Studying the impact of innovation on business and society

Which Blog Platforms Power the Top 100 Blogs?


Source

Is 2009 the year you finally dive into the world wide web of blogging? Or, is it the year you switch blogging platforms or services? It is for me. In fact, I’m exploring the near-term migration of PR 2.0 from Blogger to WordPress (both self-hosted).

Make no mistake, even with the popularity of micro communities such as Twitter, aggregated streams/lifestreams such as Strands and FriendFeed, and tumblelogs (Tumblr), blogging is still one of the most effective and visible stages to spotlight your expertise, thoughts, advice, opinions, and insight (for you and your company.) It fuels discovery and it conveys adeptness and reinforces participation.

So how do you determine which solution to support?

For the rest of us who are overwhelmed with choices and recommendations, perhaps there’s guidance in the curated platforms that other top bloggers have embraced. We can assume that they have tried and tested multiple solutions, settling on a blog formula that allows them to customize and publish content efficiently and effectively. At the very least, our choices are narrowed into a palatable array for quicker dissemination.

To help, Pingdom released an interesting study that reveals the numbers behind the most popular blog platforms and the most linked-to bloggers using them.

Blog Software (Self-Hosted Blogs)

According to the study, Pingdom identified WordPress as the top choice among the most “popular” bloggers according to Technorati’s Top 100, powering 27 out of 100 blogs.

Movable Type was second with 12 out of 100.

Only 8 blogs use a custom-made blog platform.

Drupal, a general purpose CMS, boasts 4 blogs.

Blogging Services (Third-party service providing blog software and hosting)

While WordPress is the more popular solution among those who self-host their blogs, Movable Type’s Typepad excels to the top of the list for bloggers using services based on blog platforms (Typepad on Movable Type, WordPress on WordPress, Blogger on Google’s Blogspot, etc.)

It’s important to note that more than 1/3 of the top 100 bloggers use a blogging service.

Typepad powers 16 of the top 100 blogs.

AOL-owned Blogsmith (used by Weblogs, Inc.) drives 14 of the top 100.

WordPress.com is used by 5.

Blogger (Google) fuels 3.

