discover heavenly bodies overlooked by the great academic
astronomers of the past. On the downside, international
terrorists are using the Internet to organize attacks on
crowded buildings, night clubs, and other “soft targets”
around the globe. Another technology-related fear is that
the unwired minority may become even more of an under-
class than it already is.
It is hard to overstate the extent to which digital tech-
nology is reshaping our lives. Virtually unheard of in the
twentieth century, blogs have become a staple of everyday
life throughout the increasingly wired world. There were
some 15,000 blogs (short for “web logs”) in 2002. By
mid-2007 some 70 million filled the so-called blogo-
sphere. Thanks to free, easy-to-use software, anyone can
create a blog, and it often seems that everyone has. Gen-
uine experts use their blogs to share what they know,
companies use them to build brands and practice crisis
control, people use them to promote themselves, crack-
pots fill them with their eccentric views. Blogs on all sides
of the political spectrum were a major force in the 2008
American presidential election. For better or for worse,
they have eroded the already waning power of main-
stream media, allowing a vast corps of self-selected citizen
journalists to emerge. When they function as digital
whistleblowers, bloggers make corporate and political
leaders more accountable. Bloggers in China, Iran, and
other countries are forcing greater and greater trans-
parency on authoritarian governments that try, with less
and less success, to maintain control. Blogs are the mid-
wives of countless new fads and a challenge to traditional
notions of expertise. Social networks such as MySpace
Organizations Can Help—or Hinder