The blogosphere is not "credible"

This is the very reason why I don't think the mainstream media should be afraid of blogs and vlogs... There are only really a few that are truly credible, while the others are more gossip and entertainment.

I remember being upset when the ABC News Video Podcast called Rocketboom "fake news" a few months ago. RB isn't fake news, it's just not the same news reported on by ABC! If only ABC understood the comraderie involved in Web 2.0...

What the mainstream media needs to do is adopt these new methods of communication just as Business Week has done with their blogs... you're doing the right thing and have shown yourselves to be both ahead of the game and a truly credible source of information.

Best,
Casey McKinnon

I agree with you Stephen, that we can bookmark or blogroll a select list of valuable, relevant, quality blogs...and just ignore the bad, boring, or crazy blogs.

My point, inspired by Seth Godin, is this: compare the Blogosphere with FM Radio, or Television, or the Telephone.

Take the phone. Back when I was a kid, when the phone rang, it was generally a good thing. Aunt Mary calling, or a job offer, or some other relevant, useful, positive message was on the line.

Now: when the phone rings, my answering machine takes a message, and 50% or more of the calls are telemarketing, often a pre-recorded message.

A medium can become devalued by the quality of the components which compose it.

Many think: "Blogs? That's those little web things where naughty girls show their bodies and lunatic political pundits spout off about Demopublican policy. Forget it."

As far as entering a whacko block in a neighborhood, you make a good point in my favor: wife and I just bought a bungalow on a quiet street with pretty good neighbors, not a street where hordes of bored teenagers are roaming around, breaking windows, smoking cigarettes, blasting rap or country music at high volume, and saying "What's up?" to passing motorists looking for a house for sale.

Thankfully, about 50-75% of all blogs created are abandoned forever within about 3 months, if I recall the Technorati stats correctly.

Yet, remember, I'm not saying the entire blogosphere is Non-credible, just that most of it is. I also champion the idea of businesses starting a candid two way conversation with customers, via a blog.

And I also champion the boring drivel blogs...as the rise of individual voice against MSM info hegemony. I don't include Business Week in the dreadful Main Stream Media. I consider it to be a Specialty Media.

I'm betting that the same people who put down "blogs" will also bookmark a blog, one of their most precious and reliable sources. So while they don't believe in "blogs," they actually do.

This reminds me a little of living in Europe in the '80s. Spanish friends of mine would introduce me to anti-American friends and say something like, Steve's an American, but not really. What they meant was that I didn't necessarily fit the negative stereotype. I wasn't happy at all with that approach, because it accepted and propagated the negative stereotype of Americans. But what I found out living abroad was that while people stereotype the people they don't know, they people they actually come across get the benefit of the doubt. Same goes with blogs.

Nicholas Carr lays it out better than I can. "The Internet had transformed many things, but it had not transformed us. We were the same as ever." http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2005/10/the_amorality_o.php

"O Lord, help my words to be gracious & tender today, for tomorrow I may have to eat them." Paperweight on my desk.

Steve,

I hope the book writing is going well.

I thought I would chime in on this topic. Imagine being a blog writer in the mortgage catagory. My industry is peppering the mail, e-mail, phones, and every communication tool they can think of. The word mortgage today means spam!

At the end of the day, just like everything else, quality will rule the day. If I can figure out how to build valuable, timely, and relevant content, then people will subscribe and read what I have to say. If not, then I get tossed out to sea with the rest of the "blog crap".

I have not given up on this medium. I have been a bit frustrated with my progress thus far, but I must also understand that this is a process and trust is not built over night.

If you go to Google and type mortgage blog you will find me. Now my challenge is to create content that is compelling enough to keep you coming back.

The first year produced a little over 60,000 page views. Here's to three times that many next year!

Going global/ exporting

Where can we see new ideas/suggestions/products/leads etc on BUSINESS WEEK.

Thank you

It is just another trend on the InterNUT. I was with Ike when ARPANET was started and when it went commercial it became a toilet for every scam that could go viral. There has never been a cross-fertilization of ideas on the net but more like a cacophony of noises. It is getting harder and harder to find anything relevant and it is not the revelation for the masses some of us thought it might be. Go to the library.
Hank Roth
http://pnews.org/