News by Me-Media
“…Consumers will turn to a more personalized array of media, drawing on information from a variety of sources.”
- Paul Holmes, Holmes Report
I read this quote in Holmes Report’s May 30th issue while preparing for Burson-Marsteller Chicago’s blogging seminar “Midwestern Views on Social Impact and Moneymaking.” It made me think back to the idealist teachings of journalism professor Ben Bagdikian, who spoke about corporate influence in traditional media organizations in his widely popular book, the Media Monopoly. Thanks to the rise of blogs and public discussion forums, media power dynamics are shifting away from what Bagdikian described. Instead, consumers are finding alternatives to institutionalized media voiceswhile clients and agencies fine-tune their tools to analyze the alternative media. No one has yet come up with the perfect model though.
My thoughts were echoed by Dr. Clarke Caywood, from Northwestern University, a fellow panelist at the Burson event. Dr. Caywood suggested that we might be approaching this sphere of irregularity with the wrong tools. He pointed out that studying Internet influencers and their impact on online word-of-mouth was a traditional approach following well-tested academic models. The irregular nature of the blogosphere, Caywood said, may require newer communication models as distinct as the channel itself.
So far, studies about the Internet have focused on the size of the blogger nation. How many people are blogging? How many are reading? What percentages of them are influential? In light of Dr. Caywood’s comments, perhaps we should reverse these questions and find out what e-fluence is from a blogger’s perspective.
Hearing other panelists such as Martha Irvine (a national writer for the AP), Charlie Madigan (senior correspondent and Sunday Perspective editor of the Chicago Tribune) and Chuck Salter (senior writer and Chicago bureau chief of Fast Company) discuss the changing face of journalism and the social impact of blogging, I came up with my own short list of how bloggers garner clout. Bloggers establish themselves as authorities and strengthen their reputation by:
- Being authentic: Unedited writing with a genuine tone is closely linked with credibility in the eyes of blog readers.
- Having an individual voice (i.e., Me-Media): I raised an eyebrow when I heard that Madigan’s blog for the Chicago paper has directed him to write op-ed pieces where he can assert his personal point-of-view as a journalist. This was an interesting hybrid, where an established paper was absorbing an alternative reporting approach while drawing clear boundaries between fact-based reporting and personal remarks. As Madigan noted, the blogosphere possesses a “personal culture,” not to be confused with an institution based in a commercial setting.
- Revealing facts and information otherwise unavailable to the public: The open-diary format of blogs allow a larger community to preview lifestyles and experiences they may not have known otherwise. While some of this information may seem too personal, don’t these accounts resemble the “people stories” on acclaimed TV news programs?
This is the supply side of the equation. What about the demand? Why are increasing numbers of Internet users relying on blog reports as part of their daily media regimen? We are finally becoming comfortable in the virtual village!
As more people turn to the Web to verify the news, seek their online buddies’ opinions and put their two-cents out there, we will have to change our understanding of how information flows in society and what type of knowledge impacts our everyday decisions. Marketers are quick to count industries where word-of-mouth endorsements weigh as much, if not more, than traditional media messages. This list - which includes healthcare, fashion, travel and entertainment - is sure to expand, as boundaries between alternative and traditional media fade and consumers become just as likely to get credible information from blogs as they have from traditional sources. Expertise is shifting to me-media.
--Idil Cakim
Director, Knowledge Development
Burson-Marsteller
Posted by Idil Cakim at June 22, 2005 07:38 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.guidewiregroup.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/58
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference News by Me-Media:
» nude black sluts from nude black sluts
nude black sluts [Read More]
Tracked on May 11, 2007 04:58 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)