Top Ten Black Blogs (Oct 2008)

This is the 14th month in a row that we publish the Villager's Black Blog Rankings (BBR)! The highlight of this month is a brand-new technology blog that blazes into the Top Ten this month.

Do any of you recall when we started the BBR with 75 Black blogs in Sep 2007. This month we publish over 1,440 Black owned & operated blogs! I don't pretend that we have all Black owned & operated blogs on this list. If you see any that are missing ... please let me know in the COMMENTS section below.

Here are some of the blog lists from the past 14 months:

• October 2007 - 300 Black blogs
• January 2008 - 602 Black blogs
• April 2008 - 1,045 Black blogs
• July 2008 - 1,269 Black blogs

Anyhow, with no further ado, here are the Top Ten Black Blogs for Oct 2008:

1. Pam Spaulding: Pam's House Blend (Authority: 1,194 / Rank: 1,768) - [Politics] Pam's blog is growing faster than anything I've ever seen. One reason for her success is the talented bloggers that cross-post on her site about all aspects of politics. Also, it is evident that Pam's House Blend is the go-to location for anything related to the lesbian and gay community. Check out excellent article on Pam recently written in Washington Post


2. Ahsmi Rawlins: Nah Right (Authority: 918 / Rank: 2,728) - [Entertainment] Ashmi (a.k.a., ESKAY) is firmly planted as BBR #2 behind Pam Spaulding. Br. Rawlins currently has the top-ranked gossip or entertainment blog on our list. He has been at the blogging game since May 2005. One reason for the success of his entertainment blog is his ability to share MP3 versions of songs before they go public.


3. The Bossip: Bossip.com (Authority: 839 / Rank: 3,117) - [Entertainment] Bossip.com leap-frogged into BBR #3 slot. I figure that The Bossip must be male. I base that assumption on the occassional controversy when his blog denigrates women of color, such as Elizabeth Acevedo and Maya Angelou. Anyhow, click here to see index of the people that are blogged about on Bossip.com.


4. Angel Laws: Concrete Loop (Authority: 829 / Rank: 3,161) - [Entertainment] Angel Laws is the young sister who started this blog as a hobby. She has lived in more than 6 different states, and graduated high school in Hawaii. Angel has been on the web scene since she was 13 years old; making random graphics and images for friends and family. She started her own graphic designing business in 2005 and it was around that time that cshe created Concrete Loop. It appears that Angel and The Bossip will battle over BBR #3 and #4 slots over the coming weeks and months. Take a moment to see a list of the last 50 posts on her blog.


5. Oliver Willis: Oliver Willis (Authority: 716 / Rank: 3,891) - [Politics] Oliver has been blogging since April 2005. One of the common elements of these top bloggers is that they have been at it for many years. Oliver has an added advantage of being featured in the Huffington Post with his political commentary. You can find Oliver on Twitter.


6. Natasha Eubanks: Young, Black & Fabulous (Authority: 694 / Rank: 4,063) - [Entertainment] I anticipate that this blog will move into the BBR Top 5 next month. Natasha Eubanks is the writer & editor of the site. She converted from blogger.com platform to her own domain earlier this year. It appears that folks have found the new site as she moved straight up the rankings. It appears that having your own domain is a common denominator for the top Black owned & operated blogs.


7. Baratunde Thurston and Cheryl Contee: Jack and Jill Politics (Authority: 624 / Rank: 4,709) - [Politics] Baratunde (a.ka. Jack Turner) and Cheryl (a.k.a. Jill Tubman) continue to have the fastest moving blog on the BBR this month. Jack and Jill have both been featured recently on Meet the Bloggers, a weekly podcast sponsored by Brave New Films. You can find both Jack and Jill on Twitter.


8. Kimberly Kira: The Angry Black Woman (Authority: 459 / Rank: 7,383) - [Social Commentary] This blog is the top-ranked 'social commentary' one on our list. Kimberly Kira (a.k.a., Tempest) grew up in Cincinnati OH. She describes herself as a "bisexual polyamorous pagan gamer geek" ... which might explain the focus that her blog places on sexism and racism. I encourage villagers to check out this excellent article on RaceWire in which Sis. Kira describes the evolution of her blog.


9. Fresh Crunkjuice: Crunk & Disorderly (Authority: 456 / Rank: 7,364) - [Entertainment] Does anyone have a photo of this blogger? For that matter ... who is 'Fresh Crunkjuice' anyhow? One thing is for sure ... this gossip blog, created in August 2004, is one of the hottest blogs on our rankings. This blog inspired others to create blogs as well.


10. Corvida: SheGeeks (455 / 7,386) - [Technology] Remarkably, this is the first month that we are ranking this blog ... and it arrives at BBR #10. Corvida is a 20 year old sister with a penchant for technology and social media who has been in the blogging game for about five years. SheGeeks is the place to go to find the latest news on social networks, social media, twitter, friendfeed, web apps, web services and more. It is nice to see another technology-based blog still in the BBR Top Ten!

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HONORABLE MENTION (11-25): Sandra Rose, How To Split An Atom, Necole Bitchie, La Shawn Barber's Corner, The Field Negro, Real Talk NY Provides The Latest Hip Hop News, AfroBella, What About Our Daughters, Raw Dawg Buffalo, SoulBounce.com, Keith Boykin, Angry Black Bitch, Ill Doctrine, Electronic Village and Womanist Musings.

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This ranking is open to any blogger of African descent. We invite all Black bloggers to apply for membership into The AfroSpear or join our Facebook group known as the Afrosphere Bloggers Association.

Black Blog Rankings lean heavily on the Technorati Authority and Rank score for each blog. The Technorati authority and rank numbers are shown in parenthesis. The authority figure includes a number of factors including the number of blogs that are linked to this blogger over the past six months. The rank number indicates how many blogs are between the one listed and The Huffington Post, which is the #1 overall blog in the universe.

We do think that these Black blogs are important spheres of influence. Let them know that you appreciate the work they have put in over the past few months and years to get on this list.

I encourage all bloggers to provide some link-love to this post so that your readers can learn about the Villager's Black Blog Rankings! Next step is yours ... what say u?