metablog

May 8th, 2008, 8pm
Brooklyn Lyceum – Union St and 4th Ave

Last night a large group of Brooklyn Bloggers came together at the Brooklyn Blogfest. Louise Crawford, one of the lead organizers, led off the ceremonies with a video by Blue Barn Pictures.

Overall, the event gave me a larger sense of what is going on in the local blog-o-sphere.
I really liked seeing the great photobloggers of Brooklyn featured in this video

To sum up – two things came to mind:
1. Dan Gillmor’s We The Media
2. Meetup.com – where Real Groups make a Real Difference

First – the event was a clear indicator of the rise of grassroots media and self-organized groups.

Second – it was simply nice to see established bloggers (people blogging for over 2 years) meet new bloggers. There was definitely a sense of self-congratulation, which is actually well deserved. Anyone running a blog (or two or three) knows how much work it takes to produce quality posts.

However, I do disagree that a blog must absolutely produce “fresh content” every day. That kind of mentality is inherited from the CNN news-cycle mentality.

Not surprisingly, the event was sponsored by Outside.in (great job on the free beer, by the way!)

For those who couldn’t make it, you can take a virtual walk through Brooklyn by following the links below:
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn
Creative Times
The Brooklyn Optimist
So Good
Flatbush Gardener
Bedstuy Banana
New York Shitty
Sustainable Flatbush
Clinton Hill Chill
Brooklyn Ron
Dear Famous Asshole
Super Vegan
Kingston Lounge

and a honorable mentions…Fading Ad and Brit in Brooklyn

I truly wonder what will happen when “old media” catches up with grassroots media. “Old media” has already started “airing” user-generated content. What will happen in publishing? I can imagine a few years from now, we will begin seeing these blogs turn into published books and magazines.

For a hint of things to come, take a look at CNN’s iReport

view photos from the event on flickr