beginning of the end of blogging

The beginning of the end of blogging as a freely expressed mediumNYT: Nike Tries a New Medium for Advertising: The Blog:

"Gawker Media, a small company that operates snarky Web logs on culture and politics, like Gawker and Wonkette, has begun blogging on behalf of major advertisers.

The company's first paid blog is for Nike. Called Art of Speed, the blog will spend about a month showcasing a series of 15 short films on the theme of speed, all commissioned by Nike. Gawker Media Contract Productions, a new division of Gawker Media, will supply layout, commentary, links and other features. Terms were not disclosed.

"A lot of marketers are interested in Web logs as a medium," said Nick Denton, publisher at Gawker Media in New York. "One thing to do is to run advertising campaigns on the sites. Some marketers are moving one step beyond that and looking at other ways they can engage this new form of independent media.""

Probably not the first, and undoubtedly not the last instance of corporate usurpation of new forms of expression, I expect to see more instances soon.

Now playing in iTunes: Nobody's Fault But Mine, from the album Presence by Led Zeppelin (released 1977)