WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?
It means that the media world has expanded its boarders yet again. It's the new media frontier perhaps, and the long-term implications of the OSM is anyone's guess.
Personally, I think the OSM is one of the most democratic forms of the media ever to appear. The blog is the early 21st century's version of the printing press, and the implications, socially, politically, and economically, are just now being felt.
Don't believe me? Just ask Dan Rather how HE feels!
But, finally, let me focus for a minute or two on the political implications of the OSM community...
POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE OSM COMMUNITY
Bloggers don't pretend to be free of bias. Quite the opposite. We bloggers live and breathe our biases. First of all, it's more fun and, secondly, it tends to generate more readers and greater overall traffic.
Which is why the Blogosphere is a powerful political tool already, and destined to become far more powerful still. It's the new campaign frontier.
So what should political parties do to take advantage of this new frontier?
First of all, they should seek to strengthen their network of bloggers, offering blogging tools, features and even space on the Internet for active supporters. From there, mining these sites, and opposition sites as well, for ideas and data on a daily basis becomes paramount.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
exceptional job David, very thorough and interesting analysis of the media and blogs' role therein - a very fine primer for those who haven't been following this for the last few years. Thanks!