There are many out there who would argue that the blogosphere is no more than a bunch of self-righteous navel gazers participating in asinine memes, looking pretentious in their witty t-shirts and ripped jeans and paying six bucks for cappuccinos at Starbucks. But what a lot of people don't realize is that the bloggers have power now. There hasn't been a period in history so monumental where the average, every day person off the street — when they make a big enough stink about something — can influence some major change.

Take for example, the recent LIFEBeat fiasco. LIFEBeat, the music industry group that raises money for HIV and AIDS and provides support for the AIDS community, decided to hold a concert in New York City. Sounds harmless enough until you see the concert lineup — Beenie Man and TOK, two homophobic reggae artists whose lyrics are laced with threats of violence and murder against homosexuals. Several black gay bloggers — Keith Boykin, Bernard Tarver and Frank León Roberts just to name a few — let LIFEBeat know that kind of nonsense would not be tolerated and got together to force them to cancel their "Reggae Gold" concert. There is no doubt that the voice of the blogosphere can't be silenced or overlooked.

Likewise, when the blogosphere doesn't speak up on certain issues, the media and the world takes note. For example…the recent bombings in Mumbai, India barely registered a blip on the blogosphere landscape, and at least one person took note of that over at Sepia Mutiny:

While trying to deal with the tragedy in Mumbai, I have been wondering what the coverage of the story tells us about ourselves.

I was not surprised by MSM coverage in America: poor in local papers, better in papers with a large desi population or those with an international audience. I was pleased to hear that CNN and CNBC had decent cable news coverage, perhaps because they’re well established in India.

What has baffled me, however, is the relative silence from the world of blogs. The blogosphere is supposed to be the cutting edge, far more advanced than the MSM, yet they’re spending less time on the story.

To be more precise, Technorati’s rankings of popular news stories shows us that average bloggers are paying some attention to the bombings; the fourth, sixth and twentieth most reblogged news stories are the BBC, CNN, and Fox News versions of this story. It’s currently less important than the death of Pink Floyd guitarist Syd Barrett, or coverage of Zidane’s press coverage, but more important than Bob Novak and the big dig.

The international issue is now starting to register, but imagine if bloggers didn't speak up on any political topics. Both of the stories show an interesting way in which the blogosphere can bring awareness to issues either local or abroad. Speak up and make your voice heard.