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What is the blogosphere? I have no idea what the blogosphere is. But I’ll take a stab at it.
The blogosphere is just like high school. It’s cliquish — you’ve got your head cheerleaders and freaks and nerds and under appreciated wallflowers. It’s fickle – you can be rockin’ one day, and dipping the next. It’s faddish – sometimes I’m afraid to post something because it might be, like, so last week. It’s social – there are so many BFFs you just gotta get with. It’s fun – wait. High school sucks.
That’s the only metaphor I had. Oh, well. Maybe I’ll write an ode.
In your face, A-Listers!
2 responses so far ↓
1 Wesley Fryer // Nov 13, 2007 at 8:33 pm
The emergence of “stars and fans” in the blogosphere is certainly evident… Interestingly this is something Michael Goldhaber predicted back in 1997, and there were probably others who saw that coming sooner.
The blogosphere is so much more powerful than a hierarchy of folks like you’d find in a high school, however. For starters, it’s quite egalitarian. Anyone can join and contribute, who has access to the web. A free Blogger site can garner as much attention as a paid Typepad site or custom domain running another commercial blogging tool. Ideas are what matter, much more than looks, money or other factors.
The blogosphere is a connected web of minds and ideas. And it’s freely accessible. Again, quite egalitarian. While some people don’t like the authority system of Technorati or other schemes which differentiate between blogs and bloggers, I actually think different systems for evaluating and comparing connections between blogs are both interesting and important. The blogosphere is all about ideas and connections. It’s about real people being able to share their voices, and connect with others, without having to get permission from someone else. It’s about publishing on a global scale, but also connecting with others on a global scale in ways book authors of the past never could.
2 ken // Nov 13, 2007 at 10:05 pm
just a fun little side note:
once, a “famous” ed-tech-er left a comment on my blog. While he used his first name, he left out his last name and he did not link back to his blog.
he did not want to be affiliated with my blog. In high school terms, he said hello to me in the hallway and then at the party later that weekend, gave me a silent ‘f-you, I don’t know you.
like high school never ended…ends…
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