A Tale of Two Blogospheres PDF

Harvard Law School
Public Law & Legal Theory Working Paper Series Paper No. 10-33
A Tale of Two Blogospheres: Discursive Practices on the Left and Right

Yochai Benkler Harvard Law School Aaron Shaw Harvard University
This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) electronic library.
Research Publication No. 2010-6 April 27, 2010
A Tale of Two Blogospheres: Discursive Practices on the Left and Right Yochai Benkler Aaron Shaw
This paper can be downloaded without charge at: The Berkman Center for Internet & Society Research Publication Series: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/publications The Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1611312
23 Everett Street Second Floor Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 50 Church Street Third Floor Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 +1 617.495.7547 +1 617.495.7641 (fax) http://cyber.law.harvard.edu cyber@law.harvard.edu
Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1611312
A Tale of Two Blogospheres: Discursive Practices on the Left and Right1
March, 2 1 !ochai Ben"lera, # and Aaron $hawa,c
a c
Ber"%an &enter for 'nternet and $ociet(, )arvard *niversit(+ #)arvard Law $chool+ Depart%ent of $ociolog(, *niversit( of &alifornia, Ber"ele(
A Tale of Two Blogospheres Abstract
Discussions of the political effects of the 'nternet and networ"ed discourse tend to presu%e consistent patterns of technological adoption and use within a given societ(, &onsistent with this assu%ption, previous e%pirical studies of the *nited $tates political #logosphere have found evidence that the left and right are relativel( s(%%etric in ter%s of various for%s of lin"ing #ehavior despite their ideological polari-ation, 'n this paper, we revisit these findings #( co%paring the practices of discursive production and participation a%ong top *,$, political #logs on the left, right, and center during $u%%er, 2 ., Based on /ualitative coding of the top 100 political #logs, our results reveal significant cross1ideological variations along several i%portant di%ensions, 2ota#l(, we find evidence of an association #etween ideological affiliation and the technologies, institutions, and practices of participation across political #logs, $ites on the left adopt %ore participator( technical platfor%s+ are co%prised of significantl( fewer sole1authored sites+ include user #logs+ %aintain %ore fluid #oundaries #etween secondar( and pri%ar( content+ include longer narrative and discussion posts+ and 3a%ong the top half of the #logs in our sa%ple4 %ore often use #logs as platfor%s for %o#ili-ation as well as discursive production, 5ur findings spea" to two %a6or theoretical de#ates on the political effects of the 'nternet and networ"ed discourse, 7irst, the variations we o#serve #etween the left and right wings of the *,$, political #logosphere provide insights into how varied patterns of technological adoption and use within a single societ( %a( produce distinct effects on de%ocrac( and the pu#lic sphere, $econdl(, our stud( suggests that the prevailing techni/ues of do%ain1#ased lin" anal(sis used to stud( the political #logosphere to date %a( have funda%ental li%itations, The fact that we find evidence of significant cross1ideological variation when we co%pare intra1do%ain attri#utes of political #logs de%onstrates that lin" anal(sis studies have o#scured #oth the diversit( of participator( affordances online as well as the pri%ar( %echanis%s #( which the networ"ed pu#lic sphere alters de%ocratic participation relative to the %ass %ediated pu#lic sphere,
A Tale of Two Blogospheres Introduction
7ollowing the historic election of Barac" 5#a%a to the presidenc( of the *nited $tates, few will den( the i%portance of stud(ing the effect of the 'nternet on politics and de%ocrac(, 8udged in its i%%ediate after%ath, the 5#a%a ca%paign see%s li"el( to do for the political centralit( of the 'nternet what the Roosevelt presidenc( did for radio, or the 2i9on1:enned( de#ates for television, *nderstanding the effect of the 'nternet on de%ocrac( involves two distinct in/uiries, The first as"s how the 'nternet affects de%ocratic practice: participation, deli#eration, %o#ili-ation, and collective action ai%ed at political outco%es, The second involves the degree to which technolog( interacts with the for%s of "nowledge production in a societ(, 'n this paper, we contri#ute to #oth of these lines of in/uir( through an e%pirical anal(sis of discursive practices in the *nited $tates political #logosphere, Prior e%pirical studies of the *nited $tates political #logosphere have found evidence that the left and right are relativel( s(%%etric despite their ideological polari-ation 3Ada%ic ; <lance, 2 0, )ind%an, 2 ., )argittai, <allo ; :ane, 2 .4, 'n this stud(, we set out to
develop %easures to anal(-e %ore closel( the practices within blogs, 'n order test for differences at this level, we created and applied a /ualitative coding sche%e to assess the technologies, practices, and discursive structures of the top 100 *,$, political #logs in the su%%er of 2 ., =e
then co%pared the results of our coding across the left, right, and center of the political spectru%, revealing cross1ideological variations along several previousl( une9a%ined di%ensions, all of which are central to the structure of networ"ed discourse, 5ur stud( spea"s to two %a6or de#ates, The first is an old de#ate a#out the level of
A Tale of Two Blogospheres deter%inis% in the relationship #etween technolog( and the structure of the pu#lic sphere 3McLuhan, 1>?@+ $tarr, 2 04, Past research on political #logs would appear to support a
deter%inist conclusion through the s(%%etric patterns found across political ideologies 3Ada%ic ; <lance, 2 0+ )ind%an, 2 .+ )argittai et al,,, 2 .4, =e revisit this clai% in light of the
ongoing evolution of the #logosphere five (ears after it e%erged as a coherent space of political engage%ent and de#ate, The second %a6or de#ate to which our stud( spea"s is the de#ate over the effects of the 'nternet on the networ"ed pu#lic sphere, )ere, our anal(sis investigates whether lin" anal(sis, the %ain e%pirical techni/ue used to %ap the pu#lic sphere to date, has had certain li%itations, Prior studies #ased on lin" anal(sis tended to see the left and right wings of the #logosphere as largel( s(%%etric, with %arginal differences in the lin"ing practices: in particular, #logs on the right see%ed to lin" to other #logs slightl( %ore often than did #logs on the left 3Ada%ic ; <lance, 2 0+ Ben"ler, 2 ?+ )ind%an, 2 .+ )argittai et al,,, 2 .4, 5ur stud(, however, as"s
whether the two wings of the political #logosphere var( along di%ensions that are central to the %ost interesting /uestions a#out the networ"ed pu#lic sphere: who is ena#led to spea", who can #e heard, and to what ends, 5ur %ethodolog( captures a la(er of nuance unavaila#le to previous studies #ased on lin" anal(sis, 7or e9a%ple, these earlier studies have counted Dail(:os,co% and 'nstapundit,co% each as a single, highl( connected node in a graph, Doing this %as"s the funda%ental difference #etween how these two visi#le #logs function as discursive platfor%s, 'nstapundit is a single person, <lenn Re(nolds, posting short one1liners and lin"ing to e9ternal sites, with %ini%al possi#ilit( for contri#utions fro% other users+ Dail(:os is a site with over 1? , registered users, over 1 , active users, do-ens of su#stantial editorial1st(le
A Tale of Two Blogospheres contri#utors and editors, and a flow of dail( writing fro% hundreds of participants
3Dail(:os,co%4, Lin" anal(sis studies have treated #oth sites as the sa%e pheno%enon: a single node with a ver( large nu%#er of in1lin"s and out1lin"s, =hile these two top sites are selected for dra%atic illustration purposes onl(, our %ethodolog( and sa%ple, the largest e9a%ined to date, ena#les us to deter%ine whether or not the( are outliers, =hile we cannot answer the see%ingl( perennial /uestion of whether the networ"ed pu#lic sphere is polari-ed and frag%ented, we can #egin to as" and answer %ore fine grained /uestions: such as what ele%ents in the networ"ed pu#lic sphere i%prove or under%ine participation+ and how participator( sites differ fro% non1participator( sites, 'n addition, we investigate whether the alread(1%(thical 5#a%a online ca%paign, while e9tre%el( well1run in its own right, %a( have capitali-ed on i%%anent practices alread( present in the left wing of the #logosphere generall(, 5ur findings also provide insights into how, despite access to the sa%e technologies, different patterns of technological adoption and use within a single societ( %a( produce distinct effects on de%ocrac( and the shape of the pu#lic sphere,
Background and Literature Review Anal(sis of the effects of the 'nternet on de%ocrac( dates #ac" to earl( 1>> s, a ti%e of significant utopianis%, 2owhere is this captured #etter than in the $upre%e &ourtAs paean to the 2et: BAn( person or organi-ation with a co%puter connected to the 'nternet can Bpu#lishC infor%ation,,,Through the use of chat roo%s, an( person with a phone line can #eco%e a town crier with a voice that resonates farther than it could fro% an( soap#o9, Through the use of =e# pages, %ail e9ploders, and newsgroups, the sa%e individual can #eco%e a pa%phleteerC 3Reno
A Tale of Two Blogospheres
v, A&L* 1>>D4, 2icholas 2egroponte, at that ti%e, was touting the #enefits of the "nowledge we would sea%lessl( ac/uire, coining the %etaphor the BDail( MeC to capture the #readth and precision of infor%ation collection we would #e a#le to teach our co%puters to perfor% for us 32egroponte, 1>>04, 7airl( soon thereafter, however, concerns a#out the e9cesses of the 'nternet found voice in the s"eptical criti/ue of &ass $unstein 32 24, who flipped 2egroponteAs BDail(
MeC on its head, arguing that it would lead to frag%entation and polari-ation, and the destruction of the possi#ilit( of co%%on discourse in a shared pu#lic sphere, This first generation of argu%ents was #ased largel( on anecdotal evidence, Beginning in 2 112 2, scholars #egan to
appl( lin" anal(sis and graph theor( to /uestion the effects of the 'nternet on de%ocrac(, and in particular to two /uestions: does the 'nternet increase participation, and does the 'nternet increase deli#erationE The pri%ar( argu%ent against the clai% that the 'nternet enhanced participation, or allowed an(one to #e a pa%phleteer, was that the power law distri#ution of lin"s into sites prevented all #ut a ver( few sites fro% #eing o#served, According to this view, (ou can tal", #ut no one will hear (ou 3Bara#Fsi, 2 articles, 3Dre-ner ; 7arrell, 2 G+ )ind%an, 2 .4, 5n the other hand, in recent
. and Lawrence, $ides ; 7arrell, 2 1 4, )enr( 7arrell and
colla#orators have %ade the e%pirical o#servation that #log readers are particularl( BactivatedC readers, and in surve(s report greater degrees of political participation, 'nterpreting then1 availa#le lin" anal(sis data, Ben"ler 32 ?4 argued that participation increased to the e9tent that
individuals could contri#ute to de#ates directl(, or through so%eone the( "now directl(, B( contri#uting to #logs that are part of tightl( clustered co%%unities of interest, Ben"ler clai%s that less well1"nown individuals can attract attention fro% ever1larger attention clusters and co%%unities, =allstenAs anal(sis of the role of the #logosphere in agenda setting during the 2 @
A Tale of Two Blogospheres ca%paign provides additional e%pirical support for this clai% 3=allsten, 2 32 D4,2 )ind%an
.4 countered these argu%ents with e%pirical clai%s that the overall si-e of the political
pu#lic sphere was negligi#le, and that the leading voices in the #logosphere were few and as elitist as the %ost e9clusive editorial pages of the countr(As leading newspapers, The clai% that the 'nternet i%proved deli#eration, as opposed to participation, was never forcefull( %ade, #ut $unstein 32 +2 D4 has repeatedl( e%phasi-ed the ris" of the 'nternet under%ining 04 clai%ed to support this h(pothesis with their finding that
deli#eration, Ada%ic ; <lance 32
onl( one in si9 lin"s at the top of the left and right #logospheres lin"ed across the ideological divide, =hether lin"ing across the divide in one out of si9 cases should #e interpreted as evidence of polari-ation and frag%entation, or of actual continuous discourse, was disputed #( Ben"ler 32 ?4, 'n addition, the onl( e9tensive lin" anal(sis coupled with content anal(sis done .4 showed that, of the lin"s across the divide, %an( involved
