Prelude
Once upon a time there was an island named Blogosphere, and at the very center of that island stood a great castle built of stone, and spreading out from that castle for miles in every direction was a vast settlement of peasants who lived in shacks fashioned of tin and cardboard and straw.
Part one:
On the nature of innocent fraud
I’ve been reading a short book – an essay, really – by John Kenneth Galbraith called The Economics of Innocent Fraud. It’s his last work, written while he was in his nineties, not long before he died. In it, he explains how we, as a society, have come to use the term “market economy” in place of the term “capitalism.” The new term is a kinder and gentler one, with its implication that economic power lies with consumers rather than with the owners of capital or with the managers who have taken over the work of the owners. It’s a fine example, says Galbraith, of innocent fraud.
An innocent fraud is a lie, but it’s a lie that’s more white than black. It’s a lie that makes most everyone happy. It suits the purposes of the powerful because it masks the full extent of their power, and it suits the purposes of the powerless because it masks the full extent of their powerlessness.
What we tell ourselves about the blogosphere – that it’s open and democratic and egalitarian, that it stands in contrast and in opposition to the controlled and controlling mass media – is an innocent fraud.
Part two:
The loneliness of the long-tail blogger
The thing about an innocent fraud, though, is that it’s not that hard to see through. Often, in fact, you have to make an effort not to see through it, and at some point, for some people, the effort no longer seems worth it. A few days back, the blogger Kent Newsome asked, “Who are the readers of our blogs?” His answer had a melancholy tone:
The number of bloggers competing for attention makes it seem like the blogosphere is a huge, chaotic place. But it only seems that way because we have all ended up in a small room at the end of the hall. When people refuse to converse with me or go out of their way to link around me, it hurts a little. Until I remember that while they aren’t listening to me, no one in the real world is listening to them either …
Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy writing. But sometimes it feels vaguely depressing to write something, put it up and wait anxiously for someone to reply via comment or link.
A handful of people responded to Newsome’s post, among them the long-time blogger Seth Finkelstein. Finkelstein’s tone was much darker. You sensed not only the resignation but also the bitterness that is always left behind when a fraud is revealed:
To be more personal here, I wrote because:
1) I was suckered into the idea that blogs were a way to “route around” media power, and to be HEARD.
2) I had delusions of influence.
3) The random-payoff of attention makes it seem far more effective than it actually is.
4) It’s painful to admit that you’ve wasted so much time and effort and pretty much nobody is listening.
Blog evangelism is very cruel, as it preys on people’s frustrated hopes and dreams.
My blog is read by a few dozen fans … I’ve come close to shutting it down at times, and will finally reach the breaking-point eventually.
The powerful have a greater stake in the perpetuation of an innocent fraud than do the powerless. Long after the powerless have suspended their suspension of disbelief, the powerful will continue to hold tightly to the fraud, repeating it endlessly amongst themselves in an echo chamber that provides a false ring of truth.
Part three:
How to get a link from an A Lister
I met Seth Finkelstein recently. We had both been invited to participate in a day-long conference about “hyperlinking” at the Annenberg School in Philadelphia. The conference’s first panel was moderated by Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University who also writes the popular blog Pressthink, which has the following tag line: “Ghost of Democracy in the Media Machine.” During a brief Q&A session at the close of the panel, a woman in the audience expressed frustration about getting bloggers like Rosen to link to her site. She asked the professor if he had any suggestions. Rosen said that the best way to get a link from him is to write a post about one of his posts. He carefully monitors mentions of his work in other blogs, he said, and he frequently provides links back to them, at least when they have some substance.
Rosen’s answer could not possibly have been more honest. The best way, by far, to get a link from an A List blogger is to provide a link to the A List blogger. As the blogophere has become more rigidly hierarchical, not by design but as a natural consequence of hyperlinking patterns, filtering algorithms, aggregation engines, and subscription and syndication technologies, not to mention human nature, it has turned into a grand system of patronage operated – with the best of intentions, mind you – by a tiny, self-perpetuating elite. A blog-peasant, one of the Great Unread, comes to the wall of the castle to offer a tribute to a lord, and the lord drops a couple of coins of attention into the peasant’s little purse. The peasant is happy, and the lord’s hold over his position in the castle is a little bit stronger.
