Blogs vs mainstream media
p2pnet.net News:- Anyone who spends any time online already knows blogs are slowly usurping the traditional roles of the mainstream media, and further evidence of this comes in a new report.
One in three of online Americans has read a blog at least once, says Ipsos, and of this number, 38% read blogs at least once per week.
“More than two in five of those aged 18 to 34 (41%) and those with a college-education (41%) have visited blogs at least once” and geographically speaking, “blogs are most popular in the western United States where 37% of residents reported visiting a blog” and half of the people who’ve read a blog at least say they’re “very” or “somewhat” accurate.
Interestingly, people who’ve never read one nonetheless say blogs are “accurate only 22% of the time,” says Ipsos.
Blog-readers are also more likely to judge other media sources more accurate than their non-blogging counterparts, it says, going on:
“Blog-readers are more likely than non-blog readers to cite Local news (84% vs. 75%), Newspapers (81% vs. 71%), Cable News Networks (79% vs. 71%), and Network News (78% vs. 69%) as accurate as well.”
The venue where blogs are seen as most influential is public opinion (68%) but more to the point, those who read blogs also feel they’re having an influence on mainstream media.
“Nearly 6 in 10 (56%) blog-readers said they think that blogs have become at least somewhat influential to mainstream media like TV and Newspapers,” says the study.
“Even one in four (25%) of those who don’t read blogs think they are at least somewhat influential on the mainstream media. When asked about the perceived influence on public policy, 54% of blog-readers feel blogs are having an influence. Again, one in four non-blog-readers also believe they influence public policy.”
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May 26th, 2005 at 11:56 am
Although what most people know as a “blog” is basically just an individual personal webpage account in a large corporate blogsite - designed for the completely non-technical user that is already set up with standardized off-the-self templates. Unlike traditional websites, programming knowledge of HTML, Perl, or PHP not required, nor is use of web authoring applications or FTP clients. In these blogsites, the only knowledge or skill needed is the ability to type on a keyboard and click with a mouse.
Basically, a website “for the complete idiot” as they say
But the term “blog” seems to have evolved to mean just about any single-person website designed for fresh, often-daily news postings, rather than the more traditional personal website (normally created on a home PC and uploaded via FTP to the server) which is only rarely (if ever) updated.
So whenever I see the mainstream news media discussing “blogs”, I wonder if they mean any non-mainstream news/opinion website outside of the traditional commercial news organizations? Would the Drudge Report qualify under the definition of a blog? (Because although only 1 or 2 people run it, it is said to be extremely profitable, which might be a disqualifying factor)
Also, most forum software includes a “front page” which will automatically list all the news posts - in order of most recent - that start each thread in the designated news section. Although not normally referred to as a ‘blog’, it essentially serves the same function - if the postings are original writings rather than reprints of commercial news stories.
So back to my original question - other than the cookie-cutter “websites for dummies” that are increasingly common these days, what exactly are the qualifications for a website to be classified as a “blog”?
Would calling P2Pnet a blog be acceptable or a huge insult?