to date 3)argittai et al,, 2
su#stantive argu%ent and conversations, and that the two sides of the #logosphere did not appear to e9hi#it greater insularit( and Bpolari-ationC over ti%e, Throughout this period, however, studies shared a /uestiona#le interpretive1theoretical approach, 7irst, the( treated the do%ain space of all #logs as co%prised of ho%ogeneous units of anal(sis, and, using this fra%ewor", found that the left and right wings of the #logosphere were largel( s(%%etric and e%#odied unifor% practices, 5ne e9ception to this rule was a report #( Bowers ; $toller 32 04, two pro%inent %e%#ers of the left #logosphere, who e%#raced a %ore
dichoto%ous view of left and right wing #logs, 5n the #asis of personal o#servation and e9perience, the authors argue that the elite #logs on the right reproduced an integrated, top1down approach to political %essaging that reinforced off1line co%%unities and organi-ations, whereas
elite left1wing #logs too" a %ore participator( approach to #uilding new political co%%unities of interest and action 3Bowers ; $toller, 2 0: @104, )owever, the report neither engaged nor
infiltrated the acade%ic de#ates a#out the networ"ed pu#lic sphere, As a result, the e%pirical foundations of the Bs(%%etric #logospheresC argu%ent has re%ained unchallenged, More recentl(, :er#elAs 32 >4 wor" on the netroots has revived this argu%ent, 2evertheless, e%pirical
evidence to support the view that the left and right #logospheres var( re%ains in short suppl(, Anal(-ing the graph structure of #logs as a wa( of understanding pu#lic de#ate entailed interpreting #log do%ains as discrete spea"ers, and lin"s across do%ains as co%%unicative acts, The standard approach has #een to depict each #log do%ain 3for e9a%ple, htttp:HHwww,hotair,co% or http:HHwww,%(dd,co%4 as a node in the graph that represents the networ"ed pu#lic sphere+ and to treat inter1do%ain lin"s as characteri-ing 3a4 attention to state%ents and 3#4 conversational %oves, Thus, a low lin" count into the #log do%ain necessaril( %eans low attention levels to state%ents %ade on it, 5nl( lin"s into do%ains, in this approach, counts as attending to what is said there, 'nternal attention a%ong users of the sa%e #log did not count, #ecause it was not counted, This, of necessit(, overloo"s the actual discrete co%%unications, li"e the #log post itself, co%%ent, or foru% thread, and an( actual discrete spea"ersI#log usersIwho congregate in a single #log do%ain, As our stud( shows, loo"ing at the level of the #log, one finds a widel( diverse set of discursive practices, 'n effect, the resolution of the standard tools used in these prior studies was too low to show the actual practice and diversit( of the networ"ed pu#lic sphere, The i%portance of the level of resolution is shown %ost clearl( in )argittai et al, 32 .4, Their lin" anal(sis confir%s
the sa%e pattern across the political divide as was revealed in prior studies, #ut the( then use
A Tale of Two Blogospheres content anal(sis to show that the prior interpretations of this lin"ing patternIpolari-ation and frag%entationIis false, B( increasing the resolutionIanal(-ing the content of the actual state%ents lin"ed toIthe( showed that %an( state%ents across the political divide are
su#stantive, and that positions e9pressed on the left and the right have not #eco%e %ore e9tre%e over ti%e, =e now e9tend that %ethodological criti/ue of lin" anal(sis #( loo"ing %ore closel( at the entire picture of the networ"ed pu#lic sphere, as presented #( do%ain1#ased lin" anal(sis and un%odified #( closer o#servation of within1do%ain practices and state%ents, 'n doing so, we investigate whether studies grounded in lin" anal(sis alone %a( have o#scured #oth the diversit( of participator( affordances online as well as the pri%ar( %echanis%s #( which the networ"ed pu#lic sphere increases or decreases de%ocratic participation relative to the %ass %ediated pu#lic sphere, 5ne conse/uence of the low resolution has #een that prior studies portra(ed the left and right wing #logospheres as %irroring each other in all %aterial respects, =hile Ada%ic ; <lance 32 04 found that right wing #loggers lin"ed to each other, to e9ternal sources, and across the
divide %ore than the left1wing #loggers, the two sides of the #logosphere did not differ %uch, As we show here, treating each #log as 3%ore or less4 one node has %as"ed i%portant differences across the political divide, The i%plications of treating either the #log or the do%ain as a single, ho%ogeneous Bspea"erC for purposes of interpreting the findings is nowhere clearer than in )ind%anAs 32 .4 argu%ent a#out the replication of %edia elitis% in the #logosphere, Based on
an anal(sis of D0 top #loggers 3the lead author of a site, where Mar"os Moulitsas stands for Dail(:os,co% alongside <lenn Re(nolds of 'nstapundit,co%4, )ind%an argues that #logs are written #( authors who are at least as elite as the op1ed colu%nists of the leading newspapers in
10
ter%s of educational credentials, professional or technical #ac"ground, and the fact that the( are disproportionatel( white %en, Jnhanced participation in the networ"ed pu#lic sphere is, according to this view, a %(th 3)ind%an, 2 .4, As we said in the introduction, an( %ethod that
treats a platfor% hosting su#stantive contri#utions fro% thousands of users dail( as an identical unit of anal(sis to a site authored #( a single individual with %ini%al contri#utions fro% readers %isses a core attri#ute of #logosphere discourse, 5ur present stud( does not shed light on the /uestion of the /ualit( of deli#eration or the concern with polari-ation in online discourse, But those cannot alone #e the touchstones of the nature of the networ"ed pu#lic sphere, &oncern with Bpolari-ationC co%es out of a particular de%ocratic theor( that e%phasi-es deli#eration, or the capacit( to attend respectfull( to the argu%ents of others, The foundational /uestion for a wider range of de%ocratic theories is who has the opportunit( to #e heard at all, and to for% a sufficient level of coherence around an issue to turn it into a credi#le ite% on a societ(As political agenda 3Ben"ler, 2 ?4, 5ur research has
su#stantial i%plications for these /uestions of participation: first, in ter%s of the capacit( to #e heard in a space or conte9t in which oneAs views can #e ta"en up #( %an( others, and wor"ed into a coherent position with a credi#le #ac"ing of a co%%unit( of interest sufficient to sta"e a clai% on the pu#lic agenda+ and second, in ter%s of the capacit( for practical %o#ili-ation and organi-ation for action, To the e9tent that one holds a view of de%ocrac( that is not e9clusivel( focused on deli#eration, #ut is oriented toward recogni-ing the diversit( of views in societ( and the i%portance of political action, affordances that allow interest groups to %eet, discuss and develop their own agendas, and then coalesce around the% and convert the% into pu#lic action, enhance de%ocrac(, To the e9tent one ta"es a view that participation can #e s/uelched #(
11
e9isting structures of political, econo%ic, and cultural power, pathwa(s around these #loc"ages support effective participation #( people who, in the past, were e9cluded fro% setting the pu#lic agenda, The creation of such pathwa(s i%proves the openness of the pu#lic sphere to views and agenda setting efforts outside the traditional sources of discursive and cultural power, 'f one holds a view that de%ocrac( entails the a#ilit( to spea" pu#licl( and to a group of potential political allies, to cr(stalli-e a co%%on position, and to organi-e for action, then it is critical to investigate whether the 'nternet can #e used to enhance those aspects of de%ocratic participation,G 5ur stud( also spea"s to an older de#ate in co%%unications theor(: the degree of deter%inis% with which a co%%unications technolog( affects how "nowledge is produced, controlled, and used in a societ(, Media deter%inis%, the view that a given technolog( has strong characteristics that deter%inisticall( structure its use, is anchored in Marshall McLuhanAs 31>?@4 wor", and its centralit( to structures of political power and authorit( in the wor" of )arold 'nnis 31>014, =hile few acade%ics toda( su#scri#e to McLuhanAs strong1for% deter%inistic view, it continues to e9ert influence in popular and non1acade%ic polic( circles, More co%%on is a range of views fro% BsoftC deter%inis% to %ore thoroughgoing institutionalis%, B( BsoftC deter%inis% we %ean scholarship that e%phasi-es how the technical affordances and constraints of a technolog( affect its li"el( patterns of use, interacting with, so%eti%es even shaping, other forces that structure discourse in a given period 3'nnis, 1>01+ Jisenstein, 1>D>+ Beniger, 1>.?4, B( institutionalis% we %ean clai%s that e%phasi-e the legal1 political decisions that surround the use of a technolog( of co%%unication 3Mc&hesne(, 1>>G+ $tarr, 2 04, The division is clear in theor(, #ut few toda(, including those who e%phasi-e
A Tale of Two Blogospheres institutional e9planations, hold a si%ple single1cause view of either for%, and a large #od( of
12
wor" focuses on the interpla( and %utual shaping of technological, political, organi-ational, and cultural for%s 3)a#er%as, 1>?2+ Barnouw, 1>??+ =inner, 1>.?+ &astells, 1>>?+ Ben"ler, 2 ?4,
'n practice, a %ore co%ple9 relationship %a( characteri-e the e%ergence of a particular technolog(, its adoption patterns, and the political1theoretical i%plications of its actual use, The technolog( in this case, the we#log, offers a wide range of fle9i#le affordances, rather than constraining to a particular set of uses+ and it is i%ple%ented in a legal fra%ewor" that offers it wide #erth, without deter%ining or su#stantiall( narrowing its uses, Li"ewise, the organi-ational for%s for control of the technolog( do not tend to constrain its use, All these historical facts a#out the wa( the 'nternet has #een deplo(ed and adopted are contingent, and suscepti#le to challenge and change 3Ben"ler, 2 in the 1>> s and 2 ?4, 2evertheless, the( characteri-e the actual state of affairs
s+ and this state of affairs left the technological and institutional
fra%ewor"s relativel( open, This stud( helps us to see whether the networ"ed pu#lic sphere has in fact developed a ho%ogeneous practice, which %ight support a %ore deter%inistic view, or whether the evidence supports %ore co%plicated patterns of difference, 5nl( su#se/uent studies will reveal whether or not these patterns will persist over ti%e,
Methods and Study Design 'n order to test for differences in the colla#orative and discursive practices across top *,$, political #logs, we selected the 100 top political #logs and designed a structured, /ualitative content anal(sis instru%ent, =e then applied the instru%ent during a two1wee" period in earl( August 2 ., The rest of this section presents an overview of several "e( concepts and varia#les,
A Tale of Two Blogospheres our coding sche%e, sa%pling procedure and anal(tical techni/ues,
13
't is eas( to %a"e the %ista"e that there is onl( one technolog( or cluster of technologies involved in #logging, 'n fact, the ter% B#loggingC has %ore of a cultural %eaning than a technical %eaning, 'n particular, there are %an( different "inds of platfor%s and plug1ins availa#le that %a"e user 3as opposed to pri%ar( author4 participation easier, and allow participants other than the pri%ar( author or authors to %a"e contri#utions that have pro%inent placing in the site, $o%e of these technologies are e9plicitl( intended to facilitate contri#utions and the %anage%ent of large nu%#ers of contri#utions, These include $coop, Drupal, $oapBlo9, and J9pression Jngine,@ 7urther%ore, standard #logging platfor%s li"e Blogger or =ordPress the%selves also offer options 3through so1called plugins such as Dis/us, phpBB, and )alo$can4 that allow for potentiall( richer interaction #etween the core #logger or #loggers who have pri%ar( author privileges, and %an( contri#utors who do not have those privileges, 7or e9a%ple, site ad%inistrators can configure $coop, Drupal, $oapBlo9 or J9pression Jngine to allow registered users of the site to %aintain their own #logs or BdiariesC and to reco%%end other usersA content, Dail( :os and &alitics are e9a%ples of pro%inent sites that run $coop and $oapBlo9 respectivel(, $i%ilarl(, Dis/us and phpBB e9tend the co%%enting functions of %ore traditional #logging tools, facilitating threaded co%%entar(, colla#orative filtering, and user reputation scores as in A%erica Blog 3http:HHwww,a%erica#log,co%H4 or Jschaton 3http:HHeschaton#log,co%4,
