mediacrit.com

The biggest phenomenon in user-created content on the Internet has been web logs, more commonly known as blogs. Blogs are sites that contain articles in chronological, journal-like form, often with reader comments and links to other articles on the Web. Ideally, blogs are updated frequently, often with daily posts that keep readers coming back to them. A 2005 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that more than 8 million U.S. adults have created a blog, and 27 percent of Internet users report that they read blogs.

Of course, the vast majority of the Internet’s millions of blogs don’t have many readers, and typically read like a diary—a diary that blog writers must sometimes forget that millions of people could read. For example, one recent posting on a blog said “Today was a boring day. I’m awfully sick & I hate Tina.” Other blogs list personal rants, such as “Today’s pet peeve: People who won’t wash their hands in the office bathroom. Yes, I know who you are.”

But, other blogs have tackled more compelling issues, and have emerged as widely read reports on technology, politics, and journalism. One of the earliest blogs—call it a proto-blog, because it lacks a reader comment tool—was Matt Drudge’s Blogger software developed by Pyra Labs in San Francisco in 1999. The software made it easy for users to sign up for free accounts, and create their own blog in a Web browser environment in just a few minutes. Google noticed the blogging phenomenon, and bought Blogger in 2003, further expanding the profile of blogging.

In just a few years, several top bloggers with heavy readership have emerged in the blogosphere (the blogging community). Andrew Sullivan, Daily Kos, Engadget, Eschaton, Instapundit, Joshua Micah Marshall’s Talking Points Memo, Romenesko, and Wonkette are among the most popular blogs. Political blogs, in particular, have flourished as they responded to events like the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Blogs have also succeeded in pushing stories into the mainstream news media that led to the fall of Trent Lott as Senate Majority Leader, the exit of Dan Rather as the anchor of CBS Evening News, and the recall of Kryptonite U-shaped bicycle locks (which, Engadget revealed, could be opened with a Bic pen).

Blogs gained credibility as news outlets in 2004, when bloggers were invited to cover the major political party conventions. Political candidates also used blogs to promote their candidacies, and news personalities like CNN’s Anderson Cooper and NBC’s Brian Williams began blogging as well. As journalism, blogs have the disadvantage of not going through the verification of an editorial process. But the advantage of blogs is maximum transparency, connecting journalists directly with readers.

Some of the worst blogs have been outright frauds masking as commentary, such as the blogs that recently acted as shills for Wal-Mart, representing Wal-Mart public relations messages as original blog writing. Some of the most compelling blogs offer insights beyond typical news reports, like the posts from ordinary people in the South Pacific offering first-hand accounts after the horrific tsunami disaster in December 2004, or the reports from young woman in Iraq in the Baghdad Burning blog that are so riveting they have been published in a recent book.

In many ways, the blogosphere is much like the public sphere we all live in. There are self-indulgent gossips and ranters who hate Tina and want people to wash their hands more often, there are commentators of every political stripe, there are people who get paid to tell someone else’s story, and – finally – there are people who have a good, honest story of their own to share.