The antelope consume the grass and produce meat for the lions. The lions consume the antelope, die and produce grass for the antelope.  The nature of an ecosystem is defined by the ways in which all members consume and produce resources.  Economic systems are another form of ecosystem.  As such, each member of an economic system is and has always been both consumer and producer.  Ritzer et al correctly point out that the traditional consumer/producer dichotomy limits our understanding of social and cultural interactions.  However, rather than thinking in terms of members as prosumers, it would be more helpful to view those interactions as manifestations of the ecosystem.  Economic and power relationships can then be illuminated by understanding the ways in which resources are allocated.  In this way, we can understand that production is mediated by the basic needs of consumption.  The allocation of resources devoted to the production of a blog (time, and technology) are mediated by the consumption needs of the blogger (food and shelter).  Sustaining a blog can only be accomplished when its production does not consume more resources than are available to the blogger.  Popular and successful blogs require a good deal of time.  Time that could otherwise be spent working on something that returns more tangible rewards, like a job.  As the article states, very few blogs are actually consumed enough to sustain their producers.  In this regard, there is nothing special about bloggers.  Just ask any poet, actor, minor league ball player or any of a number of other professionals where all but the elite practitioners have to support their activities with another job.  For those blogger on the cusp of financial viability but worry about selling their souls, they can take heart that their dilemma is nothing new either.  How many musicians have faced “selling out” to make the big time? A closer corollary can be found in traditional forms of journalism and media.  Newspapers and broadcast networks constantly balanced independent reporting and production with the need to sell the advertising  which enable the production in the first place.  We have long since become comfortable with the paid spokesman on radio, tv, and in print.  Ethical questions arise when there in not transparency in the relationship.  We have enacted laws and other forms of regulation to create that transparency in older forms of media, and we will do the same for the blogosphere.  Regulation has always lagged behind technology and regardless of what is enacted, there are those who will find ways to exploit the system.  Caveat emptor!