Why blogging matters.
Author: Allen R. Gibson
Just finished reading a wonderful book about blogging – “say everything,” by Scott Rosenberg.
He explains, with great clarity, who the pioneers were, and more importantly what principles they used to make the blogosphere the freely expressive place it is today. It could have turned out so differently, if the naysayers, the big corporations, or the merely greedy had hijacked the process.
Rosenberg talks about the make-money model of The Drudge Report, which let M. Drudge move from a low-rent L.A. apartment to a fancy Miami condo. More power to him. This, of course, is the model hyped endlessly today by all the ‘experts’ who can show you SEVEN WAYS TO MAKE MONEY FROM ONE INFO PRODUCT! SIGN UP HERE!
But many of the creators of modern blogging had a different ethos. It was, and is, more about genuine self expression. They, says Rosenberg “set out to construct a new, alternate universe – one in which some of the laws of the old world still held, but others were suspended or upended.”
Part of the underpinnings of the blogging explosion came from the mindset codified by the famous “Cluetrain Manifesto,’ which before the social media explosion declared that “markets are conversations” and stated that “Learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service…they will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf.” Now, this was in 1999, remember.
So what do we have today? SO many corporations, and small businesses, racing as fast as they can to jump on the social media bandwagon, while still spouting the same soothing cliches of old fashioned marketing. Still trying to force their information down your throat, with no real mechanism in place to answer you even if you did want to talk to them. Doing ‘social media’ without being willing to BE social is going to look pretty dumb somewhere down the line, people.
Because the social train has left the station. And it’s time we all had a clue about how it’s different than any media train in history.
Thanks, in large part, to the courage and determination of the geeky pioneers who decided that ALL geeks should have the right to be heard, and who have stood up for that right sometimes in the face of condemnation, threats, and jail time, to the point where there are now more than 126 million blogs. “Blogs have created a new public sphere, and it’s hard to imagine life without it, now that it’s here.”
Lately, we’re seeing governments in various parts of the world trying to crack down on this public space. They are particularly interested in not allowing people to have private conversations thru the net. Let’s hope they don’t succeed. Because the ability to talk openly to each other is a really significant piece of progress on this planet. It’s changing life as we know it already in all kinds of ways – political, social, economic. Sure, Blackberry’s may help a few terrorists plan an attack. But they might also help people get the truth out about their governments oppression, and lead to better lives for thousands of people. On balance, some governments have been far more harmful to people than terrorists in the course of history. So, for me at least, the scales tip towards more freedom of communication, not less.
Geez, you’d think I was writing my own manifesto.
