Forbes Magazine calls out blogs in its “Attack of the Blogs!” issue on the magazine’s latest cover. In his article, (requires registration) Daniel Lyons tells us that blogs are being used for evil, saying “they are the ultimate vehicle for brand-bashing, personal attacks, political extremism and smear campaigns.”Lyons goes on to say that companies like Google and Yahoo are leading the way in the campaign with their free blogging platforms. Lyons also includes companies like Microsoft and Six Apart as part of the gang leading the way.
In the article, Peter Blackshaw, Chief Marketing Officer of Intelliseek, is quoted
“Bloggers are more of a threat than people realize, and they are only going to get more toxic. This is the new reality”.
Lyons suggests that the companies like Google, Yahoo and the rest operate with “government-sanctioned impunity” without any liability of what is being published on their free platforms.
This is surely going to rile the natives in the blogosphere and I can say that it has already caught fire with some of the A-List bloggers. &Keywords=forbes&BANNER_STYLE=1&WIDTH=120&HEIGHT=150&FOOTER_GRADIENT=0&TF_C=0E7DCE&DF_C=0A3756&DMF_C=0A3756&FF_C=0A3756)
Is the MSM throwing down the gauntlet? Have they finally felt the threat and have been backed into a corner like a wounded animal? The people at Forbes seem to be on the attack about the lynch mob they call bloggers. They look to possibly level the playing field calling upon bloggers to have some accountability for their writing and actions. I can smell the fear.
I think maybe Forbes magazine is upset because a lot of Blog articles are better than their articles(not mine though).
Even though I’m not sure I agree with the idea that bloggers are evil (that made me laugh), I find plenty of negativity. Today I found a writer complaining about the genre she is published in. That’s not “evil”, that’s just not a sound marketing decision for an author. But, I also find many blogs that are positive and healthy too.