JD Lasica reports from the BlogOn Conference: "Influence is moving from big media to the edges. Users are becoming as influential as big media in certain areas, especially in specialized niches. What are the metrics of influence on the Internet?" Usefulness, trustworthiness and attention are the three key ones identified. Good emphasis is given to the fact that you don't need to be an A-list blogger to have impact and influence on the Internet. Circles of trust play an important role in defining where and how credibility and authority is being established on the Web today:

1. News organizations are still a source of trusted, reliable reportage for tens of millions of Americans.

2. Blogs -- either individual efforts, group blogs, or blogs affiliated with a blog network like WeblogsInc, Corante or Gawker Media -- are becoming indispensible sources of trusted information for millions of people. Many are small blogs read by only a select group of people.

3. Trust mechanisms like Snopes, Hoaxbusters, Urbanlegends, rely on editors who vet rumors.

4. Reputation aggregators, including Google, Technorati, PubSub, Feedster, and the other search engines all offer insight into what people are saying about someone -- and what people are saying about the people who are making the comments.

5. Ecommerce sites that offer a community component -- eBay, Amazon, BabyCenter -- give added authority to posters who comment on products and services.

6. Independent islands of commentary like Epinions, BizRate, ThemeParkInsider, The Car Place, the Better Business Bureau Online, and other sites elevate users and amateur publishers to the status of consumer advocate.

7. Social networks. LinkedIn, Spoke, Tribe, MySpace, Orkut and other social networks offer varying degrees of influence based on the friend-of-a-friend paradigm."