Buzz Marketing with Blogs: 2004’s Final Stories About Blogs

2004’s Final Stories About Blogs

As the last days of 2004 trickle in, journalists facing slower news days are putting blogs front and center. Also, blogs have made some significant contributions to culture and society this year, so year-end wrap ups are cataloging their effects.

As the last days of 2004 trickle in, journalists facing slower news days are putting blogs front and center.

Also, blogs have made some significant contributions to culture and society this year, so year-end wrap ups are cataloging their effects.

Specifically, Time magazine names Power Line their blog of the year (subscription required)—or you can read about it at Power Line for free.

Michael Kinsley, editor of the Los Angeles Times editorial pages, has been online savvy for a long time, but writes today about the unnerving sophistication of the blogosphere. He circulated his view on the privatization of social security with some traditional media pundits, and then:

As an afterthought, I sent copies to a couple of blogs (kausfiles.com and andrewsulllivan.com). What happened next was unnerving.

A few days later, most of the big shots hadn’t replied. But overnight I had dozens of responses from the blogosphere. They’re still pouring in. And that’s just direct e-mail to me. Within hours, there were discussions going on in a dozen blogs, all hyperlinking to one another like rabbits.

Ah yes, the power of blogs to magnify a discussion.

Meanwhile, the New York Observer says ”We’re All Gossips Now!” and discusses the migration of buzz to online sites because of the speed and simplicity of the medium:

Welcome to 2004, the year in which gossip got out of the hands of the powerful Hollywood publicists and Manhattan lawyers and was dumped in the lap of the average New Yorker. Power to the people!

Liz Smith responds:

IT’S MIND-BLOGGING
Oh, my! Bastone says quite correctly that he doubts I surf the blogs as I should if I want to keep up. Well, he’s right. I only have one life to live writing this column. If I start covering the blogs, that’s all I’ll ever do…

Liz mentions, rightly, that many blogs aren’t accurate, and that [non-corporate] bloggers are not apt to be sued [yet]. Let’s see what 2005 brings.

Posted by Susannah Gardner on 12/20 at 01:22 PM • Blogging News