Instrument Design5 The coding instru%ent we use in this stud( draws on techni/ues of content anal(sis
A Tale of Two Blogospheres adopted widel( #( co%%unication researchers 3:rippendorff, 2 @4, The instru%ent was
14
intended to capture relevant infor%ation related to our research /uestions a#out the #logsA 3A4 organi-ational for%+ 3B4 co%%unit( of participants+ 3&4 content+ and 3D4 technological architecture, 5ur /uestions focused on sta#le, structural attri#utes of each #log, avoiding ti%e1 sensitive ele%ents of the te9t and h(perlin"s, To e9a%ine effective participation, that is, speech that is not onl( eas( to %a"e #ut also suscepti#le to #eing heard #( a relevant co%%unit( 3Ben"ler, 2 ?4, we anchored our
o#servations in an o#6ective %easure of the significance of contri#utions, or their availa#ilit( to other users of a site as %oves in an on1site conversation, To do so, we adapt Hargittai's (2000) distinction between accessible and available online content. Early optimism about the ability of the Internet to radically reduce the costs of media production and distribution overlooked the problems that would result from such an overwhelming flood of information. Building on studies of server logs indicating that people rarely went deeper than a couple of clicks on any website, Hargittai shows that although the Internet makes an enormous amount of information available, most users are unlikely to encounter the vast majority of it. Her results imply that unless online content is presented, indexed, curated, or otherwise linked-to in such a way that it becomes more easily accessible, it will likely remain unseen. Operationalizing Hargittai's insights, we term content accessible on the front page of a site primary, and everything that requires additional clicks to reach secondary. Our distinction reflects the fact that many blogs with multiple authors contributing posts, comments, and/or forum threads reserve the front page for high status authors and posts. Doing so creates a core-periphery distinction among participants on a site. This distinction therefore allows us to
A Tale of Two Blogospheres characterize how the blogs in our sample organize and structure their site irrespective of
15
particular writing styles or the substance of content. It is worth underscoring that we do not aim to over-interpret our distinction between primary/secondary content in the absence of empirical data about the behavior of site visitors. Further research on blog reading and writing practices would be necessary to confirm or refute the extent to which these categories play a role in the actual production and consumption of site content. Nevertheless, the distinction between front page and non-front page content is likely a valid proxy for accessibility. Inasmuch as the distinction reflects a status hierarchy as well as a formal aspect of the website's structure, it is also an important marker of organizational relations on the site, even if future studies find that it has little or no effect on reading practices. The primary/secondary content distinction helps us assess another crucial aspect of blogs that no previous study had rendered explicit: the boundaries between primary content producers and other users or readers. In this regard, not all secondary blog content is created equal. Some blogs retain rigid barriers between user-generated contributions (whether in the form of comments, internal blogs, and/or forums) and authorized primary content. Frequently, a combination of technological and social affordances keep primary content insulated from secondary content. For example, the blog Little Green Footballs (http://littlegreenfootballs.com) has an extremely active discussion forum and comment threads, none of which are more than a click away from the site's landing page. Nevertheless, author/owner Charles Johnson is the only person with primary content posting privileges very rarely includes user-generated secondary content on the front page of the site. Both Johnson's habits as well as the configuration of the software he has embedded in the site maintain a clear distinction between the site's primary and
A Tale of Two Blogospheres secondary content areas. Occasionally, a blog will create opportunities for user-generated and
16
secondary content to earn a promotion to the front page.6 Less often, a site excludes secondary content entirely. Most unusual of all, a site can make no meaningful distinction between usergenerated work and the work of site-leaders among the sites in our sample, this is most closely approximated in especially large, dynamic forums such as Free Republic or Democratic Underground.7 The primary/secondary content distinction therefore allows us to identify an externally-observable, objective measure, from which we can evaluate the character of participation: the degree to which contributions by people other than the owners/operators/core authors of a site are practically visible on the site; the degree to which they are separated from high-status statements; and the degree to which they have been filtered as relevant and credible for reading and discussion among site participants and visitors. =e added one %ore o#serva#le %easure of participation #( evaluating the technical features that ena#led it, 'n particular, we categori-ed whether or not the #logging platfor%s used #( the sites in our stud( included enhanced technical affordances for colla#oration, participation, and discussion, 7or the purposes of this /uestion, we counted an( of the following technical tools as an BenhancedC affordance: foru%s+ chat+ secondar( and user #logs+ sta#le user profiles or content feeds+ and colla#orative %oderation or filtering tools, &o%%ents alone are standard in al%ost all #logs, and we did not count the% as Benhanced,C Finally, we sought to characterize the predominant style of both primary and secondary content appearing on each blog. In this regard, we use a distinction between linkers and thinkers that originally appeared in response to an April, 2002 blog post by Steven Den Beste (quoted by Drezner & Farrell, 2008).8 The premise of Den Beste's analysis is that some bloggers
A Tale of Two Blogospheres tend to write little and link a lot, effectively acting as an editorial filter for their readers; while others tend to write a lot and link much less. In order to evaluate this aspect of each blog's
17
primary content, we looked at the twenty most recent front page posts. For secondary content, we included as many as possible of the most recent fifty comments drawn from at least three separate comment and/or forum threads; and the five most recent user blogs or diaries. In both cases, we assessed qualitatively whether primary and secondary content tended strongly towards the linking or thinking extreme. We also included an option for content that embraced both practices equally. Given the limitations of this qualitative assessment, we interpret the results of this variable with care.
Definitions and Sample Selection =e structured our sa%pling procedure to incorporate a range of definitional and ran"ing criteria used #( scholars, independent #logging e9perts, authors, and #log anal(tics co%panies, 5ur sa%pling %ethods thus ena#led us to overco%e the a#sence of an o#6ective set of a priori criteria for defining #logs in addition to the proliferation of %etrics for producing #log ran"ings, 'n order to do this, we first generated a large and inclusive list of *RLs categori-ed as Btop political #logsC #( aggregating seven e9isting lists fro% si9 different sources>:
KTABLJ 1L
A Tale of Two Blogospheres Each of these lists uses slightly different metrics to determine its ranking, such as hits, total in-
18
links, blogroll in-links, ranking algorithms, and editorial opinion. We chose the seven lists with the objective of including valid and widely respected ranking systems which, once combined, would provide a ranking of top political blogs. Our selection followed the work of previous blogosphere research in this regard (Adamic & Glance, 2005; Wallsten, 2007; Hargittai et al., 2008).1 Roughl( spea"ing, if a #log appeared on %ore than one list, we 6udged it as %ore influential, =e ran"ed the *RLs in our aggregated list #ased on the nu%#er of original listings in which each *RL appeared,11 7inall(, we applied the following criteria to the ran"ed aggregated list, To #e included in our sa%ple, a *RL had to: 1, Appear on at least four of the seven lists of Btop #logsC 3or at least five of the seven lists, for the top ?0 #logs in our stud(4+ 2, $how signs of active posting andHor co%%enting within the G da(s prior to the #eginning of our coding+ G, &ontain content that predo%inantl( andHor consistentl( addressed *,$, political issues+ @, &ontain at least one page la#eled or descri#ed e9plicitl( as a B#log,C The resulting list contained a total of 1?0 *RLs, ten of which were later discovered to #e alternate *RLs for the sa%e we#site, and therefore e9cluded, leaving the total nu%#er of uni/ue #logs in our sa%ple at 100,12
't is i%portant to underscore a few characteristics of our sa%ple, 7irst, even though it includes over 10 *RLs, the group of top political #logs in our stud( re%ains ver( s%all and e9clusive,
A Tale of Two Blogospheres There are literall( %illions of #logs in the Jnglish language and %an( thousands of those are concerned with political topics on a regular #asis, A rando% sa%ple drawn fro% this universe would fail to capture the #logs that attract the vast %a6orit( of site1visits and in1lin"s, which previous research has shown follow Bpower lawC t(pe distri#utions 3Ada%ic and )u#er%an, 2
19
4, <iven the une/ual nature of readership distri#ution, our %ethod of discovering top #logs
has resulted in a sa%ple that li"el( accounts for a ver( high proportion of the total nu%#er of site1visits and in1lin"s in the *,$, political #logosphere,
Coding Procedure The develop%ent of the coding sche%e occurred #etween March and 8une, 2 ., During
that ti%e, we refined #oth docu%ents #( appl(ing the% to su#sets of the #logs included in Ada%ic ; <lanceAs 32 04 sa%ple, =e arrived at a sta#le version of the code#oo" on the #asis of
these preli%inar( tests, at which ti%e we added an additional coder, The training of our second coder too" place in the %onth of 8ul(, during which ti%e we ran and discussed the results of three separate pilot studies on ?11 #logs, 7urther changes to the code#oo" were prohi#ited following the co%pletion of the third pilot stud(, 7ull coding of our entire sa%ple too" place during the first three wee"s of August, 2 As in )argittai et al, 32 .,
.4, we chose this relativel( slow period in the Presidential ca%paigns in
order to avoid %a6or political events,1G =e rando%l( assigned a set of 12> *RLs to each coder, including a rando%l( chosen overlapping set of @2 *RLs, which we then used to test inter1coder relia#ilit(, 7or each *RL, coders were as"ed to confir% that it %et the afore%entioned criteria for inclusion in our stud(, Then, the( spent appro9i%atel( 2 1G %inutes answering the
20
/uestions in the code#oo" without the aid of an( sources #e(ond those availa#le within the siteAs address do%ain, 7or the sites that were coded once 3i,e, that were not part of the intercoder set4, we accepted the answers provided #( each coder, A s%all nu%#er of conflicting codes e%erged within the intercoder sa%ple and $haw settled these disagree%ents #( reviewing each conflict #( hand and, if possi#le, revisiting the site in /uestion, $u#se/uent to the co%pletion of all coding, $haw applied left, right, and center codes for ideological affiliation to all of the valid *RLs within the sa%ple, 'n doing so, he applied the sa%e criteria for left and right used #( )argittai et al, 32 .4, Blogs which 3a4 did not
