451 Group security guru Nick Selby has packed in his personal blog, in light of the additional expectations of his recent promotion and the launch of a new company blog on security.

It’s funny how you get attached to some blogs. I was partial to that one. Nick, I’ll miss your waggish wit. I trust we’ll see hints of it surface in your posts at the new blog.

Meawhile, I’m dutifully adding two 451 blogs to the directory: one on security and one on information management.

I’ll summarize all the blog directory adds and deletes in the normal monthly update post, right around April Fool’s day.

I’ve finally defined the new, improved “blogroll logic” for the Tekrati analyst blogs directory. The first rule going into effect disqualifies all blogs that have not had at least two posts per month for the last four months. These blogs will be gone by Monday morning, San Francisco time.

The complete qualification logic with regards to positing activity:
* Blogs have at least two original posts per month for the last four calendar months.
* Newly minted blogs get a four-month honeymoon, starting with their inaugural posting.
* Blog deletions will be listed in the monthly “directory update” post, here in the Keeping Tabs blog.
* Send requests for inclusion/re-listing in the blogs directory to me at editor, here at tekrati.

Grab the OPML today, if you want your own personal archive of those sleepers.

Your thoughts on this policy are most welcome.

During February, I added 9 blogs to Tekrati’s Directory of Analyst Blogs, and archived 1.

February adds

Some are new, some are newly discovered.

Company: FAO Research
Lisa Ross formally announced her first blog, Outsourcing Perspectives. It debuted with quite a bit of content and comment.

Company: Forrester Research
The title says it all: George F. Colony’s Blog: Counterintuitive. He launched the blog with several posts about Davos — personal takes on the who and why, a bit about his own agenda there. The blog will feel familiar to fans of his long-running “My View” columns and newsletters.

At this point, Green IT Sourcing by Euan Davis and Christopher Mines, is added as a vote of encouragement. Don’t let this one die.

Also, check out Wicked Flavory, a personal blog on local/organic foods, by Kerry Bodine. Hat tip on that one to Jeremiah Owyang, who solicited coworker blogs and faves for submission to Jonny Bentwood’s Top Analyst Blogs.

Company: Greentech Media
Scott Clavenna and (primarily) editor Daniel Englander have been busy blogging at Green Light, an extension to the company’s cleantech/greentech industry media and research.

Company: Guidewire Group
The original company blog has been replaced with The Guidewire, written by CEO Chris Shipley and analyst Carla Thompson. Also, check out Carla’s personal blog, Sharp Skirts.

Company: Jupiter Research
At last, a Jup analyst with a personal blog. John Lovett’s personal blog, Musings on Web Site Technologies and Operations, came to my attention when he criticized and linked to one of my posts.

Company: RedMonk
Greenmonk Associates, a blog by RedMonk James Governor. Hat tip to Jonny Bentwood’s Top 100 Analyst Blogs, for finding this one.

Blogs archived in February

Just one: Chris Shipley’s Guidewire Connection, replaced by the new blog.

This is a community directory. Please help.

On February 29th, the directory contained 267 blog listings. Those with valid feeds are also included in Tekrati’s blog rolls and the directory OPML.

The Tekrati Directory of Analyst Blogs and OPML is a freely available service.

Please support this effort by sharing tips on blogs/bloggers that are missing, acknowledging your use of the directory/OPML as appropriate, and spreading the word.

Thanks!
Barbara

Jonny Bentwood, an Edelman employee who blogs at Technobabble 2.0, has issued his quarterly ranking of the “Top 100 analyst blogs”. The ranking is based on his own system of points, applied to the Tekrati analyst blogs directory plus additional blogs that he identifies.

This time around, the top honors went to Jeremiah Owyang’s blog, Web Strategy by Jeremiah. This is the first ranking published since Jeremiah joined Forrester Research.

In browsing the rankings, I’ve spotted 3 blogs not listed in the Tekrati directories:

The Net-Savvy Executive by Nathan Gilliatt, of Social Target (ranked 31)

Greenmonk, an open source / cleantech community founded by James Governor, Redmonk (ranked 65)

Holway’s HotViews by Richard Holway, until recently an active icon in the industry analyst community (not ranked)

The Top 100 also includes some blogs no longer appearing in the Tekrati directory.

