More on the Forbes column: I make it to the Charts:)

My editor at Forbes let me know a couple of hours ago that my inaugural column had made it to the top 10 most popular articles on their web site:

Hi Emre,

Your story, “Greek Tragedy’s Next Act” is currently one of the Top Ten Most Popular stories on Forbes.com (visible on the Home Page):

* Most Popular

1. How To Hide From Google
2. The World's Billionaires
3. Ranking The World's Most Sustainable Companies
4. Apple iPad: Winners And Losers
5. Google And The iPad
6. Five Reasons iPad Isn't A Kindle Killer
7. Pfizer Whittles Post-Wyeth Pipeline
8. World's Most Powerful Billionaires
9. Apple iPad Gripes And Groans
10. Greek Tragedy's Next Act

Pretty good for a first opinion piece!

I had seen it as one of the most popular in columnists, right above the Great Roubini, not to be confused with the Great Houdini, but I had no idea I had made it to the overall top 10. BTW, I should add that I had no idea he was writing on the same subject; if I knew, I would probably have avoided writing on Greece:)- after all, even if what I wrote made perfect sense, I would look like a complete idiot in my inaugural column if I contradicted what he was saying. Luckily, our columns are so similar that one would think we had a chat before sitting down to write our respective columns. That is not say that I am a better writer or economist than him:)...

And it seems that Forbes awards the popular columns with a special link denoting most popular status. But I should not rejoice: For one thing, the difference with this list and the Billboard top 40 is that popularity may not have perfect correlation with likability- you may be read because everyone loves to hate you- there are quite a few columnists that fit into that category in Turkey:).

But nevertheless, as my editor noted, this is not a bad start at all, especially when you consider I had the misfortune of competing with the ipad- just look at the list again if you are not sure what I am talking about. For one thing, the popularity definitely did not come from my few loyal blog readers, as I posted the article in the blog almost a day after it appeared in Forbes (the date is seen as Wednesday in the blog, but I actually pasted it Thursday morning; my avid blog readers know that I always backdate columns at their publication dates even if I have to post them a couple of weeks after they are published- this is just for my own archiving purposes.

BTW, Forbes has a rating system as well as comments section, so if you like the article feel free to rate it; if you hate it, you can email your private rating to me:)! Joking aside, any comments/suggestions, points to add, etc. are never required, but always appreciated, sort of like in a friendly Midwestern diner:) In fact, I would be grateful for a negative rating more, provided it comes with an explanation of why you don't like the article. The painful way is the only way to improve; Greece has yet to notice this, as the latest mayhem hints, but I am more than willing to swallow my own pills:)