This article is primarily focused on the effect that blogs and personal websites are having on the H1N1/Swine Flu Pandemic.  The article talks about the amount of information that is being spread by numerous blogs.  Many bloggers, such as Vincent Racianellio of Virology, is now providing up to date information and analysis on the H1N1 virus.  Racianellio points out that the last time there was a flu spread even close to the magnitude we are seeing this year was 1968 and back then information and also false information was not as simple as a click away.

A big problem with so much information on the net is that it is easy to read false information on the internet.  This potential false information is what drew me to be interested in this article in the first place.  I suffer from various illnesses that make it very important for me to have received the H1N1 vaccine and it really concerns me that others may be afraid to receive the vaccine due to false information that is being put out on these blogs.  Generation Y is more and more often receiving their information primarily from the internet and relying on the net as their sources of information for news.  Therefore, something printed on an internet blog is taken as factual information by so many in “Gen Y.”  Right now many believe the pandemic isn’t serious or that the vaccine is unsafe.  For example, there are numerous blog posts claiming the vaccine causes miscarriages.Swine flu blog misinformation

Racianellio says that the web is a great source of information but in this case is a double-edge sword because you don’t know what is good information and what is bad information.

Nearly all flu bloggers are reporting recent increases in the amount of readers viewing their sites, the bigger question is whether these blogs are contributing to the discussion within academic circles.  It is apparent that they are. Mike Coston, who runs the Avian Flu Diary, said he receives between 1,000 and 2,000 visitors a day. Coston said his visitors are “mostly government agencies and hospitals and research centers. And I think people are using my blog as a one-stop shopping place for headlines in the news, as far as the flu is concerned.”  So even though legitimate bloggers with good scientific information are fighting against bloggers who are spreading false information, the internet is being use as a significant resources within academic circles.

The impact of this issue on media is that more and more people are turning to the internet for their news sources.  Even main stream media media such as CNN, NBC, etc are starting to have “guest bloggers” to appeal to the new blogging culture that is being created.  For the first time during an illness pandemic citizens have millions of pieces of information at their fingertips with just the click of a button.  This “blogging” effect from the H1N1 certainly has changed the media landscape as news outlets must now compete with citizen led news sources and must fight to separate fact from fiction when it comes to reporting news on such important topics as the H1N1.