The Power of Blogs

[Frustratedlady]

First of all, I'd like to thank those who are responsible for setting up the DU, Daily Kos, Brad Blog, et al., because they have kept me sane throughout these past few months. They showed me I wasn't just imagining things with this administration, but found others who had the same suspicions and concerns. Second, I wanted to share a few of my feelings about my interpretation of the effect blogs have had on the political process.

During the conventions of 2000, I heard references to blogs, but didn't have a clue as to what they were or how they worked. In 2004, I finally searched out some blogs and was amazed at what I saw.

There are SO many eyes and ears on the Internet, watching and waiting for news to break...sometimes, even beating the news releases with eye-witness reports because we're everywhere. The first time I watched bloggers in action was the Jeff Gannon debacle. Who was he and how did he get into the WH press room? Well, it didn't take long before the info came flooding in, getting larger and larger and becoming more bizarre as the day went on. Questions were asked, statements were made and suddenly the blogs had a story unfolding that was so big and so wild, it's a wonder the Internet didn't explode. As the issue grew and became more and more complicated, several people were assigned areas of subjects to search. Bingo! In no time, they had the info, dates and times, people involved, website owners and locations. They were capturing documents and website owners' information before it could be deleted or changed. In fact, I remember on one blog where an address was given for one business, but another business also had the same exact location. How to best figure that out? Someone in that city jumped into their trusty little car and drove to the address, only to find it was MailBoxes where you could rent a box. So, he took photos of the store, street sign and even down to the box number, then reported back to the blog. After all the information was gathered, a little discussion ensued and a group decision was made on how best to handle the information to get the maximum exposure and biggest bang for their blog, so to speak. (No puns intended.)

Right now, this administration can't move fast enough to delete, destroy or seal information before the bloggers can find it. You guys are like cockroaches when the light comes on, scurrying here and there across the Internet to uncover the best archives to use to find the goodies. Even the media is lurking and grabbing bits of info. I doubt GW even understands the Internet--not wanting to have anything to do with it since Al Gore "invented" it! :P

Blogs are a way for WE, the PEOPLE to speak out, take action, find support and come together for a cause with such speed, "they" can't keep up. Blogs are a way of participating in a political demonstration without leaving your home or office. Blogs are open and active, up-to-date/24/7 unless they figure out how to shut us down or mess with us.

I just wanted to let you know that I am SO grateful for blogging. I'd like to hear what others think of blogs...have they been a positive or negative force in your life...are they a good or bad method of keeping up with current events...if they feel blogs will be the new obstacle to reckon with in the field of politics or just an irritation?

[Jack_Dawson]

1. Here's to DU

My oasis in a sea of stupidity :beer: :toast: :beer:

[brainshrub]

2. DU was a major inspiration, and teacher for Brainshrub.com.

Thanks to DU, and the people on this forum, I've learned how to write and moderate my own blog. (It will never surpass DU in traffic, but I'm amazed at how many people visit every day.)

It won't be long before there will be a new subculture of bloggers who are able to generate enough revenue from their blogs to be full-time activists.

[patrice]

3. Don't forget the one:one interaction that can take place on a blog.

People who normally would never talk to one another can in the blogosphere. Sometimes this even results in one person "flipping" another, i.e. causing them to change their point of view on an issue. In addition to the wide selection of information a good blog carries, I think this one:one interaction is one of the most important and powerful parts of the blog revolution.

I may be a little biased in my perspective. One project in my master's work (in 1998) was an assignment to predict an important aspect of the future of the internet. Many people did presentations on the next hardware advances to be expected; I chose to research and describe how intentional communities would form in the internet and how that would enrich the cognitive sets of their members and provide opportunities to act in concert.