//begin rant
Jason Calacanis just posted one of his “Oh - the A-list doesn’t exist and if you all just worked a bit harder you wouldn’t be crying” posts.
He argues that almost everybody who is an A-lister today came out of nowhere. Problem is, the list he gives us (Scoble, Calacanis himself, Rojas, Xeni Jardin, Rubel, Arrington, Curry (who I don’t count as an A-lister), Nich Douglas, Perez Hilton, Amanda Congdon etc.) is full of people who had connections long before they started blogging.
Arrington - was a Silicon Valley lawyer with connection
Scoble - worked for Microsoft - otherwise few people would have been interested in him
Xeni Jardin - vice president of a publishing company (among other pretty public jobs)
Calacanis - successful entrepreneur in the blogosphere - of course people are going to pay attention to him
Curry - not an A-lister, but with a long history of being a public figure and being in the tech business
Rubel - a marketing guy in the industry - of course people are going to listen to him
From Calacanis’ list, I can take Amanda Congdon (who isn’t much of a star anymore), Ze Frank and Perez Hilton seriously. Though Congdon was hired and was lucky to get into a now crowded field really early and Ze Frank is a great networker (and a great, though hyped, talent). Perez Hilton, I will give Calacanis - he is maybe the only one who really came out of nowhere.
So, out of that list, few did not have a headstart on everybody else through connections from earlier positions. Of course now they are working hard, but they didn’t make it to the top just because of that. Jason is just a big believer in the American Dream and his own story of course shows that one can make it by working hard and being persistent. Problem is, that’s no guarantee for anything. Everybody who made it to the top was a hard-working, persistent, smart person. But the problem is, not every hard-working, persistent, smart person is going to make it to the top. It takes a good portion of luck to make it to the top and if you believe there is not A-list, you are living in a dream world - or you are part of the A-list and you have lost your perspective.
Oh well, at least the American Dream is alive and well in Jason’s head.
//end rant
tags: calacanis, jason+calacanis, a-list, blogs, blogging, stupid+arguments
OK, so this isn’t about the blogosphere it’s about society at large?!??! Fine… I feel the same way about folks who think they are being held back by “society” — stop crying and start taking yours!
Also: you’ve got a mistake there… Scoble was a big blogger before his job at microsoft. he was hired by microsoft because of his blog–so again, he was nobody.
Arrington’s connections did little for him with TechCrunch… his hustle and views of the companies he was covering is what made him big–his nonstop quality blogging.
Xeni’s connections did little to nothing for her in terms of boingboing.
Rubel was a loser PR guy!!! no one listens to PR people… he’s the perfect example of blogging be an open platform… even a PR person can become famous and–gulp!–liked!!!!
Also, for the record, non of these folks are “real” A listers… they’re blog A listers–which is a total joke.
Wow - Jason - your fast.
Just for the record - I don’t fell I am being held back by society - but would you really deny that some people are (or maybe I am just being a bit too European about this)?
Yes - Scoble was hired because of a blog her wrote - but he wasn’t exactly writing an A-list blog at the time as far as I can recall - being lucky and being discovered by another Microsoft employee very early on is what helped him become an well known blogger.
Arrington - don’t you think the fact that he was already part of the industry helped him a bit?
Xeni - BoingBoing - the biggest blog in the world - getting a job there might just help…
Anyway - yes - they are blog - A-listers. Isn’t that what the whole discussion is about?
So now you’re upset that Scoble got lucky?!?!
Seriously, there is no luck in life… luck is when preparation meets timing.
… and yes, you’re being very European about things.
If we were talking about people in Africa or China who don’t have access to clear water and medicine I would say they are at a disadvantage, but we’re talking about people with educations who can afford a computer and highspeed internet connection complaining about some A-List holding them back!!!
What a joke… if there is an A-List those people earned it, and if they didn’t then go kick the A-Lists asses with your amazing blog posts…. good content rises on the Internet. everyone is equal… you’re judge by your words/images/audio/video/twitters/etc.
jason out
Jason, take a moment to breathe.
We are on the same page here in more than one aspect. Of course discussing this is a luxury - no doubt about it.
And I am not upset Scoble got lucky - good for him. But as you say yourself, being ‘lucky’ helped him just a tiny little bit.
I don’t think people are really complaining that the A-listers are conspiring to actively holding people back. I think all people are asking for is an acknowledgment that there are smart, hard-working bloggers who are just never going to see an audience because a lot of people are so focused on reading the A-list blogs that there isn’t a lot of room for newcomers.
The A-listers cannot acknowledge the exponential structure of audience, because the bogosphere runs off deception akin to late-night infomercials: ‘You, too can be rich, if you just work hard and buy my book!”
VIP!