Revolutionizing Politics

It is interesting to see how much of an impact new new media is having on government, politics and law, one of the most reluctant groups to accept to new technologies as Dr. Levinson says. The Obama administration used tons of new new media, never used before, throughout the campaign, including a campaign video made specifically to air on YouTube. An actual presidential debate was streamed via CNN and YouTube, bringing new media more attention in the presidential race. The administration continues to use all kinds of media everyday. It is fascinating how these new methods, like blogs on the the whitehouse.gov website, facebook pages, etc. allow the people to have more of a say and an opinion ever before. I remember writing letters to the president in grade school that the teacher would pack up all together and mail to the white house. I don't remember if we ever got responses, but I'm sure if we did it was similar to the one Dr. Levinson's wife got back. Lookingback it doesn't seem like this method was very effective. Not only is it easier to write an email or a blog post or a facebook comment, but it is also easier for white house administrators to read them and take what they say into consideration. I think new new media has revolutionized politics for the better. It will be interesting to see what types of new new media will be used in the next election and to see if it has any interesting effects.

Blogs: the new guilty pleasure

I had not joined the blogging craze until last year when I came across a review of a fashion blog called cupcakesandcashmere.com in one of my favorite magazines. I ventured out to see what all the hype was about and was instantly captivated.

I loved everything about it: the numerous pictures of outfits that were actually practical and wearable, the yummy and easy recipes on how to make different desserts, and the quick little paragraphs that Emily, the author, included with the photos that added just the right amount of writing I was willing to read. (The fact that she is from a town ten minutes away from my hometown in California made me like her a little more too.)

Cupcakesandcashmere.com quickly turned into my daily guilty pleasure. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy the content of the blog (fashion and cooking- what girl doesn't like these things?), but it was more than that. I became a part of the community that formed around this blog. I would even sometimes comment on certain posts that I especially liked.

Soon, I began viewing the other blogs that Emily had linked to her site, opening up a whole new world of blogs seemingly catered to my personal interests. My daily views of my favorite blogs has provided me not only with a needed (and often procrastinatory) break in my day, but also provided me with shopping tips, inspiration for my personal style, and a place where I can unite with my fellow fashionistas to share and discuss ideas in a suitable environment.

here's a link to Emily's site:

http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/

Not all blogs are created equally

At least from my experience.

The basic set-up for a blog is simple enough. We coughed this one out during class in a matter of minutes. However, establishing a powerhouse blog that people return to everyday for whatever it is you're blabbering about has become somewhat of a rare art form. Sure, there are tons of popular blogs and bloggers out there, but the ratio between them and the regular blog that gets that solitary impression everyday (possibly from the creator himself) puts the Perez Hiltons and Michelle Malkins in a fairly elite group.

I feel like I'm a fairly intelligent and interesting person who could possibly write a couple of articles a day and hopefully monetize it, so once upon a time, I decided to give it a go.

The first big decision was what I would write about. Do I write about celebrity gossip like Perez? Well I don't exactly have great sources other than... well... Perez Hilton and TMZ.

Should I do political commentary like Malkin? No, that wouldn't work either. Again, my sources are limited, and while free speech is a basic right, the idea of a "citizen journalist" sends chills up and down my spine particularly because they wouldn't be held accountable for what they say, unlike actual trained journalists. While the practices of the current crop of journalists is fairly questionable, at least they can be held accountable. Plus, real journalists have the sources, networks, and access to information that bloggers can never get... unless they become actual journalists... but I digress.

So politics is out. How about sexy girls? I'm sure that would be a hit. Sure, but I'd have to invest money to get copyrights to images... it's a whole process... not worth it... not my style... silly idea.

Food/travel/culture blog? I'm not a chef although I do cook, my travels consist of day-long flights between JFK and Albuquerque Sunport, and I'm not exactly a film expert. I like music and TV, but I don't feel like I'm in any authority outside of my circle of friends and The Ram to topple the Roger Eberts.

Sports! I love sports. Football, in particular - the European version - is a topic I am incredibly passionate about. But again, what gives me the right to be the go-to person for Liverpool fans? I live across the pond and I've never been to Anfield, Liverpool, or England for that matter.

