Stop Defining Blogs

I'm a big fan of Doc Searls. Not just the Cluetrain Manifesto, but his blog, his input on the late, lamented Gillmor Gang, his keynotes, his other writing. But based on a brief synopsis of his finishing keynote at Les Blogs, I've finally found a point where I can disagree with him. (Not that I've been looking, mind you.) On who reported on Searls talk "about why we shouldn't talk about content, consumers, audiences - because blogs are "writing" and should be thought of as a form of speech (which can be free) rather than media (which needs to be managed)." I'm getting tired of people insisting that blogs are one thing but definitely cannot be another. Sure, I know exactly what Searls is talking about: the type of blog written by individuals (like, for example, this one). But that doesn't mean that General Motors is abusing the blogosphere by producting Cluetrain Manifesto Holtz Communication + Technology which focuses on helping organizations apply online communication capabilities to their strategic organizational communications.