Governing by Spin, Blag, & Blog
4) Better Quality
Jon Leach is Planning Director at Bell Pottinger – one of the UK’s leading Public Affairs Agencies, and is also a prominent blogger. Leach chose to address the “Blog” subject as it is his speciality. He said that blogs are simultaneously over-hyped and under-valued. “The impact of new technologies is vastly over estimated in the short term and vastly under estimated in the long term and I suspect that’s exactly where we are now, which is why it’s very interesting to be working in this arena right now.”
Leach said the new “rule of thumb” suggests that if you have a group of 100 people online then: only one will create content; 10 will interact with, or react to it; and the other 89 will just view it. Leach believes there is a lot of discussion of “dumbing down,” but what is really happening is that we are “gradually smarting up.” Therefore, the number of content creators and responders should increase whilst the number of passive users will decrease. This raises questions about quality and integrity of content found in the new media space.
Further discussion focused on Leach’s theory that a form of “natural selection” will take place. This is wherein lesser-value, less-trusted – or, less fit – internet-based media will die off. Only the best quality blogs, web sites, and other information resources survive in this new Darwinian environment.
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