From the reader’s point of view, to read a ranking is having access to a personalised hierarchy of information, which is generally not the case on the Net : there is a real added value. From the blogger’s point of view, creating a ranking is a way to show his credentials.
From the reader’s point of view : a Top list means things are simpler and more direct.
With the huge quantity of information available on line, the problem today is much more to find which information are really valuable than to find the information itself. Let ‘s imagine, for instance, that I want to find information about « films noirs » movies. The page results for « films noir movies » is the following on Google :
The first link is the Wikipedia article about the movie genre « film noir » . There, I will find encyclopedic information about « film noir », and as often with Wikipedia, the information will be quite accurate and meaningful. Moreover using the links and references of the article I will have access to other interesting pages. The other links on the page are a French site about a films noirs movie posters exhibition, a site about a rock band named « film noir » and a specialized site, apparently updated for the last time in 2004. Google has done a correct job, I have access to many sources devoted to « film noir ». However I have no special information about what is really good, whats is worth being seen or read. I will have to sort things by myself, it will take time.But If I search for « best films noir » movies, the answers are the following :
I have the choice between four Top lists. With them, very clearly, I will know what is the best according to their authors, and often why. The information is of course different from what I will find on Wikipedia but the hierarchy created by these Top lists gives me a real added value : a first sorting has been done. In a glance, I can judge the quality of the post, and I have direct information to qualitative information.
From the blogger’s point of view : a Top list gives evidence of competence
Rankings enable bloggers to show users, very rapidly, if what they say about a matter is relevant or not, and if there is a real added value in the treated information. By analyzing all the information available, with his experience and knowledge, the blogger will have organized and sort things and will give the user a kind of synthesis. With the example of « best film noir », the first two links on Google are links to well known and trustful sites : IMDB, the biggest movie database, and epinions. The fourth link sends to Eddie Muller’s page. Personally, I don’t know who Eddie Muller is, but at least I know that Eddie Muller has created a Top 25 film noir movies, with comments. It indicates a minima that Eddie Muller has a certain knowledge about that genre and that it could be worth paying a visit to his page if I am in search of information on film noir movies.
This is even more obvious when a blog is dedicated to a specific topic and is written by an « expert ». As a reader, if I am looking for a blog dedicated to the Iphone for instance, I will be much more attracted if I know that on that blog, I can find the TOP 2009 Iphone, the TOP Iphone games and the TOP free Iphone application. These Top lists will be clear indications of the knowledge of the blogger and of the work he has done to give me information with added value.
2 – Top lists give immediate information about the blogger.
To create a Top list is quite a good and efficient way to tell who we are. Give me your Top best cities, music, novels or movies, and I will have quite a precise idea of who you are. Equally, on professionnal (say "entrepreneurship") or personal matters (say "good restaurants in Paris"), give me your rankings and I can tell immediately if what you say is relevant for me or not.
From the reader’s point of view : aTop list indicates the quality of the source.
As a user, I have absolutely no idea of the seriousness of 99,99% (low estimation) of the available sources. A ranking enables me to judge immediately if the blogger has something for me. If we take the two previous examples, one professional, the other one personal, here are two rankings you can find on the Net :
Top 10 mistakes people make when starting a business
« Mistake # 1, not enough money». I have been trough that, I know the problem, I do also think it is the danger number one in a start up. My first impression is quite good. Time to read : two seconds.
« Mistake #2, not thinking survival ». That would not have been my choice, but the comment is intelligent and meaningful. My first impression is confirmed, I’ll read the blog, I’ll add it to my bookmarks, I’ll probably come back. Total time to read : five seconds.
Now about more personnal matters :
Top traditional French cuisine restaurants in Paris.
« # 1 – Beauvilliers ». Beauvilliers is a very good brasserie, what you eat is quite good but not so traditional. I would not say that this is THE restaurant for traditional French cuisine in Paris. Moreover it is quite expensive, you also pay for the name and the place. I would certainly not take it as my number 1. Time to read : one second.
« #2 – Bofinger ». The restaurant has more traditional recipes, but once again the adress is not exceptional and you have many more interesting places. I am not convinced, I know that I will not find the real best addresses in that ranking. (By the way, if you come to Paris, drop me a mail, I’ll send you my very personal and very secret Top list!). Total time to read : four seconds.
Thanks to the rankings, I do not only have an organized and synthetized information, I have also a clear view of who is the source. And by "who", I mean if the source corresponds to what I am looking for. It does not have to be always about quality of the information. I can also judge if what is written will amuse me, or if we have common tastes, or if it inspirational, etc.
From the blogger’s point of view : a Top list says who I am and what I want to achieve.
If the creation of a Top list gives the blogger a clear image of competence ( again "competence" here means "achieving what the blogger wants to do", it could be information, tastes, fun, ...), the elements of his ranking will show users who he is, in a dynamic way, not as in the « who I am » section.
The following "Top list movies of the decade" tell us many things about their authors.
Top list n°1
# 1 - The Squid and the whale
# 2 – Synecdoche
# 3 – Children of men
# 4 – The life aquatic
# 5 – There will be blood
# 6 – The barbarians invasion
# 7 – The diving bell and the butterfly
# 8 – After the wedding
…
Top list n°2
# 1 – The aviator
# 2 – Whale rider
# 3 – Gangs of New York
# 4 – Memento
# 5 – Slumdog millioniare
# 6 – Sin city
# 7 – Charlie Wilson’s war
# 8 – Mystic river
…
To create the ranking n°1 is to tell users « I am a cinephile, with sharp, international, and eclectic tastes», creating the ranking n°2 is to tell users « I am a movie lover, loving Hollywood big budget films with famous actors ». In both cases users will know immediately what to expect and if what you say is relevant to them. According to what they expect they'll chose one blog, or the other.
It is then perfecly understandable to see more and more Top lists on the Net and even more and more «professional » sites using them (The Times , The NYT , Askmen, Le Figaro, The Guardian, …). They perfectly answer the need for users to sort the information, to go straight to the point and to know who is the source of this information.
No comments:
Post a Comment