Talking blogs over dinner

Last night we had an enjoyable, stimulating evening talking about blogs and the future of online media. (See the official summary here.)

Last year was the year Davos discovered blogs. Some participants like Jay Rosen and Joi Ito blogged their WEF experiences. (Others blogged anonymously.)  In the WEF's first-ever session about blogs in 2004, Loic Le Meur predicted that blogs "could steal attention from the mainstream press."  In the past 12 months they've done more than that: they've destroyed Dan Rather's career and are increasingly bringing issues to the mainstream media's attention. (For some interesting data on the impact of blogs in the U.S. see this Pew report.)

At this year's blog dinner, the consensus was that blogs will neither replace nor destroy mainstream media. Rather they will coexist - co-dependently -  with mainstream media in an increasingly complex media and information ecosystem in which amateur-produced media forms like blogs will play an important role.  (If you're interested in knowing more about this subject, read this story and see Jay Rosen's three posts here, here and here on a recent conference on blogging and journalism that I helped organize.)

Of course, many (probably most) bloggers are not trying to be journalists or to produce "news."  Instead, they're sharing a conversation about what they find important with whoever might be interested.

Take this Forumblog for instance. It's not a "news site" or newswire about the Davos Annual meeting. You can get the official news here. The blog is where you go for a sense of the meeting's "personality." It's a place for participants and a few WEF staff to share their own personal thoughts, impressions, and opinions about the sessions they've been attending.  We want to share these things with the rest of the "blogosphere" and believe our own thinking will be enhanced by holding a conversation with people reading and watching from around the world. That's what blogging is all about.

Comments

[NTodd]

Rather they will coexist - co-dependently - with mainstream media...

Not to be pedantic, but I think you mean "interdependently". Codependency is:

a psychological condition or a relationship in which a person is controlled or manipulated by another who is affected with a pathological condition (as an addiction to alcohol or heroin)

Unless you mean bloggers are going to be manipulated by pathological types in traditional media.

Of course, many (probably most) bloggers are not trying to be journalists or to produce "news." Instead, they're sharing a conversation about what they find important with whoever might be interested.

Dingdingding! Give that lady a cigar... :-)

[Gurusblog]

Congratulations for the blog, I really appreciate your points of view. I my opinion, I hope blogs will contribute to give more transparency on information, and of course they give us acces to a huge sources of specialized info.