Freedom vs. Commercial

In Blogging America, by Aaron Barlow, the author discusses the role that blogs play in today’s popular culture. He presents the differences of blogging for writers at the individual and commercial levels and how blogging for one end differs completely from the other.

First the author speaks about how important it is for an individual to have the freedom to write and the ability to blog. This allows the author to publish what they want in their blog on internet. The advantage that blogging has over traditional writing in a magazine or newspaper is that allows instant feedback on the author’s work. This allows the author to hear opinions from readers that may agree or disagree with what they have written. Receiving feedback from people who have read article will improve the author’s writing skills, and ultimately make the author’s writing skills stronger. Barlow sites Rosenberg when he speaks about these, ‘seeds of freedom’ and how important it is for us to have these freedoms in today’s society. (p. 114) Blogs can be described as, “this participatory platform allowing people to bypass cultural gatekeepers of all sorts, helping loosen control of content of communication pathways that has for so long rested in the hands of commercial entities.” (Barlow, 2008) This tells us that individual blogs enable writers to exercise their freedom without having to deal with any limitations or gatekeepers that control what is published.

When an author writes at the corporate level, or for a company many can argue that the author’s own words or feelings are not being used. The author’s views or topics written about can be controlled by the gatekeeper of the company. The gatekeeper’s objective is to publish stories and articles that will sell to the media and keep readers coming back for more. When this is the goal, author’s topics and opinions are controlled by this gatekeeper and they are then not able to voice their true feelings because they are catering to what others want to hear.

After reading this chapter I now understand the differences between blogging for yourself with an open mind and no limitations, versus blogging at the commercial level. Blogging for a company means having to deal with gatekeepers that control what is written to satisfy the audience, and to sell your product. For an author to decide which level to write at they must ask themselves what is more important, “Writing to voice their own opinions and feelings, or selling a product?”

From:
Barlow, Aaron. (2008). Blogging America. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.