According the author, this is the end of an era. And. No longer subversive and personal–blogging is just part of the blah mainstream. What does this mean for media outlets? Blogging has been absorbed into the culture and daily activities and its just part of the news culture. I don't think it's going to go away–but media outlets will need to find ways to integrate other two-way communication and info sharing opportunities with their audiences.

"Blogging has entered the mainstream, which—as with every new medium in history—looks to its pioneers suspiciously like death. To the earliest practitioners, over a decade ago, blogging was the regular posting of text updates, and later photos and videos, about themselves and their thoughts to a few friends and family members. Today lots of internet users do this, only they may not think of it as blogging. Instead, they update their profile pages on Facebook, MySpace or other social networks."

So says Advertising Age. I concur. What are the implications for progressive media–that still have a foot in one-way mode?

"The winners were the ones that fed the public's desire for news where and when they wanted it: 24-hour cable TV news; participatory blogs that aggregate news of a political bent; websites that allow users to access media on their own terms (YouTube) and those that allow users to communicate and organize with each other (Facebook). Losers were the one-way media of the past: While the broadcast networks weren't without their moments, they were more marginal than four years ago. Network prime time, bereft of new hits and attempting to appeal to a distracted population, was down by double digits this fall.

Static news sites such as The Drudge Report were surpassed by the more participatory Huffington Post and the original reporting of Politico."

Via Jeff Cohen:

"This time Swift-Boating was often countered – as when Obama refused to be eclipsed by TV clips of Rev. Wright and made his speech on race that became the top video on You Tube (1.5 million views, 4,000 comments in 36 hours.) With Wright a media obsession, indy journalists from Glenn Greenwald to David Corn exposed McCain's bigoted preacher/endorsers.

Years ago, rightwing smears would flow up the food chain from Drudge to Fox News/talk radio into mainstream media. This year, the flow of serious, accurate charges about McCain got a push from progressive media – like the story of "McCain's Mansions," which sailed from blogs to mainstream via the hugely successful Brave New Films viral video. Few will forget McCain's stunning answer when asked how many homes he owned: "I think – I'll have my staff get to you."