Says Hugh Hewitt (author of BLOG):
It is hard to overstate the speed with which the information reformation is advancing — or to overestimate its impact on politics and culture. The mainstream media is a hollowed-out shell of its former self when it comes to influence, and when advertisers figure out who is reading the blogs, the old media is going to see their advertising base drain away, and not slowly. Other new aggregators are in the works, and the revenue flowing into new media will further strengthen and expand its reach.
Before long corporate America will be calling search firms to find candidates for new positions dealing exclusively with new media, and boards of directors, long used to consulting or recruiting from politics and the mainstream media, will be debating how to persuade Betsy Newmark or Stephen Bainbridge, LaShawn Barber, or Joe Carter to advise (or even join) their ranks.
It’s fun to be present at the revolution. And even more fun to be on the winning side. (Source)
I won’t editorialize this to death, but let me say one thing about the information revolution, a force that many people don’t comprehend, can’t see or won’t see. I’m on the inside looking out, and the view from here is spectacular.
Related: Blogger Nation and the entire Rathergate category.
The day 60 Minutes ran the infamous get-Bush episode (September 8, 2004), I blogged about the Boston Globe’s “expose.” The next day it was almost certain that 60 Minutes had tried to pass off forged documents as the real thing.
I didn’t do any original reporting; I was just a collector of links. Besides the usual big bloggers, several smaller bloggers had conducted independent investigations, and I wrote an article about them.
New media in action. And this blog is a lesson in niche-building.
Semi-related: Feedster’s Top 500 blogs list (LBC at #121).
Update: This story may be of interest to you. An order fulfillment company called iFulfill.com recently failed, and the owner blogged about it. His former clients and others believe his blog and overall mismanagement contributed to the business’s failure (read the irate comments). Here’s an example:
I feel bad for all the poor merchants that are reeling from this disastrous meltdown. I just hope no one goes bankrupt because of iFulfill. I am writing to actually thank Paul rather than curse him. Over a year ago he unceromoniously dumped us without any explanation other than not to have any more of our inventory shipped to their facility. I pleaded for an explanation but received none. Luckily I found eFulfillment Service and they have been nothing but superb! Our business has grown substantially largely because of eFulfillment’s ability to ship without incident. Paul thank you for forcing us to find another fulfillment house. Our business would not have been able to sustain a meltdown like yours.
Posted by: DK at August 11, 2005 06:51 PM
Update II: Information reformation-related article and pet peeve. An article called A ‘blogswarm’ stings old media into action (bypass reg. with BugMeNot) appears in the PI. Haven’t read it so I can’t comment on it, but for the record, the proper term is “blog swarm,” not “blogswarm.”
For background and related “blogstorm” pet peeve, see Update VI in this post. (It’s archive Thursday!)
Bringing down the media machine through sheer groundswell will be a specatacular show of civic force.
Comment by Policy Hawk — 08.18.05 @ 6:47 am
Breakfast: 8/18/2005
# Bob Parks (Black & Right) says Cindy Sheehan is no Rosa Parks. [via SactoDan, via Nickie Goomba]
# The Sportslady completes her collection.
# Iowahawk offers blogging tips.
# La Shawn Barber looks at the Information Reformation.
# Ogre looks at t…
Trackback by basil's blog — 08.18.05 @ 7:25 am
Although not political in a left/right sort of way, as I have just written on my blog the struggle to repeal the last vestiges of prohibition is another example of how the internet and blogosphere is changing things
Comment by Francis — 08.18.05 @ 8:26 am
La Shawn, Cheers for the revolution! I will still tune-in to the successors of Walter Cronkite, when I need a good laugh!
Comment by Tom Bosee — 08.18.05 @ 9:00 am
I am addicted to the blogosphere and I am in withdrawal from the MSM (save Fox news). But we need to keep reminding ourselves that the blogosphere is 90% saprophytic. The host is the MSM and it is highly resistant to change.
The talk radio people have figured out how to use the blogosphere to their benefit. Small circulation magazines have done the same. But the big daily newspapers and news magazines and big television are all too comfortable with their closed society of elites, pontificaters and old-boy/girl networks.
As long as the MSM is dominated by liberals who are pushing their vision of what ought to be rather than honestly presenting the facts as they exist, the blogoshere will mostly remain in its role as “truth equalizer.”
Comment by Heliotrope — 08.18.05 @ 9:37 am
Blogs need the media–people wouldn’t be getting millions of hits if it wasn’t for them. And it seems like a lot of political blogs are just reactions to the media.
Comment by mj — 08.18.05 @ 10:35 am
Whatever the real story behind the President Bush and his TANG service, many good things came out of it.
1. Dan Rather resigned/retired.
2. It exposed and highlighted the bias of the MSM.
3. More people became wary of the MSM.
4. It got a lot of us reading blogs.
5. We learned the President Bush had volunteered to go to Vietnam.
6. I learned that mastering flying a military plane is very difficult.
7. Powerline became Time’s blog of the year.
8. I could go on and on…..
Comment by Evon Bachaus — 08.18.05 @ 10:50 am
The Information Reformation
The Dems have become a party of hate, so their blogs just magnify that hate, while conservative blogs, frustrated at the MSM’s refusal to tell the whole story, focus on the
Trackback by Don Singleton — 08.18.05 @ 11:33 am
#8. Check out Drudge. Psycho-mom Cindy Sheehan has completely fallen over to the dark side. She is now officially a kook, left-wing wacko. If she enjoys the right to use that language and call our President those vile things then America reserves the right to describe her as I did.
From a humanitarian perspective, this girl needs medical intervention and I am not saying that to be funny. She is receiving the equivalent of an addictive drug in the “support” she is receiving from the brain-fried San Fran loonies she is getting love from. At some point, these people are going to abandon her just like her husband and family has. At that point she will only have herself to lean on and it is not going to be a pretty situation.
If this girl doesn’t get psychological help soon she may even hurt herself. Of course, that will be blamed on GWB as well.
Comment by Raymond — 08.18.05 @ 12:39 pm
Hugh Hewitt is right in his Weekly Standard column that the swamp-fever cultural marxists driving the left side of the blogosphere will force the mainstream Dems to cater to the loonies’ ability to raise money, vide the Trippi/Dean phenomenon.
Dan Balz of the WaPo says another version of the same thing. As the profane vulgar delirious left spews hate and blocks compromises, the Dems will be further discredited with the Indy middle.
Can’t wait til ‘08!
dave in boca
Comment by dave — 08.18.05 @ 12:54 pm
About the top 500: way to go Michelle Malkin!
Comment by mj — 08.18.05 @ 1:47 pm
Is There An Echo, Echo, Echo In Here?
Conservative blogger Hugh Hewitt penned a column for the conservative Weekly Standard today. Now conservative bloggers are going gaga over all the praise Hewitt heaped on his compatriots in the center-right blogosphere. The liberal blogosphere had simi…
Trackback by Beltway Blogroll — 08.18.05 @ 4:57 pm
Re: update II
Missing a space is pretty good reporting for them, when covering something as new as blogs.
LB, the Inky only gets the date right in the paper because they look out the window each morning and see it posted in 2 story tall lights on top of the PECO building
Comment by SCSIwuzzy — 08.18.05 @ 5:51 pm