Sometimes I wonder if many of us don’t make this whole new media thing too difficult to understand or explain.
When I find myself getting far too immersed in trying to explain this 21st century media, I remind myself what first got me into following blogs.
It was discovering in early 2002 that I could have a whole bunch of town hall meetings right at my fingertips.
I remember thinking blogging was a barbershop in a box. (God I don’t miss those big ugly terminals.)
To me, blogging was a whole new and exciting way to follow what people were talking about, without having to get out of my pajamas.
And what was the impetus for blogging?
Because we could. And because we could without any Ivory Tower filters.
Blogging is literally and figuratively raw and in your face.
That’s good and bad, but the two add up to be terribly exciting.
Not being a techie that aspect was and is a bit intimidating.
But as I have told several colleagues who have launched their own blogs, if I can do it, they can, too.
I’ve never understood those in the media who’ve looked down on blogging.
We’ve all heard it: ‘they’re anonymous’ or ‘they ugly’ or ‘they’re one-sided’ or ‘they don’t check their facts.’
Well, dudes, that’s life. Blogging is just mirroring that.
The MSM has mirrored life for decades, it’s just now there are some new kids on the block.
And they are people who make up the very fabric of this country, just like the ones we quote in newspapers.
They are car salesmen, medical technicians, students, doctors, lawyers, steelworkers, liberals, conservatives, teachers, preachers, retired military, sports fans and church goers.
And yes, there are those who are part of the ugly side of our society.
And as in the life, in the blogosphere one can quickly tune them out and discover a community one is comfortable with following and running with.
For me, that’s the Tennessee blogosphere.
There is much information available and a multitude of voices in the Volblogs, and now on Twitter.
Yet as in society as a whole, there’s an under-representation of minority voices.
Voters last November took a historic step in addressing that. That’ll happen in the blogosphere, too.
Remember when TV came along, and it evolved into talking heads and informative people and fact and fiction swimming in the sea of TV signals and cable outlets?
Well, now it’s a sea of pixels.
Michael Silence blogs about blogs for the Knoxville New Sentinel. You can visit his KNS blog, No Silence Here, at http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/silence/. He’s also on Twitter as @michaelsilence.
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