Blogosphere: fifth estate or new public sphere?

If the public sphere is the space between the state and society (Castells 2008 p78) where the ‘public’s open ended, critical argumentation and debate’ leads to consensus (Benson 2009 p176), what then shall we call the blogosphere, that ‘global public sphere built around the media communication system and Internet networks’ (Castells 2008 p90)?  As globalisation expands, the emergence of an international public sphere, a networked place where issues of global importance not just national sovereignty can be debated, is crucial (Castells 2008 p80). 

Image source: http://blogs.cornell.edu/newmedia10krd54/2010/03/18/how-social-network-sites-obscure-the-public-sphere/

An examination of the Australian political blogosphere, a ‘networked public sphere,’ acknowledged the importance of looking at ‘everyday and popular communication’ (Bruns et al 2011, p278).  The concept of network is integral to both the public sphere and the blogosphere: a ‘network for communicating information and points of view’ (Habermas in Castells 2010 p78).

Commercialisation of the press led to transformation of the public sphere from an independent forum for critical debate to a ‘platform for advertising’ (Habermas cited in Benson 2009).  As the traditional commercial media, such as newspapers, struggle to survive, the claim of objectivity in commercial journalism is questioned as corporate journalists inexorably fall prey to Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model and ‘self censor in order to protect and advance their economic position’ (Steel 2012 p163).

The Myth of the Liberal Media, with Noam Chomsky

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYlyb1Bx9Ic

In civil society, the role of journalism is that of the Fourth Estate, a ‘watchdog’ over the state, the church and the people, but existing outside it, ensuring freedom of the press to facilitate democracy (Steel 2013, p36).  

The blogosphere now includes social media as well as “traditional” blogs.  The purpose of blogosphere is ‘to monitor the media, in much the same way that the media are believed to perform the role of watching the first three estates’ and some see it as superior to mainstream media (Jericho 2012, p1).

Image source: http://social-icons.com/50-free-social-media-icons-mixed-designs/

Ever-increasing concentration of media ownership sees inevitable reduction in diversity of commentary and opinion (Steel 2012, p5).   So to find our diversity in opinion, the unfiltered analysis, we increasingly look to blogs such as The Conversation, and Twitter feeds from respected journalists such as Michelle Grattan, Chris Uhlmann and Annabel Crabb (Jericho 2012, p297), although those with a media baron breathing down their necks would be inevitably self censoring.

When eminent political journalists such as Michelle Grattan leave the traditional commercial media (The Age newspaper) for the halls of academia and online journalism, it can only enhance the legitimacy of the blogosphere's role as the new, true public sphere.

References:

Benson, Rodney 2009, ‘Shaping the Public Sphere: Habermas and Beyond’, The American Sociologist, Vol. 40, No. 3, Springer. 

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/stable/pdfplus/20638842.pdf retrieved 28/8/2013

Bruns Axel, Burgess Jean, Highfield Tim, Kirchhoff Lars and Nicolai Thomas 2011, ‘Mapping the Australian Networked Public Sphere’, Social Science Computer Review, August 2011, Vol 29, no 3, 277-287

http://ssc.sagepub.com.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/content/29/3/277

Castells, Manuel 2008, “The New Public Sphere: Global Civil Society, Communication Networks, and Global Governance’, The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 616:78, March 2008 http://prtheories.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/45138545/Castells_2008_The_New_Public_Sphere.pdf  retrieved 28/8/2013

Jericho, Greg 2012, The Rise of the Fifth Estate: social media and blogging in Australian politics, Scribe Publications, Brunswick Vic, Australia.

http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy-f.deakin.edu.au/(S(xxq22u5r2twjpjrxe0pml30v))/Reader.aspx?p=1020873&o=154&u=XZi7W1iv2hK5FxAI8BGPcQ%3d%3d&t=1377662258&h=0C6EA8DE471011324FDBFF7FF5F22ACC2237091A&s=9730359&ut=484&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n retrieved 28/8/2013

