Take the wheel for a little while, Stevie

Remember Eddie Murphy's irreverent comment to Steve Wonder: "You wanna impress me?" in his Delirious show (careful if you link, adult language in every sentence!). Sure it was rude as hell, to an icon, and a blind one at that.

But I feel like saying that to journalists and analysts when they snipe at bloggers. Jeff Nolan points to another flareup about whether bloggers matter. Seems to happen every couple of weeks and Jeff is polite in his comments, when he need not have been.

Bloggers do not compete with journalists. We do not compete with industry analysts. We do not compete with sell side financial analysts. Those guys are established names - they are icons.

We are a bunch of practitioners (a wide variety of smart ones - investors like Jason Wood, entrepreneurs like Ross Mayfield, long time industry observers like Dennis Howlett) who are just delighted to have affordable publishing platforms where we can see each other's views and not have to just rely on media or analysts for what is happening in the world. Not saying we are better or worse, just different. We use wikis to talk to each other, Sykpe to call each other. Like I said, different.

Now, if  journalists and analysts want to really impress us - they need to start blogging. Open themselves up to 2 way traffic. Loosen up their writing style. Link to people they respect irrespective of their affiliation. (tell me a Forrester analyst is not occasionally impressed with what an AMR analyst publishes - but God forbid they would say that in print).  Take the blogging wheel for a little while, Stevie.

PS. Mr. T - I was just quoting Eddie. I personally really, really admire Steve.

Update: Mathew Ingram provides a "two-fer" exception in this post - journalists who allow for 2 way traffic and bloggers who do not!

Comments

[Dennis Howlett]

Some hacks like Tom Foremski have stepped outside MSM altogether. Others like those at ZDNet and The Guardian seem to have retained a level of independence. And let's not forget that Larry Greenmeier did cover some of us in Information Week (albeit in somewhat inaccurate fashion.)

Sadly, most I come across are offering little more than an op-ed foghorns. Others are positively fearful of the bloggers because for the first time, the hacks' 'authority' as trusted sources is being challenged. Often, our 'attitude' worries them and I can see why. It's hard enough getting opinion past the editor's desk without the inclusion of some of the colourful phrases some of us are prone to use (ahem.)

I have no difficulty with hacks remaining as reporters of record but I don't see how they can survive as purveyors of opinion about enterprise apps.

I don't want to predict the demise of MSM - if anything, they'll likely outlive most bloggers because they have the sustainance of media establishments. That's why it's so important to keep the ball rolling. Fortunately, most of us are long used to committing thoughts to paper.