for W3c validation

I hope you realize New (social) Media is white hot. People no longer simply rely on traditional media channels as their only news sources- many have taken the plunge and turned to blogs. I found a great post at GigaOM that says, “with social media, the consumers are in control of production, programming, and distribution … which is a complete reversal of the traditional media model.” Blogs enable consumer control- anyone can start a blog and start publishing immediately. One sign that old media is being replaced by new media is that critics have started taking shots at Michael Arrington (featured in the Wall Street Journal on Friday), founder of TechCrunch. TechCrunch is “the place” to get Web 2.0 news- if you are a techie and interested in Web 2.0 companies & technology, there is no doubt you probably read TechCrunch like me. To me, the fact that people are bashing TechCrunch proves Arrington’s blog has made a huge impact on the industry (just look at the number of visitors last week- 380,000). He addressed the most recent bashing by Mothersclick, which focuses on the fact that TechCrunch suffers from conflicts of interest, on a post on CrunchNotes, where he says, “All I promise is to give my honest opinion every time I write, regardless of whether there is a conflict of interest or not.” Blogs need strong opinions (or else they are not interesting)- I admire him for maintaining his voice.

Fred at A VC, another blog I read regularly, commented on the recent TechCrunch heat as well. Regarding critics of those with “insider information” (such as Michael Arrington), Fred commented “If you don’t like it, start a blog, get an audience, blog at 4am in the morning, and get into the club yourself.” So true.

I just laugh at those that take shots at someone like Arrington. Why? They are the people that crave to be in Arrington’s shoes. Those of you looking to be successful, rich, and famous- don’t make excuses. Just do it. It happens in every industry and profession- taking cheap shots at whoever is on top is the name of the game for people that think of all kinds of reasons why they SHOULD be on top, but aren’t. Regardless of what you think, there is a reason Michael Arrington has successfully built his own media empire. Though I don’t know him personally, this is my perception- Michael loves his job, works hard, produces great content, and networks his ass off. All of this leads to getting the inside story on web 2.0 that traditional journalists want. In CrunchNotes, he says, “Everything about TechCrunch, and most blogs, is about access.” That’s the beauty of new media- it’s personal and real.

I’d rather read interesting blogs written by passionate bloggers than bland stories written by journalists any day of the week.