Flipside Journal

Feature: Cape Cod’s Best Blogging Community

Walter Brooks, Publisher and Editor of CapeCodToday.com (cc2day) has built a reputation as The Blogfather of Cape Cod. At 78 Brooks has spent the last five years recruiting over 170 Cape bloggers to cover news from Mashpee to P-Town. Most of the blogs run the gamut from feral howling to finely rendered verse. Many are retirees, or are still working their day jobs. At Cape Cod Today you’ll find ex-politicians, ex-policemen, ex-teachers, current teachers, current harbormasters, and current artists.

The Power of Social Blogging
Walter refers to social blogging as “Living News.” The power of his community lies in their combined ideas, opinions, humor, politics, musings & a few old salts thrown in for good measure. The end of the day it all boils down to the writing and an impressive cast of characters presented on a stage called “Blog Chowder.”

Blogeto, ergo sum. I blog, therefore I am.
- 170 Bloggers and 50 active postings each month
- Average age of bloggers 55
- Over 3 million page views per month
- 3 Major Sites: Cape Cod Today, Cape Cod Travel & Cape Cod Weddings

Many of these bloggers started out on their own and Walter approached each of them with an opportunity to join a social blogging community. He offered these aspiring writers a place to share and discuss their work in an atmosphere of mutual respect and collegial support. Together editor and bloggers have been featured on Radio Boston, WBUR.org; Hannity’s America, Fox News; The Boston Herald; and Cape Cod Times to name a few.

Breaking News
Several of cc2day’s stories have been picked up by national and even international media outlets. The last two weeks have lead to such an enormous surge of traffic that cc2day’s servers were brought down. The surge was caused by three major media outlets featuring stories on the same day: WBUR did a half-hour program on cc2day, followed by NewsMax picking up a story and then the Super Station KDKA in Pittsburgh interviewing Mr. Brooks that same evening.

Cape Cod Today blogger Peter Robbins broke the story of Senator Kennedy dumping diesel fuel into Nantucket Sound. Local detective/blogger Peter Robbins and cc2day editor Walter Brooks will appear today on Sean Hannity’s America on FOX News at 9:00 pm EST.

2008, March 27: Above the Law or Living on the Edge - Exposing Senator Kennedy
Peter Robbins, a.k.a. Robbins Reports

Cape Cod Today blogger Peter Kenney first broke the story about inconsistencies in Mashpee-Wampanaug chairman Glenn Marshall’s war record on August 20, 2007. The Cape Cod Times followed on August 24th, the Herald on August 25th. The Globe on August 26th (according to their online archives).

2007, August 20: WampaGate - Expose leading to resignation of Chairman Marshall
Peter Kenney, a.k.a. BarnstableCountyReport, TheGreatGadFly, WampaGate

Many others have received offers from traditional media outlets to contribute to their publications. As their credibility and reputations continue to grow the contributions of these social bloggers will certainly play a significant role in defining how news is derived on the Cape Cod.

Lifelong Newspaper People: Walter and Patricia Brooks
- a.k.a., The Blogfather, Rafio the Mad Monk, Travel Tales

You can read more about Walter and Patricia by clicking on one of their blogs. The highlights are where the real insights lie. Much of what defines Walter’s philosophy and persona starts with his 1960s role in the Beatnick Era. A fact that he is clearly proud of, “I wasn’t always a journalist. I started out as one, but found myself scribbling poetry with an definite anti-establishment slant during the 1960s now known as the Beatnik Era. I finally bit the bullet, quit my ad agency job on Madison Avenue and moved into a one-room apartment on 10th Street in Greenwich Village.”

His experiences are as much a part of who he is today and I won’t attempt to summarize his life story here today. Some stories are just better told by their authors.