On NPR last week, Jeff Jarvis was asked whether, like radio and TV before us, the internet and blogs are naturally forming into networks.
He said, “The internet kills networks.”
Jarvis is the director of the new media program the City University of New York’s new Graduate School of Journalism. Professors like to make sweeping pronouncements. Big whoop.
But Jason Calacanis begs to differ. For him–the co-king of blog networks–this latest Jarvisism is a big deal.
I’m so tired of Jeff Jarvis claiming to be a huge expert on blogging. What has Jeff done to become such a huge expert on bloggging? Sure, he runs a decent personal blog, and has done so for a long time? However, Jeff is tapped as this expert on the business of blogging and he’s never made any money from blogging (except maybe what About.com paid him).
Why a guy who just cashed a $25 to $35 million dollar check from AOL, is worked up about Jarvis, it is hard to say. Is the proof not in the pudding?
$25 million eh? To me, anything AOL does is a signal to go the other way because they inevitably will ruin it.
The internet levels the field, but the cream still rises. If the best talent wants to pool on a network, so be it. But I don’t think that’s the case with weblogsinc.com (at least yet).
Networks (ala ABC, CBS) are fine…I guess. But I like blogs because my collection of RSS feeds plays the part of “network editor” and I get to read (mostly) unpaid unadulterated authentic human voices. A quick glance over at Weblogsinc.com confirms that most of the content over there is not my cup of tea. I might one day find a gem on that network, but right now it seems like a lot of noise to sift through.