BLOGS ARE REVOLUTIONARY... FOR HOW LONG?

Davos Discovers the Blogs is a terrific reflection of the World Economic Forum's blog session:

Billmon of "Whiskey Bar"

This is a revolution by anybody's definition, and could even, in time, spell the end of the mainstream media as we know it. Or, as [Jay] Rosen put it: "The age of the mass media is just that -- an age. It doesn't have to last forever."

But the profiteering media jackals are at the door:

One of the worst moments at the Davos session was when some twinkie from a New York advertising firm stood up and described how her firm has started turning first to blogs to place ads for certain products. "What I don't understand," she said, "is why the big media companies don't swoop in and buy up some of these blogs while they're still cheap."

...I can't shake the suspicion that the golden age of blogging is almost over -- that the corporate machine is about to swallow it, digest it, and regurgitate it as bland, non-threatening pablum. Our brief Summer of Love may be nearing an end.

Good God - buy a blog? You can't buy a blog, can you? You know my little catchphrase: It's people! Blogs are people! I suppose if MegaMediaMan wanted to buy Fimoculous he could buy the rights to the web site and its contents, then pay Rex a buttload of money and slap some ads on it. MegaMediaMan could poop on a bunny and call it art too, but who wants a poopy bunny? *

OH NO, IT'S TOO LATE: Blog in a Box | Custom-designed "Web BLOG" site: $600

More Davos blog coverage: Joi Ito, Jay Rosen, Loc Le Meur, Rebecca MacKinnon

Dean on eBay: "Art print" | Action figure | Confederate flag pickup watch

Clay Shirky asks: Is social software bad for the Dean campaign?

Britt Blaser's Spirited Reply (good band name eh?): I represent the Internet Wing of the Democratic Party

Halley beautifully explores the Zen of Dean: This Isn't a Political Campaign. I witnessed this, too. Fiesty older ladies anxious to get my camera outta the way so they could get back to volunteer work, a mom and her daughter happily stuffing envelopes, a folksy old local guy who liked what Dean did for Vermont and wanted to share him with the rest of us.

* Not me, no ma'am. However, I would be curiously persuaded by a painting of a poopy bunny, or a video game involving poopy bunny race car wars. What if Rex sold out? Yeah, of course I'd still read him. So I guess I like poopy bunnies more than I thought I did, but I'd much prefer pure snow-white independent bunnies. Fortunately blogs reproduce like bunnies, so we'll never be in short supply.

January 27, 2004 at 02:02 AM in Weblogs | Permalink

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