It’s been one month since the first post went up at The Selective Echo. As a public relations professional and teacher, I have been quite aware of blogs for some time but now that I post regularly to one, I’ve begun to look more closely at the potential capacity of this form of conversational media.

My bookmarks on my laptop refer to a select yet diverse range of blogs. While most are oriented toward current events, some would probably be classified as guilty pleasures. A few are quite impressive in terms of professionalism as well as accurate, credible, and legitimate content. Others – which rely heavily on lifted material that often has yet to be verified for accuracy – almost frighten me in terms of their reach and influence. We are living in unprecedented times where anyone can be an instant publisher – blogs, Myspace, YouTube, Facebook, etc. – without the worries of having one’s credentials justified. Even respected news outlets quickly post updates or news stories, often in their raw form under the heading of “breaking news” or “developing story.” Only later come the cleanups of facts and details. Or, even worse, yanking the story because it was a false alarm.

The good question has been posed by Professor Dennis Wilkins who teaches journalism at St. Bonaventure University: “How much of our work as presumably thoughtful bloggers is noise rather than signal? Do we shoot from the hip too often?”

It’s an important question to contemplate as blogs become increasingly a mainstream source for information and entertainment. A recent survey by Synovate, a global market research company, found that 80 percent of us know what a blog is and that half of us have visited blogs.

There were a few other interesting findings. Nearly half of blog readers visit the same ones regularly. Blog readership is heaviest among the 18-34 age demographic. The frequency in which blogs are being read seems to correlate with the growing awareness of blogs. While nearly two out of five blog readers visit them less than once a month, 28 percent visit them monthly, 15 percent visit them daily and 5 percent read them several times a day.

Finally, most people use blogs to supplement other media. About half of the readers cite entertainment as a key reason for reading blogs while a little more than one-fourth read them for special hobbies and interests and about one out of six readers use them strictly for news content. The traditional media seem to be safe, at least for the time being.

The blogosphere is continuing to evolve as an information tool. I predict that, at some point, blogs will be considered for Pulitzer Prizes. Even now, the LexisNexis database – which long has been a comprehensive search tool for locating published newspaper, magazine, and trade journal content – provides a search option for blogs. This is certainly a nod toward the growing awareness of blogs as a credible source of news and information.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about ensuring that The Selective Echo provides useful, informative and credible signals. I conscientiously scrutinize my posts for factual-based writing (even when it’s opinionated) and for verifiable information gathering. I also remain sensitive to ensure the content is not empty-headed boosterism or shameless advertising or promotion. Rather, what you, gentle reader, will, hopefully, always see is a genuine, detail-laden account of why people, events, and organizations clearly exemplify the best attributes of Salt Lake City.

And regular readers are beginning to see a particular theme emerge organically that relates precisely to the mission of this blog, which is to provide an entertaining, informative, and provocative look at Salt Lake City and its cosmopolitan best. The evidence throughout the city is substantial and future posts will continue to make that compelling and powerful case. This is an exceptional city in many respects – that deserves more than a status quo orientation – and I do hope what readers see in the forthcoming months will reflect just how much Salt Lake City is becoming the cosmopolitan capital of the Intermountain West.