Measuring Media
Some really good blog conversations going on about measuring new and old media. I got hooked into this from Jeff Jarvis, but Ross Mayfield and Tim Oren are driving this discussion.
My favorite quote from all of this comes from Jeff. He says, “This medium isn’t about impressions; it’s about relationships; it’s about conversations; it’s about influence; it’s about authority. We are starting to measure how many conversations a blog starts (or at least takes part in) with Technorati.”
I’ll go one step further. I think all media (not just the blog medium) is about relationships, conversations, influence, and authority. It’s just that the blog medium is the first that has organized itself to revolve around these concepts. But I believe that all media in a digital world will eventually work this way.
I don’t just want Technorati to tell me which blogs have the most authority. I want to know what media outlet (new, old, or whatever) has the most authority on a particular subject. Until newspapers, TV, radio, film, books, etc organize themselves to allow people to link to, discuss, comment on, and measure the way blogs do, we won’t get there. But it’s going to happen. Count on it.