Steel, John 2012, Journalism and Free Speech, Taylor and Francis, NY

http://reader.eblib.com.au.ezproxy-m.deakin.edu.au/(S(dsxyqkr5qmdl4isav3zio0h3))/Reader.aspx?p=958660&o=154&u=XZi7W1iv2hK5FxAI8BGPcQ%3d%3d&t=1377924821&h=FD58F03C08D867CA82533AB28DB077E59C7F627A&s=9774698&ut=484&pg=1&r=img&c=-1&pat=n#

http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/grattan-quits-age-with-call-for-diversity-20130204-2dtph.html  retrieved 1 September 2013

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/487737?uid=3737536&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21102570956441

Dolphin View Apartment in the Reputation Economy

(Image: author's own)

Iris and Helly, my in-laws, have a surprisingly thriving holiday rental apartment beneath their beachside home in their quiet retirement town of Ulladulla, NSW.  They're booked out weeks, sometimes months in advance. In fact, if we stay there at Christmas, even before we leave Iris and Helly want to know what our plans are for the following Christmas as they need to know whether they can offer their flat to paying guests.  They are listed on Air BnB, Stayz and other sites, and their reputation capital is high. 

Web 2.0 technologies have benefitted them enormously as happy customers write positive reviews online.  Visitors’ online feedback is important and changes are made in line with suggestions given.  Prosumption consists of interrelated processes or a continuum, as George Ritzer (2013) explains and his notion of co-creation is at work on the Dolphin View apartment.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYf8rnMGHpE

Ritzer & Jurgenson (2010, p22) argue that the increase in digital prosumption is changing the nature of capitalism.  Traditional Marxist capitalism relies on the market economy to facilitate the exchange of goods and services for money, with profit (surplus value) being the goal.  Different types of economies now function that exchange intangibles: the reputation economy, the ideas economy or the economy of the mind (Barlow, cited in Doctorow, 2010).

Schwabel (2011) explains it well: “the reputation economy is an environment where brands are built based on how they are perceived online and the promise they deliver offline”.

The intangibles in the online world affect the real world and perception is the keyword here.  Social media is increasingly influential in shaping reputations (Finkle, 2013) and can make or break a reputation – business or individual.  Dolphin View’s online presence is not sophisticated or professionally managed; however its offline reality surpasses expectations, and thus their reputation grows.

(Image: author's own)

The notion of reputation value in a business transaction is not really a new one; ‘good will’ has long been considered part of the stock in trade of the commercial market. The ascent of the Internet is accompanied by a growing awareness of the importance of managing your online reputation, both in the business and personal spheres.  

References:

Doctorow, C 2008 Content, Tachyon Publications, San Francisco, USA

http://craphound.com/content/Cory_Doctorow_-_Content.pdf accessed 5 August 2013

Finkle, Jim 2013, ‘Virus targets social networks in new fraud twist’, The Age, 19 August 2013

Ritzer, G 2013, ‘Prosumption: Evolution, Revolution or Eternal Return of the Same’, video recording, Bowdoin College, Maine USA, 11 April 2013,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYf8rnMGHpE retrieved 31 July 2013

Ritzer, G and Jurgenson, N 2010, ‘Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’’, Journal of Consumer Culture, Vol 10(1), 13-16, 2010

Schwabel, Dan, 2011, ‘The Reputation Economy is Coming – Are You Prepared?’ www.forbes.com, 28 February 2011, http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2011/02/28/the-reputation-economy/

We are wired to share (Botsman 2012).

Image source: www.flickr.com/photos/asterix611/9480969863/sizes/m/in/photostream/

File sharing and peer to peer (P2P) technologies allow artists to have greater control over the production, distribution and earning power of their creative output.  This is highly disruptive to the music industry business model.

