Steve Rubel points out an evolving phenomenon:

People now put the same degree of trust in me (and other reputable bloggers) that they might normally only reserve for analysts and journalists. There's a big difference between these influencers, however, and bloggers. With press/analysts you have a safety net. If they leak, you have options for recourse. With bloggers you really don't.

Well, I'm not clear on what safetly net exists with analysts either (unless you have a contract with them). Ultimately, you're making a trust call, and the person you confide in is going to either be trusted in the future - or not - depending on their behavior.

The more interesting aspect of this is that you could be "on the record" at any time now - whether you are giving a formal presentation/speech or not. That's going to be a rather large change as realization starts settling in.