If Markets-Are-Conversations, Megabuck Buyouts Are The Last Word
Let's see ... 2.3 million dollars worth of being-written-into-existence (the wages of rants). And elsewhere, 25 million dollars for the hot-new-media. Let's not forget the earlier 9 million for your-voice. Or the hoped for 100 million!!! of change-the-world.
By contrast Jean Véronis cranks some recent numbers, and the power-law lives ("... a tiny minority of blogs get nearly all the references, while the immense majority of blogs are not quoted (or perhaps even read) by anyone, or certainly by very few people").
Related, I wanted to link to a Z-lister and her account of being smeared for a post ("Strangely, being laughed at and squashed like a beetle by a Mega Top Academic in a Top Newspaper only seems to have garnered this blog an extra five or six hits yesterday. ...").
I suppose I should try to avoid being too judgemental. People have developed deep and abiding beliefs of their pet ideas being the hope of democracy, for far less than multimillion dollar purchases (but I can't shake the feeling that it sure alters the perspective - heck, if someone offered me a piece of a big-money deal, I wonder if I'd suddenly convert to a profound faith in "the conversation" - fortunately(?), I guess, I'll probably never be subjected to that temptation).
Maybe I should try to sign up with Weblogs Inc. to get an audience for Google research.
By Seth Finkelstein | posted in cyberblather | on October 09, 2005 02:33 PM (Infothought permalink)
Z-lister and proud!!!!
Well, for the rest of your readers, here's the context near as I can tell. Here's the article from The Age as well as the supposed smear: "The personal attack, the seemingly projected insecurity, the insult posing as argument, a tone of barely suppressed shouting - these are the hallmarks of too much commentary online..."
As anyone familiar with my writings no, I sympathize with this perspective. The blogs favor quantity over quality. I'm not sure how much empathy to extend to Laura. She baked a nice challah, she takes nice pictures, etc, but the whole ado about the smears both ways is a bit of hyperbole on both sides.
And I guess that's what AOL is buying, a whole lotta quantity. What is the headline for the Unofficial Microsoft Weblog today? Help A-Lister buy a new HDTV.
Jon, that's interestingly condescending. I wonder sometimes whether people who interest themselves in the marketeer side of new media fully appreciate that a sizeable proportion of the little, little bloggers like flying under the mass, anonymous, depersonalising radar. I certainly have no wish to 'develop' my blogging activities, and as it happens, the two or three times my blog has recieved more traffic than I really like, I've 'camouflaged' it in baking and kitten pictures etc until the circus goes away, bored, and only the real, patient, subtle readers remain.