s better late than never. My congratulations to the following winners:

They were feted like rockstars you know. Anonymous no more, perhaps except for Trendydee (Tales from the Mom Side). Photographers wanted to take videos and pics of this year’s winners. See the pic below.

And surprises of surprises, there at the EB we met a blogger whom Boni and I knew for a long time. He used to be everywhere in the badminton forum we frequent. And we played badminton a lot of times already. He didn’t know we’re bloggers. We didn’t know he runs the popular blog, Blog de Manila and many others. And that night alone, he won $100 in the raffle draw plus two or three other raffle prizes. Lucky guy! I stole a shot of him with winners at the background.

Ok, so I blurred him a bit, as he wants to remain a mystery to his thousands of followers.

And there’s another guy I met for the first time, SEM expert Mr. Gary Viray. We’ve had a little gmail chat before. What’s SEM again? Hehe. SEM noob here. This guy almost won the Busby SEO Test challenge, and it’s an honor to have finally met him.

I also met the following awesome bloggers: Kelvin, Ada, Jehz, Snow, Tyrone, Annalyn, Earthlingorgeous, Rey Jr., Angel, Jeff (second time). From a short distance I saw Allen, Crisiboy and Sonnie.

Still, the EB wasn’t enough for Doc Z, Roel, Boni, Angel, Yatot, Lyle. We went to some place in Makati and sang our hearts out. What was that song again, Father Blogger? I could have sung my favorite Cliff Richards song if not for the billiards table. Next time, Yatot. Hehe!

Again, there was another meet-up at Lyle’s place days later with Boni, Roel and Elmot. Doc Z’s voice was with us. Thanks to Sun Cellular! We talked about SEO, blogging and world peace.

Just this Saturday night, we had had another of our mini-blogging meets, this time at Timog Ave wherein we were at a shouting distance of ABS-CBN. We discussed various topics that covered blogging, travel, poetry, medical stuff and pretty lasses (blame those cigarette promo girls). Next weekend, there will be another EB. And on September 19, the WordCamp.

With all these EB’s and blogging events, we can’t really remain anonymous and hide in our blogs forever. Joining meet-ups every now and then is a good thing.

Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009

ceblogger — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:11:22 +0000

I’ve nominated some blogs in the 2008 edition and was an observer in the 2007 version. Like any other blogging events that I’ve heard while not actually participating in person, everything was just forgotten. Until Ms. Janette Toral approached our lonely table during the after-event party of iBlog5 and told us about her writing project.

I promised her that I’d join the project (and hopefully the EB party and the raffles, too). So, here are my 10 nominees for the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009:

1. Agiledeals.com – A travel blog by one of my best buddies. The blog author is not entirely a newbie but his blog is something fresh in the blogosphere. I wonder if he has an About page in his site.
2. Dearbloggery.com – She hops around the blogosphere by the name Snow.
3. Writing to Exhale – I really wonder why Jan used Sa Labas ng Mandaluyong as a title for a blog. Maybe he has an explanation for it. Now he moved to his own self-hosted domain and renamed it Writing to Exhale. There’s a chance that he could be more popular than Problogger someday.
4. Millionaireacts.com – Tyrone chose the personal finance path. It might be a long way to stardom but he could replace Money Smarts at Inquirer one day.
5. Zorlone – Doc Z shows his literary prowess in his piece of property in the web. Poetry and flash fiction are his favorites. He plays badminton too.
6. The Struggling Blogger – With Roy’s many sites, I wonder what particular site I would nominate. But to be safe, I’ll just use the one nominated by the Reyna.
7. New Media by Carlo Ople – Politics runs in his blood. Despite the controversial PGB classification, he still manages to appear in public, and most probably shook hands with his critics too. Oh well, this guy is already a heavyweight, and one influential blogger too.
8. Patay Gutom – A group blog run by the hotshots of Philippine problogging. This blog could be this year’s runaway winner. I love food trips!
9. Barrio Siete – A group blog run by the queen of the blogosphere, Reynaelena. Newly created, and very fresh, tackling the hottest of today’s issues. Between now and the last week of nominations, this blog could already reach a very wide sphere of influence.
10. Palawan Anecdotes – This site is run by my cousin John Ray who is now based in Palawan. He’s an educator by profession and he loves to write and shares his ideas. I hope he won’t go into blogging hiatus again.