Props to Jonny Bentwood for outstanding work! Props to every blogging analyst, on the list or not!

During January, I added 14 blogs to Tekrati’s Directory of Analyst Blogs, moved 2 bloggers to new companies, and archived 10 blogs.

January adds/moves

Some are new, some are newly discovered.

Company: Alfred Poor’s HDTV Resource Center
HDTV Almanac by Alfred Poor

Company: AMR Research
Blogging Phil Fersht came out of the Tekrati archives when he returned to the analyst ranks in January:
The Outsourcing Blog Horses for Sources
IT Services and Outsourcing, hosted at ZDNet

Company: Broadband Directions
Will Richmond replaced the BroadbandVideo360 blog with VideoNuze

Company: Brockmann and Company
Welcome Peter Brockmann to the Tekrati directories. He blogs at Communications

Company: Chilmark Research
John Moore is another analyst who emerged from the Tekrati archives in January. Welcome his new company to the Tekrati directories and catch up at Chilmark Research

Company: Corporate Integrity
Michael Rasmussen moved from Forrester Research to the independent life in December. He’s blogging at: Corporate Integrity, LLC

Company: Farpoint Group
I finally caught up with Craig Mathias’ blog, hosted at Network World: Craig Mathias’s Blog

Company: Forrester Research
Tom Grant joined Forrester and launched the new Forrester blog, Forrester Product Management Blog
James Kobielus, still a poet at heart, made the switch from Current Analysis to Forrester. He blogs on at James Kobielus’ Blog

Company: Gilbane Group
At Gilbane, new practice area = new blog: XML Technologies and Content Strategies, led by Bill Trippe.

Company: Hurwitz & Associates
Marcia Kaufman joined other Hurwitz bloggers: Marcia Kaufman’s Weblog

Company: Monash Research*
Yet another blog by Curt Monash: Strategic Messaging

Company: NPRG
Terry Barnich and Craig Clausen are podcasting. Registration required: NPRG Conversations

Company: Opus Research
A long overdue welcome to Dan Miller and Opus Research. Dan and Greg Sterling blog at Local Mobile Search

Company: Pacific Data Works
Binstock on Software by Andrew Binstock. I had listed him under Camden up until this year.

Company: Storage Strategies Now
Finally, welcome Deni Connor to the official analyst ranks and analyst blogger ranks to boot: Storage Strategies Now

Blogs archived in January

Digital Investor blogs: all listings archived, due to change in business focus
Forrester Applications and Program Management Council: subscription required
3D3G: blogger left Pyramid Research
/Messengers: Stowe Boyd has replaced this particular blog with Facebook presence as an experiment
Semico’s MAP Model blog: replaced by PDF
Peter Lacy’s Weblog: no longer an industry analyst
Anatomy of a Shovel News Feed: Robyn Weisman no longer associated with Beagle Research
Graham Brown’s Journal: company sites taken down for relaunch

This is a community directory. Please help.

On January 31st, the directory contained 259 blog listings. Those with valid feeds are also included in Tekrati’s blog rolls and the directory OPML.

The Tekrati Directory of Analyst Blogs and OPML is a freely available service.

Please support this effort by sharing tips on blogs/bloggers that are missing, acknowledging your use of the directory/OPML as appropriate, and spreading the word.

Thanks!
Barbara

Ed: Corrected “Monash Information Services” to “Monash Research”. 5 Feb 2008.

During December, two blogs written by analysts were added to Tekrati’s Directory of Analyst Blogs, a freely available directory and OPML.

The December additions are:

Company: Hurwitz & Associates
Fern Halper’s data makes the world go round
Robin Bloor’s Blog: have Mac will blog

On December 31st, the directory contained 260 blog listings. Blogs with validated feeds are included in the directory OPML.

I appreciate your help in letting me know of any blogs I’ve missed.

Please note, Tekrati will be closed for the holidays, from December 22nd through January 2, 2008. Your messages and blog posts are welcome during this time, but hold the chocolates.

And the fish.

I apologize for the disruption in publishing the site and newsletter these last few weeks. I expect to catch up on breaking and backlogged content before the 22nd.

