THE RISE OF THE BLOG
March 2nd 2007 02:38
THE RISE OF THE BLOG
Blogs have become the new black. They range from the traditional one person diary with a few posts per month to major blogs like Crikey.Com.au; it has hundreds of postings every day covering major news and current affairs. Blogs have become a vehicle for anyone one with an opinion on anything to let their thoughts be known to the whole cyberworld. It is the ultimate form of freedom of speech, providing a forum for like-minded people to share information and opinions.
An extension of Web logs or Diaries, blogs started off with the creation of software to make the publication of online diaries very simple even for people without any knowledge of HTML. Authors write “entries” or “posts”, and visitors to the blog can then leave comments about what was “posted”.
It is estimated that there are over 50 million blogs worldwide and around 250,000 in Australia, 75,000 blogs are created each day, and 2.3 contacts updates made every second. Blogs are becoming another source of information people look to outside the mainstream media to get their news and opinions on events.
The rise of the Blogosphere, the world of blogs, has led mainstream media to figure out how best to deal with this new phenomenon. Many news organizations are incorporating blogs into their websites, blogs of journalists and editors as well as forums for the public to have their say. Large news Organisations like the BBC, NY Times and News Ltd have made blogs part of their websites. The dawn of blogs has had a major influence in how we consume our news.
Blogs allow consumers to receive news when they want it and how they want it, instead of when the big news organizations choose to provide it. This leads to the issue of whether blogs will become another medium of the Mainstream Media. One blogger, Mark Wade, believes that blogging will not become another medium of the media as traditional media organizations are driven by profit while blogging is personal, it is about being heard. People will post information and opinions on blogs that News Organisations would not find commercially viable.
The lines between blogging and mainstream media may be crossing, yet blogging will still be an alternative source of information from the mainstream media. Glen Reynolds of Instapundit.com says “Previously Gatekeepers at the top decided what the national conversations would be…. Now it bubbles up from the bottom”. Blogs have revamped the notion of the citizen journalist yet Dean Rothart, host of Newsroom Confidential, believes they will never replace mainstream journalists as they have no creditability or established readership. Blogs also provide a gauge of public opinion for politicians and Business; monitoring blogs are set to become a major part of public relations. Previously, as Dean Rothart, states “we used to think of the internet as the world’s biggest library, now it is real time… it is always on”. Rafat Ali, Editor and Publisher of Paidcontent.org, believes the medium of blogs will result in journalists leaving the Mainstream Media to start their own companies as Bloggers, so they have more control over their content.
Business is also embracing the blog as a communication mechanism with customers, clients and employees. Company sponsored Blogs, including personal blogs of CEOs, allow for quick responses to negative trends and rumors. It is a soft marketing tool, providing insight into the interests and opinions of Business leaders for customers and an avenue for feed back from employees.
Successful blogs, which receive a lot of “hits” each day, are also attracting the lucrative Internet advertising dollar. Although 99% of blogs make no money the sheer volume involved means the 1% that is profitable will attract advertisers. Running a blog as a business with a dedicated team to constantly update the site costs around one to two thousand Australian dollars a month, the overheads are low but the battle for market share is a lot tougher. The more successful blogs are those that “post” on topics of wide interest, news, current events and hobbies, personal entries of what you had for breakfast or what you are watching on TV are not so popular.
Concerns have been raised over blogs being used by sexual predators to target young teens. A family in The US has failed in a lawsuit against Myspace (which News Ltd recently purchased), a massive forum where individuals can easily create their own blogs, after their daughter was attacked by someone she had met online. A Sexual predator can gain a lot of information on potential victims from their blogs and use this to misrepresent themselves and gain the trust of potential victims.
Fashionable Bloggers are becoming more influential on politics and the media. The resignation of two Bloggers following pressure from Catholic groups in the US, due to their anti-Catholic rhetoric, from US Presidential hopeful John Edward’s campaign highlights how prominent blogs have become in the public eye. The ability to say whatever one likes on any topic in a forum that anybody can view also means opponents can sift through a blog to find any damning material on an individual.
The blogosphere is the webs response to reality TV. Any man and his dog can start a blog, posting on any issue they like. Consequently the quality of the average blog is not very high. Some people use them as an anger management tool to vent frustration on issues that annoy them, some people use them to raise local issues of concern and others still use blogs as self-promotion vehicles for businesses and services. Blogs have been the source of big news stories and this has not been lost on the mainstream media. The Blogosphere is here to stay and News Organisations must not marginalize them as the ranting of discontents or mediums to share the recipes for the best orange cake but as a serious conduit of news and opinions.
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