Excuse Me While I Rock Some EVDO
Congrats to Lock for getting profiled in BusinessWeek. Curbed is a great blog if you're into New York real estate news which many people are and he's an expert on the topic. But (you knew there was gonna be a but, one the size of the Brooklyn Navy Yard) the reporter, Jessi Hempel, misses major points (if not THE biggest) about the role blogs like Curbed and others play in the media landscape.
After making the point that his tidbits often "rankle realtors" who he never attempts to contact for comment, Jessi writes: "But disregard for traditional media mores is in keeping with bloggers' craft. Steele never claimed to adhere to the standards of old-world journalism. Rather, he bills himself as a scavenger. He culls through 150 other blogs and dozens of readers' tips daily to update his blog, posting photos, rants, and queries. The onus is on readers to shape the conversation by sending him tips, notes, and responses."
I think she's got her head up her onus. Something big and obvious is missing from that virtual scavenger hunt list and she never addresses it (and you can't assume it's a given for the BusinessWeek audience) which is why I'm making a big deal out of it. It's only the ENTIRE point of topic-specific blogs and what really shapes their conversation. They are news aggregators wholly dependent on traditional media whose mores they so proudly disregard. There is no reporting or fact-checking to be done and the standards of "old-world journalism" don't apply because this isn't journalism. Ninety percent of Curbed's posts (and this goes for all of Gawker Media, Weblogs Inc, and other similar blog models) are based on stories culled from mainstream media sources. (Yeah, I fact-checked that.) To portray Lock or most of these other bloggers as "insiders" is ridiculous. In fact, the big draw is that they are outsiders who can smartly (or at least humorously) comment on the facts reported by the MSM.
The old saying, "facts cost money, opinions are free" still applies but blogs have transformed that simple dichotomy into something slightly more complex where there's also a premium on aggregating someone else's facts and giving an opinion on them. Lock is a real estate "know-it-all" because he's a read-it-all. Who has the time (or desire) to read all the real estate going-ons in the news and all the listings available on realtor websites? Lock created an invaluable service by doing just that and being an intelligent filter, picking only the important stories and listings to comment on. THAT is what creates the narrative and "shapes the conversation."
I know I know, this is Blogging 101. It's all been said years ago which is why I'm surprised the writer misses the whole point. Lock's a genius, but she doesn't state the actual reasons why.
After making the point that his tidbits often "rankle realtors" who he never attempts to contact for comment, Jessi writes: "But disregard for traditional media mores is in keeping with bloggers' craft. Steele never claimed to adhere to the standards of old-world journalism. Rather, he bills himself as a scavenger. He culls through 150 other blogs and dozens of readers' tips daily to update his blog, posting photos, rants, and queries. The onus is on readers to shape the conversation by sending him tips, notes, and responses."
I think she's got her head up her onus. Something big and obvious is missing from that virtual scavenger hunt list and she never addresses it (and you can't assume it's a given for the BusinessWeek audience) which is why I'm making a big deal out of it. It's only the ENTIRE point of topic-specific blogs and what really shapes their conversation. They are news aggregators wholly dependent on traditional media whose mores they so proudly disregard. There is no reporting or fact-checking to be done and the standards of "old-world journalism" don't apply because this isn't journalism. Ninety percent of Curbed's posts (and this goes for all of Gawker Media, Weblogs Inc, and other similar blog models) are based on stories culled from mainstream media sources. (Yeah, I fact-checked that.) To portray Lock or most of these other bloggers as "insiders" is ridiculous. In fact, the big draw is that they are outsiders who can smartly (or at least humorously) comment on the facts reported by the MSM.
The old saying, "facts cost money, opinions are free" still applies but blogs have transformed that simple dichotomy into something slightly more complex where there's also a premium on aggregating someone else's facts and giving an opinion on them. Lock is a real estate "know-it-all" because he's a read-it-all. Who has the time (or desire) to read all the real estate going-ons in the news and all the listings available on realtor websites? Lock created an invaluable service by doing just that and being an intelligent filter, picking only the important stories and listings to comment on. THAT is what creates the narrative and "shapes the conversation."
