THE POWER OF BLOGGING

It isn’t up yet online but in the paper edition of Foreign Policy on newstands now, Daniel Drezner and Henry Farrell discuss in their article ” Web of Influence “ how blogging is changing the formation of policy. The erstwhile professor-bloggers christen the blogosphere

” The Fifth Estate” – in itself a revealing statement on the human tendency to force fit new things into old forms of understanding- and explain how the elite blogs act as important information filters moving new views from little known bloggers upward toward elite blogreaders – mainstream journalists, pundits and government officials. As expected many of the big names of the blogosphere get their due but so do foreign bloggers, particularly in Iran and China as well as Salman Pax, Iraq the Model and Baghdad Burning.

It’s a well-done and thoughtful article though avid bloggers will probably roll their eyes and exclaim ” DUH” at observations like ” North Korea is perhaps the most blog-unfriendly nation” it’s doubtful that most of Foreign Policy readers as a group are deep into blogging. So basic explanations were a useful component of a very good ” bridge” article between old media and new. Worth reading. Or if you are cheap and lazy, worth waiting for Foreign Policy to post the online version in a few weeks.