from Wired: According to Sam Whitmore, editor of Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey, over the next 12 to 24 months you will probably see big media companies scarf up these cult destinations (blogs), where a growing number of people are going for opinions, analysis and community. “Look at what happened politically,” Whitmore said, when blogs hit the big time during the presidential campaign. “The same thing will happen in business, because people know they don’t need to head to branded sites for good information. Bloggers can be trusted to be independent and people will turn to self-published experts for information.”
Whitmore, a former editor and chief of PC Week, believes that established media brands will have no choice but to adopt blog strategies — and acquisitions will be a part of it. He predicts that by this time next year, Nick Denton, founder of Gawker and Wonkette, or Jason Calacanis, who co-founded micropublisher Weblogs Inc., will have sold a couple of their blogs.
In fact, it may have begun. Last week, Military.com, a unit of Monster, bought Defense Tech, a popular weblog operated by freelance writer and Wired News contributor Noah Shachtman.
