There have been a couple of articles lately by “real” journalists, complaining about blogging in general, A-list bloggers in particular and specifically using the O’Reilly Emerging Technologies Conference as an opportunity to come down on the whole thing. Bloggers “are not real journalist” (yeah, so??), they “mess up Google results”, they have no “substance, structure or meaning”, etc. etc. Bill Thompson even rehashes (or maybe he thinks he invented it) the term blogeoisie and is kind enough to give us the pronounciation. Anyway, not my point and Adam has already given an intelligent reply to their comments.
But nevermind the fact that it sounds oh so much like kids complaining that they they werent invited to the party and/or that “mom he says his toy is better than mine”, neverming all that. What I find funny and sad at the same time is that in this argument a lot of people are losing touch of the fact that blogging is not the A-listers, it’s not the journalists who claim they should be respected more because they…. I dont know why exactly.
Blogging is, as Adam touched on, about increasing the reach of our ideas, about putting things out there to discuss with other people, about sharing with others around the world so you can learn from them. And that happens on various scales for hundreds of thousands of people in their own little groups everywhere. Sure A-listers are sometimes full of themselves, sure they have the most linking power, sure even they have small readerships when compared to papers, magazines or tv but who cares? The point is not to get linked by them, it’s to find your own group, your own circle of influence / friends / like minded individuals and thrive in it. So how how about focusing on what blogging actually is instead of making it an argument between powerful linkers and journalists?
One Comment
I can’t wait for all of us to get over the “meta” stuff and just keep on using blogs in a plain, simple and direct way.
I worked at Radio-Canada for a few years and you should have heard the ongoing discussions about “real” journalism, and the whole snobism around it. While debates in themselves are healthy and can be stimulating, as you say Patrick, one cannot help but feel like a lot of these people feel frustration for “not being invited” to the party. And the funny thing is, blogs are all about not needing to be invited! Everybody has their own party and yeah, some of them are rather boring and lonely but hey, if you stick around long enough, you might get some free beer! ;-)