So there’s my ten. I would have liked to nominate the two below but they’re disqualified. Sorry, Elmot and Bruce, I’ll have to replace both of you. But i’ll still give you some linkloves.
1. Pinoy Sounding Board – Elmot, an ex-seminarian who tries his luck at political blogging.
2. An American In Davao – This is about Bruce, an American who happily married a Davaoeña. He is now enjoying his retirement years in Davao, and happily connecting with people around the world through his blog.

If you want to join this project, go and post your 10 nominees now. The rules say:

1. Any blogger in the world can join.
2. Only one entry per blogger.
3. Blog or website owner profile and e-mail is accessible or visible online
4. Write a blog post and pick your choice of ten (10) emerging influential blogs.
5. Any blog in the world can be picked.
6. You can update the same post entry up to August 2 (date may be extended). However, please inform the project owner of any changes.
7. Old blogs who move to a new domain are disqualified
8. Blogs who remove their archives just to fit in the cut-off date are disqualified.
9. Include a link to the original post of Janette Toral to help spread the word and encourage others to participate.
10. To be included in the raffle, which I should do, links to the sponsors should also be in the entry. They are Absolute Traders, My Brute Cheats, Business Summaries, Fitness Advantage Club, Events and Corporate Video, Events at Work, Dominguez Marketing Communications, Red Mobile, Budget hotel in Makati, Lucio C. Tan Group of Companies, and Blog4Reviews.com.
11. Post a comment to Ms. Toral’s origibal post and let here know about your entry.

Cut-off date and time for submission of entries is on July 30. After the said date, submission of comments in this page shall be closed. Only those with a complete list of ten qualified blogs shall be included in the entries masterlist and shall serve as final count basis.

Writing participants can also join the eyeball event wherein The Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs for 2009 will be announced. Ten writing project participants will be randomly picked to win one hundred dollars (US$100) each. Yay, dollars! That’s equivalent to 3 months of chasing ppc money.

Why wait till the last week, join now.

Emerging Influential Blogs of 2008

ceblogger — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:26:12 +0000

How do you consider one as an influential blog? I read Ms. Janette Toral’s attempt to answer this question. I do agree that it is a tough question and I don’t think there is a single description that fits all.

I was already blogging during the first edition but really did not mind the project (and all other happenings around the blogosphere at that time). It was just me, my blog, and the few people in my blogroll.

But I happened to read the results because a few of the winners were in my blogroll. Like the others, I was surprised. Some people were very vocal about their disagreement, and I may have even agreed then with the points they raised. Is it popularity or influence? 2007 is behind us now and everyone has moved on.

For this second edition, the Emerging Infuential Blogs of 2008, I’d like to participate. Though I may ask: Is it the blogger or the blog? If it’s the blog, then I don’t think the blogger’s identity is important. There are plenty of influential blogs whose authors remain anonymous. If it is the blogger, then let us see what he is made of.

Anyway, I’ll just stick with the project title and the rules. So, here are my ten nominees to complete the circle of 10.

1. Bloggista
2. Mapiles.com Your Partner Online
3. A Man of My Town
4. Go, Blog
5. Humane Blogging Tips
6. Mar Roxas for President in 2010
7. What Have You (updated)
8. This Book For Free(updated)
9. The Spitting Vessel (updated)
10. Dong Ho’s Bhayeng Noypi (updated)

The bloggers behind two of the nominated blogs above may not want to reveal their identities. In case they’ll win, I believe they can handle fame and attention. But perhaps it’s only me voting for them. I should have nominated them earlier.

To my readers, you can still join and nominate the blogs (created after July 1, 2007) that have influenced you and others. This is the last week of this writing project though. So, hurry up now!