Who is the most influential person online? Whoever might get that title will have a heavy burden. Let's face it, as rapidly as things change in the Online Universe, being recognized as the most influential online person is probably less than fifteen minutes of fame.

Or maybe not. But I do find a certain amount of humor in Fast Company creating a project to give us the opportunity to name the most influential online person of 2010 (rapid change...fast company). It's called the Influence Project .

The explosion of social networking sites is giving voice to lots of people who might not have such a wide audience as the web potentially gives them. Of course, you've noticed that a lot of commentary on Facebook and Twitter is kind of lame, self absorbed or pointless. But there also are some interesting and thought-provoking discoveries.

Seth Godin is probably a front runner for most influential online person. he has a big following and a terrific blog.

Ken Evoy of Sitesell.com would be one of my nominees. His philosophy of slow and steady (long tail) growth by individuals dedicated to creating more than a web site (a real business, purpose with great traffic) through his line of company products (especially Site Build It ) continues to grow - and influence - people. But Ken would probably deflect the attention and steer it towards those who are being successful and influential by using the methods he promotes. Those claims are backed up here .