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How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters
Crown
July 2009
On Sale: July 7, 2009
416 pages
ISBN: 0307451364
EAN: 9780307451361
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Blogs are everywhere. They have exposed truths and spread rumors. Made and lost fortunes. Brought couples together and torn them apart. Toppled cabinet members and sparked grassroots movements. Immediate, intimate, and influential, they have put the power of personal publishing into everyoneΓ’β¬β’s hands. Regularly dismissed as trivial and ephemeral, they have proved that they are here to stay. In Say Everything, Scott Rosenberg chronicles bloggingΓ’β¬β’s unplanned rise and improbable triumph, tracing its impact on politics, business, the media, and our personal lives. He offers close-ups of innovators such as Blogger founder Evan Williams, investigative journalist Josh Marshall, exhibitionist diarist Justin Hall, software visionary Dave Winer, "mommyblogger" Heather Armstrong, and many others. These blogging pioneers were the first to face new dilemmas that have become common in the era of Google and Facebook, and their stories offer vital insights and warnings as we navigate the future. How much of our lives should we reveal on the Web? Is anonymity a boon or a curse? Which voices can we trust? What does authenticity look like on a stage where millions are fighting for attention, yet most only write for a handful? And what happens to our culture now that everyone can say everything? Before blogs, it was easy to believe that the Web would grow up to be a clickable TVΓ’β¬βslick, passive, mass-market. Instead, blogging brought the WebΓ’β¬β’s native character into focusΓ’β¬βconvivial, expressive, democratic. Far from being pajama-clad loners, bloggers have become the curators of our collective experience, testing out their ideas in front of a crowd and linking people in ways that broadcasts canΓ’β¬β’t match. Blogs have created a new kind of public sphereΓ’β¬βone in which we can think out loud together. And now that we have begun, Rosenberg writes, it is impossible to imagine us stopping. In his first book, Dreaming in Code, Scott Rosenberg brilliantly explored the art of creating software ("the first true successor to The Soul of a New Machine," wrote James Fallows in The Atlantic). In Say Everything, Rosenberg brings the same perceptive eye to the blogosphere, capturing as no one else has the birth of a new medium.
 Media BuzzAll Things Considered - May 27, 2010
Diane Rehm Show - NPR - August 24, 2009
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