My first year in college I took a intro class to economics and the prof was cool - made econ somewhat palatable. He told us that he fantasized about doing this experiment: have all of us line up early, in front of a bank, before it opens. Every passerby will see what is going on and will likely line up too. Before long, a whole mob will line up ready to take their money out of the bank and a panic will ensue. What's the point? Mob mentality. Just look at the forums here and the alarm sounded over Trafficpower - remember them?

Granted they deserved their bad rep, but the same kind of bad rep could apply to a perfectly good company like Target - if enough mob mentality spilled over.

Do bloggers themselves have all that much influence? Maybe not, but if enough of them build a negative image, it could jade the general perception of the public. If enough of them generate a buzz, the blog buzz gets picked up by legitimate sources and before long, a company like Target could indeed get a messy PR situation on their hands.

Savvy companies will pick up on monitoring blogs and see their potential, much like Microsoft using their blogs to help improve their search engine. If Microsoft has enough foresight to use blogs that way, how long before that becomes how companies interact with customers? I could even see some companies using blogs as an open forum with customers. Maybe a company will use it for market research - test out a marketing campaign and then ask for feedback. It may not work now, but certainly could be once blogs are better known.

I think blogs can become dangerous with a mob mentality. They may not be prominent now, but the kids coming up from college, high school, etc. are probably much more savvy with blogs than most of us here. I know if you have an account on myspace.com, along with your profile, you get blog space to dish out your rants or dirt. Myspace is mostly populated by youngsters - who as they grow older, will be savvy and tuned in to the blogosphere, ergo, blogs will become more dangerous when in a mob mentality.