Doc Searls: Blogs are Not Sites, Content, Media, etc.

Posted on April 28, 2005

Doc Searls gave a keynote speech about blogs at the Les Blog conference in France. During the speech Searls used slides to give his opinion on exactly what blogs are and what blogs are not. Doc Searls, one of the authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto, says blogs are not sites, content or media. He says that blogs are not here to "deliver an experience." Others think blogs can be many different things and have many different purposes.

The character blogs and the blogs that primarily just provide information to readers clash with Searls' description of blogs. It is probably the readers who will ultimately decide what a blog is and which blogs they want to read. And while some will want to be part of a conversation -- others simply want the latest information. So far readers seem to more interested in information -- a recent poll on political blogs found that only 7% bothered to post comments. That is a very small part of the political blog readership that wants to be part of a "conversation."