Blog Power
Blogs merely form a subset of communications. But what a beautiful subset it is. Blogs are inexpensive and, when well done, they can be startlingly piercing and authoritative.
Blogs help the small guy make a point. Just ask Trent Lott or Dan Rather.
And they also can help the big boys. Of note locally are the several blogs of the Salt Lake Tribune.
The informality of blogs takes off some of the veneer and allows for pointed communication. Take General Motors, for example. GM -- no schlub at mass communications -- was called a "crack dealer" and otherwise berated by the New York Times. What would GM have done in the past? It could have sat back and taken it or run some sort of "we are not a crack dealer -- how dare you" campaign. Instead, it shredded the NY Times for its insularity and apparent one-sidedness, on the GM blog.
The question is whether anyone reads the GM blog. With links to the post, it obviously is getting good traffic. (But I wish they'd include a sitemeter.) I would guess the next step for GM is to more-broadly introduce the exchange (and their victory in it) to the mass media. The beautiful dichotomy of the exchange is that GM (by allowing uncensored comments on its blog) appears much more open and First Amendment friendly than the Times (which won't allow its writer's "crack-dealer" comments to be refuted by the steamy word "rubbish").
It's a new and very exciting world in communications. Big is small again. And this translates well to so many other areas. Like government. Just in the 6 years I've been in office, a constituent's ability to monitor his/her elected official has easily doubled. And, if they choose to use it, their ability to interact has doubled as well. And that can only lead to better results.
Blogs help the small guy make a point. Just ask Trent Lott or Dan Rather.
And they also can help the big boys. Of note locally are the several blogs of the Salt Lake Tribune.
The informality of blogs takes off some of the veneer and allows for pointed communication. Take General Motors, for example. GM -- no schlub at mass communications -- was called a "crack dealer" and otherwise berated by the New York Times. What would GM have done in the past? It could have sat back and taken it or run some sort of "we are not a crack dealer -- how dare you" campaign. Instead, it shredded the NY Times for its insularity and apparent one-sidedness, on the GM blog.
The question is whether anyone reads the GM blog. With links to the post, it obviously is getting good traffic. (But I wish they'd include a sitemeter.) I would guess the next step for GM is to more-broadly introduce the exchange (and their victory in it) to the mass media. The beautiful dichotomy of the exchange is that GM (by allowing uncensored comments on its blog) appears much more open and First Amendment friendly than the Times (which won't allow its writer's "crack-dealer" comments to be refuted by the steamy word "rubbish").
It's a new and very exciting world in communications. Big is small again. And this translates well to so many other areas. Like government. Just in the 6 years I've been in office, a constituent's ability to monitor his/her elected official has easily doubled. And, if they choose to use it, their ability to interact has doubled as well. And that can only lead to better results.
posted by steve u. at 6/10/2006
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