In what is surely to be the most hotly disputed or buried story of 2008, recent study finds that “influencers” happen to have very little actual influence over their audience. Why, I’d never…  You mean to tell me that the worthless people who could only get an English major, the same ones that couldn’t get a real press job and spend their day bashing mainstream media aren’t.. influential? Say it ain’t so man, where is this world going to get true leadership if its not delivered by the guys with 10,000 Twitter buddies reflecting on their stool consistency?

How about the people that are actually doing something? Nah, thats just ridiculous.

Here is the thing, actual creators, movers and shakers tend to either not be very good at communicating or too swamped with what they are actually doing. Reporters, by comparison, are only useful to the extent that they can quickly inform you about whats going on.

So what happens when the reporters try to run the show? What happens when the charlatans try to pretend they matter and build a fantasy world of grandiose self-congratulations? Debates such as “Where has the original thought gone?” start, but all the relevant people have long walked out the door and well, delusion sets in.

Just because you get a lot of traffic, does not make you relevant. Just because you are relevant, does not mean you are influential.

That is something that upsets me the most about blogging, the number of times I have heard that there is no reason to blog just because Susan Bradley says it all already, or because its going to be covered by Engadget or seen on TechMeMe. So what? Blogging is about opinions, about conversations, about presenting an idea.

Do you have an idea? Well, lay it out. People will think about it, come back, and hopefully you will be enriched by what your visitors have to say.

It is also an amazing way to market yourself. I listen to woe is me stories every day about the sales phone not ringing, about customers not banging down the doors, about how things actually require hard work. What did you expect it to be like? An infomercial? You just open up shop, pick a logo, and people slam down your web site and just line up to buy and click and pay attention to you?

There is an incoming wave of reality about to wash out a lot of AdSense accounts fronted by plaguerised me-too “news” you can get everywhere and anywhere else. Find a way to stand out, or its the end of filling up your coffers with the theoretical money (see South Park)

Most of all, find something to say. If there is nothing to you, why should anyone trust you or do business with you?

Excellent breakdown of the numbers and take on the Tipping Point here.

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