Mashable poised to overtake TechCrunch as leading 2.0 blog by traffic

The pecking order in the web 2.0/ social media blogging space is about to have its biggest shake up in years, with Mashable set to overtake rival TechCrunch.

Web tracking stats show that Mashable is just behind, or in one case ahead of TechCrunch. Alexa, Compete and Quantcast show TechCrunch in the lead, but only by small margins; comScore, a long favorite tracking service for TechCrunch shows that Mashable has more unique visitors, and is ahead on pageviews by a very small margin.

Mashable has been on a roll over the last year, with a depth of writers and content bringing back readers. Their story is an unlikely one, but likewise representative of what the web can achieve. Founder Peter Cashmore started the blog in his native Scotland at a relatively young age, with little experience in the field vs Michael Arrington who was previously involved in startups.

Here’s the break down.

comScore

Compete

Alexa

Quantcast

Note on Quantcast: unlike Mashable, TechCrunch hides its stats from public view, except for the total people count.