“Ghost of Democracy” is a wonderful term. It perpetuates the innocent fraud even as it exposes it.
Epilogue
One day, a blog-peasant boy found buried in the dust beside his shack a sphere of flawless crystal. When he looked into the ball he was astounded to see a moving picture. It was an image of a fleet of merchant ships sailing into the harbor of the island of Blogosphere. The ships bore names that had long been hated throughout the island, names like Time-Warner and News Corp and Pearson and New York Times and Wall Street Journal and Conde Nast and McGraw-Hill. The blog-peasants gathered along the shore, jeering at the ships and telling the invaders that they would soon be vanquished by the brave lords in the great castle. But when the captains of the merchant ships made their way to the gates of the castle, bearing crates of gold, they were not repelled by the lords with cannons but rather welcomed with fanfares. And all through the night the blog-peasants could hear the sounds of a great feast inside the castle walls.
This is one of the best posts on the topic that I’ve read in a long time- not only for the things said within (which are stand-alone enlightening), but for the richness of the comments that follow, as well. This is what I personally love about the blogosphere.
The reason I like what you have said here is not so much the conclusion as the addition of the dimension of truth that is covered up in the apt term, innocent fraud. I think your conclusions are transitional, but important ones. We do have to step away from our delusions.
The blogosphere is changing. The impact of sheer numbers as well as the influx of business and marketing interest are catalysts of that change. and we, as bloggers, change within it, I think… at least I have. I have to re-assess my purpose for blogging as the face of blogging changes, and my fluctuations in readership as well as the influence of how I am perceived by other bloggers play a part in that.
And, ah… your writing style is lovely, that has to be part of the reason I want to go over your ideas and try to assimilate them into my own attempts to understand the blog phenomenom. Even if it is a little like navel gazing;) Although I like to think of it as cultural observation.
Came here by way of a post via Intellectuelle via LaShawn Barber. The power of linkage in action!
Thanks Nick, for voicing what many people think when looking at the blogging phenomenon from the outside. What strikes me is how personal some people take your comments. To me, the blogosphere is a place where humans gather and where humans gather they show human behaviour. In the new context of blogging that means they will go through all the phases every new culture goes through. Technology only accellerates this process (whether that is a good thing is a different matter altogether). From small independent communities to tribal kings with power to control more then one (or a large) community, to a rule (law?) based society when infighting among the tribal kings gets to annoying and wasteful, to an entrepreneurial one when the rules become to stiffling, etc.
Apparently we are now in the tribal king phase for the blogosphere, however much I know and understand that these tribal kings never set out to become one! Off course these tribal kings are loath to release there power, so within their community they form their own (often unspoken and subconscious) power base to prevent further change.
I also came upon some research here that shows another perspective on the position of A-listers when it comes to the comparison of blogging and journalism and confirms what many comments posted here already reflect.
I write because I have to and I don’t look at pageviews or other metrics… Those that do otherwise will not last long, IMHO.
Good writing :)
And I like Oliver Widder’s cartoon too.
I don’t agree particularly but that doesn’t matter. It seems to me, as an occasional blogger, that blogging can be quite a strong community/topic thing. So I have found myself in a certain piece of the ‘blogosphere’ (& a specific community) when I focussed on something and when I move to my next topic of interest I my find myself in a completely different community..
And, let’s face it, most of the ‘real-world’ has never heard of a ‘blog’..
In education we (as in students and teachers) mostly blog to reflect on our learning (staff also). This has a really positive effect on learning and is backed up by a lot of research.
It’s primary function is therefore for ourselves but the social aspect adds a extra dimension to this (and the social aspects of learning are also well researched).
Seems like a lot of people just want their bit of fame and recognition.
Great writing. The discussion baffles me a bit.
I’m trying to imgaine the first ownres of desktop printing presses at support groups, talking about how this major investment hadnt’ brought them fame and recognition, was taking up their side room and annoying their family, smelled of oil and didn’t even work properly… and how the big printing press manufacturers were spreading the idea that in-home publishing was possible in order to, say, drive down part costs with economies of scale.
Might make a good one-act.
