Not often that I see Calgary mentioned in Yahoo News, especially when the headline refers to blogging.  I just had to click.  I did.  Read.  And just shook my head.  According to Yahoo News/and the Canadian Press, Michael Keren doesn’t think much of blogs and bloggers:

But Michael Keren, who has written "Blogosphere: The New Political Arena," suggests individuals who bare their souls in blogs are isolated and lonely, living in a virtual reality instead of forming real relationships or helping to change the world.

"Bloggers think of themselves as rebels against mainstream society, but that rebellion is mostly confined to cyberspace, which makes blogging as melancholic and illusionary as Don Quixote tilting at windmills," the author says.

"In this world of blogging, which the whole world can read, you have a personal expectation about a readership that’s just not there for the millions of bloggers who are writing their personal feelings."

Wow, Michael, I think you’ve been reading only the nine blogs your covered in your book.  World is a whole lot richer than that.  There are bloggers who are changing public policy, reaching big companies, even guiding CEOs (like GM’s Fast Lane blog).  Remember, a blog is a tool.  A printing press is a tool.  There is a lot of drivel printed on paper and a lot of drivel typed on keyboards, neither defines the whole medium.

I use this tool to show my expertise, to share insight, to share a story, to influence.  I’m thinking I’m not going to get a review copy of his book.

Tags: blogs, blogging, Michael Keren, Blogosphere: The New Political Arena