When controversial performing artist Amanda Palmer’s label wanted to delete video scenes showing her stomach, outraged fans mobilised with The reBellyon.  Palmer’s counteraction to this devaluation/validation struggle was to leave her label and seek support through crowd funder, Kickstarter. 

Image source: http://jezebel.com/5101424/rebellyon

Author Cory Doctorow is another high profile file sharer.  He argues that distributing his books in this way means more people get to read his work; further, it’s ‘good for business’ as it brings him other opportunities (Doctorow 2008).

Palmer is motivated by trust of her fans and has been asked how she makes people give her money (for seeing her perform).

“I [don’t] make them, I let them,” she says (Palmer 2013).

Melbourne jazz pianist Nat Bartsch also recently crowd funded, via Pozible, her latest album, To Sail To Sing, facilitating and speeding up alternatives to music industry processes.  Nat acknowledges the benefits of independence for artists from a business whose products (CDs) are becoming less and less in demand (Bartsch, N 2012, email interview).

Image source: Samara Clifford, http://natbartsch.com/about-us/

Palmer provides an example of what Martin, Moore and Salter (2010) describe as ‘competing injustices’.  Palmer’s request for musicians to join her on stage (only hugs and beer as payment) was met with scorn from musician industry groups, who countered that musicians should be properly compensated (Wakin (a), 2012).  Palmer subsequently reversed her decision and paid the musicians Wakin (b), 2012).

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke also exemplifies the dichotomy in the changing landscape of the music business.  I remember the buzz around my household in 2007 when In Rainbows was made available as a download, with the suggestion that you pay whatever you want.  My sons downloaded it without paying, while my husband paid £10.  However, Yorke is now castigating music streaming service, #Spotify, claiming that “… new artists … on #Spotify will (not) get paid. Meanwhile shareholders will shortly being rolling in it” (Spangler, 2013).

Stevens (2003, p53) points out that the dominance of the media oligopolies is not absolute as new technologies of production and distribution change the way creative industries operate. 

Martin, Moore and Salter (2010) also raise the question of alternatives to the industry model and both Palmer and social innovator Rachel Botsman (2012) discuss the ‘currency of trust’ and how collaborative consumption empowers people to ‘make meaningful connections and engage in a marketplace built on personal connections’ (Botsman 2012).

References:

Bartsch, Nat 2012, email interview conducted with blog author.

Botsman, R 2012, ‘Rachel Botsman: The currency of the new economy’, TEDGlobal, Edinburgh, June 2012

http://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_botsman_the_currency_of_the_new_economy_is_trust.html retrieved 5 August 2013

Doctorow, C 2008 Content, Tachyon Publications, San Francisco, USA

http://craphound.com/content/Cory_Doctorow_-_Content.pdf retrieved 5 August 2013

Martin B, Moore C, and Salter C 2010, ‘Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry’, First Monday, Vol 15 No 12, 6 December 2010

http://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2986/2680 retrieved 5 August 2013

Palmer, A 2013, ‘Amanda Palmer: The art of asking’, TEDConference, Long Beach, Ca, USA, February 2013

http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html retrieved 5 August 2013

Spangler, T 2013, “British artists yanks solo album and Atoms for peace project citing music service’s payment terms’, Variety.Com, 15 July 2013.

http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/radioheads-thom-yorke-pulls-music-from-spotify-in-protest-1200562760/ retrieved 11 August 2013

Steven, P 2003, ‘Political economy: the howling, brawling, global market place’, The no-nonsense guide to global media, 2003, New Internationalist/Verso, Oxford, pp. 37-59

Wakin, Daniel J 2012, ‘Rockers Playing for Beer: Fair Play?’, The New York Times, 12 September 2012: C1(L). Expanded Academic ASAP.  Retrieved 12 Aug. 2013

Wakin, Daniel J 2012, ‘Musician Changes Tune And Will Pay Volunteers,’ The New York Times, 19 September 2012: C2(L). Expanded Academic ASAP. Retrieved 12 Aug. 2013