Bloggers are entrepreneurs who sell “news” (more properly, opinion) to mass media: internet, radio, TV, and to some extent print news. In former days, these individuals would be referred to as “freelance writers”, which they still are; the creation of the modern non-word “blogger” does not change the purveyor. An essential change is that these new freelancers, with the megaphone of the internet, can reach a much larger audience of potential clients than was possible in the past (and harness free “information sources”).

A very conservative point of view which undermines the whole idea of science blogging. I don’t blog to buy or sell opinions. I don’t see either that how bloggers can be serious threat for scientists. As matter of fact a big chunk of science bloggers are active scientists or postgraduate students doing some serious science when they are not blogging. So there is no issues of credential and reliability of science bloggers at all. Let the ACS beware we live in 21st century and better start living with science blogging.