Iblog4 Summit bloggers party with 88db.com
Admittedly, I arrived at the IBlog4 summit after lunch, around 2.00 pm. Of course I had to prioritize my wife who needed to be taken to her gynecologist early that day. I was a little surprised to see a lot of bloggers in attendance. I can’t compare this with last year’s summit because I wasn’t there, but this one turned out to be better than I expected.
Here, I met so many bloggers of all shapes, sizes and persuasions. For one day it seemed that the great divide between bloggers was set aside. Big traffic probloggers and amateur bloggers were all in the same space breathing the same air and with the same concerns. Someone raised the issue of synergy between new media (bloggers) and the traditional media (newspapers, TV, radio, etc). Ideas and suggestions filled the Malcolm Hall auditorium as bloggers voiced their opinion, some expressed their disgust and dissatisfaction while others professed their love affairs with traditional media.
Bloggers are here to stay and our presence is too imposing to ignore. I personally believe that blogging should never be married to traditional media. Blogs should serve as a check-and-balance mechanism for traditional media, though this power can be used to skew facts and swing public opinion favorably or unfavorably towards a person (Malu Fernandez and DJMontano) or a business establishment. However, it is power that also needs to be regulated. IBlog4 is a clear indication that bloggers in the Philippines are organized, professional, policing their own ranks, and inherently altruistic.
Manolo Quezon is seen in the middle of the panel answering questions from enthusiastic bloggers.