de%onstrate e9plicit signs of partisanship or 3#4 de%onstrated e/ual representation of left and right views were coded as Bcenter,C =e chose to appl( left, right, and center la#els after the co%pletion of our su#stantive coding so as to prevent these la#els fro% influencing our assess%ent of the sites, To ensure that this process did not introduce #ias in the for% of selectivel( la#eling sites that confor%ed with our h(potheses, another researcher rando%l( chec"ed $hawAs codes against the categori-ations %ade in prior studies 3Ada%ic ; <lance, 2 )argittai et al,, 2 .4 and the independentl( la#eled list of #logs fro% Morningside Anal(tics 0+
which we used in our sa%pling procedure, To #e coded as Bcenter,C #logs had to %eet at least one of the following two criteria: 314 de%onstrate relativel( %oderate points of view that did not %ap clearl( onto an( of the predo%inant political ideologies of the right or left in the *nited $tates+ 324 e9plicitl( function as a platfor% for a #road diversit( of views enco%passing positions on #oth the right and left in %ore or less e/ual %easure, After appl(ing these re/uire%ents #( visiting the front page of each #log, we found 2G #logs in the center out of the 100 #logs in our sa%ple, The fact that we found
21
such a relatively small proportion of blogs in the center suggests that the most visible and heavily linked blogs remain strongholds of partisanship. The limited number of center blogs also constrained our ability to draw statistically meaningful conclusions about the relationship of the top center blogs to the top blogs of the left and right.
$tatistical Tests and Anal(tical Techni/ues: 7or each /uestion in the code#oo" we tested whether there was a significant difference in the distri#ution of responses #( political affiliation, 5ur null h(pothesis was that there is no difference in response #ased on part( align%ent, Most of our /uestions had a #inar( response or were collapsed into #inar( for%, for e9a%ple, whether co%%ents are per%itted on the site or not, giving us a si%ple contingenc( ta#le, As is t(pical for a contingenc( ta#les, we test used the 2 test for independence to deter%ine whether what we o#served fro% our coding of the #logs was significantl( different fro% what we would e9pect if the null h(pothesis were true, =e classified whether a #log was left, right, or center #( a visual inspection of the front page of the 100 #logs, $ee section on &enter Blogs Results and Anal(sis 3#elow4 for a discussion of selection criteria, 5ur sa%ple #ro"e into ?0 and ?D #logs on the left and right respectivel(, and 2G in the center, The s%all nu%#er of #logs in the center %ade it i%possi#le to calculate the 2 test across the three groups for %an( of our varia#les, As a result, we separate the results and anal(sis for the &enter #logs in order to avoid the i%plication that our findings a#out the% were co%para#l( ro#ust to our findings a#out the left and right, =e used the software pac"age R for the statistical testing and co%pared left versus right, then each against the center coded #log responses, Previous literature suggests a power law distri#ution 3Ada%ic ; )u#er%an, 2 +
A Tale of Two Blogospheres Dre-ner ; 7arrell, 2 .+ $hir"(, 2 .: @?4 of traffic, lin"s, and attention in the #logosphere
22
$ince the characteristics of the higher ran"ed #logs %a( #e different than those ran"ed lower, we created a second s%aller sa%ple fro% those *RLs that appeared on onl( five or %ore of our seven lists of the top political #logs, =e then repeated the leftHright anal(sis for these ?0 super1 elite #logs,
Results 5ur star"est and %ost o#6ective finding is that the left and right wings of the #logosphere adopted significantl( different technological features and platfor%s, 5ver @ M of #logs on the left adopt platfor%s with enhanced user participation features, 5nl( a#out 1GM of #logs on the right do so, =hile there is su#stantial overlap, and co%%ents of so%e level of visi#ilit( are used in the vast %a6orit( of #logs on #oth sides of the political divide, the left adopts ena#ling technologies that %a"e user1generated diaries and #logs %ore central to the site to a significantl( greater degree than does the right,
[TABLE 2] K7'<*RJ 1L
Ta#le 2 and 7igure 11@ show the raw and proportional differences in the use of enhanced #logging platfor%s left and right, &lose to half 3@?M4 of #logs on the left use software that facilitates the incorporation of user co%%ents, #logs, and diaries into the pri%ar( #log content, whereas 1GM of the #logs on the right do so, 'n proportional ter%s, there an even larger
23
difference separates the two sides in active i%ple%entation of user diaries or #logs 322M vs ?M4, The distri#ution of fle9i#le content #oundaries is nearl( identical 322M on the left vs, >M on the right4, Together, the results of all three /uestions illustrate a gap in the participator( affordances of the left and right, The differences in technological platfor% and tool adoption across the left and right reflect a related distinction in the organi-ational structure of sites on #oth sides, )ere the left and right differ as well, with the left tending towards larger nu%#ers of site owners, ad%inistrators, or leaders 3Ta#le G4, Right1wing #loggers tend to operate on #logs that are %anaged or governed #( a single individual %ore often than do #loggers on the left, with @2M of #logs on the right falling in this categor(, and 2 M on the left 37igure 24,
KTABLJ GL
K7'<*RJ 2L
Jven colla#orativel( authored #logs, however, generall( have a core group of contri#utors that is not nu%#ered in the hundreds, Dail(:os,co%, for e9a%ple, which has one of the largest core groups, has appro9i%atel( 2 core authors, The %a6or /uestion with regard to participation, therefore, is how contri#utions #( non1core participants are handled, At one end of the spectru%, one sees we#sites where a sole author is responsi#le for all content 3whether detailed co%%entar( or lin" pointers4, and does not even ena#le co%%ents, so that users are
24
relegated to passive reception of the #logAs contents, 'nstapundit is an e9a%ple of such a #log on the right, and Li#eral5asis on the left, At the other end of the spectru%, we see sites in which content generated #( non1core participants is easil( and widel( included and pla(s a su#stantial role in the highl( visi#le parts of the site, so that it can #e said to have a core role in shaping the discursive space, Broadl( spea"ing, there are three t(pes or for%ats for such non1core contri#utions, The first, and %ost co%%on, are co%%ents, These tend to #e relativel( peripheral to the %ain content, are culturall( understood to #e short and punch(, and are usuall( lin"ed1to fro% the front page, as part of a deeper dive a reader %a( ta"e into a given post, and so re%ain secondar( content, The second are foru%s 3also called #ulletin #oard s(ste%s4, These are usuall( portions of a site dedicated to user interaction, separated fro% the %ain page of the site and its pri%ar( content, 7oru%s tend to have so%ewhat %ore e9tensive de#ate, #ut, li"e co%%ents, are relativel( punch( and short, and are located off the front page of a site, outside of the %ain stage, 3Although in so%e cases, li"e 7reeRepu#lic,co%, the( %a(, as a cultural practice, #eco%e the pri%ar( focus of the site,4 The third are diaries or secondar( #logs, which tend to include longer posts, and which are eas( to integrate into the %ain parts of the site, $o%e of the earliest #logging platfor%s included features that ena#led co%%ents fro% readers, &onsistent with the historical %odel provided #( #roadcast %edia and Bletters to the editorC pages of newspapers, the designers of these sites generall( assu%ed that there were no %ore than one or a few core contri#utors to the site and that site visitors would #e content to leave onl( co%%ents 3or 6oin a foru% if the( felt a need for %ore interaction and discussion4, All of these assu%ptions changed with the rise of large1scale peer1%oderated co%%unities li"e $lashDot 3http:HHslashdot,org4, $lashdot was #uilt on a custo%i-ed platfor% that %ade it possi#le
A Tale of Two Blogospheres for ever( visitor of the site to register, %a"e contri#utions in %uch the sa%e wa( as the siteAs
25
editors, and %oderate the contri#utions of their peers, The result was a cross #etween a foru% or %essage #oard and a #log 3as it was then understood4 N and it gave rise to a d(na%ic conversation with a continual churn of freshl( posted %aterial which was constantl( #eing vetted #( %e%#ers of the co%%unit( in a distri#uted fashion 3La%pe, 8ohnston ; Resnic", 2 D4,
=ithin the political #logosphere, secondar( #logs or diaries appear to have first e%erged on Dail( :os in 5cto#er, 2 G and M(DD shortl( thereafter,10 The adoption of platfor%s that
could support this "ind of distri#uted %oderation and contri#ution signaled an i%portant shift in ter%s of the structure of political de#ate in the networ"ed pu#lic sphere, B( the ti%e of the presidential election the following (ear, political #logs had #eco%e a widel(1pu#lici-ed %edia pheno%enon and Dail( :os had developed a reputation #ased on its large, and often controversial co%%unit( of %e%#ers, Perhaps not surprisingl(, given this histor( we find no significant difference #etween the left and the right in the use of co%%ents or foru%s, #ut a significant difference in the use of diaries, which are used %ore widel( on the left 3Ta#le @ and 7igure G4,
KTABLJ @L
K7'<*RJ GL
This technical affordance, in turn, %a"es it easier for left1wing #logs to generate secondar( content of so%e degree of sustained writing, reporting, and opinion and %a"e it a part of the
26
front page of the site, =hen we loo", independentl(, at the structure of the relationship #etween secondar( content and pri%ar( content, we find that here, too, the left adopts %ore fluid and per%ea#le #oundaries #etween pri%ar( and secondar( content, while the right adopts practices that %ore strictl( separate secondar( fro% pri%ar( content 3see Ta#le 2 and 7igure 1, a#ove4, 5ur findings on content #oundaries are i%portant for two reasons, 7irst, a critic %ight argue that we are too dis%issive of the participator( potential of co%%ents and foru%s, and therefore #iasing our findings BagainstC the right wing #logs, )ere, we see that the actual infor%ation flow #etween secondar( and pri%ar( is structured to #e less fluid, leaving user1 contri#uted state%ents on the peripher( of the agenda of the right wing sites, Powerline 3http:HHwww,powerline#log,co%4, one of the %ost popular #logs on the right, illustrates this point, The content created #( all three of the core #loggers appears on the landing page of the site in reverse chronological order, The landing page also includes various lin"s to the foru%, the location of all secondar( content contri#uted #( non1core participants, #ut no technological affordance %a"es it possi#le for non1core authors to contri#ute to this %ain page 3even as co%%enters4, The la(out reinforces the sharp division #etween these secondar( contri#utions and those of the core authors, as the foru% has a co%pletel( different appearance fro% the %ain site, =hile this is not a hard and fast ruleIthe 7ree Repu#lic 7oru% is a highl( participator( site, %ore si%ilar on %ost %easures to the left1wing #logs, even though it is on the rightIit is nonetheless the o#served pattern, $econd, this finding e%phasi-es for us that even when technolog( allows the eas( integration of colla#orative features, cultural, organi-ational, or social practice %a( wor" at cross purposes, 5ne e9a%ple of this is Town)all, a right wing site that does ena#le user #logs, #ut
A Tale of Two Blogospheres where, despite their technical availa#ilit(, these secondar( #logs are strictl( separated fro% pri%ar( author #logs, so that the( re%ain a less accessi#le, secondar( co%ponent of the discursive practice of that site, 't is i%portant to reiterate that such technical and editorial decisions a#out the structure of pri%ar( and secondar( content do not foreclose active
27
engage%ent with non1core contri#utions, Personal e%ail co%%unications with pri%ar( authors, which are perhaps the %ost off1site invisi#le for% of participation, can #e integrated into the pri%ar( content, This is a practice fre/uentl( used #( 8oshua Micah Marshall 32 .4, founder of
