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Left Foot Forward > Published by Will Straw, November 3rd 2010 at 3:36 pm

Exclusive: Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings

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Liberal Conspiracy and Left Foot Forward have leapt to the top of Wikio’s rankings of British blogs. Exclusive figures seen by Left Foot Forward put Britain’s two leading left-wing blogs ahead of Iain Dale’s Diary and Guido Fawkes’ blog for the first time.

Wikio rankings measure the influence of blogs and depend on the number and weight of the incoming links from other blogs. The new ranking, which is for the month of October, will reflect the coverage of the Comprehensive Spending Review on both sites.

With the Tories now in power, the Wikio rankings may be seen as a changing of the guard in the political blogosphere. Iain Dale and Guido Fawkes – who made their names as opponents of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown – have had less to write about since May with Dale far quieter than he has been in the past.

Nonetheless, left-wing blogs still have some way to go in terms of traffic. Dale and Fawkes have consistently had more unique visitors than left-wing blogs although the gap has been closing since the general election. The new results are a vindication for FT Comment Editor, James Crabtree, who predicted in the New Statesman last December that 2010 would be the left-wing blogosphere’s year.

Credit is due especially to Sunny Hundal who set up Liberal Conspiracy three years ago as Britain’s first substantial left-wing group blog. The other big climber this month is Labour Uncut, which has burst onto the scene since May and is now 10th in the overall ranking and 8th among political blogs. Political Scrapbook has also broken into the top 10 political blogs in 9th place. Left-wing blogs now make up five of the top 10 political blogs with Labour List up one place to 5th.

The full rankings for November’s general blog category are below. Political blogs are starred.

1 Liberal Conspiracy (*)
2 Left Foot Forward (*)
3 Iain Dale’s Diary (*)
4 Guy Fawkes’ blog (*)
5 Labourlist (*)
6 ConservativeHome’s ToryDiary (*)
7 Liberal Democrat Voice (*)
8 Papertake Weekly Challenge
9 A Spoon Full of Sugar
10 Labour Uncut (*)
11 allsorts challenge blog
12 Charisma Cardz
13 Cute Card Thursday
14 Political Scrapbook (*)
15 Paul Waugh Politics (*)
16 Sticky Fingers
17 Saturday Challenge
18 Next Left (*)
19 Cupcake Craft Challenges
20 Stamping Ground
21 ABC challenge
22 sketch saturday
23 Just Magnolia
24 TotallyPaperCrafts
25 Benedict Brogan (*)
26 Creative Card Crew
27 And another thing… (*)
28 One Stop Craft Challenge
29 Penny Black Saturday Challenge
30 Nick Robinson’s Newslog (*)

General

Ranking made by Wikio

  • http://twitter.com/jossgarman/status/29582143526 Joss Garman

    RT @leftfootfwd: Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings: @IainDale and @GuidoFawkes knocked off their perch by @libcon & @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/jonnytench/status/29582409282 Jonathan Tench

    RT @leftfootfwd: Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings: @IainDale and @GuidoFawkes knocked off their perch by @libcon & @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/markhanson/status/29582739977 MarkHanson

    RT @leftfootfwd: Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings: @IainDale and @GuidoFawkes knocked off their perch by @libcon & @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/sunny_hundal/status/29582862490 sunny hundal

    Wow. Left-wingers top blog rankings! @libcon no.1! Well done to @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook and @LabourUncut too http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/his_grace/status/29583148281 Archbishop Cranmer

    RT @sunny_hundal: Wow. Left-wingers top blog rankings! @libcon no.1! Well done to @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook and @LabourUncut too http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/cathelliott/status/29583290515 CathElliott

    RT @sunny_hundal: Wow. Left-wingers top blog rankings! @libcon no.1! Well done to @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook and @LabourUncut too http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/donpaskini/status/29583329885 Don Paskini

    RT @sunny_hundal: Wow. Left-wingers top blog rankings! @libcon no.1! Well done to @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook and @LabourUncut too http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/byondretrograde/status/29583432743 Joey Abbiss-Stubbs

    RT @sunny_hundal: Wow. Left-wingers top blog rankings! @libcon no.1! Well done to @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook and @LabourUncut too http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/johninnit/status/29583495320 John

    Stats < damn-lies < lies. But happily make exception for funny ones! RT @leftfootfwd: Left blogs top Wikio rankings: http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/markhanson/status/29583549089 MarkHanson

    RT @leftfootfwd: Exclusive: Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings http://bit.ly/afK2Xc

  • http://twitter.com/psbook/status/29583583683 Political Scrapbook

    RT @leftfootfwd: Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings: @IainDale and @GuidoFawkes knocked off their perch by @libcon & @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/sunny_hundal/status/29583607232 sunny hundal

    .@wdjstraw says change at the top of blog rankings reflects CSR coverage. Oppositional nature of blogging too http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/libcon/status/29583821966 Liberal Conspiracy

    Liberal Conspiracy is number 1! Left Foot Forward leap forward, as do @LabourList @psbook @LabourUncut in new rankings http://bit.ly/alQnU9

  • http://twitter.com/hazico_jo/status/29583872509 Hazico_Jo

    RT @libcon: Liberal Conspiracy is number 1! Left Foot Forward leap forward, as do @LabourList @psbook @LabourUncut in new rankings http://bit.ly/alQnU9

  • http://twitter.com/imranahmed1978/status/29584026179 Imran Ahmed

    RT @libcon: LibCon is No. 1! LFF leap forward, as do @LabourList @psbook @LabourUncut in new rankings http://bit.ly/alQnU9 < Congrats all!

