One of the professional blogs in the BlogBurst network is Britannica.com. Recently, Britannica’s technology section posted two timely and in-depth articles concerning the state of the blogosphere, which is marking its 10th anniversary this week, and the citizen media revolution that came along with it.
The Blogosphere at Ten describes the growth of blogs over the past decade - 70 million - and the fact that the great majority of these blogs are seldom maintained and seldom visited.
I would venture to guess that 69.75 million of those 70 million blogs have an assembled base of 139.5 million readers: the author and his or her mom (or the moral equivalent thereof). This is hardly the makings of a revolution that will find the barbarians behind the gates once and for all.
Of course, the author is being slightly tongue-in-cheek, but it is a reminder that a blog with a distinct voice and personality that is updated often with original content is much more likely to develop and grow its audience.
Next, The Dark Side of the “Citizen Media” Revolution discusses the pros and cons of the ability for anyone with a computer and Internet access to become a multimedia presence.
In place of expertise and authority, the Web 2.0 crowd offers us interactivity and “conversation.†But the real consequence – unintended or otherwise – of… the “participatory†media revolution is a culture of digital narcissism in which our most meaningful cultural reference is ourself. Today, on the tenth anniversary of the blog, media is turning into a mirror.
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