Writing for an Audience of One, Then Many, Then Back to One (or close to it)

Blogspotting posts today about how the internet in general and consumer participation specifically are impacting the content published by mainstream media (MSM). It seems an obvious shift as content decisions are now impacted more by raw data (views, clicks, forwards, etc.) than just the editor’s gut response, but in my mind it raises the question of whether the opinions of the masses will ever generate content anyone wants to read. It seems as though MSM is destined to take the path that marketing has traveled over the past several decades from personal marketing (door-to-door salesmen) to mass marketing to mass customization.