Benjamin Franklin the Weblogger

by Brian Brady

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Independence Day, in the United States, was a sweltering summer day in my hometown of Philadelphia. My favorite signer was the media entrepreneur, Benjamin Franklin. Note that I didn’t refer to Ben as the inventor, statesman, or womanizer (he was known for all three things). I refer to Ben as a media entrepreneur.

Ben Franklin would have been a helluva weblogger.

Let’s try to parallel the life of Ben Franklin with how he might have done it today:

At twelve years old, he serves as an apprentice printer to his older brother in Boston. Today, he might have been a code writer, learning how emerging technologies work.

At seventeen, he runs away to London to continue his apprenticeship, returns to Philadelphia, and starts his own print shop. This makes complete sense. As a budding entrepreneur, Ben might have run away to San Francisco or Seattle to be near where the action is. Philly was the equivalent of what the Silicon Valley is today.

One year later, he becomes the sole owner and publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette. Ben realized that the technology (the printing press) was merely a tool; it was content that would sell newspapers. Rather than provide the tools, he opted to vertically integrate and own the content, too. Three years after buying the Pennsylvavia Gazette, he publishes Poor Richard’s Almanack, an original content journal which shaped early American thought about business, life, and politics.

Now, Ben is wealthy. Rather than rest on his laurels, he expands his influence to provide a solution to the information delivery problem in the Colonies and is appointed Postmaster General. Talk about Bill Gates controlling information, Big Ben now has his hand in two influential publications and the government’s communication system. Ben establishes a “think tank” which becomes the brainchild for the University of Pennsylvania. Now, he becomes the indisputable expert on intellectual thought.

At the age of 42, Ben sells his printing shop but retains the rights to the Gazette and Almanack. Ben is considered by many Colonists as the wealthiest man in the Colonies. Today, we might suggest that he is trading his low-margin, high labor business for high-margin, low labor businesses. He writes a book called The Way to Wealth. He experiments with electricity and goes on the lecture circuit.

Ben Franklin enjoyed twenty years of the lecture circuit, sometimes representing the Pennsylvania Assembly as a lobbyist in London, sometimes just offering opinion in France. He was highly sought after with an excellent reputation until The Hutchinson Affair. In a weak moment, Ben released incendiary information under the pretense that it not be released to the press. It was, of course, a mistake. Ben should have known that hoarding information would never work. He continued life as a signer of the Declaration of Independence, organizer of the first militia, and eventually as an abolitionist. He was, to the end, a man who stood on principle.

So where does Bloggin’ Ben come into play? Read some of the entries of Poor Richard’s Almanack. Writing under that pseudonym, Ben Franklin connected with the common man. He influenced opinion and left the reader wanting more. Colonists couldn’t wait for the next issue. Ben Franklin understood that the audience would shape his business and adapted well. He was shaped by the consumer as much as he shaped them. Ben Franklin never envisioned an America apart from England in his early writings but his readers did.

So, Ben gave them what they wanted.

Happy Independence Day, America!

Signed,

Poor Brian