Don’t miss this video of a discussion, led by sports commentator, Bob Costas, to hear all about the virtues and dangers of blogs. The lively conversation starts with the editor of a sports blog that gets 10 million hits a month, adds in a profanity-spewing Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, and finally, a professional athlete, who provides a balanced view. You’ll see in stark contrast the differences between digital natives and digital immigrants and how they think.

The discussion also provides a microcosm of old media vs. new media, where old media still doesn’t understand the power of going directly to the consumer/user/customer to build a community. Whether the community is attracted to good stuff or bad stuff is not the point. It’s that building a community creates something much larger than a single individual voice.

Why 10 million hits a month on a blog whose topic is already covered in every newspaper in America?  Why so many comments on each posting? What’s the void that’s being filled and the voice that kindred spirits are responding to? These are the questions that old media should be asking.