The Internet: Is it a new outlet of the entrepreneur? This is a place where anyone can go and be heard. There are no resumes, recommendations, or qualifications for that matter. Here, it’s not who you know, but what you know.
In Ch. 3 of Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody there’s a story about a former politician who loses his career because of a questionable statement he said at a party. At first this story went unheard because the reporters at the party found it unimportant. A few days later though, a blogger had recounted the event and it had caused a stir on the Internet. His reaction led to a reaction among reporters and in the end the politician…well…had lost his ethos.
Why is this story important? Because if this was 15 years ago, the only way this man could have made as big of an impact as he did would be to acquire the formal education of a reporter and then find company that was willing to give him a chance. With today’s technology our voice isn’t trapped within the walls of formal education.
It’s true that source credibility has been a complaint of many who use the internet to search for information. This is a new medium that doesn’t discriminate against anyone’s opinion, and that includes your Uncle Carl who has had a half built time machine in his basement for the last 30 years.
But as we’ve seen in the example of the blogger who destroyed the opinion of a politician, if you do have something valuable to offer, here’s your chance. Why should there be such a thick line between the hobbiest and the ‘professional’? Knowledge is an interpretation of life experience and those who assume authority on anything will find out, like the reporters, that even that is subjective. This new medium allows an opportunity to see things from different angles and hear more voices than the select few who followed the path of the industrial era.
“Sometimes I'm confused by what I think is really obvious. But what I think is really obvious obviously isn't obvious...”-Michael Stipe
No matter what there should always be a question of credibility in instances like the one described. Even if they may be true, there is a difference between being an amateur blogger and posting something as shocking as that, and being a journalist who has proven themselves capable of similar tasks. I'm not fully aware of the situation in the example, but I would imagine that even in this day and age once the story was posted by a "credible" news source is when the story received more attention in the public eye.
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