Today on TechCrunch, Brian Solis wrote a very thoughtful article about online authority. With the explosive growth of the social nets, blog authority is declining, even for stalwarts like TechCrunch and Engadget, because less time is being spent blogging about other blog posts (and linking to them from another blog, such as I am doing here). More typically, microlinks (tiny URL’s) are shared via Twitter and other social platforms, as well as commenting, re-tweeting, even commenting through FriendFeed about blog posts:  Are Blogs Losing Their Authority To The Statusphere?.

The fragmentation of the blogosphere is important, for a few reasons:

1. New opportunities: With even A-list bloggers losing “Authority,” this provides opportunities for new bloggers to expand theirs by being vigilant and consistent. On the flip side, if blogs are becoming less important, it might make more sense to focus on raising your cred in one or another of the social media worlds. This is a great relief to people who frankly, shouldn’t bother starting a blog because they don’t feel comfortable in the medium. Doesn’t it sound easier to get involved with Facebook or LinkedIn than committing to regular blogging?

2. Measurement: Social media measurement and monitoring is more important than ever, but needs to cover ever-expanding data sources in order for it to have true relevancy. On the flip side, what the measurement means will have even wider interpretation than ever, with vendors focusing their reporting based on the strengths of their algorithms.

3. SEO the ultimate prize: Link building is a whole lot easier if you don’t have to spend alot of time thinking, formulating and writing to build a link. But, link building is still the winner for building authority in the search engines, and there are now more ways to build them without creating alot of content.