Reddish Tint to the Blogosphere [Conservatives way ahead, according to new study by Dems]

CNN Politics - The Situation Report ^ | Aug 12, 2005 | Political Hot Topics From Stephen Bach, CNN Washington bureau

[summer]

CNN Politics - The Situation Report

...REDDISH TINT TO BLOGOSPHERE: Liberal activist Web loggers have made major advances on the Internet, but they remain far behind their conservative adversaries among the top 250 political blogs, according to a study by a Democratic think tank. Washington Times: Liberals lag conservatives in political blog presence

[summer]

The Washington Times article mentioned by CNN is odd in that it does not mention FR.

However, if you look at the subject research report by the two Dem bloggers, in Appendix V, you'll see the Dem researchers have placed FR at the very top of the conservative list of influential blogs. But they fail to cite any number for traffic, simply describing the traffic on FR as "huge."

The Washington Times article should have noted this in their article!

[summer]

I should have said the Washington Times article is odd in that it omitted FR - and mentioned a different conservative web site as being #1. Yet, that is not what the Dem researchers reported - they reported FR as #1 in their report.

[Asphalt]

yes. Doesn't surprise me

[sarasota]

Democrats are stuck in the 20th century. May they ever remain there.

[summer]

One point the Dem researchers made that I found surprising (because I don't think it's true) is this: while conservatives are doing better than liberals in the blogosphere, the liberals should be happy they are better at attracting NEW people to the blogosphere. (Whereas, according to the report, the conservatives are operating under an existing structure of people, or something like that.) I just don't believe that is true. I think FR stays #1 because IT is attracting more and more people to the blogosphere.

[Darkwolf377]

All your keyboards are ours!

[philsfan24]

is fr considered a blog? i dont categorize it as one.

[dead]

While Free Republic has been long understood to be the largest political community on the web, over the past two years, Democratic Underground has almost entirely closed the traffic difference with its conservative rival.

Anybody have the numbers? I don't believe they're even close.

[summer]

Here's the Washington Times article cited by CNN:

Liberals lag conservatives in political blog presence

By Donald Lambro
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
August 12, 2005

Liberal activist Web loggers have made major advances on the Internet, but they remain far behind their conservative adversaries among the top 250 political blogs, according to a study by a Democratic think tank.

    In a detailed report on the political power being wielded by bloggers, who have become a potent force in national and state campaigns, the study found that while liberals have "a decided advantage" over conservatives among the top 40 blogs (24-16), "conservatives hold a whopping 133 to 77 advantage" among the next 210 blogs.

    The study said this was "a serious problem that progressives must confront," if they are going to overcome the conservatives' advantage at the local level.

    "An edge among small, local political blogs also means an edge in small, local, political races. While progressives may have a marked advantage in overall blogosphere discourse, it could also be argued that conservatives are taking a decisive lead in the sort of targeted blogging that will provide them with real, tangible benefits ...," the report says.

    If liberal activists "do not invest time, energy and resources building a local blog infrastructure superior to that currently possessed by conservatives, the comparative advantage of progressives' overall traffic lead will be significantly reduced."  

   The study, "Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere: A New Force in American Politics," was conducted by two Democratic bloggers for the New Politics Institute, a political think tank.  

   Among its chief findings is the explosive nature of the Internet's blogs, which have become the fastest-growing sector of the information industry.

    "Since March of 2005, the total number of blogs has grown from 7.8 million to 14.2 million," the study says.

    But it has been the political bloggers, particularly among conservatives, who have emerged as an effective organizing and fundraising force.

    In the 2003 pre-election cycle, "Conservative bloggers vastly outpaced progressives in terms of total [readership] traffic. The top ranked blog, an influential conservative site known as Instapundit (www.instapundit.com), had as much traffic as the next five sites combined," the study says.

    Since then, "the political dynamics of the Internet have reversed themselves," the study maintains. "In less than two years, the progressive blogosphere had grown from less than as big as the conservative blogosphere, to nearly double its size."

    For example, the study said that while the conservative blog Instapundit was three times larger than any other blog two years ago, the largest liberal blog, Daily Kos (www.dailykos.com), is getting "more than four times as many monthly visits."

    Even so, the study's authors said blogs on both sides are expanding. In the past two years, the number of hits or visits at the top 1,000 political blogs, conservative and liberal, has risen from 500,000 per day to more than 3 million.

    According to a recent study by MyDD.com, a liberal political blog, 54.6 percent of conservative traffic and 69 percent of progressive traffic "went to the top 10 blogs representing their respective ideologies," the study says.     

[Mount Athos]

FR is not a blog!

[summer]

They didn't list the numbers in their report. See Appendix V. They said the numbers were not available but I don't buy that! And, DU is not that big. They never make the top sites on Technocrati.

[reagan_fanatic]

We are not a blog. We are not a blog.

Rinse, lather, repeat as necessary.

[summer]

People often count it as one.

[dirtboy]

However, if you look at the subject research report by the two Dem bloggers, in Appendix V, you'll see the Dem researchers have placed FR at the very top of the conservative list of influential blogs

And then those Dem bloggers completely miss how FR works:

On the whole, it reflected the top-down, coherent messaging structure that characterizes the conservative movement.

Top-down? Only because that's how THEY see politics. If FR is effective, to them it must be because Karl Rove gives marching orders on FR every day. And that's why they keep falling behind on the internet - because they cannot figure out how to work as a team in such an informal manner to where everyone can have a voice, input and impact.

[summer]

Yeah, that was another point they tried to push about conservative blogs which I disagreed with totally.

[AZ_Cowboy]

The left hardly needs to develop alternative media. It already owns all the broadcast TV networks, all but one Cable Network, all of Public Broadcasting, and the World's largest search engine (Google).

Even Jay Leno makes fun of the idea that the left isn't able to get its message out or doesn't own enough media outlets. If we had resources like that, rest assured we wouldn't be whining about the blogs.

FR may not be mentioned because we aren't a Blog. We're a forum.

[summer]

You're exactly right - they can not work as a team, try as they might. Also, it was odd to note the two authors of this research report have only been blogging for a very short time - one since 2004 or 2005, and the other since 2002 or something. Many people on FR have been here since the late 1990's.

[summer]

They are sort of lumping forums in with blogs, though I see your point.

[Phantom Lord]

The Washington Times article mentioned by CNN is odd in that it does not mention FR.

And rightly so. FR is not a blog.