Emily Gould: World’s Most Succesful Blogger

And we're not talking about crass cash payoffs, longevity, or even the tawdry mathematics of pageviews (though she's doing quite well on the latter, thanks very much). While reading bloggy oversharer Emily Gould's tell-all (or at least tell-some) cover story in this weekend's New York Times Magazine, we came to a realization: Gould is the most successful blogger in history. Success by this metric is measured in prominence and presence in the public eye that's still inclined to observe such things, and those eyeballs are growing in size and number. Her article -- a revealing chronicle of breakups and breakdowns in the world of bloggery -- is the War and Peace of Web 2.0. It's an epic print post about online posting.

It’s a masterwork in the career of a professional diarist. Gawker was paying her to write about others, but NYT Mag has shelled out to Gould for writing purely about herself writing about others and what it did to herself. For best results, you must consume the metapost online rather than in physical form. Otherwise, the second you’re flipping rather than clicking through the (10!) pages, Gould’s post becomes an article, and she’s reduced from World’s Most Successful Blogger to World’s 198,235th Most Successful NYT contributor.

And perhaps most important of all, Gould’s article has debuted at #10 on the NYT’s Most-Emailed List. Tumbl that, twitterlings.