The blogosphere is exploding. Technorati is tracking 7,264,863 weblogs and 869,827,508 links. More than 14 million Americans have posted a comment on a blog. These are impressive numbers.
Set Godin asks:
My question, which I have no answer for, is what happens when the volume goes up to 11? When there is just too much noise? Does it all get filtered? Who filters?
My answer: we’re a long way from cranking it up to 11. We’re just starting to crack it open to 1.
We are taught that “polite” society doesn’t discuss politics or religion. It’s too easy to offend someone. So we don’t. We don’t talk religion. We don’t talk politics.
As a result we don’t know what our neighbors think about Social Security reform. We don’t know what our co-workers think about the war on terrorism. We even don’t know what our friends at church think about abortion. We haven’t learned how to have a thoughtful discussion, express our ideas, and maybe learn something in the process. But somehow, we’re not offended by all this.
Enter blogging. Millions of us are expressing our opinions on otherwise “taboo” issues. We’re writing about politics and religion. We’re learning a little more about each other. Sometimes, we’re just posting a recipe or two.
But it’s barely a whisper. There are 6,420,384,256 people on this world. If there are 8 million blogs, that’s only one blog per 800 people. I’d say there’s room for more volume.
Crank it up!