The Modern Media Ecosystem
indi.ca as a graph
The New York Times is saying that blogs are now losing youth to Twitter, Facebook, etc (Caveats). This is also something I’ve perceived, though you have to question what is being lost. Today, there is a new media ecosystem emerging. At the bottom there is Twitter and Facebook, effectively the global street. Above that there are blogs, semi-professional street criers. Then there are traditional journalists, the class of professional scribes.
When I started blogging it was the easiest way to ‘be’ online, but it was still rather difficult. Since then blogging has gotten easier, but Twitter is easier still. Facebook is also a more effective way to ‘be’. What has happened, however, is that what blogs have lost in quantity and growth they may have gained in quality and authority. Blogs are becoming closer to journalism, if they want to be.
In essence, blogs are growing up.
You can see it in the revolutions across the Arab world where bloggers emerge as leaders and, as in Tunisia, where one briefly became a minister. You can also see it in solo bloggers like Andrew Sullivan that are able to work with TIME, The Atlantic and now The Daily Beast and other bloggers like Dooce that are able to make a comfortable living. Blogging is effectively becoming a middle class between elite journalists and the masses on Twitter and FB. Which is not a bad place to be.
Today on the 
Janith has updated 
This is highly dubious. Miss Travel is a travel/social networking site that connects ‘Generous’ and ‘Attractive’ travelers. To, like, travel together, I guess. It all seems a bit like arranged prostitution and trafficking. This is part of a broader online trend to connect rich men to younger, attractive women. Sites like 
Sri Lankan domestics never say anything, they just stop coming. My maid just stopped coming and when I finally pressed her she said I needed to get a washing machine. I was hoping to ride this one out, but I’ve run out of underwear and I have no choice. I finally caved and bought a washing machine, from 
Blogs are nice. More coherent than raw Twitter and more independant and er, faceted? than refined journalism.
In my opinion Roger Ebert’s blog is the best blog there is. He’s a film critic but also a brilliant writer.