I know I know, this is Blogging 101. It's all been said years ago which is why I'm surprised the writer misses the whole point. Lock's a genius, but she doesn't state the actual reasons why.
Comments:
That comment about his "prominent" nose... does the writer think Lock's Jewish?
For sure, with a name like Lockhart Steele it all adds up.
I hope someone picks up this post. It's genius of the lowest caliber. It would fit right in with any other discussion of blogging and its consequences.
Please, more.
Ha, who the hell is actually reading this site? Lock, did you get one of your friends to write that last comment? Gold.
No, serious. Dynamite stuff here. You’re consistently hitting the ball out of the park with each of your prescient insights. When you step up to the plate, Jesus, the other pundits in the field must cower in fear. It’s remarkable the batting average you’ve obtained with your logic and words. Truly.
The others, shit -- compared to you, their spitballs are sloppy and their sinkers done sunk.
Keep it up.
Nope, I'm innocent. But agreed: Gold!
That's one helluva of a running baseball analogy. I usually stop in the middle of those and mix metaphors. I'm stupid and lazy like that. I probably would have critqued my amazing analysis by saying "he slam-dunked the pigskin with a hole-in-wonderful!" But sure, I'll take your compliments too, and the next one you come up with...
(Man, what the fuck was I thinking all this time having a blog without comments??)
This three-ring circle jerk can barely stand up to the gale-force winds of your caustic Cervantes-caliber satire. Only one ignorant of the mythical lore of the wide wonderous Web’s wending ways could possibly fail to hire you away from this moribund site. I plead, Someone put this man to work! Stick a quill in his hand and he’ll make your readers quiver with delight. His amped-up understanding of the intimate handholding that is the Internet will set fire to the dead-tree editors. He will wrench them from their bed of complacency and soak their melba toast points of view in his tangy bile.
For Calacanis’ sake, give the lad a gig.
Fuck, Lock you're right. It's Gage. That takes all the fun out of it. Damn you for making me think a stranger reads this site. I should have just emailed it to the both of you.
Go back to writing about your man-love for Phil Collins. At least we all knew that wasn’t a total joke, unlike these half-cocked media pontifications.
It's more for Peter Gabriel. Download the 20+ minute epic "Supper's Ready" from Foxtrot. It will change your life, or at least kill some time during lunch.
Don’t toy with me, you two. Team up now or cease and desist from Inter-publishing again. (You can decide amongst yourselves who gets to be the gay sidekick.) If you two united, slapping happy pats on each other’s backs, you could, quite possibly, don’t quote me here, usurp the expectations of scores of nobodies.
And don’t try to call out the umpire, Mr. Young Manhattanite. I don’t know who this Gage is, but I’m betting they’re at least smart enough to stay away from this cyber derailment.
Gage, you can just email me. That IP address is a dead giveaway.
Dude, why you got to go and ruin everything like dat. Can't a brother have some fun.
Ha, I didnt actually check any IP address but clearly it was you. This is awesome. Let's only communicate via comments. We have nothing to hide and no one else is paying attention anyway. What are you doing tonight?
I'm going to eat some dinner, crap some shit, fall asleep on the couch and dream of my mellifulous prose and how to turn myself inexorable lack of self-worth into a viable business.
boy i haven't seen such an excellent display of tween-age girlhood since torts.
Are we supposed to read this post or just skim it and post a comment that makes it appear like we read it because we all know that no one is really going to take the time to read it, but we really want to make K feel good about the fact that he launched yet another blog that he will probably stop postig to in another 9 days.
Am I missing a comma above?!
Read it? Why on earth would you do that? What the hell are you doing here anyway? Don't come back or I'll be forced to password-protect this site and only let the three people who it's aimed at to see it.
But stay tuned for the entire month of June when I begin my grand blog project, "30 Launches In 30 Days." The trick is abandoning each one by lunch but I think I can do it.
For the record, your comma usage is way off. I follow the "one every four words" rule.
In the krucoffian paradigm, "Gage" is responsible for all the world's indignities. We are all Gage. It is useless to resist. Gage spelled backwards is Egag.
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