Nuke Gingrich

Update: for Allah readers following the pingback: Here is an example of what I’m talking about. Two threads up is a story about Chris Dodd. I blogged on my site, and cross-posted here on a web 2.0 site called NowPublic. It has made page 1 at NowPublic’s list of the top news stories of the day. From there it works its way up the news-cycle food chain, so to speak. Now, if my little blog can make page 1 on a web 2.0 news site, imagine what Allah’s traffic would do. And that is the whole point of this post. Please read it and offer your comments. >nuke.

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If this post seems like deja vu to you, it’s really not. Nor is there anything wrong with your computer. The concept of user-driven news is an important one, and is worth repeating. I believe this issue is vital if conservatives are ever going to get a fair shake in the media. We can sit back and blame the Liberal Media Elite, or we can do something about it. And, the first thing that we conservatives can do is to begin understanding the factors which drive the selection of the top news stories in the daily news cycle.

The political left owns the internet like the right owns talk radio. You may not agree with that statement, and the fact is, most of the right blogosphere doesn’t even realize it, much less have a clue as to why or how it happened. My own trip down the 2.0 rabbit hole began in earnest a few weeks ago after reading an excellent article from Robert Cox, and came to fruition after a post from this blog was picked up by BBC’s “The Reporters.” How could a small political blog in the right blogosphere be picked up by an international news organization (which generated some staggering hit counts, btw)? Because I cross-posted my entry to web 2.0, it was given international exposure, and truly illuminated the theme of Cox’s article for me. It was a “Eureka” moment.

With this tiny button you can change the news.

I don’t know if the right blogosphere can get their collective heads around this concept in time for the next election cycle. We seem stuck in the talk-radio, A-List-blog business concept that can successfully drive about 20% of the news cycle. The other 80% is user-driven content, and it is controlled by the left. If the right will embrace the new business model, it will be because small bloggers, and commenters begin to understand the concept of user-driven news content. Unless there is a sea-change in the fundamental business model, the right blogosphere will find itself consigned to relative insignificance.

With this tiny button you can change the news.

That’s why I am intrigued by this week’s selection for WOTW. I think a direct confrontation with the established strongholds of the left like digg will be less effective than exploiting a more vulnerable flank. This week’s selection for Nuke’s Website of the Week is not really a website. It is a newer and smaller 2.0 network called NowPublic. I invite you to look at this network with an open mind and a willingness to entertain new concepts, while you’re relaxing this weekend.

Also blogging: Hot Air, LGF