"Brand name isn't everything, it's the only thing."

The past week at MWBH generated more comments than any other week since opening for comments over a year ago. During that time, more than one post generated numbers in the double digits (and most of them were not mine -- geez!!!).

On a related note, we begin this post with a paraphrase of the late Coach Vince Lombardi, in responding openly to an excerpt from a comment written by one of our readers:

"People think of the Internet as an inherently egalitarian medium, but it isn't. The whole reason positions of prominence come forth in society is that there are too many people, and the same holds for the Internet.

"It's like when Amazon started the e-buziness craze. Lots of "internet companies" sprung up, believing to be the wave of the future. But once the traditional brick&mortars set up shop online, it drove the online businesses into irrelevance.

"Brand name is everything."

Maybe, but...

When Alexander Bell invented the telephone, he took his idea to Western Union. The giant of the telegraph industry saw no practical application for the new device. Before broken up in 1984, Bell's company, American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) was the largest corporation in the USA (or is that the planet?). Even after the breakup, they're much bigger than Western Union could ever hope to be.

In the late 1970s, Hewlett-Packard could not see how the average person would want a personal computer in their own homes. One man who believed otherwise went on to become one of the richest in America. (Do you know his name and his company?)

In the early days of television, the most successful news journalists were those men who had already made their mark on radio or in the print media. Such prominence would not necessarily carry over today, as appearance in delivery takes on more significance with the visual nature of the medium.

Amazon, which started in a guy's basement, now has most of a hospital building south of downtown Seattle. It also accesses scores of independent online booksellers for used and other discount volumes. What it does not have... is a warehouse.

Today, perhaps the best-known author in the blogosphere is Glenn Reynolds, also known as Instapundit. Without this medium, it is likely Mr Reynolds would be just another American law professor. Meanwhile, in 2002 Vatican Radio did an interview with a group of prominent webloggers, as part of a segment on the then-growing phenomenon among Catholics. All those interviewed as "bloggers" were already established in the Catholic press or on Catholic bookshelves.

To what degree is the weblog a vehicle for introducing ideas and authors who would otherwise be unknown? How do the nominees and results of last year's "St Blog's Awards" answer that question?

Discuss.