You’ve heard about it: the dreaded echo chamber. Almost everyone in the blogosphere seems to have some tips against being part of this. I remember writing something about avoiding the echo chamber and being more creative a while back.

And let’s not forget that the blogosphere is also one big echo chamber. You know, blogs are often the he-said, she-said exchanges. No one seems to be coming up with original content these days. The blockquote tag has become the favorite among bloggers. Even some of the blogging A-listers are fond of link-blogging. Where’s the creativity here?

Sure, bloggers like to write on what’s already written about. I would say 90.1416% of bloggers start writing their stuff based on what they’ve read on other people’s blogs. Another 78.654% actually link to other blogs and quote stuff they think interesting. A smaller number would add some commentary and opinion to supposedly add value to the conversation. Trust me, I got these figures from a very reliable source (namely my imagination).

But thinking back, I wonder what the heck is wrong with the echo chamber? I would say it’s one good sign that creativity is not so abundant in the blogosphere. However, thre is one good thing that the echo chamber brings about, and it’s some sort of consensus as to what bloggers consider important.

I’ve said before that the wisdom of crowds may not exactly be wise. That’s (mostly) because of the tipping point. The crowd can be influenced! But then again, in the blogosphere, the wisdom of the crowds is in numbers. Technorati says so. The more people write about a topic, the hotter it gets on Technorati’s popularity charts.

So what’s wrong with the echo chamber? A lot, probably!

But then it serves its purpose. Having an echo chamber helps you determine what the buzz is all about. And this changes every day, every week, every season. Bloggers talk, and the blogosphere talks back.

Related Articles

• What’s Up With All The Networking?
• Where’s the Creativity?
• A Lesson In Blog Design
• So Microsoft and Edelman Scored A Major Hit
• What’s the M for in OSM ?
• What’s it like in Singapore?
• What’s One Good Way of Making it Big in the Blogosphere?