How the “Blogosphere” is changing everything

        Last Sunday on CBS Sunday Morning interesting story on the rapid development of the blogosphere was shown.  Blogging is rapidly growing as a way in which information of all types is shared.  As a blog reader you are ahead of the curve in recognizing this reality.  When people tell me that they have heard of blogs but don’t know much about them I ask them if they were on Facebook 5 years ago.  Then I ask them if they are on Facebook now.  After they indicate they have a Facebook page and use it to keep up with family and friends I tell them that in the next 5 years the growth of blogs will be something that they use daily to keep up to date the way they use Facebook today.  Blogs are the next big thing on the Internet.  With the decline of the traditional media sources as a source of community information blogs are filling the gap.  The world is becoming “flat” rapidly.

I hear about how the “flat” world is changing everything on a daily basis.  Today I wanted to highlight something that was in the Baltimore Sun on “crowdfunding.”  Before social media if you wanted to get an art project funded you wrote a grant to a foundation. The Sun article shows how one artist used a new Internet site called Kickstarter to get funding from individuals to fund a project in Baltimore called the “Baltimore Love Project.”  Everyone has a chance to be the funder of this project.

The website “Prosper.com” allows individuals to play “banker” and loan money to individuals who need a loan.  A person can set up an account with Prosper and determine who they would be willing to loan money to at what rate of interest.  The person getting the loan states why they need a loan and the person’s credit score is listed.  The greater risk of a lower credit score give a lender a higher rate of return just like any other lender.

Here in Howard County individuals give regularly to the Women’s Giving Circle to respond quickly to financial needs of women in difficult circumstances. Where agencies might take considerable time and paperwork to respond, the Giving Circle can respond quickly and effectively.

One last example of how the Internet has change our world is the story in the Sun this morning about the referendum initiative to rescind the bill on educational benefits for children of illegal immigrants that has reached a goal for signatures by using the internet.  No other referendum attempt has been successful in the past 20 years. You now have an easier way to get the signatures than setting up a table at the local grocery store.

The ability of social media and online applications to provide new ways to match “need” with “resources” is a “game changer.”  The older more traditional resources have new players in the game that may change the way the game is played. Still not convinced the world has changed?  Watch this