Greetings, discerning readers.
John Dvorak had a fun piece in PC Magazine last week: “Co-opting the Future.” In it, he skewers Weblogs and bloggers, suggesting that blogging is overhyped and not nearly as revolutionary as some would have you believe.
“We’re told that blogs will evolve into a unique source of information and are sure to become the future of journalism,” Dvorak writes. “Well, hardly.”
In his view, two things are working against blogs. The first is the wholesale abandonment of blog sites by bloggers who either find that they have little to say or can unearth no way to monetize what interesting stuff they are saying. (One of Dvorak’s readers comments that the phenomenon is a little like the CB craze of a few decades ago, where people were awed by the new communication platform and then quickly bored by it.)
The second thing working against blogs is the “casual co-opting” of the blog universe by Big Media. “So much for the independent thinking and reporting that are supposed to earmark blog journalism,” he writes.
Dvorak says, “So now we have the emergence of the professional blogger working for large media conglomerates and spewing the same measured news and opinions we’ve always had—except for fake edginess, which suggests some sort of independent, counterculture, free-thinking observers. But who signs the checks?”
Take a look at Dvorak’s column and tell me what you think. As always, your feedback is both welcome and valued!
Until next week,
Ann Handley
ann@marketingprofs.com
MarketingProfs.com
See below for Advertising, Subscription and Contact information.
Join
by 12/15/03 with $0 signup fee. More features, lower CPM rate.
You
get affordable advertising for all types of budgets.