  • http://twitter.com/sky_jack/status/29584139607 Jack Watkins

    RT @libcon: Liberal Conspiracy is number 1! Left Foot Forward leap forward, as do @LabourList @psbook @LabourUncut in new rankings http://bit.ly/alQnU9

  • http://twitter.com/bevaniteellie/status/29584188502 Ellie Gellard

    Fantastic!RT @libcon LibCon is no 1! @leftfootfwd leap forward,as do @LabourList @psbook @LabourUncut in new rankings http://bit.ly/alQnU9

  • http://twitter.com/bickerrecord/status/29584191689 Paul Cotterill

    Who's got the lead article up at @libcon when it becomes UK's no.1 blog?http://bit.ly/bFo58E? I am therefore officially UK's top blogger.

  • http://twitter.com/shamikdas/status/29584587766 Shamik Das

    Rejoice! Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings: @IainDale and @GuidoFawkes knocked off their perch by @libcon & @leftfootfwd http://is.gd/gFFZN

  • http://twitter.com/sambaconsam/status/29584742528 Sam Bacon

    RT @shamikdas: Rejoice! Left-wing blogs top rankings: @IainDale & @GuidoFawkes knocked off by @libcon & @leftfootfwd http://is.gd/gFFZN

  • http://northernheckler.wordpress.com Nils Boray

    I guess it’s probably an in joke that I’m not in on, but Cupcake Craft Challenge ? Cute Card Thursday ? What’s that all about ?

  • http://twitter.com/edjones85/status/29585215265 Edward Jones

    Do Wikio rankings represent changing of the guard in the political blogosphere? http://bit.ly/a1cv4B

  • http://twitter.com/v_butler/status/29585452122 Vicki Butler

    RT @leftfootfwd: Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings: @IainDale and @GuidoFawkes knocked off their perch by @libcon & @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/cathy_owens/status/29585490080 Cathy Owens

    What's with all the paper craft blogs? RT @Conorpope: RT @leftfootfwd: Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings: http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/wikio_uk/status/29585824822 Wikio UK

    Take a look at the new WikioUK General rankings for November
    http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/11/left-wing-blogs-top-wikio-rankings/

  • http://twitter.com/ciderpunx/status/29586652928 ciderpunx

    RT @sunny_hundal: Wow. Left-wingers top blog rankings! @libcon no.1! Well done to @leftfootfwd @LabourList, etc http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://sluggerotoole.com/2010/11/03/as-governments-change-so-change-the-blogs/ As governments change, so change the blogs « Slugger O'Toole

    [...] lament the decline of the right-wing libertarian (or bloggertarian) blog. The second item – Left Foot Forward’s observation that Liberal Conspiracy and their own site are now beating the main right-of-centre bloggers in [...]

  • http://www.order-order.com Guido Fawkes

    Congratulations. I suspect an algorithm that puts papertakeweekly.blogspot.com 22 places above Nick Robinson’s blog in terms of influence won’t be challenging Googles PageRank algorithm for integrity.

  • treeman

    “Dale and Fawkes have consistently had more unique visitors than left-wing blogs although the gap has been closing since the general election.”

    anybody got a link to those stats?

  • Richard

    Well done to you all. Alas LibCon is marred by Hundal’s childish tone at times. Left Foot Forward strikes me as far more measured and effective.

  • http://twitter.com/nigelstanley/status/29590638926 Nigel Stanley

    well done top bloggers @libcon @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook and @LabourUncut http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/anthonypainter/status/29590821604 Anthony Painter

    “@NigelStanley: well done top bloggers @libcon @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook and @LabourUncut http://bit.ly/bFo58E”

  • http://twitter.com/richsimcox/status/29590963745 Richard Simcox

    RT @NigelStanley: well done top bloggers @libcon @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook and @LabourUncut http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://liberalconspiracy.org Sunny H

    Nils – the rankings above look at blogs broadly, not just politics blog. Do remember that most people online don’t actually read political blogs.

