Heading Off to BlawgThink
Well, I’m on the plane and on my way to BlawgThink. This was a tough call for me because I primarily see myself as a trial lawyer who has a weblog rather than a blogger who is also an attorney. There are a lot of people who find more passion (to use the word de jour) in their blog than their practice. I enjoy this weblog, but my true passion is fighting for people against companies and practicing law. What brings it alive for me is not that I’m working on a motion or argument, but that this is going to make a difference in a person’s life. When you fight for people instead of cases, it makes all the difference in the world. However, it’s quite clear at this point that weblogs are a disruptive technology. In fact, probably the most disruptive technology since the internet itself.
- How Have Weblogs Changed Things? – That’s a combination of two factors. First, the rise of search engines to find nearly any possible piece of information. Secondly the ability of weblogs to easily link and access that information. Weblogs make posting to the internet or ‘writing a story’ as easy as sending an e-mail. Linking to information can be as easy as right-clicking on the mouse and selecting ‘Blog This’.
- What Does the Change Mean? – With the new technology, anyone with a computer and access to the internet has nearly the same research materials and ability to reach the same audience as the New York Times, Washington Post, Time Magazine, CNN or Fox News. This has become the age of the ‘citizen journalist’.
- What Does it Mean if Anyone Can Reach the Same Audience as Any Major Media Outlet? Hmmm….. Harder question, that has yet to play out. I don’t think that weblogs will replace the mainstream media, but that they will supplement each other. Weblogs will play to core audiences and will do an especially good job of filling niche markets or audiences. Blogs also do a good job of bird dogging certain subjects, researching them and running all of the facts to ground in a much more determined manner than major media outlets can do. Weblogs are also a good place to collect an area of expertise.
When we have unlimited research potential and can reach anybody in the world the two simple questions are:
What do you want to say?
Who do you want to listen?
Easy questions. The answers are harder. So while, I am a firm believer and evangelist of the disruptive power of weblogs, I also look at them as just another tool to ‘say your piece’. So why am I going to BlawgThink? Because there are so many smart, talented people that are going to be there, I would be astonished if some of it didn’t rub off and I come away with some great ideas about how to be a better lawyer and run a better practice. So I’m going not to navel gaze at the future of blogging, but for the people.
