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Terry Heaton's PoMo Blog   yourself for the 21st century or die! Some would rather die than change." Leonard Sweet, cultural historian. 02/13/2006 Entry: "There's nothing mainstream about the blogosphere" New York Magazine has an interesting, albeit predictable, analysis of the blogosphere today called The Blog Establishment. The emerging hierarchy of the New New Media. The pieces examine how there really is an elite among bloggers, and that those with a good idea and the passion to compete are often shut out by the big boys. Folks, if all you're looking for is the business and competitive angle of this phenomenon, you're going to find it. In so doing, however, you'll miss what's really taking place, and that will lead you to mistakes in attempts to participate therein. This otherwise excellent piece of work begins with the assumption that the purpose of getting into blogging is to reach the largest audience possible and monetize that audience through advertising. If not, how do you explain a line like this:
This article is absolutely true -- but only from a limited perspective. The hierarchy mentioned does exist. There are smart people manipulating the system for audience. This side of the blogosphere indeed parrots mainstream media, and it's what the MSM "feels" whenever it speaks of bloggers. Sooner or later, however, these entities will suffer the same fate as their mass media predecessors, because the simple truth of blogging is this: there is a great difference between people who write because they have something to say and those who are paid to write something. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the "laws" of mass marketing -- when applied to bloggers -- produce more chaff than wheat by turning formerly passionate writers into slaves of the almighty dollar and creating a new pejorative entity: the MSB, Mainstream Blogosphere. Here in Nashville, for example, we have a vibrant blogging community, and that's exactly what it is. We talk about the news. We talk about life. We talk about pets and sports and spouses and shopping and who's doing what to whom. I can think of only one local blogger whose goal may have been to make the A-list, and I think that's probably representative of the blogosphere as a whole. So why devote an entire series of articles to blogging without considering this? Because, sadly, most people in mainstream media dismiss it as irrelevant, because it's not a direct threat to what they know (or their own jobs). This offers a window of opportunity for smart local media companies to get involved. Meanwhile, what's bubbling up from the bottom is beginning to get at least some attention. Check out this article from Business Week. Heather Green, the writer, does seem to understand, and that gives me hope.
Replies: 1 Comment That story was odd. It isn't really about blogs. Mostly it is about venture capital-backed publications delivered via blog or blog-like online formats. The story also assumes every blogger wants to be an A-lister, or at least a B-listed. I started my blog four-plus years ago with a simple goal: Giving the readers of my weekly newspaper column an online resource providing more information than I could stick in 650 printed words per week, in order to increase the impact of what I wrote. It grew from there, and though I never had more than a few thousand readers a day, what I had was what I really wanted: impact. The blogads revenue - never more than $150 a month, and usually less - was nice, but it wasn't why I blogged. That said, I do have about a zillion ideas for blogs that I wish I could find someone with deep pockets to fund. Posted by Bill Hobbs @ 02/20/2006 09:44 AM CST
Leonard Sweet |
