The Last Podcast

Calacanis says that there is no A-list. Tony from Deep Jive Interests says there is.

Go fight it out kids. I will happily sit on the sidelines of my little D-list blog here.

Oh well, maybe I should say something about this: there is an A-list. Of course there is. Some bloggers, by default, are more influential than others. That’s a given in human interaction. There are always leaders. Some bloggers have far more mindshare than others (and yes, Calacanis is one of them, and so is Scoble (even if he is going slumming and talking at PostieCon), so is Jeff Jarvis, Matt Cuts, Matthew Ingram and everybody else who is listed on TechMeme daily). The question here is not whether or not an A-list exists - the question is how does one get on the A-list.

And hard work will not always get you where you want to be. You need luck and connections. Calacanis has a ten-step-program for becoming an A-lister. All the steps are easy (post a lot, email other bloggers etc.).

But one is problematic: go to two or three conferences a week. Yeah - real easy of you live far away from the Silicon Valley, New York or any other metropolis where the blogosphere meets. And conferences are expensive - very expensive. Especially for those who try to make a buck in the blogosphere. If you follow Jason’s program - you will become an A-lister. But when you are working for Microsoft, Intel, or you’re an entrepreneur who made it online, things are a bit easier.

I am not complaining, by the way, but lets be honest here: hard work didn’t make George Bush a great president and it won’t make you an A-lister by default. One thing is for sure, though - if you use PayPerPost, you will never become an A-lister - try as hard as you will - nobody is going to take you seriously.

tags: jason+calacanis, a-list, blogging, techmeme