Carter Lusher, who heads corporate analyst relations for HP, shared some choice and candid insights on the inner workings of big-vendor analyst relations programs at his blog this week. One of the posts is about industry analyst directories.

It takes courage for vendor-dwelling analyst relations professionals to admit that they are not the walking, talking AR equivalent of Burke’s Peerage & Baronetage. If you’ve held an inhouse AR job, or interviewed for one, you know what I’m talking about. The mere mention of an AR job title brings out the name dropper in otherwise rational and likeable people. Management and marketing and sales all expect their AR team to know every analyst who’s “anybody” — and many analysts who haven’t quite “arrived”.

In his post, Carter encourages analysts to cooperate with those of us who publish the analyst directories. I think that’s good advice, but let’s face it, I’m biased. I’ve had some very funny experiences publishing the Tekrati analyst directories.

For example, one up-and-coming analyst company was keen to participate in Analyst Profiles. They just didn’t want to list any of their analysts. I politely responded that it is, in fact, a directory of people. They were equally polite in explaining that yes, they understood all that, and yes, they wanted to be included. They just didn’t want to list their staff. The clincher was that they used that tone of voice — the one analysts use when they decide they’re talking to really dense vendor spokespeople. I laughed so hard, I cried — and decided to find a way to list them. At Tekrati, irony earns its own rewards.

The blogs directory is very slippery. For example, one of my intentions is to require that each blog have at least one named, regularly contributing author. This seemed like a no-brainer. Did you know that several analyst firms consider their blogs authored by their “services”, not by their “people”? Ponder the implications of that.

Most analysts are cooperative with publishers like me. They don’t want to be misrepresented in these directories. Some are adopting open policies toward publishing staff credentials. Some are supportive in other ways.

Of couse, some are real jerks.

More than one analyst has taken the time to let me know that as far as they are concerned, the Tekrati directories — and every other analyst, media, and IT directory — are nothing more than sleazy grifts. I would have been offended, too, but for the biographies and contact info attached to their emails.

I’m still digesting the blog criteria, descriptive/rating ideas and social debates raised by my volunteer advisory team of analysts and consultants. Sorry it’s taking so long.

Meanwhile, my foraging for social media rating criteria just turned up Ian Delaney’s thought-provoking post at twopointouch, Principles for Online Communities. It’s a short distillation of pre-Web 2.0 essays on designing online communities around the human psyche. He suggests it might be fun to use it to rate the Web 2.0 wunderkinder; I agree. I’m looking at how to apply it to describing/rating analyst blogs.

This sort of list might go a long way to evaluating analyst deployments of [other] social technologies, too. As Mike Gotta noted, more and more analysts are using bookmarking, wikis, twitter, etc. It would be useful to have a system for sorting out which ones have broader value and which are virtual scribbles, link bait, artifacts of a clip junkie, etc.

Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey this week shines its Tech Editorial spotlight on the Gartner Magic Quadrant. The live teleconference takes place tomorrow at 4:00 pm EST, 1:00 pm PST. I’m on the show, along with Carter Lusher, director of analyst relations at HP, and a Gartner spokesperson TBA, and of course, the outspoken Sam Whitmore and his SWMS clients. As usual, this group has compiled an interesting list of questions and discussion points, including which parts of the MQ get the most readership, how do I get my client onto one, how do I get my client off of one.

I characterize the Magic Quadrant as the most reviled form of industry analyst research being published anywhere on the planet today. One of the main reasons it is so deeply hated is that it is so deeply loved. Much of the intense loathing that the MQ evokes is a direct response to its popularity with IT vendors. Check it out:

• The term “magic quadrant” was included in more than 400 press releases distributed through Business Wire during the last 12 months
• Google finds about 757,000 web pages including the words Gartner and “magic quadrant”, and that’s limiting results to web pages first seen within the last 12 months and excluding all results from the gartner.com domain

Everyone’s got an opinion on what to do about Magic Quadrants, especially the analyst relations consultants and those who believe they are AR experts whether or not they have ever actually executed on analyst relations themselves. Gartner analysts are a good case in point. Many Gartner analysts make buckets of cash from the Magic Quadrant long after they leave Gartner employment, by providing MQ training, consulting, project management, insider tips, whitepapers, and related expertise ad nauseum.

We’ll see what opinions pop up tomorrow.