As Time magazine hammered home this month, you had an incredible year.

Blogs and other citizenry-generated media dominated discourse in 2006, and mainstream media had no choice but to clear a spot at the grown-up's table. Twentysomethings in their PJs attracted as much — if not more — attention than some cable news channels, while YouTube cost businesses millions of dollars in distraction and procrastination.

But to limit discussion of the topic to ephemeral entertainment would be a grave disservice (just ask the geniuses behind "Snakes on a Plane" how valuable that is). Bloggers transcended their medium in substantial ways that had real effects on society at large.

Here's a look back at how blahgs became blogs in 2006.

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POLITICS

When it came to politics, blogs gave the people something that the mainstream media couldn't (or shouldn't): honest, unfiltered perspectives. And readers ate it up — especially in Connecticut, where the word of the year may be "Joementum."

Before the rise of blogging, three-term incumbent Joe Lieberman might have cruised through the Democratic primary. But liberal blogs wouldn't let anyone forget the senator's record on the Iraq war and it's widely perceived that the negative press gave challenger Ned Lamont enough of a push to win the Democratic spot on the ballot.

"I think bloggers were more in touch with the public's dissatisfaction with the Iraq war than the traditional media," said Judd Legum, editor at the blog ThinkProgress.org. "So they were delivering a message that people wanted to hear. Really, they were able to give Lamont a running start with money and buzz. But bloggers didn't replace the traditional media. They were able to make enough noise that the mainstream media had to pay attention."

George Allen's "macaca" comment surely would have made news without bloggers, but would Virginia Sen. Jim Webb have eked out that incredibly close election if it wasn't for the Internet? The mainstream media's news cycle turns over quickly, but niche bloggers can pound a topic to death if they feel like it. And the "macacalypse," as blogs deemed it, was too good to let go.

"The 'macaca moment' in the Webb campaign was an example of politically effective "gaming" of the system," said Ken Freedman, general manager of radio station WFMU and guru behind the station's excellent Beware of the Blog. "They knew exactly what they were doing, sending out press releases at the same time that they uploaded the macaca video to YouTube."

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CELEBRITY

Blogs did more than skew politicians in 2006. They also catapulted a few lucky folks to fame.

Political satirist Stephen Colbert was fairly well-known before his speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, but his smackdown of President Bush became an overnight sensation on the Web and propelled the comedian to an entirely new level in the public's consciousness. Time named Colbert one of the year's 100 most influential people, and he was even awarded word of the year by Merriam-Webster for coining "truthiness."

Bloggers — not the mainstream media — deserve the credit for recognizing Colbert's breakout performance. In almost conspiratorial fashion, the mainstream media focused the next day on the fangless and unfunny Bush impersonator who preceded Colbert. It wasn't until after footage of the irreverent monologue blew up on blogs that it received the attention it deserved. (But, bloggers actually have The AP's Mark Smith to thank — he booked Colbert for the gala.)

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ECONOMICS

Brands felt the power of bad blog buzz where it hurt most — the pocketbook.

The most noticeable case of netroots outrage came at computer goliath Dell's expense. Pictures of an exploding Dell laptop made the rounds on technology blogs, and the company's already poor reputation for customer service took another huge hit. While Dell's annoying reps may not listen to you personally, they definitely heard the collective "you" — the company announced a $100 million upgrade in customer service.

The blog's influential voice merited some investment itself. The biggest splash this year was made by music blog Stereogum.com. What started as a simple livejournal page five years ago was bought by former AOL Time Warner chief operating officer Bob Pittman, who now runs the media investment firm Pilot Group.

"Pilot Group and former MTVN Digital Chief Jason Hirschhorn did invest in Stereogum," the blog's founder Scott Lapatine said. "I'm excited to be working with them. I worked with Jason for many years when I was at VH1 Digital. He's a visionary."

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CENSORSHIP

You know blogs have arrived if governments are attempting to shut them down. In China, Web censorship became an international story, and in India, certainly one of the most tech savvy countries in the world, the government restricted access to blogspot.com and typepad.com, claiming that certain sites were inciting religious violence. "These blogs are pitting Muslim against non-Muslim," Gulshan Rai, director of the Ministry of Communication's Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, told Reuters.

"The censorship of Google and of certain blogs in China is an indication of the importance that governments place on this new medium," Freedman said. "As is the law in Iran that placed a limit on the speed of broadband."

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IRAQ

The war in Iraq didn't just play out on front pages and television sets. Stories were also told by the soldiers on the ground via blogs.

"There are some incredible soldier-produced war videos floating around that show the war in a far more honest way than anything on network or cable news," Freedman said. "There is a particularly interesting right-wing video blogger named Pat Dollard. One thing amazing about Dollard is how he uses videos shot by US soldiers in Iraq and also uses videos shot by the insurgents themselves — so you can see mortar attacks on U.S. soldiers from both perspectives."

The story of the year, brought to you by the other story of the year. It's only fitting.

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Otis Hart is an asap reporter based in New York.

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