Video Audio of ABC’s I-Caught Profile of Bloggers Such As MySelf and Perez Hilton
Samantha Wender writes for ABC News:
It’s the modern day diary, online personal journals or blogs attracting millions of viewers to the Internet. But it’s the people behind these blogs who have access to the hottest events, keep tabs on the haves and have nots, and can make or break a career and influence an industry with just a stroke of a keyboard. They are blogebrities — writers, thinkers and gossipers who have branded themselves by taking over the Web, and have thousands of people awaiting their next postings.
…Bloggers like Lavanderia, Faran Krentcil of Fashionista.com and Luke Ford… top the list of an estimated 101 million blogs that social-media company Technorati tracks.
…Luke Ford… admits that there are flaws in the medium of blogging. "The overwhelming opinion of blogs is that they are not accountable, that they are not credible and that they’re flaky and unreliable and pesky, if not downright malicious, vicious, libelous, irresponsible, just wreaking havoc, divulging all sorts of personal information that doesn’t need to be made public and I agree. Almost all the criticisms of blogs are accurate. But just because a medium has flaws, which blogging does and all the criticisms I basically agree with, that’s just one side of the story."
Whether or not bloggers are accountable, they do have a voice and some are making millions from the industry. One popular tech blogger claims to make nearly $3 million a year, mainly from ad revenues. Lavanderia says his site registers an average of 6 million to 7 million hits a day and with a new VH1 show "What Perez Says," a spot on MTV’s "Celebrity Rappers" and a book deal, he clearly has taken his image and branded it like no other blogger.
