I had a bit of traveling to do last week, so I ambled into an airport news stand. It occurred to me that the only time I read glossy magazines these days is when I’m traveling. Sometimes I’ll pick up the Journal or the Times, scan the headlines, then put it back down. Not worth the purchase.
The truth is, I do all my information-gathering in the blogosphere. If I happen to land on a mainstream media page, it’s because a blogger pointed out something I am interested in. My blog network is my daily read, in addition to alerts I have set for certain keywords I’m interested in that widen my network. But, this isn’t new to anyone who has transitioned to the new form of media consumption.
What is new is how the blogosphere is becoming less and less of an amateur hour and more and more relevant to an individual’s life. I read recently that at Davos, the bloggers had greater access than the major media:
Still, all of this meant that the World Economic Forum gave some bloggers – Jeff Jarvis, Loic Le Meur, for example – greater access rights than the regular media. Bloggers with HD camcorders could wander anywhere in the building, while professional crews were restricted to the hallways and 30-minute bursts.
Ironically, even though they’re viewed as amateurs by the major media, bloggers have replaced traditional media for me. And speaking of Davos, I read (online, of course) that the Publisher of the New York Times, Arthur Sultzberger, Jr. said at the Economic Forum, “I really don’t know whether we’ll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don’t care, either.” Well, I don’t care either. Unless, of course, they start feeding me content that is specifically relevant to my work and life.
