The Intent of Content

I think we are beginning to see the stratification of blogs more clearly as this infant genre marches towards adolescence. Not in its apparent use (aggregators, journals, op-ed essays, etc.), but rather its intent. I think the line between “indie blogs” and “professional blogs” is becoming more apparent.

“Indie Blogs” are those that are self-published by amateur or professional writers with no financial reward as their motivation. “Professional Blogs” are either financed and hosted by corporations or self-hosted by individuals on private websites cluttered with ads and ad-links getting paid per page view.

At issue here is the content, intent and dissent that bloggers are embracing. Once a personal form of commentary written from outside the mass-media machine, blogs might be loosing their relevance as they assimilate into the machinery they were once the alternative to. Is a New York Times paid blogger allowed to reveal a devastating factoid about Hillary? Would a paid Fox News blogger loose their contract if they reported the control Rupert Murdoch exercises in controlling the content of his media empire? Even “Indie Blogs” fall into suspicion now as their writers become producers trying to write updated resumes in the form of a blog in hopes of attracting a paying sponsor. Rather than examining and discussing issues at hand, regardless of the financial repercussions, this kind of self-imposed editing leads to cliché attacks, rumors and opinions targeted at the sponsors’ detractors.

With the raw amount of data being posted every day, it is becoming harder to find nonconforming blogs we are interested in that are not just esoteric rants. By nonconforming I do not mean simply disagreeing with either Liberals or Democrats. I mean nonconforming in the gritty way that real life is not pure black and white. I mean nonconforming in the way that human opinions usually do not match up perfectly into a political pigeonholes while at the same time being able to not offend the advertisers. Nonconforming in the way that one would support an idea, not just attack the inverse.

With too many choices and no clear indication of intent, are blogs destined to become mere media articles paid for by the same machines that now process our news, or are they going to become small enclaves of very specific views and knowledge unintelligible to the masses? The separation has begun, and where we direct our page views as customers will determine how the end is written.