Stages to Becoming Mainstream
Over the weekend, I was having a discussion with one of my cousins in the ad business and we were talking about the airsoft phenomenon in the Philippines and how it has transformed a small enthusiast group into a mainstream public endeavor. He lists down the following stages that transforms a niche hobby into an industry and I realized how these stages can be applicable to almost any hobby:
Stage 1 An enthusiast group with no other benefit than the game itself
Stage 2 Community takes root in the form of dinners and activities outside the sport
Stage 3 Community evolves into a series of institutions
Stage 4 Mainstream media features
Stage 5 Injection of Celebrities
It is at this point — at STAGE 5 when a hobby turns mainstream. It is also under this thought that a BUSINESS MODEL simply because there is a traditional revenue model to back it up, which is entertainment (yeah, the celebs).
It is through these five stages that an INDUSTRY is born. This is why we now have regular sponsored Airsoft tournaments with hundreds of players converging to play (capturing the opposing celebrity faction leader), eat, drink and see the Viva Hot Babes in the flesh.
My question is, what stage is blogging in the Philippines at?
Random Posts
Between 4 and 5. Mainstream media has tackled blogging (e.g., Mel and Jay interviewing Abe and J. Angelo; Korina’s “Beware of the Blog”). There are a few celebrities blogging (e.g., Bianca Gonzales) but so far, no top-billing stars, much less those that are active into the so-called local blogging community. (Kris Aquino supposedly had an LJ before.)
Note that for stage 5 to become legitimate, celebrities have to be part of the “blogging community” (e.g., attend iBlog or other big blogging events). Otherwise, a celebrity blog is just an official celebrity website with (e.g., KC Concepcion’s blog).
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I am not really sure that this is the 100% applicable to blogging. And the main reason being blogging at the onset is not necessarily a past time or a hobby. So you get people who blog as a hobby or a cause and those that enter it as a business.
There is no ifs and when. Blogging as an industry is now and here. Blogging is maintstream. And like any industry celebrities and icons are created from within.
so that being said, when do we bloggers get to have sponsored meetups with the Viva Hot Babes? That’s as high a stage as it’ll ever get, he he!