The Left and the Right in the Blogosphere

A new study by Benkler, Shaw, and Stodden finds that there are big differences in how the left and the right blogosphere. The Nation has a long article about the study and provides a .PDF of the study.  Previous studies found that conservative blogs were slightly more likely to link to blogs of the opposite political persuasion than liberal blogs. In contrast, these authors found that liberal blogs had bigger discussion sections, were more likely to mobilize their readers, and had higher tech websites.

Sites on the left adopt more participatory technical platforms; are
comprised of significantly fewer sole-authored sites; include user
blogs; maintain more fluid boundaries between secondary and primary
content; include longer narrative and discussion posts; and (among the
top half of the blogs in our sample) more often use blogs as platforms
for mobilization as well as discursive production.

Several years ago, my colleague, Antoinette Pole, and I did a study of political bloggers, which resulted in somewhat different findings. (Download McKennaPole) We surveyed a sample of 141 randomly chosen political blogs about their political ideology and their blogging practices.

We found that there were more commonalities between the left and the right blogosphere than differences. They were both most likely to use their blogs to inform readers. They both used their blog to encourage their readers to become directly involved in politics whether by attending rallies or donating money to campaign. However, informing readers was a much more commonly done activity than encouraging political activism. They both occasionally asked their readers to donate money to needy causes.

Do bloggers with different ideologies have different motivations for blogging? The literature  would tend to support this notion. Liberals, such as Trippi, point out the benefits of blogging to assist in elections, to gather donations for campaigns, and to advocate for certain causes. Conservatives and libertarians, including Hewitt, write about bloggers upending the liberal media establishment; bloggers are essentially media watchdogs rather than independent political actors. The bloggers we surveyed include 40 liberals, 63 conservatives, and 50 libertarians. Results indicate that nearly all bloggers are informers, therefore conservative and liberal bloggers alike participate in this activity. We examine the ideological preferences of bloggers who reported that they engage in watchdog, activist, and philanthropic activities.

One hundred thirteen respondents reported that they blog about errors or omissions in the newspaper, which we define as a watchdog activity. Only 27 out of 40 liberal bloggers reported that they engage in this activity, while 57 out of 63 conservative bloggers and 42 out of 50 libertarian bloggers write watchdog posts. Clearly, this mission is preferred by conservative and libertarian bloggers, however, more than half of liberal bloggers are keeping an eye on the mainstream media as well. Liberal bloggers may be more concerned with accuracy rather than bias, although further research is required to confirm that hypothesis.

Differences between how conservative and liberal bloggers engage in activist activity are negligible with slight variations depending on the activity. Two-thirds of conservative bloggers (40 out of 59) and slightly less than two-thirds of liberal bloggers (22 out of 36) reported that they encourage their readers to contact elected and appointed officials. A greater percentage of conservative bloggers, 47 percent (28 out of 59), asked their readers to sign a petition than liberal bloggers, 36 percent (13 out of 36). In contrast, fewer conservative bloggers asked their readers to attend a rally, protest or march. Fewer than a quarter of conservative respondents reported asking their readers to attend a rally, while more than 35 percent of liberal bloggers indicated that they encourage their readers to attend rallies, protests, and marches. Liberal bloggers may feel more comfortable with offline political activity. There is a weak positive correlation (Kendall’s tau-b = .238) between ideology and asking readers to contribute money to a candidate. It is interesting to note that conservative bloggers were still actively engaged in advocacy efforts, while the Republicans controlled Congress and the Presidency from 2000 to 2006.

While the sample comprised a greater number of conservative bloggers, a greater percentage of liberal bloggers asked their readers to give money to organizations that provide humanitarian relief. Nearly half of liberal bloggers (17 out of 36) reported that they ask their readers to make charitable contributions, while only 36 percent of conservative bloggers indicated that they ask their readers to make charitable contributions. Liberal bloggers seem
to be more likely to engage in philanthropic blogging.

As I sort of explain in a
review of Netroots Rising, the liberal blogosphere has completely different origins and founding missions than the right.

While Reynolds and Hewitt, two conservative bloggers, describe themselves as alternatives to mainstream media, Wilcox and Feld never express that notion; instead they say that the Netroots simply worked to attract the attention of mainstream media for their causes and candidates. If liberal bloggers are more concerned with winning elections than checking mainstream media, they may be less concerned about replying to a diversity of opinions and more focused on supporting other liberal bloggers in their goals.

Their differing origins has resulted in different blog practices. Of course, with Democrats in office now, the right may steal the playbook from the DailyKos.

The authors of this new study say that Obama's success with online activism owes much to the practices of the liberal blogosphere. This is a real stretch.

First of all, the Netroots wanted nothing to do with Obama.  They were actually annoyed that his campaign never reached out to them. Secondly, Obama brought in top social networking gurus, including the guy who ran Facebook, to help him in reaching the public. The Netroots are just one part of a huge group of people who were using the Internet effectively. 

The authors also say that the liberal blogosphere outstrips the right in terms of engagement with the public and with use of new technology. The Daily Kos, for example, has that whole diary thing. Maybe. But the biggest boon for the lefties has been Huffington Post. Its audience dwarfs every other blog. Why? Not because of its comment section certainly. But because of casheroo. It has an army of faceless drones constantly updating the website with new information.

Some might also argue that while the liberal blogs have better comment sections, there are more conservative bloggers than liberal bloggers. So, they win that battle.

I'm not writing this post to defend conservative blogs. I just got a little annoyed at this paper and felt the need to respond.