« One More Olympic Logo Please | Main | iPod Tax in Netherlands Amounts To Accusation & Fine »
April 29, 2005
Blogger Family Values
As PR and advertising professionals seek to figure out how they fit into the new blog reality (or perhaps how they can shoe-horn themselves in or wrap themselves around somehow), I think there is something very important to keep in mind:
There is definitely a set of values among the community of early adopters and they include: transparency, openness, independence, genuineness, . . . you get my drift.
In many ways, the M.O. of modern communicators has run counter to these values with placing value on: positive spins, polished messages, flash, sizzle, hype, etc.
No doubt about it, this has created cynicism.
Blogging is not a technical phenomenon really (although innovations are abounding in this space). Content management systems have been around for years to assist in web publishing, so there's nothing new there in terms of the capabilities of the software. It's first and foremost a societal phenomenon.
So, what is going to happen?
Will professional communicators and advertisers discover ways to hitch themselves to the blog-wagon? I suspect they will. Someone will create the framework to sell mass ad space. Or will they come to terms with the notion that some of the shortcomings of how communication has been conducted helped to create the blogging phenomenon in the first place? Some will. Some won't.
In time, I think the values I mentioned above will be diluted by commercial interests as more and more people get involved and the values of the initial movement are set aside. This, in many ways, is really unfortunate because there is something very valuable and (dare I say) right about transparent communication even though it may need to come at the expense of commercial interests.
I think commercialism is the logical end of most blogs & podcasts that are successful in gaining an audience. As long as there is a way for the originator of the content to trade the attention of the audience for appreciable financial gain from advertisers, it's bound to happen.
You have to wonder if there a better that would actually catch on.
I'm really anxious to see where this ends up in 5 years. We are really so early in, that it's hard to predict what form this will take. Will it be looked back on as revolution or a fad?
If I knew the answer to that, I could be selling ad-space on here for a lot of money.
Posted by Derek Leverington at April 29, 2005 12:44 AM
Comments
It's neither revolution or fad and, yes, professional communicators and advertisers will find ways to hitch up to the "blog-wagon".
Back in the early '90s, I was one of the "purists" who decried commercialism on the Internet. Today, I can't imagine a world without Amazon or eBay.
In five years? Lots of podcasts, personal blogs, and industry blogs will attract advertising and even paid subscribers.
But why can't a paid blogger be transparent and genuine?
Posted by: Allan Jenkins at May 2, 2005 4:24 AM
It should be interesting. I get the sense it's going to evolve very quickly.
I'm hoping and expecting some heavy hitters to emerge from the blogging & podcasting realm to springboard into some mainstream influence as experts in their chosen field or discipline.
We'll see.
Posted by: Derek Leverington at May 5, 2005 12:52 AM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)