The Power of Blogging.

The recent golf clubhouse mauling incident between the De La Paz and Pangandaman families is a very interesting case study if you want to measure the power of blog when it comes to shaping societal perceptions. No, this would not deal with the arguments of both sides but rather this is an analysis of the power of blogging.

If you ask a common Filipino, "what is a blog?" You would usually hear them answer, they do not know. Yet intriguingly, blogs have steadily created a strong influence to mainstream society. How come? My analysis (which may be wrong) is that while mainstream Philippine society is unable to surmise the blog or is not part of the blogosphere, the prime movers of society, the middle class and upper class, are knowledgeable and are using it as a way to communicate and reach out to others. Being the prime movers of society, it creates a ripple effect that translates to a transfer of information from the blog to other more common mediums such as print, television, and radio. And this is what reaches the other sectors of society.

Blogs, while not able to really transfer specific details to the public as effectively as other mediums, has the capability to at the least create important focal points of discussion. This means that the other medium take on the topic raised by the blogs and then discussess such focal point thorougly, supplementing whatever the blog lacks in the transfer of information.

Given the Pangandaman incident, yes, the stories may not have been understood by everyone who read it in their blogs.. What happened after however, is that the newspapers, television, and radio are following the story because of the blog. And the interest of the public is maintained thus creating impetus for networks to still follow the story.

I really believe on the power of blogging and I hope someday I would get to read a scientific paper regarding the topic. I could only guess and get ideas from some readings but a scientific study would always be better. =)
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Baguilat, Raymond Marvic "Ice" C.
2006-78921