Tal"ingPointsMe%o,co%, 'n other words, whatever the technological affordance, it is e%#edded in a social1cultural practice, which, in turn, can a%plif( or %uffle participator( potential, Another i%portant aspect of political #logAs discursive culture concerns the writing st(le and depth of anal(sis, We encounter a significant difference #etween the left and the right is that the pri%ar( authors on the left tend slightl( to write %ore su#stantive reporting and opinion posts, whereas the right wing #logs tend to focus on relativel( short and punch( posts, lin"ing e9ternall( to other sites 3Ta#le 0 and 7igure @4,
KTABLJ 0L
K7'<*RJ @L
2ote, however, that there is su#stantial overlap: we o#served %i9ed practices on two thirds of the sites, More fine1grained wor" is necessar( to e9plore the possi#le differences #etween left and right in this area, 2evertheless, these findings suggest that the #logosphere %a( pla( a
A Tale of Two Blogospheres different role for the left and the right, The right see%s to focus %ore heavil( on #logs that
28
aggregate and a%plif( news stories written #( others, although we did not collect data to suggest who those others are, 't also e9plains wh( right wing #logs have #een o#served to lin" %ore often than left1wing #logs 3Ada%ic ; <lance, 2 04Ifiltering interesting content produced #(
others, and providing lin"s to it for their users as opposed to offering detailed co%%entar(, is the pri%ar( function of a nu%#er of popular #logs on the right, 5n the left, #( contrast, pri%ar( content tends to #e longer, consisting of %ore reporting and opinion, This %a(, in turn, #e consistent with less lin"ing, More i%portantl(, it is also consistent with the idea, e9pressed #( so%e #loggers, that the left felt shut out of %ainstrea% %edia and needed avenues outside it to get left1li#eral opinions out into the pu#lic sphere in a well1articulated for% accessi#le to others 3Ar%strong ; Moulitsas, 2 ?+ Bowers ; $toller, 2 04, =e discuss this, and other possi#le
e9planations of the difference, in the final section of the paper, =hether the content of these longer for% contri#utions was in fact significantl( different fro% what was found on %ainstrea% %edia sites is a topic for further research, which will re/uire %ore ro#ust te9t anal(sis tools, The final piece of the pu--le relates to the conversion of participation in discussion into political %o#ili-ation, Perhaps for purel( deli#erative theories of the de%ocratic pu#lic sphere this conversion is uni%portant, But for purposes of interest group politics, or for a de%ocratic theor( that is attentive to political power and social power as well as to deli#eration, the /uestion of whether discursive practices are tied to action is crucial, 5ur %ethod of data collection does not provide insight as to when or how #log readers and contri#utors %a( have acted in response to so%ething the( encountered online, As a result, we focused on the presence of Bcalls to political actionC and fundraising efforts in our coding, )ere, we find no significant differences
A Tale of Two Blogospheres within the sa%ple as a whole, #ut a significant difference #etween the top ?0 #logs on the left and the right along di%ensions related to %o#ili-ation 3Ta#le ? and 7igure 04,
29
KTABLJ ?L
K7'<*RJ 0L
7irst, we see %an( %ore calls to action on the left than on the right, These include direct appeals to attend political rallies, participate in letter1writing or phone #an"ing ca%paigns, raise funds or attend protests, 5ne such e9a%ple involved the Burnt 5range Report #logAs efforts to recruit readers to perfor% volunteer data entr( on #ehalf of the Travis &ount(, Te9as De%ocratic Part( 5ffice,1? As the distri#utions in Ta#le ? reveal, %uch of the disparit( #etween the presence of calls to action on the right and left ste%s fro% the prevalence of ca%paign fundraising efforts on the left,1D The relativel( low level of inter1coder relia#ilit( for these /uestions indicates that the results should #e treated cautiousl( 3:rippendorff, 2 @4,1. )owever, the differences are
significant and also consistent with the patterns revealed #( the rest of our findings, The( are also consistent with the findings of $%ith 32 Repu#lican online %o#ili-ation during the 2 >4 on the differences #etween De%ocratic and . ca%paign as a whole,
These practices of the left concerning the encourage%ent of offline participation are not si%pl( a side1effect of the 5#a%a ca%paign, 'n fact, fundraising efforts in the progressive #logosphere predate the 2 ? %id1ter% elections, when so%e #logs li"e M(DD,co% led
coordinated ca%paigns to direct funds to De%ocratic congressional candidates who stood the
A Tale of Two Blogospheres #est chance of ta"ing seats awa( fro% Repu#lican incu%#ents, Jven in 2 ., so%e of these
30
efforts specificall( targeted congressional ca%paigns through the online Political Action &o%%ittee 3PA&4 ActBlue, Loo"ing at the structures of participation and the levels of %o#ili-ation on the left, however, leads us to thin" that the stellar 5#a%a 'nternet ca%paign was largel( an e9tension of practices that alread( characteri-ed the left1wing #logosphere, rather than a new order i%posed on a previousl( disorgani-ed or non1participator( population,
K7'<*RJ ?L
'n all, we find evidence of an association #etween the technologies, institutions, and practices of participation, 'n 7igure ? we see that sites on the left adopt %ore participator( technical platfor%s are co%prised of significantl( fewer sole authored sites, include user diaries and #logs, practice fluid #oundaries #etween secondar( and pri%ar( content, include longer narrative and discussion posts, and, a%ong the top half of the #logs, use the #logs as platfor%s for %o#ili-ing action as well as engaging in pu#lic political discourse,
Center Blogs Results: Despite their underrepresentation in our sample, center blogs varied from both the right and left along a number of the dimensions included in our instrument and we can draw some tentative conclusions based on our results. A pattern emerged suggesting the coexistence of characteristics we identified as predominant on the right and left. Among the center blogs, secondary content and collaboration appear to play a relatively minor role. At the same time,
A Tale of Two Blogospheres however, the tenor of the discourse in the center was oriented more towards substantive
31
discussion than sarcasm, combative one-liners, or short linking posts. With regards to technical affordances for collaboration, almost none of the center blogs had user diaries or secondary blogs or offered anything in the way of enhanced commenting, social networking, recommendation, or reputation functions. In this, they were more similar to the right than the left, although the number of center blogs offering collaborative affordances was too low to render statistically meaningful comparisons. In contrast to the right, however, the center blogs called for more reporting tips and had more in-depth secondary content, although the intensity of secondary participation remained relatively low. Taken together, these attributes suggest that the center may have a culture of participation that is distinct from that of the right or left. Further research will be necessary to confirm or reject these observations.19
Conclusions =e find that the left and right wings of the political #logosphere are different on %an( di%ensions that are at the core of assessing the effect of the 'nternet on de%ocrac( and the structure of the pu#lic sphere, The left adopts technical platfor%s that enhance participation in the #logAs pri%ar( discursive space, The right e%phasi-es sole1authored #logs, and constructs #logs in which the %odes of participation of users are separated rigidl( fro% the %ain content, and largel( set to the side of the %ain discursive space, The left not onl( chooses %ore participator( technolog(, #ut also uses the availa#le technological tools to %aintain %ore fluid relations #etween the secondar( or user1contri#uted %aterials and those of pri%ar( contri#utors, The left is %ore egalitarian in opportunities for speech, %ore discursive, and %ore colla#orative
A Tale of Two Blogospheres in %anaging the sites, The right is %ore individualistic and hierarchical, with its practice
32
consisting %ore of pointing to e9ternal stories than engaging in discussion or co%%entar(, We do not contend that these characteristics are inherently correlated in any way for example, it is not a given that sites operated by individuals would link more actively than sites where there is broader participation and discussion. Nevertheless, among the blogs in our study, these were the attributes that characterized the left and right respectively. The differences offer evidence of a %ore co%ple9 relationship #etween the e%ergence of a technolog(, its adoption patterns, and the political1theoretical i%plications of the adoption patterns actuall( practiced, 5ur stud( suggests that the effects of the 'nternet on de%ocrac( are neither ho%ogeneous nor unifor%, and %a( change over ti%e, The leftAs practices are %ore consistent with an interpretation of a participator( pu#lic sphere, though our stud( sa(s nothing a#out deli#eration versus polari-ation, The e%phasis in current anal(ses on the power law distri#ution of #log lin"s, coupled with the clai% that there are onl( a s%all nu%#er of h(per1lin"ed #logs and onl( their authors are visi#le, understates the i%portance of participator( practices within #logs, $i%ilarl(, an( effort to characteri-e the socio1econo%ic and educational status of contri#utors #( loo"ing at the lead author of a #log %a( %isrepresent who is participating depending on the t(pe of co%%unit(, =hether we are loo"ing at Bar#inMD, a self1descri#ed Bsta(1at1ho%e %other of two who spent her ti%e helping with school pro6ects and chauffeuring "ids to soccer or lacrosse,C and is now, #etween chauffeuring "ids, a %asthead contri#utor to Dail(:os,co% with a dail( readership of several hundred thousand, or at an( one of thousands of co%%enters on the top left and right wing #logs, the( represent a participator( practice that was uni%agina#le two decades ago, And, where tens or even hundreds of thousands of people in a population have direct access
A Tale of Two Blogospheres to a visi#le platfor%, people who are one or at %ost two degrees of social separation out fro%
33
the% are %uch closer to a visi#le outlet than the( are to the op1ed contri#utors of The New York Times, for e9a%ple, The practices of the right wing of the #logosphere are, however, %ore consistent with the clai%s that the networ"ed pu#lic sphere is no less elitist than the %ass %ediated pu#lic sphere, 7urther research will #e necessar( to deter%ine the e9tent to which these affordances %a( under%ine or reinforce e9isting social ine/ualities 3)argittai ; =ale6"o, 2 $i%ilarl(, su#se/uent studies could co%#ine #etter %eans of trac"ing influence with %ore nuanced %easures of participation and engage%ent #e(ond the evidence we have presented here, =allstenAs 32 D4 anal(sis of agenda setting and :arpfAs 32 .a+ 2 .#4 Blogosphere Authorit( .4,
'nde9 #oth suggest pro%ising avenues in this regard, A second, %ethodologicall( i%portant point, is that lin" anal(sis as it has #een used to %ap the networ"ed pu#lic sphere, has clear li%itations for anal(-ing participation, )owever %an( studies #ased on lin" anal(sis disagreed a#out so%e /uestions, the( portra(ed a unifor% and s(%%etric political #logosphere 3e,g, Ada%ic ; <lance, 2 04, 5ur stud( shows that this
supposed s(%%etr( is %isleading, 't raises a concern with lin" anal(sis that -oo%s out to loo" at the shape of the #logosphere as a whole #( treating the entire #log do%ain as the node, and in doing so effaces the level of the individual post, the individual author, and the internal wor"ings of discrete #logs, aggregated across a large nu%#er of sites, All of these different levels and underl(ing practices re/uire %ore nuanced e9ploration, Third, our stud( is consistent with the idea that technolog(, organi-ational for%s, and authorial and cultural practices can reinforce each other to for% the #asis of the structure of the pu#lic sphere, =e cannot %a"e clai%s a#out what causes these diverse ele%ents to cohere in
A Tale of Two Blogospheres each case+ however, we can point to particular variations in technolog(, organi-ational for%, authorial role, and participator( practices to suggest that these sustain a significant difference #etween the left and right wings of the #logosphere, =hile the left wing of the #logosphere e9hi#its stronger indicators of %o#ili-ation and
34
