There Goes the Neighbourhood

I read an interesting article about how corporations are getting into the blog business. It seems that the blog will be the next powerful tool for marketing and corporate communication. We all know that nothing is sacred, and this is just another sign of that.

Blogs are already obsolete to a certain degree. There are just so darned many of them, and relatively few that are original. There are some that are specialized to a specific interest or hobby, and they have a lot of value to those who share that interest. Most are like this one, offering general musings and opinions about the issues of the day or life experiences, and get very few hits. (I keep my blog for personal reflection and posterity, but very much welcome readers and comments.) The most popular blogs are the ones that declare themselves to be "alternative media", because both the Left and Right complain that the mainstream media don't serve their interests. But those blogs have become just the opposite of what they purport to be. A lot of the big blogs generate ad revenue, so they are not much more independent than the corporate media. Many personalities from the MSM have their own blogs too. And according to the first article cited above, apparently there will be more and more bloggers who are nothing but corporate shills. The free flow of ideas is no longer free, but it was only a matter of time.

I will be self-critical for a moment. My blog has strayed away from how I envisioned it would be when I first started it. In the beginning, I expected to chime in occasionally on the news of the day and offer my lay insights, but not as often as it has turned out. I expected to have more posts about day-to-day experiences, or philosophical observations of the type I offered in my very first blog entry, as well as discussion about media. It has become much more current events driven than I had intended. Some of it is a reflection of the politically charged period in which we are living. Some of it is indicative of the reality that I need to get out more. Most of it has to do with the fact that it is very easy for anybody with an opinion to write about the stories that are out there and that others are writing about. I want to maintain a daily writing discipline, and drawing on the news means that I'll never be wanting for a topic. But I'm concerned about sounding like a broken record, falling back on the same polemics as most political blogs do. So I will make an effort to go back to offering more variety in my posts. And although I can't be balanced, I'll always try to be fair. Of course, everyone has their price...