SJ
If you’ve made it all the way down here (congratulations), you may well have forgotten what my original post was about. Here’s a quick reminder: “What we tell ourselves about the blogosphere – that it’s open and democratic and egalitarian, that it stands in contrast and in opposition to the controlled and controlling mass media – is an innocent fraud.” Carry on.
I am an a-list blog in Comoros why am I not mentioned here?
Shaum :(
Dear fellow netizens of the blogosphere,
Howdy! Hola! Bongiorno! How’s it Hangin’!
I’m a big fan of the Internet and I feel it has changed my life in ways that only my most intimate friends would ever be able to fathom.
The other day I was writing an e-mail to my long-lost nephew-in-law and it occurred to me, if not for the Internet, I wouldn’t be able to e-mail anyone at all, unless you consider the fact that the Arpanet had e-mail also, but I don’t think my nephew-in-law existed back then and even if he did he probably wouldn’t be an Arpizen of the Arpasphere. Does anybody have any good recipes? I sure like to eat and I’d love to hear what you have to say. I have the best recipe for Chicken and Beef a la Skip that I’ve ever tasted. You take a little chicken and a little beef and you cook them according to the most delicious set of directions ever imagined. Serves about 8. Enjoy!
Lol, Nick, I did need that reminder. I like the premise of innocent fraud. People who set out to use people to climb a social ladder are the unsuccessful networkers but people who have a genuine interest in other people may network to greater effect.
Ultimately there are people who fly higher, with mass media royalty because they can catch the same draught, same values, same goals.
There are far more wanna-“bees” who desire to be eagles but who just can’t get the height. These great unreads sometimes blame the system as being run by malavolent tyrants while the blog-peasant wants a communist distribution of attention not a meritocracy.
That concept is resisted I think because pop culture dream is that anyone can become anything and basically are equal in quality even when they are not.
Fascinating ideas to roll around.
Beautiful analogy Nick.
Mike Arrogantington wrote up a nasty little post calling you an asshole, but I think you make a lot of sense. Thank you for your thoughts.
Nick – thanks for the writing. I enjoyed it as writing.
Much of what I hear you saying applies to other fields, especially the field of SEO. I’ve worked in SEO for many years, and only recently created a “public face”. Absent a strategic objective for that face, blogging seems wasteful. Meaningless. Counter-intuitive even, especailly for a competitive type, as there is no reason to reveal information about yourself unless you are pursuing a sales/professional marketing or whatever agenda.
Sure there is a certain satisfaction to earning a comment or link from an “A” personality in your niche. Perhaps it’s merely a passing thrill, though. On analysis, it doesn’t hold value (to me, sans an agenda).
Your “innocent fraud” sounds a lot like the “necessary illusions” described by Chomsky when describing capitalism and democracy. It is the same game, no? And why not expect TheBlogosphere to follow the same path as most hierarchical systems? What’s the big news, beyond the lack of awareness of that?
Not everyone blogs for attention. Some blog as writing. Why do writers write?
I assume I’m simply deeply naive about this subject, but – before blogs (well, really, search engines and websites, I suppose), if someone wished to write a response to something they read, and allow a large number of people to be able to access it, this was only possible by such things as “letters to the editor”, or, sometimes, paphleteering. Maybe I don’t read “A-list” blogs often enough, but most blogs I know do allow comments; this is a far more accessable way to reply than was possible before.
There seems to be a missing piece here; blogging as a means to respond to other material. With the exception of blogs which do not allow comments or trackbacks, or whose owners heavily censor what comments/trackbacks they allow, blogs allow for radically more of this sort of response than previous forms of media. This is different. This is important.
I suppose it’s the case that a link from a “A-list” blog could produce so many readers that a large number of them would become regulars, but it seems as though there are other methods (although none of them, including this, are easy, mostly), such as advertising, face-to-face meetings, etc.
Is the ability to respond simply so obvious that it doesn’t require a mention, or am I misunderstanding the situation in some other way?
I think that quality matters, but I’m starting to think it matters less in the blogosphere than in, say, newspapers or magazines – because of the mob nature of blogging
Fascinating comment thread, much useful back and forth …
… but please, with reference to the italicised quote from one of your replies, to dmr, upthread … how, after these past five years especially, can you say that newspapers and magazines hold to higher quality standards ?
