Blogging and the public sphere,Life Online,Bruce Ferwerda Tommy van der Vorst 31 maart 2010,In this presentation,Who are those bloggers? Lenhart & Fox (2006): A portrait of the internets new storytellers What do bloggers do? McKenna & Pole (2007): What do bloggers do: an average day on an average political blog The power of weblogs Drezner & Farell (2007): Blogs, politics and power Interactions among bloggers: the blogosphere Hargittai, Gallo & Kane (2007): Cross-ideological discussions among conservative and liberal bloggers,/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 1,20-2-2019,Weblogs,/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 2,20-2-2019,Who are those bloggers?,Lets throw in some statistics.,/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 3,20-2-2019,Who are those bloggers?,Blogging is bringing new voices to the online world Lenhart & Fox conducted a survey in the US: 54% of bloggers have never published anywhere else 8% of internet users maintains a blog 39% read blogs Various topics & motives for blogging High percentage of bloggers stop after a while,/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 4,20-2-2019,Who are those bloggers?,The blogging population: Is young (54% is 30) Consists of as many women as men Mostly in urban/suburban areas (13% in rural areas) Less likely to be white than average internet user,/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 5,20-2-2019,Who are those bloggers?,Blogs can be personal or be a public endeavour: 55% of bloggers use a pseudonym For 84%, blogging is a hobby or “something I do, but not something a spend a lot of time on” 59% spend just one or two hours per week maintaining their blog 52% blog mostly for themselves, not for an audience; 32% blog mostly for their audience (Why blog just for yourself?),/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 6,20-2-2019,Who are those bloggers?,Blogging vs. Journalism: 34% consider their blog a form of journalism 57% include links to original sources often,/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 7,20-2-2019,What do bloggers do?,McKenna & Pole (2007): exploratory empirical study How do political bloggers use their blogs Categorization of blogging activities: Informer activities Watchdog activities (“keeping an eye on mainstream media”) Political activities Philantropic activities,/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 8,20-2-2019,What do bloggers do?,Findings average blogger average citizen (Demographics differ from Lenhart & Fox: more whites, more males) Informer activities,/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 9,20-2-2019,What do bloggers do?,Findings Watchdog activities 80% of bloggers notify their readers about bias or omissions in the media Close second to informing activities Bloggers do not trust mainstream media But also rely on it! Blogging as first-rate journalism in countries without free press or in the case of events (i.e. Hurricane Katrina),/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 10,20-2-2019,What do bloggers do?,Findings Political activities: 2/3 of bloggers want to engage people They want you:,/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 11,20-2-2019,What do bloggers do?,Findings Political activities: 2/3 of bloggers want to engage people They want you:,/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 12,20-2-2019,What do bloggers do?,Findings Political activities: 2/3 of bloggers want to engage people They want you:,/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 13,20-2-2019,What do bloggers do?,Findings Philantropic activities Asking readers to donate (44%) (interestingly, this is lower than the 66% donators in the US) Rarely pursued activity (i.e. not the core business),/ Innovation Sciences,PAGE 14,20-2-2019,The power of weblogs,Drezner & Farell (2007) Introduction: Blogs, politics and power: a special issue of Public Choice Are blogs indeed important to politics? Do they have a beneficial or harmful effect?,/ name of department,PAGE 15,20-2-2019,The power of weblogs,Do blogs affect politics? Blogs can be important More important as reactors to the media than independent agenda setters When does blogs have political power? Least trusted source of news (BBC/Reuters/Media Center 2006),/ name of department,PAGE 16,20-2-2019,The power of weblogs,Are blogs good for politics? Ongoing discussion Cyberapartheid “. increasing peoples ability to hear echoes of their own voices and to wall themselves off from others.” (Sunstein 2001, p.49) Linking & comments,/ name of department,PAGE 17,20-2-2019,Interactions among bloggers,Hargittai, Gallo & Kane (2007) Cross-ideological discussions among conservative and liberal bloggers Do people abandon the reading of dissenting political opinions in favor of material that is closely aligned with their own ideological position?,/ name of department,PAGE 18,20-2-2019,Interactions among bloggers,H1 Blogs are more likely to link to blogs that match their ideological persuasion H2 The amount of cross-ideological linking among blogs wille decline over time Hargittai, Gallo & Kane (2007),/ name of department,PAGE 19,20-2-2019,Interactions among bloggers,Cross-ideological linkages in the political blogosphere Blogroll connections 27% presented in the whole network 91% resemble ideo