This is interesting. I agree that there is a certain level of authenticity that is lost when someone goes “big media.” To an extent this is true for any small entity that attains wide success, aside from media. I would suggest that Warren Buffet retained a conspicuously high level of integrity for someone who had built as large an empire as he did.

I’m currently reading David Mamet’s “Bambi vs. Godzilla” which is as witty as Mamet’s screen writing but also filled with invective directed at movie studios and critics. I don’t totally agree with everything he says. However, he makes some distinctions between the “artist” and the “producers” which bear the motivations of the entrepreneur (small blogger )vs. the successful corporate leader (big media blogger).

I offer this quote from p.46 : “It requires a certain genius of morality-in effect, a hero- to remain pure while involved in the conflicting rewards and temptations of power, to avoid arrogance and despair in the face of human corruptibility.”

However, I think the power law is a problem inherent in the definition of success. The mass of We Media (the “We” if you will) are envious of the success of the few. But as long as members of We Media are comparing themselves to each other, there will always be a few standout successes.

I see the power law as a function of what in media buying is called “Share of Voice”. The interweb is like television with millions of channels. When there were relatively few sites, it effectively increased the chance that people who would not normally have had a chance at an audience got one — that’s where all the breathless hype arose. But as the clutter of more participants increases, the probability that any one will break through the background noise falls to a level practically negligible and almost equivalent to there never having been a new medium. As always, those with the resources to spread their message/branding (SOV) will succeed and, for the most part, that will be traditional media companies and the few they discover/purchase/hire. We can’t underestimate the power of inertia…