Top Blogs and the Corresponding Platforms

Blog Name, Technorati Rank, Platform

Perez Hilton 18 WordPress
Problogger 46 WordPress
Chris Brogan 69 WordPress
Zen Habits 77 WordPress
Copyblogger 89 WordPress
Think Progress 27 WordPress
VentureBeat 56 WordPress
/Film 80 WordPress
Global Voices Online 95 WordPress
The Caucus Blog – NYTimes 22 WordPress
Bits Blog – NYTimes 51 WordPress
Freakonomics – NYTimes 70 WordPress
Pajamas Media 45 WordPress
Just jared 86 WordPress
Smitten Kitchen 97 WordPress
Hot Air 48 WordPress
Neatorama 59 WordPress
TechCrunch 2 WordPress
Smashing Magazine 10 WordPress
Washington Wire – WSJ 38 WordPress
Michelle Malkin 39 WordPress
Daily Blog Tips 63 WordPress
Yanko Design 81 WordPress
Mashable 11 WordPress
Roy Tanck’s weblog 20 WordPress
CrunchGear 49 WordPress
Delicious:days 99 WordPress
Popwatch 76 Typepad
Seth’s Blog 14 Typepad
The Daily Dish 21 Typepad
Threat Level – Wired Blogs 24 Typepad
Gadget Lab – Wired Blogs 26 Typepad
Wired Science – Wired Blogs 31 Typepad
The Pioneer Woman 32 Typepad
Listening Post -Wired Blogs 52 Typepad
Political Radar 53 Typepad
The Underwire – Wired
Blogs
57 Typepad
Epicenter – Wired Blogs 60 Typepad
Danger Room – Wired Blogs 61 Typepad
Geekdad – Wired Blogs 71 Typepad
How to Change the World 73 Typepad
Marginal Revolution 82 Typepad
Game | Life – Wired Blogs 93 Typepad
Engadget 4 Blogsmith
TMZ 23 Blogsmith
Joystiq 25 Blogsmith
BloggingStocks 29 Blogsmith
TUAW 30 Blogsmith
Cinematical 33 Blogsmith
Gadling 36 Blogsmith
Download Squad 37 Blogsmith
TV Squad 40 Blogsmith
Autoblog 43 Blogsmith
Slashfood 47 Blogsmith
Luxist 85 Blogsmith
Engadget Mobile 94 Blogsmith
Engadget Japanese 100 Blogsmith
Power Line Blog 96 Movable Type
Huffington Post 1 Movable Type
Talking Points Memo 35 Movable Type
Gothamist 66 Movable Type
Beppe Grillo’s Blog 74 Movable Type
http://kottke.org 78 Movable Type
Microsiervos 79 Movable Type
Stereogum 91 Movable Type
TreeHugger 28 Movable Type
Pharyngula 92 Movable Type
ReadWriteWeb 15 Movable Type
Boing Boing 5 Movable Type
Gizmodo 3 Gawker Media platform
Lifehacker 6 Gawker Media platform
Gawker 12 Gawker Media platform
Kotaku 34 Gawker Media platform
Consumerist 50 Gawker Media platform
Valleywag 67 Gawker Media platform
Defamer 87 Gawker Media platform
Deadspin 88 Gawker Media platform
Apartment Therapy 65 Custom
Seeking Alpha 72 Custom
Ars Technica 9 Custom
The Corner on NRO 44 Custom
Google Blogoscoped 58 Custom
MacRumors 75 Custom
A List Apart 83 Custom
Ben Smith’s Blog 41 Custom
GigaOM 55 WordPress.com
I Can Has Cheezburger? 13 WordPress.com
CNN Political Ticker 17 WordPress.com
Scobleizer 84 WordPress.com
Swampland – TIME 90 WordPress.com
Dooce 42 Drupal
NewsBusters 62 Drupal
Crooks and Liars 64 Drupal
43 Folders 98 Drupal
The Official Google Blog 7 Blogger
PostSecret 16 Blogger
The Sartorialist 54 Blogger
Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com 68 Bricolage
Gigazine 19 Expression Engine
Daily Kos 8 Scoop

In order to maximize the full opportunities and benefits that strategic blogging can yield, it is highly recommended that you use blog software or a service that you personally (or with the help of experts) customize to match the brand and the persona you wish to covey – from the design aesthetics to the URL – and everything in between.

19 COMMENTS ON THIS POST To “Which Blog Platforms Power the Top 100 Blogs?”

  1. Adrian Eden says:

    Video Blogging is the way of the future, watch me lead the pack (along with Gary of course)….:-)

  2. Jim says:

    I highly recommend WordPress. Very easy to use and excellent SEO. Also limitless customization.

    Many are going to WordPress to develop traditional web sites as well as blogs.

  3. Jim Oberschmidt says:

    As a young Blogger, I am building and designing a cohesive brand, and am thankful for the generous thought leaders and their contributions. I am technical and I am a communicator. JRO

  4. rebeca trautner says:

    I chose WordPress after being very impressed with the Codex, which has been successfully guiding me and my minimal tech know how. Similarly, I went with a theme that was very strongly supported, Thesis. It’s the Help/information availability aspect that influenced me most.

  5. Scott Hepburn says:

    Congratulations on the (pending) move to WordPress, Brian.

    I’ve been following your blog for a while, and I think this is absolutely the right move for you.

    Welcome to the WP neighborhood!

  6. TStrump says:

    I currently use DRUPAL and I’m regretting it.
    I’m really impressed with the WordPress themes and I think they look really professional.
    Every time I want to make a change on my blog, I have to contact my techguy.
    I suppose I could learn more about Drupal, but it seems rather daunting.

