(2002-05-14) d

Steven Levy on WebLog co-opting. Blogs are a terrific addition to the media universe. But they pose no threat to the established order. Consider recent high-tech history. When the Web first emerged, we heard similar predictions that Big Media were sitting ducks for upstart competitors with cool Web sites. Didn't happen. The Web made it easier to publish, but couldn't drive readers to your door. The majority of news-surfers visit only the top few sites... What makes blogs attractive - their immediacy, their personality and, these days, their hipness - just about ensures that Old Media, instead of being toppled by them, will successfully co-opt them. You might argue that it's happened already. Some of the most popular blogs are those created not by disaffected outlaws, but by slumming professionals. The point isn't that any single non-traditional "channel" will beat out the Old Media, it's that the Old Media will get a smaller piece of the overall pie. And, maybe to a greater extent, become even less "important", as "thought leaders" will be the people most likely to dump the Mass Media.