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SF Chronicle: Weblogs Come Of Age As a News Source, "Scott Rafer, chief executive for Feedster, a San Francisco search engine for blog entries, foresees a day when more people make money from their blogs.

In an era of one-newspaper towns, readers want more voices, he said.

"There's no reason why blogging won't go the same direction as eBay," Rafer said. "Right now, we're five or six years into eBay, and there are thousands of people depending on that system for their income."

As for blogs' growing role as an alternative source for news, Mena Trott, who co-founded Six Apart, dismissed the possibility that blogs will ever supplant the mainstream media. She can count only a handful of stories that blogs broke, nowhere near enough to make a name for most of the thousands of news blogs.

"One thing that's detracted from blogging is the idea that it's trying to replace journalism," Trott said. "Most people are going to use it to create a wine group or a place to talk about their families.""

(via IWantMedia)

Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.