(Cross posting this from HuffPo...)
The influence and impact of the political Blogosphere has only begun to take off. The Mainstream Media, however, is about to stop paying attention. From now on, bloggers will read less and less about themselves in the pages of Newsweek or the New York Times. CNN's "Internet Reporter" will start reporting on something else (maybe podcasting!). It's on to the next big fake thing. What will it be? Joe Trippi, the originator of the Mainstream Media-fed blogger bubble, says '08 will be the year of the political SMS text message -- so maybe that's it.
Yes, all this buzz about the power of the Blogosphere has been fake. Fake, because it's premature. The Blogosphere isn't very powerful at all yet. The current buzz is about where the medium will be in five years or so, not where it is now. Kos, for example, reaches about as many people as the Atlanta Journal Constitution's website (not even counting its print readership). Throw together a handful of smallish city papers and you've got a medium reaching as many people as the 100 top political blogs.
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