Monthly Archives: November 2015

	Name	Country	Resort	Total Points	Instagram Followers	Twitter Followers	Facebook Followers	YouTube Views
1	Zoe Sugg	United Kingdom		19	5,800,000	3,770,000	2,400,000
2	Bianca Heinicke	Germany	Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru	18	2,300,000	1,050,000	1,275,000
3	Malini Agarwal	India	Club Med Kani	18	96,000	598,000	621,696	683
4	Natalie Tran	Australia	LUX Maldives	16	66,600	235,000		339,000
5	Chriselle Lim	USA	Six Senses Laamu	15	525,000	45,100	426,000	92,556
6	La Carmina	Japan	Gili Lankanfushi	14	50,500	33,000	31,201	5,981
7	Alison Teal	USA	Dusit Thani	13	48,200	24,200	68,441
8	Nicole Warne	Australia	Amilla Fushi	12	1,300,000	29,700	320,000
9	Gala Gonzales	Spain	Sun Siyam Irufushi	11	465,000	80,000	215
10	Jessica Stein	Australia	W Retreat	10	1,800,000	35,700	7,958
11	Jasmin Howell	Australia	Six Senses Laamu	10	192,000	10,300	11,523
12	Rosie Londoner	United Kingdom	Huvafenfushi	10	160,000	41,900	134,279
13	Elif Tanverdi	Turkey	NIYAMA	10	128,000	68,100	10,800
14	Juliet Angus	USA	FS Landaa Giraavaru	10	48,700	12,300	109,368
15	Alexandra Pereira	Spain	Constance Halaveli	9	900,000	67,600
16	Sabrina Tubic	Bosnia Herzegovina	Paradise Island	9	81,300	231	16,137	1,671
17	An Nguy	Vietnam		8	339,000		2,200,000
18	Maureen Schauder	Germany	Anantara Kihavah Villas	8	79,400	127	109,497
19	Josie Fear	United Kingdom	Thudufushi	8	21,300	15,500	675
20	Alina Lisina	Latvia	Dusit Thani	8	21,000	25,200	4,358	13

Ten years ago I started blogging. Not about the Maldives, but about topics more related to my work at Microsoft at the time. But it was that blogging which led me down the path to both this big part of Maldives Complete. I launched Maldives Complete complete with its very own blog. So I could share my own stories and special perspectives from years of researching and visiting this paradise destination.

To some, blogging rose to prominence and now has been superseded by other digital sharing platforms. But just like TV didn’t kill radio, and the Internet didn’t eliminate TV, all new formats – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube – might have crowded the pure “Blogosphere” (eg. WordPress, Blogger), but really they have just expanded it with new media and tools.

When I first started blogging about the Maldives, there really weren’t that many others. A few resorts and experts (eg. Seven Holidays, Dreaming of Maldives) have dabbled in it. And while there are still relatively few dedicated to the destination, as I mentioned in last week’s WTM post, the recent rise of the international “lifestyle blogger” nearly always includes the Maldives on their bucket lists.

When I was researching fashion and lifestyle icons visiting the Maldives a couple of months ago, I was struck by how many of these selfie-paparazzi were “Bloggers” of one sort or another. Many of these bloggers essentially serve up lifestyle porn (travel/food/fashion) with the overarching theme “I sucks to be me <wink>.”

While sex appeal sells and all of these bloggers are quite photogenic, the top of the leader board are not the Victoria Secret pageant queens. Instead, they are personalities who have carved out their niche with more substance than stylish photoshoots. They all have folksy, trendy monikers like La Carmina, Miss Everywhere, Miss Malini, Gary Pepper Girl, Alison Adventure, Tuula Vintage, Cizen Bayan, Lovely Pepa.

Of the 336 personalities identified (and logged in my database), 100+ are bloggers (the others are models, actresses, singers, athletes and other celebrities). I developed a ranking system based on things like followers on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, as well as things like entry details in Wikipedia and IMDB. I’m featuring the Top 20 today (if I were to rank Maldives Complete, I would score 3 points putting me in joint 45th place, but then I focus on a very niche subject area).

6 of top 10 are high profile enough to have their own Wikipedia articles (nobody below top 9 though make it into Wikipedia). There are only 3 Vloggers in the top 20 (not surprising as Vlogs take an order of magnitiude more production resources and skills). Six Senses Laamu and Dusit Thani score deuces with 2 entries each, but otherwise a good sampling across resorts. And on the geographic side, United Kingdom, Germany and Australia all score hatricks with 3 entries.

Reading blogs is great, writing one is even better.” – Seth Godin

1. Zoe Sugg (United Kingdom) – Ranveli

2. Bianca Heinicke (Germany) – Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru

3. Malini Agarwal (India) – Club Med Kani

4. Natalie Tran (Australia) – LUX Maldives

5. Chriselle Lim (USA) – Six Senses Laamu

6. La Carmina (Japan) – Gili Lankanfushi

7. Alison Teal (USA) – Dusit Thani

8. Nicole Warne (Australia) – Amilla Fushi

9. Gala Gonzales (Spain) – Sun Siyam Irufushi

10. Jessica Stein (Australia) – W Retreat

11. Jasmin Howell (Australia) – Six Senses Laamu

12. Rosie Londoner (United Kingdom) – One & Only Reethi Rah

13. Elif Tanverdi (Turkey) – NIYAMA

14. Juliet Angus (USA) – Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru

15. Alexandra Pereira (Spain) – Constance Halaveli

16. Sabrina Tubic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – Paradise Island

17. An Nguy (Vietnam)

18. Maureen Schauder (Germany) – Anantara Kihavah Villas

19. Josie Fear (United Kingdom) – Thudufushi

20. Alina Lisina (Latvia) – Dusit Thani