According to the Wall Street Journal:

The financial crisis—and ensuing recession—has helped turn economics bloggers like . . . Greg Mankiw, Paul Krugman, Alex Tabarrok and Mark Thoma into Internet celebrities.

I am not sure it is accurate to say that their celebrity and relevance are only the product of the financial crisis, but this article is worth reading. Greg Mankiw’s blog and Alex Tabarrok’s Marginal Revolution are two of my favorite blogs.