organi-ation for action, it is i%possi#le to tell fro% our stud( whether the difference is causall( connected to the fact that the left also uses %ore participator( and discursive platfor%s, 't is certainl( possi#le that participants and users who are %ore engaged on a da( to da( #asis would #e %ore a%ena#le to %o#ili-ation for action as well 3Lawrence et al,, 2 1 4, But the une/ual levels of %o#ili-ation %a( also reflect the fact that we too" our o#servations during an election c(cle at a %o%ent when the left was highl( energi-ed, while the right, 6ust #efore $arah PalinAs appoint%ent as 8ohn Mc&ainAs running %ate, was lethargic and de6ected politicall(, =hile that fact does not affect our core findings, it does %oderate our confidence in the sta#ilit( of the difference with regard to %o#ili-ation to action, =hat would account for the different patterns of we#log use on the left and the rightE 't cannot #e one of the deter%inants that is shared across the ideological divide, li"e the political institutional fra%ewor" 3*,$, law or the part( s(ste%4 or the availa#le technologies, Possi#le e9planations of the divergence range fro% %ore to less deter%inistic, 5ne line of research tries to tie political positions, at the individual level, to fairl( sta#le personal characteristics, such as wor" #( ps(chologists see"ing to anchor political #eliefs in their satisfaction of ps(chological needs 38ost, <laser, :ruglans"i ; $ullowa(, 2 G4, 'n addition, research on cultural cognition
has found that people for% #eliefs a#out facts and circu%stances in wa(s that fit their sta#le politicalHcultural values, i%posing cognitive structures of #elief on evidence that fall into four
A Tale of Two Blogospheres #o9es created fro% the two #inaries: individualistHco%%unitarian and hierarchicalHegalitarian, 5ur findings are certainl( consistent with identif(ing the influential sites on the right wing
35
#logosphere with the individualistHhierarchical /uadrant, where, for e9a%ple, opponents of gun control and environ%ental regulation often reside 3:ahan, Bra%an, $lovic, <astil ; &ohen, 2 D4, &ertainl(, one could interpret our results to clai% that Repu#licans and De%ocrats
e%#raced discursive for%s that fit the respective cultural cognition and ps(chological profiles that reflect their political views, Blogs on the right are %ore li"el( to #e individualistic and hierarchical, consistent with the argu%ents fro% cultural cognition %ade #( :ahan et al, 32 D4,
The rightAs relativel( li%ited integration of user contri#utions is consistent with readers or users who see" the sta#ilit( of authoritative voice, consistent with clai%s #( 8ost et al, 32 G4 a#out the
"inds of ps(chological needs that conservatis% serves, $i%ilarl(, the %ore egalitarian, participator( practices on the left re/uire tolerance for the unpredicta#ilit( of open and fluid discourse, But it is i%portant, in this conte9t, to re%e%#er that, although the differences are significant and large, there is also a high degree of overlap #etween the practices of the left and right, which challenges clai%s of sta#le difference in cognition or personalit(, An alternative e9planation would #e %ore historical and contingent, rooted in the institutions of infor%ation production and political action particular to A%erican Repu#licans and De%ocrats in recent (ears, During the for%ative period of the #logosphere 32 212 @4, the
A%erican political right had control of all #ranches of the federal govern%ent+ it had active presence in the pu#lic sphere through 7o9 2ews and AM tal" radio+ and it had su#stantial networ"s of popular %o#ili-ation through churches, The left, #( contrast, was out of power under an ad%inistration that was increasingl( perceived as hostile and polari-ing+ felt e9cluded
A Tale of Two Blogospheres fro% %ainstrea% %edia+ and had no clear co%%unit(1#ased structures of participation 3Moulitsas, 2
36
.4, Man( individuals on the left felt alienated fro% the structures of power within ? 4, *nder these conditions, it is perhaps
the De%ocratic part( 3Ar%strong ; Moulitsas, 2
unsurprising that the right wing of the #logosphere would place less of an e%phasis on #uilding engaged participation online, while the left would sei-e upon the affordances of the new %ediu% to #uild platfor%s of engage%ent and active %o#ili-ation 3Bowers ; $toller, 2 2 0+ :er#el,
>4, &ertainl( this stor( is consistent with the self1understanding of %a6or #loggers on the left .+ Ar%strong ; Moulitsas, 2 ?+ Bowers ; $toller,, 2 04, 't also suggests that
3Moulitsas, 2
nothing inherent in the cultural or ps(chological profiles of #loggers on the right will prevent the% fro% e%#racing %ore colla#orative %odes of participation in (ears to co%e, !et another e9planation %a( #e #ased on de%ograph(, 2ationall( representative phone surve(s have found that increasing nu%#ers of (ounger people have tended to affiliate with the political left in recent decades 3:eeter, )orowit- ; T(son, 2 .4, and that (ounger people are >4, 't is
the %ost active users of the 'nternet for purposes of political engage%ent 3$%ith, 2
certainl( possi#le that users who are generall( %ore activel( engaged online %a( #e attracted to #logging platfor%s and plugins that e%#race higher levels of user engage%ent, )owever, we do not find this e9planation co%pelling for several reasons, 7irst, $%ith 32 >4 reports that
Repu#licans 3?.M4 were %ore li"el( than De%ocrats 30GM4 or 'ndependents 30?M4 to #e Bonline political usersC during the 2 . ca%paign c(cle, Repu#licans 3.@M4 were also %ore li"el( than
De%ocrats 3D1M4 to use the 'nternet at all, 'n addition, Lawrence et al, 32 1 4 find evidence of a ver( s%all age difference, on average, #etween #log1readers and non1#log readers and 3%ore to the point4 the( find that political blog readers are, on average, so%ewhat older than the
37
population of #log readers as a whole, 'n separate surve(s of first (ear college students, )argittai 32 >4 si%ilarl( finds that (oung people tend to read political #logs far less than the( read other
"inds of online %edia, The availa#le evidence thus suggests overwhel%ingl( that it is not a cohort of tech1savv( (outh driving the growth of participator( political #log co%%unities on the left, 2o stud( that we are aware of can ad6udicate conclusivel( #etween these different e9planations of our findings, =e can sa( that the relative freedo% to choose technological ele%ents and deplo( the% in discursive practice allowed the left and the right to adopt divergent #logging platfor%s, organi-ational and authorial for%s, and %o#ili-ation practices, 7urther nuanced and Bhigh resolutionC research into patterns of posting, co%%enting and discussion+ participation+ and the capacit( of the #logosphere to drive levels of engage%ent along various other di%ensions will #e necessar( to understand the i%plications of these findings %ore full(, =idel( divergent adoption patterns of a given technolog( are not a new pheno%enon, Protestant and &atholic Jurope had different and antagonistic approaches to the printing press, resulting in centuries of difference in levels of literac( and reading practices, which did not narrow until the late 1>th and earl( 2
th
centuries 3Jisenstein, 1>D>+ $tarr, 2
04, 't re%ains to #e ?
seen whether, and to what e9tent, the shift in political power in the *nited $tates #etween 2 and 2
. will elicit a shift in practices of online participation and %o#ili-ation, or whether the
practices re%ain, either #ecause the( reflect sta#le cultural or ps(chological t(pes or #ecause historical patterns of practice at transition points tend to have their own inertia, But the perennial de#ates over the degree to which the 'nternet enhances de%ocratic participation will to so%e e9tent depend on whether the left or right wing of the #logosphere is generali-ed, and how newer
A Tale of Two Blogospheres technological platfor%s are incorporated into the e9tant practices of the societies and co%%unities into which the( are introduced,
38
39
References Ada%ic, L,, ; <lance, 2, 32 04, BThe Political Blogosphere and the 2 @ *$ Jlection: Divided The( Blog,C 8apan: ===2 0, Availa#le at: http:HHwww,#logpulse,co%HpapersH2 0HAda%ic<lanceBlog===,pdf KAccessed Dece%#er >, 2 .L, Ada%ic, L,, ; )u#er%an, B, 32 Science 32.D4:2110, 4, BPower Law Distri#ution of the =orld =ide =e#,C
Ar%strong, 8,, ; Moulitsas OPniga, M, 32 ?4, Crashing the ate! Netroots" rassroots and the #ise of People$Powered Politics, =hite River 8unction, QT: &helsea <reen, Bara#asi, A, L, 32 G4, %inked! &ow 'ver(thing Is Connected to 'ver(thing 'lse and )hat It *eans, 2ew !or": Penguin, Barnouw, J, 31>??4, + Tower in ,abel! + &istor( of ,roadcasting in the -nited States, 59ford: 59ford *niversit( Press, Beniger, 8, R, 31>.?4, The Control #evolution, &a%#ridge: )arvard *niversit( Press, Ben"ler, !, 32 ?4, The )ealth of Networks! &ow Social Production Transforms *arkets and .reedom, 2ew )aven: !ale *niversit( Press, Bowers, &,, ; $toller, M, 32 04, 'mergence of the Progressive ,logosphere! + New .orce in +merican Politics, 2ew Politics 'nstitute, Availa#le at: http:HHwww,newpolitics,netHnodeH.DEfullRreportS1 KAccessed Dece%#er D, 2 .L, &astells, M, 31>>?4, The #ise of the Network Societ(, Malden, MA: Blac"well, Dre-ner, D, ; 7arrell, ), 32 .4, BThe Power and Politics of Blogs,C Public Choice 31G@4:101G ,
Jisenstein, J, L, 31>D>4, The Printing Press as an +gent of Change, &a%#ridge: &a%#ridge *niversit( Press, Lawrence, J,, $ides, 8,, ; 7arrell, ), 32 1 4, B$elf1$egregation or Deli#erationE Blog Readership, Participation, and Polari-ation in A%erican Politics,C Perspectives on Politics .314:1@1110D, )a#er%as, 8, 31>?24, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere! +n In/uir( Into a Categor( of ,ourgeois Societ(, London: Polit(,
A Tale of Two Blogospheres )argittai, J, 32 4, B5pen portals or closed gatesE &hanneling &ontent on the =orld =ide =e#,C Poetics 2D:2GG120G, RRR, 32 >4, BDigital 2a3t4ivesE The Role of $"ill in 'nternet *se,C presentation at the M'T1 )arvard Jcono%ic $ociolog( $e%inar, 7e#ruar( 11, &a%#ridge, MA,
40
)argittai, J,, <allo, 8,, ; :ane, M, 32 .4, B&ross1'deological Discussions a%ong &onservative and Li#eral Bloggers,C Public Choice 31G@4:?D1.?, )argittai, J, ; =ale6"o, <, 32 .4, BThe Participation Divide: &ontent &reation and $haring in the Digital Age,C Information" Communication" and Societ(,11324, 2G>120?, )ind%an, M, 32 .4, The *(th of Digital Democrac(, Princeton, 28: Princeton *niversit( Press,
'nnis, ), A, 31>014, The ,ias of Communication, Toronto: *niversit( of Toronto Press, 8ost, 8, T,, <laser, 8,, :ruglans"i, A, =,, ; $ullowa(, 7, 8, 32 G4, BPolitical &onservatis% as Motivated $ocial &ognition,C Ps(chological ,ulletin 12>3G4:GG>1GD0, :ahan, D, M,, Bra%an, D,, $lovic, P,, <astil, 8,, ; &ohen, <, L, 32 D4, BThe $econd 2ational Ris" and &ulture $tud(: Ma"ing $ense of 1 and Ma"ing Progress 'n 1 The A%erican &ulture =ar of 7act,C Yale %aw School" Public %aw )orking Paper No0 152, Availa#le at: http:HHssrn,co%Ha#stractS1 1D1.> KAccessed Dece%#er 1 , 2 .L, :arpf, D, 32 .a4, BMeasuring 'nfluence in the Political Blogosphere: =hoAs =inning and )ow &an =e TellE,C Politics and Technolog( #eview, <eorge =ashington *niversit(: 'nstitute for Politics, De%ocrac( and the 'nternet, 3March4:GG1@1, Availa#le at: http:HHwww,asiaing,co%Hpolitics1and1technolog(1review1%arch12 .,ht%l KAccessed Dece%#er >, 2 .L, RRR, 32 .#4, *nderstanding Blogspace, 3ournal of Information Technolog( and Politics 0, no, @: G?>1G.0,
:eeter, $,, )orowit-, 8, M,, ; T(son, A, en Dems! The Part(4s +dvantage +mong Young 5oters )idens, =ashington, D,&,: Pew Research &enter for the People and the Press, April, http:HHpewresearch,orgHpu#sH.1GH 3Accesed Ma( G, 2 >4, :er#el, M, R, 32 >4, Netroots! 6nline Progressives and the Transformation of +merican Politics, Boulder, &5: Paradig% Pu#lishers, :rippendorff, :, 32 @4, Content +nal(sis! +n Introduction to Its *ethodolog(, 2nd ed, Thousand 5a"s, &A: $age, Lampe, C., Johnston, E., & Resnick, P. (2007). Follow the Reader: Filtering Comments on
A Tale of Two Blogospheres Slashdot, Conference on Human Factors in Computer Systems (CHI), San Jose, CA. Marshall, 8, M, 32 .4, 'nterview with Authors, &a%#ridge, MA, Ma( 1?,
41