  • http://twitter.com/charliebeckett/status/29591354847 Charlie Beckett

    So is the blogosphere now officially oppositional? http://bit.ly/bFo58E Also http://is.gd/gEMr8

  • http://twitter.com/captainska/status/29591632324 Captain SKA

    RT @NigelStanley: well done top bloggers @libcon @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook and @LabourUncut http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/sephrbrown/status/29593505336 Joseph Brown

    Damn. No sign of my blog in the Wikio rankings with @Sunny_Hundal @libcon @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook @LabourUncut http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/mswigsy/status/29594406905 Wendy Maddox

    RT @leftfootfwd: Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings: @IainDale and @GuidoFawkes knocked off their perch by @libcon & @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/mswigsy/status/29594640331 Wendy Maddox

    RT @sunny_hundal: Wow. Left-wingers top blog rankings! @libcon no.1! Well done to @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook and @LabourUncut too http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/jessica_asato/status/29597101089 Jessica Asato

    Good to see left wing blogs dominating in 2010. Particularly @labouruncut which has done really well since May http://bit.ly/bUR7gy

  • http://twitter.com/newint/status/29600179857 New Internationalist

    RT @sunny_hundal: Wow. Left-wingers top blog rankings! @libcon no.1! Well done to @leftfootfwd @LabourList, etc http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://twitter.com/nextleft/status/29601194570 Sunder Katwala

    RT @CharlieBeckett: So is the blogosphere now officially oppositional? http://bit.ly/bFo58E Also http://is.gd/gEMr8

  • http://twitter.com/nextleft/status/29601383324 Sunder Katwala

    I wouldn't trade power to govern for commanding heights of wikio rankings but congrats to @libcon & @leftfootfwd on http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • Quietzapple

    Of course online political activity is “oppositional.”

    People like to whinge, screech alarm etc. Fewer bother to offer reasoned support for whatever is being done.

    That is human nature I fear, and at least while “they” are in power Labour may benefit a little.

    But there are always an excess of extremists who never like anything which might actually be put into practice, so the objectors to Chameleon are unlikely to do Labour much good,

  • http://twitter.com/cityplymunison/status/29616700487 Plymouth City UNISON

    RT @sunny_hundal: Wow. Left-wingers top blog rankings! @libcon no.1! Well done to @leftfootfwd @LabourList @psbook and @LabourUncut too http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://fiskedbytheprole.wordpress.com/ the prole

    Your seriously trying to tell me that
    1) Ian Dales gets more hits than Guido
    2) Liberal Conspiracy gets more hits than either of them.

    Not so much evidence based blogging as wishful thinking based blogging chaps.
    I’d be interested in seeing properly audited figures for Liberal Con, Uncut, Left Foot, Labour List, and Labour Home to compare – I used to mostly scan Labour list, but since the rise of Uncut that is my first choice of left-wing reading, as IMHO they are least prone to mindless towing of the party line.

    I imagine (in the real world) Con Home gets (and will continue to get) more hits than any of the leftwing blogs in because for good or ill, it has a near monopoly on declared Tory online presence – there are more readable and regular Labour blogs, so the audience gets split more.

  • http://northernheckler.wordpress.com Nils Boray

    I appreciate that Sunny but I think I can say quite confidently that Papertake Weekly Challenge is not a blog that holds much influence in any sensible measure – there are lots of non-political blogs which have far more. the ranking given on that site also gives a list that doesn’t include any political blogs – so something is afoot here.

  • Mike

    winning without nudes, top totty or a radio show
    EXCELLENT
    WELL DONE

  • http://www.socialistunity.com/?p=7094 SOCIALIST UNITY » BLOGGING: THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD

    [...] from Left Foot Forward [...]

  • http://twitter.com/voiceteam/status/29657889610 VOICE Team

    Good read for UK bloggers @CharlieBeckett RT is the blogosphere now officially oppositional? http://bit.ly/bFo58E Also http://is.gd/gEMr8

  • http://twitter.com/annacnolan/status/29691419803 Anna Nolan

    RT @leftfootfwd: Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings: @IainDale and @GuidoFawkes knocked off their perch by @libcon & @leftfootfwd http://bit.ly/bFo58E

  • http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/2010/11/08/wikio-political-blog-rankings-earthquake-what-is-happening/ Wikio Rankings earthquake — The Wardman Wire

    [...] is a question from Socialist Unity, and also Left Foot Forward, and also raised by [...]

  • http://www.netrootsuk.org/2010/11/online-activism-gets-its-day-in-uk/ Online activism gets its day in UK | Netroots UK

    [...] Left-wing blogs top Wikio rankings. Left Foot Forward, 3 Nov 2010: http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/11/left-wing-blogs-top-wikio-rankings Tags: activism, conference, event, netroots uk, press [...]

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2010/11/building-the-uk%e2%80%99s-netroots/ Building the UK’s progressive netroots | Left Foot Forward

    [...] is shaping up to be a promising year for online progressives in the UK. We reported earlier this month that left blogs had been making most of the running in the latest Wikio blog rankings, with Liberal [...]

  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/01/britains-netroots-must-turn-online-activity-into-offline-protest-in-2011/ Britain’s Netroots must turn online activity into offline protest in 2011 | Left Foot Forward

    [...] Left-wing blogs have made great strides and arguably overtaken the right with a wealth of information and debate taking place outside the mainstream [...]

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