Pop open the bubbly! Think about the thousands of political blogs out there — including ones on the right and left, ones that are general politics and niche political blogs (race, LGBT, etc.). Pam’s House Blend lands at #40, according to Technorati. Here’s how it determines ranking. (TechPresident):

Because most searches are looking for items less than a month old, we’re going to narrow that window in a similar way. In the past, because the data window was so long, Authority and the Top 100 lists it powered were relatively static. With the new algorithm, the resulting Authority will better reflect the fast-changing nature of the blogosphere. Its new inherent volatility will also show which blogs are rising and falling in authority, rewarding authors on posting frequency, context and linking behavior, as well as other data inputs.

And here we go…

1. HuffingtonPost (1)
2. Boing Boing
3. Daily Kos (8)
4. CNN Political Ticker (3)
5. Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish (21)
6. The Caucus (New York Times)
7. Treehugger
8. Threat Level (39)
9. Think Progress (2)
10. 538 (10)
11. Talking Points Memo
12. Washington Wire (Wall Street Journal)
13. Michelle Malkin (14)
14. Ben Smith, Politico (22)
15. The Corner (National Review Online)
16. Pajamas Media
17. Hot Air
18. Political Radar (ABC News)
19. Crooks and Liars (13)
20. Newsbusters (5)
21. Glenn Greenwald (Salon) (4)
22. Marc Ambinder (The Atlantic)
23. Swampland (Time)
24. Powerline (9)
25. Redstate 		26. Americablog
27. Firedoglake (20)
28. Gateway Pundit (11)
29. Matthew Yglesias (40)
30. Hit & Run (Reason)
31. Feministing
32. TruthDig
33. Buzzmachine
34. CQ Politics
35. Open Left
36. Hullabaloo (28)
37. Talk Left
38. Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire (33)
39. Mother Jones
40. Pam’s House Blend
41. MyDD
42. Balloon Juice
43. Stop the ACLU (41)
44. The Next Right
45. The Moderate Voice (33)
46. Feministe
47. Real Clear Politics
48. Atrios
49. Little Green Footballs
50. Wizbang

Now, TechPresident also notes something I immediately saw about the list that makes the Blend’s status even more impressive is this coffeehouse is an independent blog (i.e., written by unfunded politically-minded, coffee-stained, PJ-wearing baristas), competing on the list against corporatized, institutional, media-backed and think-tank blogs on that list. If you removed all of those funded political blogs like The Politico, CNN’s Political Ticker, Think Progress, et. al., the Blend would be in the top 25 political blogs in the nation.

That’s quite terrifying to me on some level to see the blog’s reach and influence; after all, 1) it’s not generated from inside the Beltway or a major media market; 2) it’s a diverse roster of contributors; 3) it’s run by a black lesbian with a lot of LGBT and race-focused content.

I wonder what has been the reason for this success? I really don’t have a clue when you see the Blend stacked up against all those other influential blogs.

More below the fold.

The whole unfunded and outside-the-big-media market represents both a boon and a challenge — being independent gives you full editorial freedom, but the flip side of that is the inability to regularly cover events in DC and other metro political centers because…

* Minimal funds to travel/reporting. If the Blend didn’t run ads, we’d be SOL. Laptops, video and recording equipment comes out of ad revenue — or our pockets. Ad revenue is down everywhere, and that goes for the Blend as well, so thank DOG I have a full-time job…but that leads to other problems like…

* Minimal time to travel. We get asked to attend a lot of conferences to do panels or to cover news events, but inevitably more are turned down than accepted because of that full-time job. Can’t be two places at once. So in spite of that huge limitation, the Blend is still a success.

* Lots of multitasking with limited time. If you’re covering a story in the field, you still have to produce content — thank the heavens for a slate of baristas who are fantastic at churning out great reporting and commentary on a consistent basis. And even so, we can’t cover every story or issue or answer all emails — no editorial assistants or junior baristas to help out or deal with technical issues!

So, the above kind of scares me; PHB is an influential, successful blog relied upon by a ton of readers, and as I told the audience at Fire & Ink, it’s a resource to the community that hangs by a thread if you think about it. There’s no infrastructure to support it, and that’s why you’re going to see fewer and fewer independent bloggers on that Technorati list as time goes on. TechPresident’s Micah Sifry concurs:

As we noted back in January, big media bloggers are steadily edging out their less-well-subsidized brethren in the U.S. political blogging arena. The first six additions to the list–The Plum Line, Glenn Thrush, etc.–are all backed by major media outlets. Not that this is news, but the days of the individual “pajama-clad” blogger hitting the big time are clearly over.

So there’s some food for thought there. Other than handful of larger independent blogs that are self-sustaining through ads, like DKos, PHB is a dinosaur on that list –early adopter, slowly building an audience (of general readers, fellow bloggers, and influentials), but still unfunded (or not co-opted, depending on your POV). Ironically, many of the media-backed blogs are attempts to stay relevant as their print models are dragging them down the drain. You have to wonder what the point of convergence will be on both sides.

Oh, just so you know, I’ve never been approached by any media entity or institution to “buy out” or fully subsidize PHB, so I doubt you’ll see that happening any time soon, despite the ranking.  It sits in an odd niche, has a quirky collection of voices, and no one would want to see it radically change even if that meant stability and guarantee of sustainability. Of course that also means it could just go away at any time due to its current model of flying by the seat of your independent pants.