Blogonomics: making a living from blogging
Self-organized networks of bloggers offer advertisers access to previously unarticulated demographics
Martin Nisenholtz claims that the “weblog phenomenon does not represent anything fundamentally new in the news media”.He’s right, of course. We’ve had OpEd pages for more than 100 years, Xeroxed family Christmas newsletters for 50 years, home pages for a decade. A blog, seen on its own, does no more than mix these old ingredients in a new pot.
Bloggers have thrashed the likes of Nisenholtz with arguments that blogs are better, faster and cheaper than “old” media.
But the point, I think, is that blogs don’t just excel existing media, they are beyond media. Blogs aren’t nu-media but unmedia. Blogs are not rewired Daily Bugles, they are a ferocious crossbreed of Wal-Mart’s cost-efficiency, distribution, and coordination with the Shakers’ passion, patience and craftsmanship.
