IP Democracy: Do Tech Blog Writers Matter?

A curious loop of commentary among tech bloggers has cropped up over the past few days, and it centers on the degree of respect that tech bloggers get from PR strategists and media 1.0 writers. First, former Washington Post-writer-turned-public-policy-analyst Chris Stern made a reference in an op-ed piece to the writings of “obscure” bloggers on the topic of network neutrality.

This sparked outrage among the affected bloggers. Jeff Pulver wrote in his blog

Until now, it is Christopher Stern who has been the “Obscure Analyst” who decided to share his thoughts on the battle of Net Neutrality. The debate on Net Neutrality will continue in the Blogosphere, with (or without) the help of the mainstream press.

Jeff was taking up the sentiment expressed by Om Malik in his blog:

Still, I didn’t care much for Stern’s comment, “But lately the issue, a matter of heated debate on obscure blogs and among analysts like me, has begun to attract the attention of the mainstream press.” Which obscure blogs is he talking about? Jeff Pulver is not obscure, neither is Doc Searls. Obscure blogs, were doing the job of Washington Post, a great newspaper that’s a (proverbial) stone’s throw from FCC.

Now, Michael Arrington is criticizing VoIP start-up Tello’s PR strategy, in part because the company has apparently overlooked the blogosphere.

Second, they’ve obviously decided that the bloggers don’t matter much. Om Malik and Alec Saunders took the time to write about them. Even though they each command a large and very relevant audience, Tello didn’t bother to list either of them on the news page. Lots of other bloggers wrote about Tello too (including our own MobileCrunch), but were not mentioned. Companies that don’t embrace bloggers tend to become attacked by bloggers. Companies that embrace bloggers, and thank them, get lots and lots of love.

Funny thing is, Tello is a venture by none other than…Jeff Pulver, who two days earlier was standing up for the blogosphere. And I don’t think that Tello really overlooked the blogosphere — Jeff took the time to acknowledge all the bloggers who wrote about Tello.

All this complaining really is a symptom of the tech blogosphere’s inferiority complex, which is rooted in the fact that tech bloggers, despite often being ahead of the curve and better informed than traditional media, still rank second among traditional print editors and PR muffins. It’s just a form of laziness and resistance to change among a lot of print editors and myopia among the PR people. But, that’s the way it is.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on January 24, 2006 10:21 AM to IP Democracy