  7. James Bruni says:

    I use Blogger and am tired, so tired I hardly blog anymore….it is so tedious. Future:microblog/ Past: macroblog

  8. Kyle P. says:

    Brian,
    Thanks for posting this!! I’m sure your readers know a lot more than I do, but I just spent several months looking at some of the different platforms and here’s my opinion:

    Like you said SIX APART offers Movable Type (MT) and Typepad…. I currently use Typepad for my company’s site, but if you want an advanced template or advanced CMS solution using MT, GOOD LUCK trying to find a 3rd party designer!!! The MT designers Sixpapart lists on their site won’t talk to you unless you have around $40K to spend. YES, $40K is typical project price!! SixApart’s team can do in house design but in the end their pricing is very similar.
    Bottom line, unless you are Conde Nast with deep pockets or don’t mind the basic Typepad Template or know how to do CSS, Forget about SixApart’s offerings!! And, yes, after all this research I’m moving my Typepad site to WordPress. (just my opinion but wouldn’t be surprised if MT goes away in the distant future: too closed, too expensive, large media co’s in decline with shrinking budgets so declining project revenues, etc. etc.) Lastly, Obama’s campaign site was done in MT, but Change.gov is now using Expression Engine

    WORDPRESS: Best blogging system as it’s open architecture allows for a lot of different apps and widgets; lot’s of advanced templates out there for pennies in comparision to MT…..you can also get a quality level customized theme designed comparable to MT quality for just a couple thousand dollars!!! See their showcase page: http://wordpress.org/showcase/

    I also noticed sites in WP load a LOT faster than MT; for instance, see how long it takes Huffpo’s MT based site to load.
    Btw, ThePioneerWoman is done with WP not Typepad per her source code (didn’t check other sites.)
    Read WordPress for Dummies, there’s a revised edition coming any day. WP also launched v2.7 which really improved the system too. Like Jim stated, WP can be used for CMS versus just a blog platform.

    Drupal: Can be expensive unless you can do your own coding. Doesn’t have a hosted version. I’d stick with WP.

    Blogger: used it years ago, easy to use but prefer WP.

  9. Jim Walczak says:

    I use MT – and considered a change to WP a few months back. We attended both Blog World Expo and Pub Con and asked anyone that would talk to us which platform they used.

    WP was a clear winner. But when pushed about security, even those that praised WP admitted security was an issue and getting ‘hacked’ was likely if you had a high traffic blog. Again, this wasn’t coming from MT users – but from WP users.

    In the end – we decided to stick with MT and their new community solution version 4.23 Pro. Is it tougher? Yes. Do I need to know some CSS? Yes. Do I have to learn some Perl? Yes. Have I evern been hacked or lost Data? No!

    And that’s what won for me.

  10. Dr. Dean Brandon says:

    I am wanting to take my minor league blogging to the next level and am considering the move from Blogger to WP as well. Blogger has been good and I have forced myself to learn minor HTML code and other things which I would normally have no clue–to at least be familiar with what my blog is and can do. I am afraid that the transition will be rough. I do not want to loose anything or anyone in transition.

    Why do it? Why is WP (or TP, or MT) so great? What can they do that Blogger cannot for the non techie that wants more? I will have to find out more info, but am not sure where to go (or stay) with this.

  11. Social Scientist says:

    These are all good, but I’m surprised not to see Squarespace on here. I think that’s a great tool that people should start to recognize a little more.

  12. frontierblog says:

    I cannot agree more, actually I wrote a similar post weeks ago

    Edward

    Frontier Blog
    http://www.hwswworld.com/wp

  13. seo company says:

    I’m really impressed with the WordPress themes and I think they look really professional.
    Every time I want to make a change on my blog, I have to contact my techguy.

  14. Filming In Brooklyn says:

    After doing a lot of research (and starting with zero blogging/coding knowledge), I settled on WP, and am thrilled with it. Have been using it for over a year, and have started several dozen blogs with it, for friends, charity, etc. Very easy to use.

    My one complaint is that when I’ve had issues that couldn’t be resolved searching the archives and I turned to the WP community for help, the most knowledgeable people were quite condescending and unwelcoming. But I’m guessing that’s not specific to WP.

  15. Garvins Bill says:

    it seems i cant open blogsmith, why? even so if proxy is used.

  16. Sam Daniel says:

    There is no doubt about it that WordPress is the best CMS. I do have a blog on it and my experience with this is amazing.

  17. Employers may post jobs hеre, and job seekers may search fօr positions аt
    this link. Tһere aгe mɑny tools, tips, and tricks tɦat
    willl helр уou record webinars աhenever you need to.
    Сlick tɦe “Start Encode” button to start to convert
    video files fоr your i – Pad.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Join Our Mailing List

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Stay Connected