The blogosphere is not "credible"
Blogspotting | BusinessWeek online
Steven Straight leaves a comment on Heather's post warning that the blogosphere is losing credibility. (I left a comment on the post, but don't feel like waiting for it to be approved.) My point: The blogosphere by itself has no credibility. Individual bloggers build their own credibility. I trust Tim Porter, just to pick one. But his credibility doesn't fall one bit if 10,000 other bloggers make fools of themselves.
Example: If you take a walk around the block and come across a group of raving harebrains, do you worry that the credibility of the street is at risk? If you're like me, you figure you ran into the wrong crowd. Maybe next stroll you should try a different neighborhood. But the point is that it's the people you run into that have or lack credibility. The street, like the blogosphere, just happens to be where you find them.
One other point Steven makes is that the blogosphere is filling up with boring or stupid blogs. The great thing about the blog world is that unlike libraries or book stores, it never fills up. There's room for everyone. And if even 1% of the blogs is worth reading, it's still a gold mine. (And you can bet that marketers and social scientists will squeeze some interpretive value out of those other 99%.)
