Blogging was once an activity where people posted casually on their thoughts and ideas, and just to get opinions or information out to the public. It essentially started on a level playing field, with virtually no barriers to entry, and it remains so today. But like many things in our society, what once was a leisurely activity has manifested into a full-blown, multi-million dollar business. Advertising has reared its head into the game, leading to profits for those “A-list” bloggers who attract thousands of hits per day.
What was once a simple site has blown into a full-blown advertising page. Look at Engadget, Boing Boing or even Gawker. At some point one comes to the realization when looking at big-time Web sites, such as ESPN, that huge, bright adds are going to flood the screen once you arrive. Sometimes ads will literally blow up to half the size of the page. But when I go to a blog, originally a form for people to just get there voice out on something, I don't want to be bombarded by ridiculous colors, flashes and video movement. Maybe I need to truly come to the realization that blog advertising is here to stay.
And this makes me start to think about conversations about the future of blogging. Let’s face it: All media is full of advertising, including print and television. Will blogging begin to try and focus content around certain demographics that advertisers want to reach, will they become more concerned with the number of hits on their site than the quality, and will blogs eventually be another arm of major conglomerates? It seems as though what once started out as a purely creative venture in allowing more people to voice themselves is turning into another part of the big-money, American capitalism machine.
Ivan Pereira @ Mon, 02/27/2006 - 10:09am
Of course web advertising is here to stay, but the only question is how long until it dictates the content of the web? Television, radio, movies, broadcast journalism, and now print journalism has already fallen into this trap. For example, a couple of months ago AM New York ran full page ads of the animated film "Chicken Little" on its back and front covers. The actual news came after the ridiculous front page.
With regards to web advertizing, it will be interesting to see how influential their presence on a website will become. True, no one will want to read an ad disguised as a blog such as the infamous Exon-Mobile op-eds, but when the companies start becoming the editors, we journalists and bloggers have a serious problem.