I think that bloggers due have a huge effect on the ways that people view the news. With news stations losing their credibility to some viewers, blogs have been shown to be a successful alternative. In the Kline and Burnstein book “Blog,” it was written that during the 2004 presidential election, the ten most popular blogs had 28 million hits, which rivaled three 24/7 news stations. Now if blogs were not being taken seriously, how come so many people are looking at them? I think the reason for their rapid growth is due to people’s distrust of the media.
I think that blogs can present a different point of view on important issues. Now, that doesn’t mean that I completely agree with what I see in blogs, but it is refreshing to get a different point of view. It seems like the news stations are just full of shouting matches, when they should be more focused on solving issues.
I also strongly agree that blogs can give voices to the “voiceless.” Major media networks tend to put stories that they feel people show care about on their stations. Just because some producers think an issue is important, doesn’t mean that most people think it’s going to be important. Most of time the minority voices are hardly even heard, and if they are given any kind of air time it’s only for twenty seconds.
Blogging is changing the way that people receive their news. Which is why I wasn’t shocked to see that the percentage of people who read news papers has dropped by 26 percent since 1964. I also think that as time goes on, this percentage will drop even more. People in the generation after mine will grow up on reading blogs, which will contribute to the decline of the amount of newspapers being read.
Something that surprised me was the fact that blogs are also seen as having an effect on the “influencers” of society. Apparently if the 10 percent of influencers in society can be affected by a product, then the rest of society will follow. Since I’m probably going to go into advertising after college, this will apply to me. If I’m trying to get a product exposed to the public, then affecting the “influencers” of the target market will be one of my main goals. Apparently 74 percent of percent of Americans use the web for shopping and communicating. This is a dream come true for advertisers, because now they can cut cost on putting ads in newspapers by putting their ads on their website.
I don’t know where blogging will be in the future. It could continue to rapidly grow, slow down, or somehow merge with TV media. I honestly don’t where blogging will be, but I do think that it’s here to stay.
3 comments:
I agree with much of the information you have provided. But with the statistics of people who have visited the sites, I wonder how much of that is from multiple visits by the same person. I think accuracy in this area is vital, so I hope another method will soon be used.
Also, I think it is a great medium for the "voiceless" as you said, but I hope this does not cause people to take the blog as its only means of news. Especially in cases where the blogger is unknown, we should remember to research and double check information that is stated.
Great assessment of the reading. I agree with many of your points, and I look forward to what you have next.
I agree that blogs give a voice to the voiceless. I know personally I don't care about some of the stories on the news. Therefore, I read blogs that cater to my needs. Unfortunately, the minority represenations on the news are always the negative stereotypes.
As much as blogs are providing an alternitive for our generation, I feel that some people may not be able to discern between fact and fiction.Most people are lazy or don't care to check facts they read on blogs. At least newspapers and TV to a certain extent are held accountable for the information they disseminate.
Blogs aren't regulated by the FCC or another governing body.
Great Post.
Very nice. Good integration and great balance of voices.
Links for perfection?
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