Re: “Death of the Conservative Blogosphere?”
John Hawkins argues persuasively that it’s not the same blogosphere today that it was TEN YEARS ago — it is now much more difficult for an independent blogger to compete and get noticed. He offers a path to success in spite of this:
Bloggers have asked me: So what’s the strategy to deal with this?
Really, it’s simple: Get big or go home.
Find a way to dramatically increase the size of your blog, expand into multiple websites that together are big, hook up with someone who’s already big, or accept that there isn’t much of a future in a small, niche market for you. Maybe that sounds a little grim, but unless something changes, independent conservative bloggers who haven’t already made it big don’t have a bright future.
The cultural institutions of the day are merely reactions to the technology of the time. Our medium – the WordPress-style blog – is only a reaction to the technology level we’re at right now which enables it. (Or rather, the technology of several years ago which is only now starting to get particularly cheap and widespread.)
I would argue to John that his thesis is correct but that it’s not just the independent conservative blogosphere — it’s the nature of the medium as a whole. Blogging is now a medium that is more than a decade old. And new technology will prompt new mediums which will supersede it. Yes, sooner than we imagined it will be bloggers who will accurately be described as “dinosaur media.”
What do you expect to happen to blogging as computers continue to get smaller, faster, and cheaper? How about as computers start to more and more resemble the iPad and smart phones? An internet you touch with your fingers on a screen is innately different than one you click around with a mouse.
Perhaps the more important debate that John’s column should provoke is this: are we bloggers or are we New Media professionals? Being a part of New Media does not mean being permanently hunched over a WordPress dashboard. It means being perpetually on the edge of New developments within Media technologies. Those who can figure out how to use and create the new technologies of the future will be the ones who can use them most effectively to shape our world.
So … individual conservative weblogs are being pushed-out by large corporate weblogs?
So … America’s family farms are being pushed-out by large corporate farms?
Yah think maybe there might be some down-side … to an America whose weblogs and farmland *both* are owned-and-run by large corporations?
Weblogs and farms used to be places that grew ideas … and crops … and families … and solid American citizens.
Now they’re places whose exclusive focus is … shareholder profits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELTA1U6F704
A request to PJ/Tatler’s Commenters: please stop feeding the “A physicist” troll. Just start ignoring him and eventually he’ll go away.
Done!
It might be helpful to first answer the question ‘Who is John Hawkins?’
Check out RightWingNews.com.
Here’s the link from the top of my post to the Scuttlebutt headline item that I’m responding to: http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/headline/death-of-the-conservative-blogosphere/
If you’re not familiar with Hawkins you’re in for quite a treat. He’s one of the best bloggers online.
On tap from “a physicist,” more spam, spam, spam, spam, AGW, faulty history, spam, spam and spam. And a little spam on the side.
And emoticons. Lots and lots of emoticons.
Apparently the words “on” and “topic” confuse our resident genius critic.
Next will be the sheep-like bleating about how our “peculiar brand of conservatism” likes to silence critics and how a private corporation should be subject to the First Amendment…
I’m sensing a pattern here…
I’m certain the bloggers and their followings of the ‘small’ type will exist on. They and many of the larger blog sites, corporate owned or not, cater to the emotionally vulnerable and the extremes for which there is never a shortage of though, never in the majority as they believe themselves to be.
Personally, I find such blog sites generally unrespectful of the freedom of independent thought and reasoning along with a huge disprespect for the first amendment rights of freedom of expression. Other than that I find them entertaining.
Big establishment elitist blog snobs like John Hawkins (who, apparently, tons of people have never even heard of before) appear to have an ulterior motive in telling smaller blogs to quit & go away. HIS traffic may be waning, but many newer, smaller and better blogs are thriving, because those writers are willing to address issues (like islamic supremacism and Obama’s repeated and multiple acts of treason) that the MSM and self censoring “big important” establishment elitist blog snobs just won’t touch. People will go to places where they can get what they want/need that they can’t find elsewhere. My little blog took down a sitting corruptocrat Congressman when it was only a month or two old & hadn’t yet been linked to by any big important blogs and my traffic was 1/10 or less of what it is now. Small blogs play an important role in the political discourse, it’s the MSM & big establishment elitists who are circling the drain to irrelevancy.
John Hawkins can take his doomengloom and shove it.
http://zillablog.marezilla.com/2011/07/take-your-death-of-right-blogs.html
The little blogs that he and other big fat elitist establishment blog snobs like him so disparage ain’t going anywhere but up, baby! If Hawkins was worried about his traffic before, he’s really screwed the pooch now because after his temporary traffic bump from all the little nobody blogs he’s pissed off dries up, he will likely not be getting linked to again by the hundreds of us schmucks who collectively provide millions of hits to other bloggers (of which he’ll no longer be on the receiving end of).
Screw him and anyone one else who claims to be a conservative but wants to silence grassroots voices from being heard. People who dismiss the small blogs are no better than the RINO jackasses who hold the TEA Party people in disdain. They are wrong about the power of grassroots and they are wrong to discourage it when they should be ENCOURAGING more people to get involved, not trying to drive them away.
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