Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a terrific history of blogging and a convincing case for its enduring significance. Rosenberg mixes the personal with the conceptual in the same wonderful way that the web does."
—Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe and CEO of the Aspen Institute

“Scott Rosenberg is the best defender blogging has ever had. He eludes hype. He comes with no motive to debunk. He knows the history cold, and tells his stories calmly. On what to credit blogging with, and how to delimit it, there is no one with finer judgment. And he is poetic on blogging as a democratic thing. Say Everything is where I'd tell you to start if you want to understand where blogging came from, and why it's important.
—Jay Rosen, creator of PressThink.org and professor of journalism at New York University

"Blogging gives everyone a printing press, unleashing a social force comparable to the printing press. Say Everything tells the story of the people, culture, and technology that made that happen and gives us an idea of where it's going, from a guy who saw it happen around him.”
—Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist

"Eminently readable and historically definitive...Rosenberg has made it clear why the blogging revolution matters. Certain to be a classic."
—Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs and Visiting Professor of Digital Journalism at Stanford

“The birth of newspapers, radio and television were fascinating events, filled with larger-than-life characters. The thing is, you didn't live through that, and the other thing is, there's not a lot you can do about it now. Blogging is now, it's real, it's fascinating and you're not just watching. Scott takes you on a guided tour of what got us to where we are today."
—Seth Godin, author of Tribes and Purple Cow

"Scott Rosenberg provides an excellent fifteen-year history of the voice of the person' on the Web, from Talking Points Memo to Twitter, and profiles both idealistic pioneers and scrappy entrepreneurs. He offers a cogent look at not only what's new, but also what's next."
—Greg Mitchell, Editor, Editor & Publisher

"The best history makes up for narrow focus with rich detail. Rosenberg’s book delivers exactly that plus his personal insider’s view of famous and familiar bloggerati–the technology, the fiefdoms, the whuffie, the money, and the love. I learned new things about people I’ve known and read for years."
—Lisa Stone, cofounder and CEO of BlogHer, Inc.

Product Description

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 everyone’s hands. Regularly dismissed as trivial and ephemeral, they have proved that they are here to stay.

In Say Everything, Scott Rosenberg chronicles blogging’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 TV–slick, passive, mass-market. Instead, blogging brought the Web’s native character into focus–convivial, 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 can’t match. Blogs have created a new kind of public sphere–one 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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Crown (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307451364
• ISBN-13: 978-0307451361
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #260,817 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When a great business book reads like a novel, July 12, 2009

By	Marylene Delbourg-Delphis (Palo Alto & Boston) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Great book -- It reads like a novel, and contrary to most "business" books it is very well written. Writing present or quasi-present history is a difficult genre and any author will always be suspected of lacking the distance necessary to separate out the wheat from the chaff especially, especially in a world where everybody craves for celebrity status. Scott Rosenberg largely and skillfully avoids this pitfall.
Over the last 25 years, digital technologies have empowered people a little bit more each time, but blogging has brought a new type empowerment, not simply the ability to do more things better and faster, but to say and share things differently. The three main sections of the book describe the progressive expansion of the art of blogging from pioneering individuals to the build-up of the massive blogosphere that has reshaped our connection to what's happening around us and to the news media altogether. The book is a gold mine of information -- and helps better understand the foundations of today's social media.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important Book for Digital Age, July 31, 2009

By	Donna Barnett "Donna" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a former journalist trained on the job at Forbes, who currently blogs about clean air issues and destinations, I recommend Scott Rosenberg's book, Say Everything. What stood out for me was Scott's explanation about why blogs are meaningful for niche audiences and how trusting the voice of a blogger is not much different than trusting the voice of a mainstream reporter. There's a lot of chatter in the world about how trustworthy a blogger may be. As a former reporter who at times felt chained to the opinions of a magazine and editor, (who in turn may have needed to consider advertisers when writing a story) I believe there's great freedom and honesty that comes with blogging. Like everything in life, we must discern who we will trust. I trust Scott Rosenberg has a good pulse on blogging.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Also appropriate for academic bloggers, October 26, 2009

By	David Zetland (UC Berkeley) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Originally posted at [...]
JWT sent me this book by Scott Rosenberg on blogging's first 15 years. In part one, the author (former editor of Salon.com) goes back to the early days of online diaries and link pages. In part two, Rosenberg tells how technological advances (e.g., the simple interface of Blogger, which hosts this blog) led to an explosion of blogging. In part three, Rosenberg gets to the interesting stuff, the impact and future of blogging.

This readable and interesting book left me with these ideas:

* Warnock's Dilemma, i.e., you may get no response to your blog post because:
1. The post is correct, well-written information that needs no follow-up commentary. There's nothing more to say except "Yeah, what he said."
2. The post is complete and utter nonsense, and no one wants to waste the energy or bandwidth to even point this out.
3. No one read the post, for whatever reason.
4. No one understood the post, but won't ask for clarification, for whatever reason.
5. No one cares about the post, for whatever reason.
I've considered all these reasons when wondering about the lack of comments on posts on this blog.

* The internet has been hard on newspapers (classified ads have moved to Craigslist; weather, sports and business statistics are best viewed online), but magazines are also threatened. I agree with this thinking, and see how daily papers will be replaced by the continuous flow of news from the internet.

* Is blogging journalism? Yes, indeed if it uses the same techniques of journalists (fact-checking, original material, analysis). In fact, I would draw a parallel with the academic world and ask this: "Is blogging academic?" Yes, and academic blogging (on "edublogs"? "Profblogs"? Some better name?) can not only be academic, but better than academic. Consider:
o Blogs are faster to distribute and free to anyone on the internet.
o Blogs allow commenting, conversation and corrections.
o Blogs allow "infinite" exposition, linking to sources and debate.
The only advantage of academic publication in journals is that such publications are peer reviewed by referees and editors, but that advantage is not exclusive to academic work -- it can work with blogs, and would -- given the speed and breadth of access and conversation -- work even better with blogs. In the words of Marc Andreessen: "It is crystal clear to me now that at least in industries where lots of people are online, blogging is the single best way to communicate and interact." We (academics) should keep this in mind as we debate the future of academic discourse. (Of course, Tyler Cowen is already on board.)

Bottom Line: Blogging is important to our culture and our intellectual growth. I give this book four stars for its thorough, clear and contextual explanation of the history and importance of blogging.