The New York Times reviews the declaration last week that the Web is dead by contending with media history. Its conclusion: Media adapt to newcomers and rarely die just because of them.

"Today, traditional media companies face the adaptive challenge posed by the Internet. That challenge is not just the technology itself, but how it has altered people’s habits of media consumption," writes Steve Lohr.

But Lohr notes that history shows evolution, not dissolution, is the order of the day when media are threatened by new forms of communication. What is different this time is the speed of change and the disruption of consumption patterns. As one academic tells him, change has changed.

College students don't wear watches, they carry cellphones as time pieces. They don't email, they text. People don't talk as much on phones; they text and arrange calls for important matters. People aren't blogging as much; instead, they're using social networks to tell their stories.

The term "hyperlocal" suggests several things: Very granular content on specific places, aggregated content that depicts a new local picture, or subject matter or content that deals with geographic organization, among them. Sarah Hartley, who runs the city blogs for The Guardian, thinks we need to reconsider the term.

She thinks it's more about an attitude than about geography. She's identified 10 features of hyperlocal:

1. The author's participation.
2. The blurring of opinion and fact.
3. The community's participation.
4. Small in scale but large in impact.
5. Medium-agnostic.
6. Obsessive.
7. Independent.
8. Link-loving.
9. Passion.
10. Frugal and economically fledgling.

Are there others? What do you think?

The Canadian analytics firm Sysomos has reviewed more than 100 million blog posts to produce data on age, gender and demographics of the blogosphere. There are some surprises in there.

To those who suggest women don't blog --- and that's an old assumption, mind you --- Sysomos notes that 50.9% of the posts came from women.

To those who believe older people are big bloggers --- and that's a new assumption --- Sysomos notes that 53.3% of the posts came from those 21-35 and 20.2% from those 20 younger. Only about 7 per cent came from those over 50.

More than 29% of blogs emanate from the United States, by far the largest national contributor to the sphere.

Leading U.S. communications scholars have published an assessment of the capabilities of citizen journalism as newspaper resources decline. Their conclusion: the paper's journalism can't be replaced.

Authors Stephen Lacy, Margaret Duffy, Daniel Riffe, Esther Thorson and Ken Fleming have examined 86 citizen blog sites, 53 citizen news sites and 63 daily newspaper sites. On the basis of what newspapers produce, the academics determined the bloggers and citizen sites could not be substituted.

Somewhat surprisingly, the study found the citizen sites weren't timely. The structure of content was different. The volunteer nature of the creation hampered timeliness.

But the authors found these sites can be effective complements to newspapers.

A year-long study from the Pew Research Center sheds some light on the way Americans are using social media differently than legacy media.

First off, nearly half depend on those around them for some of their news, an indication that social media has gained enormous clout but also an indication that friends play a powerful role in broad news consumption.

And any suggestion that social media somehow deliver the same note is challenged in the study. Pew reported that social media tend to highlight very different stories --- not only different from legacy media, but different from each other.

On blogs, the stories are emotive. On Twitter, technology rules. YouTube is serendipitous.

Legacy media still aren't necessarily picking up on the viral hits, either. Pew found only one instance, the so-named climategate scandal, that seemed to prosper in social media then migrate to the mainstream.

Having said that, blogs depend heavily on mainstream media for their source material, the study found.

The scholarly resource Oxford Analytica has examined the impact of blogs on the media landscape and concluded they will fill important gaps but not kill the traditional business.

That's a simplification of the elaborate, clearly constructed analysis by Oxford of the contribution blogs are making to media. Among other things it says blogs:

- Media are becoming more collaborative, transparent and participatory.
- Blogs are compelling businesses to be more responsive and open.
- Traditional media are trawling blogs for tips and leads on stories they no longer can easily cover.

While the recession and transformation of media are creating seismic shifts of retrenchment and consolidation, Oxford concludes traditional media will find itself back at the heart of the more diverse business. 

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has released a thorough report on the social media habits of younger and older Americans alike.

Among its major findings:

1. Blogging is in decline among young people but up among older ones.
2. Three-quarters of young people are using social networks.
3. Half of older adults are using social networks and have more than one user profile.
4. Facebook is the most common platform for older adults and Twitter is also an experience for older adults and not teens.
5. About six in 10 younger adults use the Internet for information on current issues and politics.

It's an exhaustive report that concludes mobile is already enormous and bound to grow further.

On The Media Blog, Chris Elliott suggests there might be a link between the online circulation successes of a newsroom and the number of its journalists who use Twitter.

It is a convenient argument to suggest Twitter is a waste of time, but as Elliott argues, even if it is, "time has never been so well wasted." Moreover he observes a correlation between newsroom audience growth and newsroom Twitter use.

He suggests that using Twitter as an instrument for distribution and solicitation of content is of great value to a brand, and he believes the value of a journalist increases as one enters the social media realm.

From Blogussion comes a primer on the imperative of blogging in the age of changing media.

It ought to be obvious at the end of the decade, but for some it isn't, that blogging offers the largest personal and institutional opportunity to develop and converse with communities of interest.

The post from Everett Bogue explores the basics of creating, publishing and marketing blogs.

"As the future of journalism unfolds, we’re beginning to see just how beneficial this shift is for the writers out there.

1. We can interact directly with our audience.
2. We can write for a small audience, about what we care about.
3. We can profit directly, and immediately, from our writing.
4. We can build a reputation for ourselves, outside of an institution."

Bogue identifies successful marketing techniques, audience development and platform options. It's a useful elementary guide to the field for aspiring and experienced journalists alike interested in the form.

One of the blogosphere's challenges is to organize content for those who want to refer to it. RSS feeds and individual sites are fine, but curation and organization continue to matter.

A second challenge is, of course, the business model and how bloggers can be adequately paid to ensure quality sustains.

Which is why the new AsianCorrespondent.com site offers interesting possibilities. It's a site of about 50 English-language paid bloggers in 13 countries all over the vast Asian continent, augmented by Associated Press content from there. Unlike some such sites that pay according to page views, AsianCorrespondent is compensating with fixed salaries.

At first blush the site has a strong range of harder and softer news, analysis and commentary. It ought to become a good news resource because, unlike the lens of a western-based news agency that filters content for western distribution, this has more of a feet-on-the-ground feel to it.

And it might prove to be a model for others to try similar hubs to serve strong specialties.