And of course, not all blogging suffers from a vague attribution to some mobbish nature.
Of course some newspaper and magazine articles are better, or contain or use more ‘quality” than some (even many) blogs or blog posts. And at the same time there are some blogs or blog posts that are at a minimum the equal of the finest journalism or writing to be found anywhere. I know that, you know that, and most of your readers know that.
We consume what we choose, and we choose what we consume .. just as you can choose to buy and read the New Yorker or the National Enquirer at a newstand or in a convenience store. And the pity is that many North American newspapers and magazines have trended much (in terms of quality) towards either the standards of the National Enquirer or stenography correspondence course assignments over the past half-decade at least .. and without blogs and blogging that in all likelihood would not have become as clear as it seems to be.
Nick-
This was one of my favorite posts of 2006 because the comments are so rich and thoughtful and also because it made me think hard about why I blog — which has been a meaningful and productive exercise for me.
Imp of the perverse. It did occur to me and perhaps to one or two of your readers that the Blogoshpere, such as we call it, is actually an elaborate practical joke, that all the blogs are actually written by three people: Al Gore, Robert Scoble & Woody Allen.
Testiment to the quality of the discussion here here, such a discovery would not actually conflict with any of the ideas expressed in this post. Everything would still hold valid.
So, so true, Nick. I’m very tempted to fire off this URL to several A-listers…
Some of you may write for yourselves, and some of us write with a purpose beyond ourselves. There are definitely different reasons to blog.
For me, traffic is my blog’s life’s blood. There is no great purpose to maintaining my own blog in obscurity. It is not a journal. It is not fiction. I claw and scrape to climb the ladder towards the castle walls each and every day because I understand too well why the fight is worth fighting.
The Blogosphere may be the last great hope for true Free Speech in a world dominated by elitists on one hand and threatened by barbarity on the other.
The fight is upon us.
Wow, there is something very important happening that this post is still relevant and commented on. That such a moment of insight can have significant staying power belies the ostensible transitory nature of blogging.
I think for a lot of us that permanency and the accumulation of our thoughts is one of the true values of blogging. I wrote a post a little back where I discussed why I still blog and I came to the conclusion that the real value of blogging was the creation of a record enabling people to find out what you think . Even if my daily audience is small, my total audience interested in what I am thinking is quite large over time. In our work with thousands of bloggers across the internet at Triggit we are starting to see that most bloggers are writing not for the megaphone that the fraud you describe promises but instead for the chance to have a back fence conversation. Blogging doesn’t have to be about a huge daily readership to still be important.
Wow, there is something very important happening that this post is still relevant and commented on. That such a moment of insight can have significant staying power belies the ostensible transitory nature of blogging.
I think for a lot of us that permanency and the accumulation of our thoughts is one of the true values of blogging. I wrote a post a little back where I discussed why I still blog and I came to the conclusion that the real value of blogging was the creation of a record enabling people to find out what you think . Even if my daily audience is small, my total audience interested in what I am thinking is quite large over time. In our work with thousands of bloggers across the internet at Triggit we are starting to see that most bloggers are writing not for the megaphone that the fraud you describe promises but instead for the chance to have a back fence conversation. Blogging doesn’t have to be about a huge daily readership to still be important.
The thing about an innocent fraud, though, is that it’s not that hard to see through. Often, in fact, you have to make an effort not to see through it, and at some point, for some people, the effort no longer seems worth it.”Ghost of Democracy” is a wonderful term. It perpetuates the innocent fraud even as it exposes it.Maybe blog disillusionment is so bitter because it tugs on the day-to-day illusions we wrap ourselves in. The world is a big, cold place that doesn’t care what I think — regardless of whether I blog or not Not that smart folks are automatically suckers, but when high ideals are waved in front of them, most of them will indeed roll over like a puppy.
There are basically two rules of blogging:
1. Nobody is going to read your blog unless there’s something in it for them.
2. Nobody is going to link to your blog unless there’s something in it for them.
The truth is painful Nick, but it’s still the truth.
Hey Nick, I like your writing. It’s really rhythmic and flowing