Blogging as the future of global opinion-shaping
March 13th 2010 23:56
The assertions being seen regularly in Bloggercises posts that blogging will take over the world are yet to elicit a response from MI5, the CIA, Mossad or the Taliban, which surprises us because they could all do with a bit of an image massage.
In furthering our case, we ask today, what else is likely to take over the mantle as the world's most powerful shaper of opinion?
The world is currently at a crossroads of information dissemination. The age of newspapers, for so long the credible face of public scrutiny and arbiter of government accountability, is passing. The best newspapers remain mighty thunderers in the public interest, but their time has come.
But to whom is the mantle passing?
The two heavyweight candidates are television and the internet.
The television argument is compelling. It's accessible, it's cheap, it's everywhere. It is the first option for serious advertising and brand promotion. It is the world's favourite relaxation, and as such it is the best way in the world to promote your product, your news, your art or your political aspirations.
Today, television is at the forefront of public consciousness when it comes to information. For politicians looking to gain voter brownie points, for CEOs looking to improve public awareness and for celebrities looking to monetise their latest excess, television is now the go-to medium.
Those arguing for the internet say it is inevitable that it will take over. In the economically advanced world, it is now more ubiquitous than television. Add in the growth that will happen in the next few years in the emerging massive population markets such as China, India, Indonesia and Brazil, and the influence grows exponentially.
More importantly, perhaps, is the argument which we are hearing more often that television will prove no competition for the internet of the future because the internet will simply envelop it. Television progamming is already available via the internet, and this trend will grow. Television content creators are already targeting internet rather than network distribution channels. That giant HD screen in your living room will soon become your internet hub, and television channels will be just one of the options.
The internet is set to become the most powerful medium for entertainment, personal interaction and information, and blogging is set to become the most powerful medium within the internet for opinion-shaping.
The Huffington Post has shown the way, offering high-profile, issue-defining blogs right there on the front page with the breaking news. It is our prediction that, in five years, every news disseminator, be the name Murdoch or Bloggs, will have blogs in its front line of news coverage, and the top bloggers on those sites will be the world's most important shapers of opinion.
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Comment by James Rickard
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Comment by Chris Champion
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Good point, but probably no different from any other time when influences on opinion come from many directions, some more informed, some more objective, than others. I'm just seeing blogging with a future at the sharp end.
Fame, fortune and celebrity status await us. Of course, I'll refer all enquiries about fishing to you.