First impressions of the web-blogging scene

After a weekend of browsing though plenty of blogs, I’ve decided to follow these two blogs: “State of the Day”, a blog with four contributors that discusses politics from a liberal perspective, and “The Lede”, a NY Times blog that looks are current events from a different angle, often a rather sarcastic point of view.

Browsing through all these other blogs did give me a good idea of the web-blogging culture and situation, and here are some key observations I’ve noticed:

1. Blogs are just like any other type of mass media.

Sure, the top 3 blogs are a gadgets related blog, a self-help/tips and tricks blog and an editorial blog, but guess what’s after those? Perez Hilton’s “Celebrity gossip juicy celebrity rumors Hollywood gossip blog”. Sheesh. As if I haven’t gotten enough from TV’s gossip shows, CNN’s month long coverage on Anna Nichole Smith, and all those stacks of magazines on who’s dating who and who’s gained another 5 pounds.

2. The internet is changing culture – fast.

Alex William wrote an interesting piece on our changing culture. Joshua Stein also wrote a blog in reflection of William’s article, and this quote summarizes both pieces pretty well:

“In a culture that prizes risk and outsize reward — where professional heroes are college dropouts with billion-dollar Web sites — some doctors and lawyers feel they have slipped a notch in social status, drifting toward the safe-and-staid realm of dentists and accountants. It’s not just because the professions have changed, but also because the standards of what makes a prestigious career have changed.”

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/fashion/06professions.html?ref=style; http://gawker.com/5002023/bloggers-are-the-new-doctors-and-lawyers

3. What happened to privacy?

Although some blogs are opinion driven, some are ‘tips and tricks’ driven, there are still many blogs by individuals on the internet that seem to be a daily diary. Whatever happened to diaries being a private refuge for private thoughts and self reflection? How and why did it turn into a public entry, open to the entire world, and heavens, open to comments by anyone?

With everyone so concerned about privacy nowadays, the internet seems to be moving another direction. Another recent internet phenomenon – social networking sites, or more specifically, Facebook and MySpace, is another example. Messages sent to other people are visible to hundreds, if not thousands or more people; sure, there are ‘privacy’ settings that limit exposure, but they are rarely more limited than ‘networks’ – meaning that everyone in your college/university, and everyone in your location (be it city or country) has access to those messages. And information isn’t limited to just messages; photos of the person, birthdays, addresses and emails, events intended to attend… a lot of them are open to semi-public view.