CAIRO: The old media world is in decline, shifting, losing prominence, said Peter Leyden, founder and CEO of NextAgenda.com, at a video conference at the United States embassy in Cairo Wednesday. The digital video conference examined bloggers and blogging in the United States as well as social media s effect worldwide. The conference, which was held in Cairo, Alexandria, and in San Francisco, was attended by students, bloggers, and journalists. Leyden, an American expert on the internet and electronic media, led the video conference, featured on a large screen in the embassy s Sherman Hall. The former journalist has worked in various US-based think tanks, examining new media and politics. He began the conference illustrating the progression of social media. In particular, he focused on the effects blogging has had on politics in the United States. Leyden cited the 2004 US elections as the beginning of social media s influence on politics. Those of us interested in tech saw its influence on politics, Leyden recalled. At the time, blogging itself was relatively new, as it had only become accessible in the early 2000s. Blogging showed itself to be influential in politician Howard Dean s campaign for the 2004 presidential nomination. Dean was running on an anti-war platform and had garnered support from a younger, more technologically-savvy group. According to Leyden, Dean s supporters used blogs as a way to catalyze common people interested in promoting the anti-war position and to counter the mainstream media opinion. Essentially, these blogs served as a means of organizing support as well as promoting an opinion that had been previously sidelined. Dean was unsuccessful in his efforts, but the infusion of new media into politics did not go unnoticed. Social media played an even larger role in the 2008 elections, says Leyden. He argues that social media was the single largest reason Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in claiming the presidential nomination. Without the internet media, Obama could not have beaten the traditional machine of Hillary, Leyden asserts. She had the old media, rich donors, and sway in the Democratic party. To Leyden, Obama s victory signified a paradigm shift in politics and blogs had blazed the trail. Social technology had countered the old sway: the traditional media, traditional means of campaigning, and the traditional methods of raising funds. As a result, social media is undermining the more traditional media. According to Leyden, this new system is collapsing the economies of the old media. Leyden finds that the global popularity of blogs is a result of its social nature. The ability to comment and to send stories to your friends appeals to many. The old media, Leyden thinks, is a solitary experience, in which only one opinion is showcased. As to what the future of blogging may hold, Leyden was optimistic. We ll see more participation, more democratization of voices. You can t stop that, he stated. Ten years ago we got all of our information from the government, from newspapers, television -things often owned by the state. Leyden acknowledges that this progress in social media is not uniform in all countries. Some countries face higher government internet censorship than others. But, he says, Today any country integrated into the economy has to have an open internet. All countries need to be in on the information flow. Although the progress of blogs across the globe is moving at different rates in different places, Leyden sees the long-term effect as being the same, allowing for more transparency, participation, and dialogue. It s shaking up politics in the US, Iran, China, and maybe even Egypt, he says. It s impossible to keep contained.