Mc&hesne(, R, =, 31>>G4, Telecommunications" *ass *edia" and Democrac(! The ,attle for the Control of -0S0 ,roadcasting" 1789$17:5, 2ew !or": 59ford *niversit( Press, McLuhan, M, 31>?24, The utenberg ala;(! The *aking of T(pographic *an, Toronto: *niversit( of Toronto Press, Moulitsas OPniga, M, 32 .4, Taking 6n the S(stem! #ules for #adical Change in a Digital 'ra, 2ew !or": Penguin, 2egroponte, 2, 31>>04, ,eing Digital, 2ew !or": :nopf, Reno vs, A%erican &ivil Li#erties *nion, 581 -0S0 922 31>>D4, Shirky, C. (2008). Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. New York: Penguin Press. $%ith, A, 32 >4, The Internet4s #ole in Campaign 8<<9, Pew 'nternet and A%erican Life Pro6ect, =ashington, D,&,: Pew Research &enter, http:HHwww,pewinternet,orgHReportsH2 >H?11The1'nternets1Role1in1&a%paign12 .,asp9 3Accessed Ma( G, 2 >4, $tarr, P, 32 04, The Creation of the *edia! Political 6rigins of *odern Communication, 2ew !or": Basic Boo"s, $unstein, &, R, 32 RRR, 32 24, #epublic0com, Princeton, 28: Princeton *niversit( Press,
D4, #epublic0com 80<, Princeton, 28: Princeton *niversit( Press,
=allsten, :, 32 D4, Agenda $etting and the Blogosphere: An Anal(sis of the Relationship #etween Mainstrea% Media and Political Blogs, #eview of Polic( #esearch 2@, no, ?: 0?D10.D, =ic"ha%, ), 32 >4, ggplot8! 'legant raphics for Data +nal(sis, 2ew !or": $pringer,
=inner, L, 31>.?4, BDo Artifacts )ave PoliticsEC 'n The )hale and the #eactor! + Search for %imits in an +ge of &igh Technolog(, &hicago: *niversit( of &hicago Press, p, 1>1G>,
A Tale of Two Blogospheres Figures and ables
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
A Tale of Two Blogospheres A!!endi" #$ Blogs in our Study by %olitical Classification
52
&enter Blogs: http:HHwww,politicalwire,co% http:HHwww,the%oderatevoice,co% http:HHwww,realclearpolitics,co% http:HHwww,#alloon16uice,co% http:HHwww,theagitator,co% http:HHwww,warandpiece,co% http:HHwww,%sn#c,%sn,co% http:HHwww,%arginalrevolution,co% http:HHwww,poli#logger,co% http:HHwww,%e%eorandu%,co% http:HHwww,andrewsullivan,theatlantic,co% http:HHwww,%edia#istro,co% http:HH#log,thehill,co% http:HHwww,lao#served,co% http:HHwww,c/politics,co% http:HHwww,professor#ain#ridge,co% http:HHwww,o9#log,#logspot,co% http:HH#log,foreignpolic(,co% http:HHeconlog,econli#,org http:HHwww,pollster,co%H#logs http:HHwww,watch#log,co% http:HHwww,sa%i-data,net http:HHwww,right1thin"ing,co%
Left Blogs: http:HHwww,%(dd,co% http:HHwww,washington%onthl(,co% http:HHwww,croo"sandliars,co% http:HHwww,won"ette,co% http:HHwww,tal"ingpoints%e%o,co% http:HHwww,dail("os,co%
A Tale of Two Blogospheres http:HHwww,thin"progress,org http:HHwww,atrios,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,6uancole,co% http:HHwww,firedogla"e,co% http:HHwww,oliverwillis,co% http:HHwww,tal"left,co% http:HHwww,li#eraloasis,co% http:HHwww,#urntorangereport,co% http:HHwww,theleftcoaster,co% http:HHwww,de%ocraticunderground,co% http:HHwww,dig#(s#log,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,huffingtonpost,co% http:HHwww,this%odernworld,co% http:HHwww,pandagon,net http:HHwww,swingstatepro6ect,co% http:HHwww,tp%cafe,co% http:HHwww,rawstor(,co% http:HHwww,thewashingtonnote,co% http:HHwww,dneiwert,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,#logfora%erica,co% http:HHwww,patriot#o(,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,to%#ur"a,co% http:HHwww,croo"edti%#er,org http:HHwww,a%erica#log,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,co%%ondrea%s,org http:HHwww,%a6i"thise,t(pepad,co% http:HHwww,#oo%antri#une,co% http:HHwww,susie%adra",co% http:HHwww,angr(#ear,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,rudepundit,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,o#sidianwings,#logs,co% http:HHwww,iowatrue#lue,co% http:HHwww,%other6ones,co% http:HHwww,thenation,co% http:HHwww,culture"itchen,co% http:HHwww,9nerg,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,salon,co%HopinionHgreenwald http:HHwww,#rad#log,co% http:HHwww,theoildru%,co% http:HHwww,agonist,org http:HHwww,newshounds,us http:HHwww,%aha#log,co%
53
A Tale of Two Blogospheres http:HHwww,correntewire,co% http:HHwww,sadl(no,co% http:HHwww,alternet,org http:HHwww,6ournalis%,n(u,edu http:HHwww,faf#log,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,ta(lor%arsh,co% http:HHwww,%atthew(glesias,co% http:HHwww,reach%,co%Ha%street http:HHwww,%athewgross,co% http:HHwww,s%ir"ingchi%p,co% http:HHwww,d(na%ist,co%Hwe#log http:HHwww,#agnewsnotes,co% http:HHwww,pa%shouse#lend,co% http:HHwww,thecarpet#aggerreport,co% http:HHwww,%edia%atters,org http:HHwww,pacificviews,org http:HHwww,left(#logs,co%
54
Right Blogs: http:HHwww,instapundit,co% http:HHwww,powerline#log,co% http:HHwww,%ichelle%al"in,co% http:HHwww,ace,%u,nu http:HHwww,deanes%a(,co% http:HHwww,stoptheaclu,co% http:HHwww,wi-#ang#log,co% http:HHwww,littlegreenfoot#alls,co% http:HHwww,news#usters,org http:HHwww,outsidethe#eltwa(,co% http:HHwww,i%ao,us http:HHwww,rightwingnews,co% http:HHwww,hotair,co% http:HHwww,#logsforvictor(,co% http:HHwww,rogerlsi%on,co% http:HHwww,%(pet6awa,%u,nu http:HHwww,evangelicaloutpost,co% http:HHwww,#ets(spage,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,polipundit,co%
A Tale of Two Blogospheres http:HHwww,patterico,co% http:HHwww,redstate,co% http:HHwww,dail(pundit,co% http:HHwww,althouse,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,lashawn#ar#er,co% http:HHwww,%ichaeltotten,co% http:HHwww,sa(an(thing#log,co% http:HHwww,nationalreview,co% http:HHwww,6ihadwatch,org http:HHwww,a%ericandigest,org http:HHwww,volo"h,co% http:HHwww,vod"apundit,co% http:HHwww,scrappleface,co% http:HHwww,pa6a%as%edia,co% http:HHwww,ira/the%odel,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,6onswift,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,%udvillega-ette,co% http:HHwww,da"otawarcollege,co% http:HHwww,opinion6ournal,co%H#est http:HHthepin"fla%ingo,#loghar#or,co% http:HHwww,fall#ac"#el%ont,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,capecodporcupine,#logspot,co% http:HHwww,#logsofwar,co% http:HHwww,conserva#logs,co% http:HHwww,an"le#itingpundits,co% http:HHwww,nicedoggie,net http:HHwww,coldfur(,co% http:HHwww,floppingaces,net http:HHwww,#lac"five,net http:HHwww,"ausfiles,co% http:HHwww,#log,electro%ne(in2 .,co% http:HHwww,townhall,co% http:HHwww,freerepu#lic,co% http:HHwww,atlasshrugs2 ,t(pepad,co% http:HHwww,co%%onsensewonder,co% http:HHwww,corner,nationalreview,co% http:HHwww,alar%ingnews,co% http:HHwww,proteinwisdo%,co% http:HHwww,hughhewitt,townhall,co% http:HHwww,senatesite,co% http:HHwww,redstate,org http:HHwww,drudgereport,co%
55
A Tale of Two Blogospheres http:HHwww,#a%apach(der%,co% http:HHwww,gopusa,co% http:HHwww,#illho##s,co% http:HHwww,de##ieschlussel,co% http:HHwww,rightwingnuthouse,co% http:HHwww,sweetness1light,co%
56
Footnotes
1 The research for this paper was conducted while $haw was a Research 7ellow at the Ber"%an &enter for 'nternet and $ociet( at )arvard *niversit(, The authors wish to ac"nowledge the Directors, 7ellows, and $taff of the Ber"%an &enter for their "indness and support, =e would especiall( li"e to than" $ilpa :ovvali for her diligent research assistance and data collection+ as well as )enr( 7arrell and Js-ter )argittai, #oth of who% provided thoughtful and constructive feed#ac" on an earlier draft, Than"s also to 8ohn :ell( and the fol"s at Morningside Anal(tics for sharing their list of top #logs with us, The wor"ing paper was originall( released as authored #( Ben"ler, $haw, and $todden out of respect for Qictoria $toddenAs earl( participation, and after a long period during which $haw and Ben"ler had proceeded to co%plete the paper with li%ited co%%unication with $todden, After the original release, it #eca%e clear that what we saw as an act of respect, in the na%ing of authors, was not welco%e, As a result, Ben"ler and $haw ta"e full responsi#ilit( for the paper in its entiret(, the /ualit( of the data and anal(sis, and the conceptual fra%ing and authorship, The present authorship designation reflects that fact, Please direct all correspondence to Aaron $haw, Ber"%an &enter for 'nternet and $ociet(, 2G Jverett $t,, $econd 7loor, &a%#ridge, MA 21G.+ or e%ail: ashaw KatL c(#er,law,harvard,edu, 2 't is interesting to note that =allsten see%s to draw %i9ed conclusions in this regard, 5n the one hand, he clai%s that #logs perfor% an influential role in the pu#lic sphere vis1a1vis their effect on the traditional %ass %edia+ at the sa%e ti%e, he 6oins )ind%an 32 .4 in clai%ing that the de%ographics of A1list #loggers 3white, %ale, educated, wealth(4 tend to reinforce the cultural and political #iases of the traditional %edia, =e engage with this argu%ent in %ore detail #elow, G 't is i%portant to underscore the contingencies i%plicit in this clai%, Js-ter )argittaiAs wor" on the Bparticipation divideC %a"es clear that the %ere e9istence of participator( affordances online does not ensure that such affordances will #e adopted in wa(s that under%ine e9isting social ine/ualities or status hierarchies 3see, for e9a%ple, )argittai ; =ale6"o, 2 .4, @ $ee http:HHsourceforge,netHpro6ectsHscoop, http:HHdrupal,orgH, http:HHwww,soap#lo9,netH, and http:HHe9pressionengine,co%H 0 =e onl( review so%e of the "e( varia#les here, The full coding instru%ent is availa#le fro% the authors upon re/uest, ? $ee, for e9a%ple, this post on the left1wing B$wing $tate Pro6ectC which was a user diar( that one of the site editors pro%oted to the front page of the site: http:HHwww,swingstatepro6ect,co%Hdiar(H0 D2Ha%a-ing1political1 histor(1of1n(2G 7 $ee http:HHwww,freerepu#lic,co% and http:HHwww,de%ocraticunderground,co%, . $ee http:HHden#este,nuHcdRlogRentriesH2 2H @HLotsoftraffic,sht%l 3Accessed Dece%#er 0, 2 .4 'n fact, Den Beste used the ter%s BwritersC and editorsC in his post+ however he /uic"l( added the following update: B$everal people have alread( pointed out that instead of AeditorsA and AwritersA, a %uch #etter pair of ter%s is Alin"ersA and Athin"ersA, $heesh+ ' should have thought of that,C > The site we used twice was BThe Truth Laid Bear,C which pu#lishes separate lists #ased inlin"s and site traffic, Because the author of this site, 2,O, Bear, does not separate out political #logs, we reviewed 1 of the *RLs on his lin"1#ased list and 20 on his hit1#ased list to deter%ine which ones were political, =e counted a *RL as political if #oth coders found that it contained so%e political content on its front page, =e did not consider ads or third1part( content as political, 1 7or another approach to ran"ing top #logs, see :arpf 32 .a+ 2 .#4, =hile his %ethod is appealing for its transparenc( and replica#ilit(, we found that ours produced nearl( identical results insofar as we captured the vast %a6orit( of his top #logs in our sa%ple, 11 This process resulted in a list of 1 . *RLs, each with a ran"ing fro% 11D corresponding to total nu%#er of lists on which the *RL appeared, 12 The resulting list of #logs included in our stud( is in Appendi9 1, #elow, 1G The De%ocratic 2ational &onvention too" place several da(s after the co%pletion of our coding N August 2012., 14 All of the plots were produced in R using the ggplot2 pac"age 3http:HHhad,co,n-Hggplot2H4, created #( )adle( =ic"ha% 32 >4, The color sche%e was generated using &olorBrewer2 3http:HHcolor#rewer2,org4, created #( &(nthia Brewer and Mar" )arrower, 10 Mar"os Moulitsas announced the change on 5cto#er 10, 2 G: http:HHwe#,archive,orgHwe#H2 @ G21 2G1@.Hwww,dail("os,netH 16 $ee http:HHwww,#urntorangereport,co%HshowDiar(,doEdiar('dS?@D0 3Accessed Dece%#er >, 2 .4, 1D 5ur %easure of calls to action did not include fundraising per se, #ut focused on off1line events such as phone #an"ing, rallies, and other for%s of volunteer participation, At the sa%e ti%e, #ecause so %an( off1line for%s of
participation are also fundraising activities, we cannot distinguish perfectl( #etween the two, $ee the coding instru%ent availa#le at Kpaper1*RLL for %ore detail, 1. =e calculated :rippendorffTs alpha for all research /uestions coded, =ith the e9ception of the /uestions %entioned, all e9ceeded or were ver( close to the rule of thu%# of ,D, 7ull results of all :rippendorffAs alpha calculations are availa#le fro% the authors upon re/uest, 1> A%ong the top ?0 #logs, seven were in the political center, %a"ing %eaningful statistical anal(sis difficult, These are, in order of ran"ing, http:HHwww,politicalwire,co%, http:HHwww,realclearpolitics,co%, http:HHwww,#alloon16uice,co%, http:HHwww,theagitator,co%, and http:HHwww,%sn#c,%sn,co%,

