On DNC's Blog Potential

At 1/11/2005 12:34:08 PM, Kyle Michaelis said...

Is the strategy to turn the blogging community into our own version of conservative talk radio? Not a bad idea, but I don't think it's very practical. A message can not be really be sheltered and controlled on the Internet because, by its very nature, so few boundaries exist. Also, reading a person's words just doesn't quite foster the same personal connection as hearing their voice (for the majority of Americans).

All in all, the plan outlined here seems wasteful, while vastly over-estimating the potential of Blogging as a force for change. For the time being (and considerable future), this remains the domain of the biggest activists and the least active (as in sedentary) among us. An interesting combination but not the great driving force of progressive politics that we need. Anything done on the internet that doesn't have some REAL WORLD component is almost useless because of its fixed audience. The Internet is great at enhancing experiences, but it is not an experience by itself.

This blog here has the potential to succeed because it is generally local (we live in a low-population state), hence there is the possibility of community that transcends the computer screen and takes on true form. I'd say the DNC is too big, serving (or attempting to serve) too great a population to be of any real use in this capacity. It would attract attention, it would absorb a lot of energy, but the benefits of such a program would be minimal to non-existent. DNC Meet-Ups could perhaps work at mimicing the local community model, simply making a network of such communities, but the success of such groups is unproven and I'd hesitate to invest too much of our hopes in them. But shucks, it's probably worth a try.

Seriously, though, the goal is "having the blogosphere surpass cable news networks in reach and influence"??? Who is this guy kidding? There is no centralization on the Internet, at least not unless the Democratic Party can take over Microsoft and start exploiting bugs in Internet Explorer to our benefit (imagine DNC.org as the universal homepage). Barring that unlikelihood, we're stuck communicating with relative techno-elites who already have sympathies in our direction. Rupert Murdoch has more reach than that in his pinky finger.

An old question comes to mind: where's the beef? Maybe I just lack the forward-looking vision to see it, blinded as I am by chronic skepticism. I hope so but wouldn't count on it. Still a fan of Rosenberg but wish he'd leverage that ambition with a bit of common sense when it comes to Internet activism.

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