Notes from the Field
- WordPress wins -- it is used by a whopping 34 percent of the 100 blogs on Technorati's Top 100 linked-to.
- Movable Type is used by 16 percent. So WP and MT between them provide the platform for half the surveyed blog sites.
- This proportion would be higher, but for the amount of platforms which started out as either Movable Type or WordPress (usually MT, near as we can judge), only to be hacked beyond all recognition. These we classify as 'Custom'.
- The "Big 2" blogging networks are neck and neck in terms of representation. Gawker has 8 blogs on the list, each using Gawker's own custom publishing platform (with a hacked Movable Type UI).The Weblogs network, also with 8 sites on the list, uses Blogsmith.
- I'm not certain that Metafilter, Little Green Footballs, Crave|cnet and Daring Fireball are all categorized correctly. There could possibly be other gremlins lurking within this opus. Scornfully fill me in, if you know better.
- Wider scope Web CMS technologies are not used much by the top blogs. Drupal scores 5 sites, with Plone used by 1. Other popular Web CMS platforms are conspicuous only by their absence.
- Most of the custom systems built are legacy jobs used by websites for years (e.g., Drudge Report). No-one is crazy enough to build their own blogging platform these days...except maybe Gawker Media.
- Judging by the list, the blogosphere is still at an immature stage. The list is dominated by gadgets, Web news, SEO, and general geekiness. Is that really all people want from a blog?
The Raw Numbers
Technorati Top 100 'Most Linked to' Blogs as of Jan, 2008 by publishing platform.| CMS/Platform | Count |
| WordPress | 34 |
| Movable Type | 16 |
| Custom CMS | 11 |
| Blogsmith/Weblogs | 8 |
| Gawker CMS | 8 |
| TypePad | 7 |
| Blogger/Blogspot | 6 |
| Drupal | 5 |
| Plone | 1 |
| Scoop | 1 |
| Expression Engine | 1 |
| Community Server | 1 |
| City Desk (Fog Creek) | 1 |
| 1) | Engadget | Blogsmith |
| 2) | Gizmodo | Gawker |
| 3) | Techcrunch | Wordpress |
| 4) | Huffington post | Movable Type |
| 5) | Boing Boing | Movable Type |
| 6) | Lifehacker | Gawker |
| 7) | Ars Technica | Custom |
| 8) | Mashable | Wordpress |
| 9) | Blog di Beppe Grillo | Movable Type |
| 10) | icanhascheezburger | Wordpress |
| 11) | Daily Kos | Scoop |
| 12) | TMZ Entertainment | BlogSmith |
| 13) | perez Hilton | Wordpress |
| 14) | postSecret | Hosted: BlogSpot |
| 15) | Seth Godin | Hosted: Typepad |
| 16) | ReadWriteWeb | Movable Type |
| 17) | proBlogger | Wordpress |
| 18) | Official GoogleBlog | Hosted: BlogSpot |
| 19) | treeHugger | Movable Type |
| 20) | Smashing Magazine | Wordpress |
| 21) | Kotaku, Gamers Guide | Gawker [MT]* |
| 22) | Gigazine | Expression Engine |
| 23) | Dosh Dosh | Wordpress [Thanks Maki] |
| 24) | CopyBlogger | Wordpress |
| 25) | Think progress | Wordpress |
| 26) | The Consumerist | Gawker |
| 27) | Valleywag | Gawker |
| 28) | GigaOM | Wordpress |
| 29) | ShoeMoney | Wordpress |
| 30) | Crooks and Liars | Wordpress |
| 31) | Scobleizer | Wordpress |
| 32) | at0mica | Wordpress |
| 33) | TUaW - Unofficial apple Blog | Blogsmith |
| 34) | uthink | plone |
| 35) | Gawker | Gawker* |
| 36) | Search Engine Land | Movable Type |
| 37) | Joystiq | Blogsmith |
| 38) | a List apart | Custom (Happy Cog) |
| 39) | Drudge Report | Custom |
| 40) | Talking pointsMemo | MovableType [with 'limited customization' -thanks JoshMarshall] |
| 41) | Neatorama | Wordpress |
| 42) | O'Reilly Radar | Movable Type |
| 43) | Threat Level-Wired | Typepad |
| 44) | How to Change theWorld | Typepad |
| 45) | Microsiervos | Movable Type [thanks Nacho] |
| 46) | Lifehack.org | Wordpress |
| 47) | dooce | Drupal |
| 48) | Engadget Japanese | Blogsmith |
| 49) | Zen Habits | Wordpress |
| 50) | Blogoscoped(unofficial Google) | Custom [Thanks philip and Haochi] |
| 51) | autoblog | Blogsmith |
| 52) | NewsBusters.org | Drupal |
| 53) | Xiaxue | Blogspot |
| 54) | “43 Folders” | Drupal |
| 55) | Download Squad | Blogsmith |
| 56) | The DailyDish/andrew Sullivan | Typepad |
| 57) | ancora Imparo | CommunityServer |
| 58) | Secret Diary ofSteve Jobs | BlogSpot |
| 59) | TheWrongadvices.com | Wordpress |
| 60) | Jauhari | Wordpress |
| 61) | Google OperatingSystem blog | BlogSpot |
| 62) | Noscope | Wordpress |
| 63) | Matt Cutts | Wordpress |
| 64) | The Superficial | Custom |
| 65) | TheCorner/National Review | Custom |
| 66) | TheSartorialist | BlogSpot |
| 67) | Deadspin | Gawker* |
| 68) | antbag.com | Wordpress |
| 69) | Hot air | Wordpress |
| 70) | kottke.org | Movable Type |
| 71) | SEOBook | Drupal |
| 72) | Crunchgear | Wordpress |
| 73) | FreakonomicsNYTimes | Custom |
| 74) | Vacuous Virtuoso | Wordpress |
| 75) | SlashFilm | Wordpress |
| 76) | stereogum | Movable Type |
| 77) | Gothamist | Movable Type |
| 78) | Fanhouse aOL Sports | Blogsmith |
| 79) | TorrentFreak | Wordpress |
| 80) | Joel on Software | CityDesk (Fog Creek) |
| 81) | Dlisted | Drupal |
| 82) | Instapundit | Movable Type |
| 83) | Make: Blog | Movable Type |
| 84) | podbean Faq | Wordpress (podbean runs off Joomla!) |
| 85) | Coding Horror | (“..an ancient form of..”)Movable Type |
| 86 | incorporated suberversion | Wordpress |
| 87) | podbean News | Wordpress (podBean runs off Joomla!) |
| 88) | Jalopnik | Gawker * |
| 89) | Global VoicesOnline | Wordpress |
| 90) | Yanko Design | Wordpress |
| 91) | Go Fug Yourself | Typepad |
| 92) | Mac Rumours | Custom (Thanks Dr. Q) |
| 93) | Techdirt | MovableType |
| 94) | Gadget Lab | Typepad |
| 95) | Meta Filter | Custom |
| 96) | Bad Behavior | Wordpress |
| 97) | LittleGreen Footballs | Movable Type (I think) |
| 98) | Dilbert Blog | Typepad |
| 99) | Crave |Cnet | Wordpress |
| 100) | Daring Fireball | Custom |
