Matt Webb has posted a nice essay on designing social software which puts together a pragmatic framework for discussing this sometimes slippery topic.

The sentence that stuck with me the most, however, was somewhat of an aside:

Clay Shirky’s essays… figure pretty big when the areas of concern to social software are summarised. That’s not a surprise, they’re great essays. But also, looking back, they’re the only standalone, well-written essays there are. Outside the context of the early 2003 discussion, most of the weblog posts just don’t make any sense.

Outside the context of [their creation], most of the weblog posts just don’t make any sense. That’s a pretty damning criticism of blogging as a serious alternative to journalism. Say what you will about the obsolescence of the New York Times; at least we can be sure that we’ll be able to understand its articles in 50 years—never mind next year. But the blog posts of 2003, robbed of context, are already slipping into incoherence.