Blogs - 50 Most Powerful

A list of the 50 most powerful blogs across the globe has been compiled by the Observer.

Blogging subjects among the top 50 range from political to personal to pop-culture, with a helping of techie news thrown in for good measure.

The newspaper places US political blog the Huffington Post at the top of the tree, citing its launch as a seminal moment in the evolution of the blogosphere.

According to the Observer: “The history of political blogging might usefully be divided into the periods pre- and post-Huffington.”

It adds that the Huffington Post “showed that many of the old rules still applied to the new medium: a bit of marketing savvy and deep pockets could go just as far as geek credibility, and get there faster”.

Other political blogs making the top 50 include the Drudge Report, Marbury, a British expat’s take on American politics and Talking Points Memo, which recently won an award for its investigative journalism. [Blogger Scoops Reporting Award]

Personal blogs making the chart include Dooce, whose author was one of the first bloggers to be sacked from the day job for blogging activities, anonymous blog Angry Black Bitch, and Greek Tragedy from Stephanie Klein.

Showbiz gossip blogs also feature several times, with the highest entry going to Perezhilton, with Britain's Holy Moly not far behind.

Finally, and not too surprisingly, tech and web news blogs find themselves dotted around the top 50, including Techcrunch, Engadget and social networking news source Mashable.