Internet Changes Everything

Wired magazine names UT professor's Web log as world's most popular

MSNBC - Insta Star

By MICHAEL
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
Updated: 6:05 a.m. ET Jan. 31, 2004

January 31, 2004 - While Glenn Reynolds juggles teaching law and being a father to an 8-year-old daughter, he dabbles on the Internet.

Now he's juggling the risk of being dubbed "big media," which is a frequent target of his

The popular technology magazine Wired in its February issue names Reynolds of the University of Tennessee as the author of the most popular Web log, or blog, in the world.

The article notes Reynolds' Web log, www.instapundit.com, gets more than 100,000 visits a day, the equivalent of a cable news show or a medium-sized daily newspaper.

Reynolds is in part credited in Tennessee with being an inspiration for the start of the Rocky Top Brigade, a collection of a number of Tennessee bloggers found at www. http://southknoxbubba.net/rocky_top__brigade.htm

The magazine does not say how it arrived at the distinction, but since it has appeared, Reynolds said no one has come forward to say they have more visits than his.

Reynolds tackles a multitude of national and international issues with a bit of a Libertarian bent to his various takes.

And he often takes on big media, such as the networks, The New York Times or the Washington Post. For example, he chided the Times recently for not giving pro-American protests in Iraq enough play.

With this designation by Wired, Reynolds was asked if he's not now big media. He laughed and responded, "Not until I get that big paycheck or an expense account."

Tracking traffic of the more than 1.5 million estimated Web logs can be a challenge. Some don't release that information, and there are different ways to characterize that traffic.

For example, a visit is essentially logging onto the Web site. Page views are how many different pages on the site a reader clicks on.

Within the blogging community, Technorati at www.technorati.com, is a respected site that measures traffic. In its Top 100, Reynolds site is ranked fourth. That site bases its ranking on the number of blogs that link to a particular blog.

Regardless, Instapundit is recognized as "certainly the largest news blog," said Nashville free-lance journalist Bill Hobbs, who is a veteran blogger at www.billhobbs.com.

Reynolds started his blog shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, and became interested in it while teaching Internet law.

Reynolds said blogs will continue to grow, with more video and coverage of local issues, and that will further challenge local and national media outlets.

Michael Silence can be reached at 865-342-6310

January 31, 2004 at 12:09 AM in Blogging & feeds | Permalink | TrackBack (256) | Top of page | Blog Home