What do Technorati’s rankings mean?

I have been fascinated by blog aggregator Technorati’s “rankings”.

At first, it was to see where I stood which, over the two last weeks, appears to have been a rapidly moving feast. On July 9, I stood at 1,502,798, on July 13, at 1,267,000, July 16 at 1,110,542 and today 878,251. Is These Digital Timesthe fastest rising blog in history! Either way it indicates just how many rubbish and neglected blogs there must be out in the blogosphere.

To find out how many is practically impossible but WordPress boasts of over 1.5 million downloads of its WordPress 2.5 programme over two years. Let’s say of each blog downloaded, one out of every ten is actually used once a week…..You see my rush up the ranks is really about an average horse overtaking a race full of donkeys heading for the sanctuary.

Far more interesting, is where other blogs sit in the rankings. If you take my blog roll as an example, unsurprisingly, The Huffington Post comes in at numero uno with Michael Arrington’s Techcrunch at the no 2 slot (no wonder their are rumours that AOL is keen to acquire said blog) and Jeff Jarvis’Buzzmachineat a comfortable no 373. But Michael Scoble’s Scobleizer sits at a somewhat surprising no 4,950 for a blogmeister with such pedigree, Craig Stolz’ Web 2.Oh…really?  is at an even more shocking no 46, 880, perhaps down to being only a year old, and the Guardian’s Charles Arthur at no 97,540.

Winners in the game are Jessica DaSilva, the US’ most famous intern who ranks a mighty no 88,453. No wonder she got over 150 comments for a recent posting “It’s worth fighting for” that rocked the blogosphere. Watch her get higher still. And, finally, WordPress’ own blog about blogging One Cool Site comes in at a staggering no 135.