I had lunch yesterday with Martin Green, the CNET Communities general manager who is my former client and new-found friend. In was through conversations with Martin that I got the idea and terminology for "Global Neighborhoods."
Martin's concept is that each of us dwells in multiple neighborhoods that are local, regional and global. For example, I'm a member of the San Carlos Brittan Park neighborhood where I share common concerns with the people around me about deer-eating roses, traffic and the trash pickup contractors. I feel safe in this neighborhood, and I have love for my home--but I feel little passion for the municipal issues. I also belong to a global neighborhood of bloggers. I am passionate about the neighborhood, it's preservation, it's expansion, attempts to blight it up. I find soul mates in this neighborhood, people who share my dreams. Unlike my San Carlos, Brittan park neighbors, I will never actually see all the people in this global neighborhood.
This concept is at the soul of my next book.
But yesterday, Martin took the concept further. He divided bloggers into the few like Scoble, Arrington and Congdon who have become media properties. They have voices that resonate across the blogosphere. Many have a future, like Scoble, in social media networks that are now forming and have, I think, the potential to do in the next generation what ABC, CBS and NBC did in the middle of the last century.
But these new media stars are few in numbers and bloggers and blog participants are now massive in numbers, with the growth continuing at a relentless pace. Martin started a personal blog a while ago and he has only 20 links. Can he really be heard like Scoble whose personal blog has over 12,000 links?
Of course not.
As Martin and I dined on sushi from Styrofoam boxes in the tables outside of CNET's 2nd Street offices, Martin argued that is where the sort of online communities like Webshots and Chowhound are coming in. They are sort of amplified voices for the rest of us as Martin sees it.
To illustrate, Martin took me in to look at Chowhound, a site that has gone through enormous improvement since I last looked at it in early May. Chowhound is a community for people who are passionate about restaurants. It is organized by physical neighborhoods, so you can search for restaurants in San Francisco's SOMA district or Boston's back Bay or anywhere else that people choose to open up. Ad hoc "boards" of the most passionate dining people review comments to make certain contributors are on the side of the audience and not pals of the restaurant. They are comprised of the most passionate community members.
After about a five-minute tour, Martin leaned back and reminded me of his mere 20 links on his blog. "If I write about this restaurant and post it on my blog, probably no one from my local neighborhood will see it. But if I post it on Chowhound, then the people most passionate about food and restaurants will see it. They are the most influential people for this neighborhood and Chowhound amplifies their influence." This is a shining example of an online neighborhood. Chowhound is well on its way to being a global community but it serves people via neighborhoods where they live and visit.
He's right, of course. Alone, he's hollering in a hurricane of over 45 million voices and being heard is becoming increasingly a challenge. By putting his voice on Chowhound he has a neighborhood boom box playing his tune.
But Chowhound a blog,I wondered. Martin thinks not. In his view, it is not. Chowhound is a walled garden, owned, managed and operated for eventual profit by CNET. Still, I'm linking here to Chowhound, so if it is a walled garden it is a connected garden with open access. I can get recommendations without actually joining or contributing to the community. It looks like a blog and it behaves one.
In the end, it is not really important whether or not it is a blog. The community and the neighborhood is what is so important.
