Are blogs becoming more influential than The New York Times’ website? A study carried out by the San Francisco-based Long Now Foundation found that among 2007’s five most important news items (in the US), blogs were ranked higher in Google searches for four of them.

The issue was first raised five years ago when Dave Winer, one of the creators and pioneers of blogging, contended that of the “five words or phrases representing the five most important news items of 2007, blogs would rank higher than The New York Times’ website.”

The five main news items in 2007 were picked by the Associated Press, including the subprimes crisis, the Virginia Tech shooting, Iraq war, price of oil and Chinese exports. Except for the subprimes, blogs ranked over the Times website in all cases.

Based on a similar study with a different methodology, Workbench writer Rogers Cadenhead still found that blogs were more popular three times out of five.

“Instead, our most trusted source on the biggest news stories of 2007 is a horde of nameless, faceless amateurs who are not required to prove expertise in the subjects they cover,” concluded Cadenhead.

However, is an outlet’s popularity equivalent to its overall effective influence – linked to credibility of sources? And while both popularity and credibility are correlated, the results don’t necessarily mean that blogs are a more trusted source (granted, they may receive more hits) than traditional media. In fact, recent studies point to the opposite conclusion.

As noted by Cadenhead though, Wikipedia seems to be the biggest winner of Winer’s bet, as the online community encyclopedia now regularly ranks among top results, whether for news or other subjects.

Source: Pisani blog - Workbench