Can Miami Blog A New Miami?

I was having chatter with a one of my heroes, a former alt newspaper owner and writer. It was about blogs and changing media. There are a few dozen columnists/ news/ event blogs in “the city” (which is the self absorbed term New Yorkers use for New York and more specifically Manhattan). There are thousands of blogs.

Finding them is like happening upon a group of friends. You meet an interesting person and latter more of their people that get winnowed to a few mainstays. Then they lead into others… This why advertisers are willing to pay good money for bloggers with a following.

The advertising revenue for blogs written about New York is exponentially higher than Miami. I get quite a few shiny pennies for the group NY/LA/general blogs that I contribute to. Miamista wasn’t worth putting up the ads. Considering the highest payouts are in teenie bopper aimed celebrity/entertainment blogs that isn’t necessarily a plus for New York. (Disturbingly national, party affiliated rings also do well.)

I’ve used blogs to increase my own business. This is where commercially blogs work best. So far however, I have scrupulously avoided cross referencing Miamista with other blogs and business. I’d like to think that makes Miamista much more honest. It’s a conversation with a community that I know and care about.

“I saw your blog” or “What, you didn’t read my entry/column/post” or “Well as I was saying on my blog…”, have all become part of the daily conversation. This happens in my NY daily life and I suppose it will become ubiquitous with in Miami social life. Conversations on some topics become short hand b/c your friends have seen your blog. (I imagine some people are unhealthily denying themselves REAL interaction too.) I suppose that in some of my own *"isms" there are people I wouldn't talk to that I've had had in depth discussions on the internet. Exploring the implications would require another post.

I hope that the growth of local blogging continues from the core that anyone reading this blog is familiar with. One of the things that will help is not getting caught into a prototype of blogging, especially one that’s passe.

Gothamist, Metroblogging and blogs of that nature are fine in and of themselves. (A friend compared them to the Village Voice when it was a psuedo-radical 4 page flyer: great for its time but outdated.) These set ups do tend to blandly rehash the local top news stories. At this point however, we have a variety of sites that are blurring the lines between newspapers, weekly tabloids, magazines and even television. The line between print and electronic media itself has become not only blurred but inconsequential.

One of the more intriguing elements of blogging is the opportunity for interaction through comments (don’t say it, I just turned comments back on). Many alternative newspapers are using this, effectively turning online newspapers to wikiblogs.

I hope in the future our community expands, increases readership, explores cooperation and new formats. I also hope that as commercialism creeps into blogging we retain the honesty, integrity and breadth of perspectives that MSM so woefully lacks.
Blog On!

*Personal shout out- That quiet, unobtrusive and "unattractive" person they/we didn't talk to was quiet b/c there's a lot of idiots around and I was shallow to not call them on it, R.S. AND those people that don't see how beautiful you are are stupid! Stop making assumptions about me. I'm not a snob. Call me and tell me how your new job is going!!!! (I lost your contact info.)