Kirked
No... not some offhanded... reference to... James T.
A brief definition: a verb meaning “to have your reputation ruined for trying to stifle a blogger’s free speech.” Follow that link for a more in depth look at it's origins. Or have a look at Dans definition: "kirking" means to damage one's own reputation by the incompetent use of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPS)." A great deal of analysis precedes and follows that post.
A look at Kirking through the lens of Generational Warfare is found on both the commentary above at tdaxp and more specifically at Dreaming 5GW.
The effect of blogging on the political facet of our society as grown to very effective proportions. Uber-blogs such as Daily Kos, Huffington Post, Michelle Malkin, etc. are virtual veterans of affecting political outlooks nudging left, right and center to the point where the founders leapfrog from the blogosphere to mainstream media and back again.
The Kirking effect transcends ideology and offers the blog the ability to not only sway personal principle and philosophy but to also foment a direct economic attack. As Dan illustrates the Coble effect has pushed J L Kirk down the line of search string results on various search engines, not the least of which is powerhouse Google. The combination of this with the "snowball" effect of bad publicity (which has jumped from the blogosphere to mainstream media) has the potential for crippling economic effects for the company in question.
For better or worse the "little guy" just got another step up.
Update:
ZenPundit provides some historical perspective. Auto-Borking (think Reagan and Supreme Court nominees.)
7 comments:
You're on to something big here.
As a Huffington Post blogger, I can say that mega-blogs definitely have the power to shift fortunes. The Huffington Post was the one that exposed the author of the "Vote Different" ad (he came clean once some HuffPo regulars confronted him with the evidence)
AE, will the HuffPost be bloggin the JL Kirk scandal?
Indeed Adam. Now add the economic facet of blog-power and we're seeing something unprecedented. I would encourage you to browse both tdaxp and Dreaming 5GW (lol, as though you won't) as they both effectively expound upon the entire platform in some broadbased theoretical approaches. Find the medium between what Dan/Curtis explore with what I say and I think we're on to a different level of blog influence.
Dan, we cross commented. A great question.
Dan,
Unfortunately, the JL Kirk thing hasn't really hit the mainstream liberal blogosphere yet (especially because the Virginia Tech shooting is dominating news coverage) I will put in a post about it over there when I have time.
When I do though, I'll link to you (as I believe you were one of the first to do an in-depth look at it)
Soob,
I've learned a lot from tdaxp and D5GW in the last few months. Great writing on the usage of generational war to politics and business.
When you have time, you should also check out a book called "Spin: How To Turn the Power of the Press to Your Advantage." It's by the top LA PR firm, Sitrick and Co.
JL Kirk just fell prey to one of the tricks Sitrick described.
Subadei,
Great minds think alike!
AE,
Woot! The JL Kirk tag is the best single page to link to, as it will keep aggregating stories. (Not that I'm hinting you must, haha :-) ).
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