Then this happened:

John W. Henry, Liverpool FC owner posted that on Twitter. An open challenge to Liverpool supporters everywhere to aggregate and grab statistics (what he's known for with the Red Sox) from the numerous publications who post rumors about the club.

This was my shot.

I retweeted, accepted the challenge, and my journey to blog fame began. He posted that at around 8 PM, and I had "Red Rumours LFC" live by 10 PM. I created a Twitter page, and announced the arrival of "Liverpool's Media Watchdog." The concept was simple enough. I had an algorithm and everything. Just copy all the rumors I find on the internet, plug them into Excel, and at the end of the year, get percentages. Good to go.

By midnight, my email inbox began exploding. My personal Twitter account went from about 7 followers to about 50. The blog's Twitter had over 500 followers within the first 30 minutes. By midnight, I had a team of over 14 people worldwide who volunteered to help out. We had geographic zones, departments, and everything. We were on our way to becoming a blogging giant!

And then this happened:

John W. Henry retweeted my blog for what was one of possibly the quickest promotions I've ever seen in my life. This was at around 3 AM ET. My shot-in-the-dark ambition was manifesting before my eyes. I got the seal of approval from the guy who owns the freaking team.

By 4 AM ET, around 9 AM in England, the Twitter account had well over 5,000 followers. No turning back now. My team got to work. Everyday, we'd post rumors, who said them, etc. Turns out it's difficult to manage a global team of people you don't know and can only chase via email.

By Christmas, the blog was all but dead. I was down to 4 staff members plus myself. The amount of articles being published was in the thousands, and we couldn't keep up. We have put the blog on hiatus since, we've missed the last transfer window, and we've faded into obscurity. We're working on addressing many flaws we've made from the choice of using Blogger instead of Wordpress, to the day-to-day collection of data, to RSS/Atom promotion, Pings, etc. We're planning a relaunch in the summer, but that's wishful thinking if we get it back up and running at all.

Moral of the story is that while it is easy to start a blog, it is definitely tough work to get it at a level that would meet demand. We were getting about 9,000 impressions a day, and several hundred emails, and we were swamped. We lacked the resources to even just keep up with tabloid rumors, let alone independent websites, fanzines, and other blogs.

The experience allowed me to respect the process of blogging, and big kudos to those who have found success. It's a tough thing to do, but I'm definitely still going to try and get my own blog out there. It's just a matter of really putting in a good strategy, time, and a ton of effort to making sure every detail is executed properly.

Are blogs replacing the news?

Blogs have, in a way, revolutionized the news. Before blogging, the news was strictly a professional thing. A couple of people would sit behind a desk and determine which stories they wanted the public to know about, with the ultimate goal of what would make them the most money. The invention of blogs has changed this exclusive idea of news into something far more personal. Nowadays, not only is news available in newspapers and on regular news channels, but it is also available through blogs. Blogs even often have information quicker than any other method of news can share it, and usually through a more personal source.

Blogs are also a more personalized version of the news. Typically, blogs focus on one or a couple of subjects, instead of covering a vast amount of topics that you are genuinely uninterested in. By choosing a blog or two that you want to read, you can keep up to date on news that truly matters to you. This is one advantage of blogs over social media sites like Facebook in the aspect that, like Alyson said, you are not forced to read status updates, or anything for that matter, that you are not interested in. Usually when someone reads a blog, it is because they are interested in the topic of that particular blog and they chose to read it. Blogs can give everyone a specialized look at the news and also gives those who are not professionals the chance to share the news they find important. Since blogs have become so popular, nowadays there are blogs on almost every subject imaginable. If you cannot find a blog that interests you, then there is probably something wrong. If you really can’t though, then it is not hard at all to start your own blog, potentially about the fact that every other blog is so uninteresting to you.

To me, blogs seem to be the 21^st century version of the news. To some people, blogs may be taken even more seriously than actual professional news. This is for much of the same reason that Alyson spoke of when she mentioned the restaurant review on a blog as opposed to in a newspaper ad. This same concept can be seen for movie reviews as well. There are blogs on the web that review movies for parents so that they can read about a movie before they take their children to see it. Anyone can contribute to or comment on these reviews. I don’t see why anyone would not prefer this to a simple rating in the corner of a movie poster or ad in a newspaper.