Steve Rubel checks the current tumult in the media environment, and suggested yesterday “Big Media, It’s Time to Go All Blog.”
As a result, it is my belief that media companies that are heavily invested online need to consider going to an all-blog format. Social media is not an add-on. It’s not a feature. It’s a way of life that evolves journalism from monologue to dialogue.
Steve also throws out CNET as a possible leader in this transition, and mentions me by name. We’ll see, won’t we? I’m not sure the definition of the end goal matches what Steve suggests, perhaps because “blog” means many things to many people. But I do know that being relevant and important to an audience is absolutely the end goal, by whatever label.
Coincidentally, I also read Paul Graham’s latest yesterday: “What Business Can Learn from Open Source.” One tiny snippet:
Actually, the fad is the word “blog,” at least the way the print media now use it. What they mean by “blogger” is not someone who publishes in a weblog format, but anyone who publishes online. That’s going to become a problem as the Web becomes the default medium for publication. So I’d like to suggest an alternative word for someone who publishes online. How about “writer?”
Makes sense to me, especially because I don’t think readers care about the labels at all, especially if they are not blogging themselves. I believe that my editorial colleagues, whose work is the foundation of our business, would be happy to be thought of a writers worth reading, whether the product is an article, an essay, a blog, a book (some have written those, too), or even an audio report. (Thanks, Dan, for alerting me to Paul Graham’s latest essay, even ahead of my aggregator.)
I absolutely agree that media is changing, and that’s exciting. People don’t move as fast as ideas yet, even if the spread of ideas is happening ever faster. There are a lot of people, at every brand within CNET Networks, thinking about — and acting upon — the new possibilities in media, social and otherwise. And it’s happening everywhere outside CNET Networks, too… ain’t competition grand?