A Tale of Two Blogospheres PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

A Tale of Two Blogospheres PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Harvard Law School

A Tale of Two Blogospheres: Discursive Practices on the Left and Right

Research Publication No. 2010-6 April 27, 2010

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1611312

A Tale of Two Blogospheres: Discursive Practices on the Left and Right1

March, 2 1 !ochai Ben"lera, # and Aaron $hawa,c

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1611312

A Tale of Two Blogospheres Abstract

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1611312

A Tale of Two Blogospheres Introduction

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

. and Lawrence, $ides ; 7arrell, 2 1 4, )enr( 7arrell and

deli#eration, Ada%ic ; <lance 32

to date 3)argittai et al,, 2

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

s+ and this state of affairs left the technological and institutional

.4, we chose this relativel( slow period in the Presidential ca%paigns in

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

the De%ocratic part( 3Ar%strong ; Moulitsas, 2

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

centuries 3Jisenstein, 1>D>+ $tarr, 2

04, 't re%ains to #e ?

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

D4, #epublic0com 80<, Princeton, 28: Princeton *niversit( Press,

A Tale of Two Blogospheres Figures and ables

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres

A Tale of Two Blogospheres A!!endi" #$ Blogs in our Study by %olitical Classification

Left Blogs: http:HHwww,%(dd,co% http:HHwww,washington%onthl(,co% http:HHwww,croo"sandliars,co% http:HHwww,won"ette,co% http:HHwww,tal"ingpoints%e%o,co% http:HHwww,dail("os,co%

A Tale of Two Blogospheres http:HHwww,#a%apach(der%,co% http:HHwww,gopusa,co% http:HHwww,#illho##s,co% http:HHwww,de##ieschlussel,co% http:HHwww,rightwingnuthouse,co% http:HHwww,sweetness1light,co%

You might also like