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How important are blogs?

Submitted by Jon Henke on Mon, 06/16/2008 - 13:05
in

How important are blogs and the internet media?

[Rep.] Putnam says the handhelds have actually broadened the horizons for a lot of his colleagues. The BlackBerry has increased the “comfort level” with the Internet in general, he says, “so you have members talking about what’s on Drudge or Town Hall or Red State.”

The devices, he says, have “dragged members out of the Dark Ages and into the information age. You now have members conversant about blogs, online news sites, signed up for breaking news alerts. So they’re actually less insulated today ... than they were before BlackBerry.”

Politicians and political staff are inundated with information, so they necessarily have to create a cocoon around themselves and self-select the information they want to receive.  If they didn't do this, they would be overwhelmed.  Blogs are one of the few information sources that pierce that cocoon, whether with politicians and Congressional staffers, political departments and agencies, issue pundits/experts, or the media that cover all of them.

In light of that, think about this:

  • How much money is spent on advertising in publications and billboards that are likely to be read by members of Congress and Congressional staff?   [Hint: a lot]  

  • How much time is spent talking to reporters and pundits about information being considered in Congress?  [Hint: also a lot]

 As much as blogs and the internet media have developed, they are still an under-developed market with enormous untapped potential.

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Comments

top tier blogs not so much when it comes to votes cast...

Submitted by ChrisM on Mon, 06/16/2008 - 19:05.

Not too important...judging by FDT's and Romney's inability to turn positive blogger press into votes...

just kidding...not really...

It's pretty simple

Submitted by Repack Rider on Mon, 06/16/2008 - 21:28.

Blogs are important to liberals.

Although we have surrendered the original lead in page views to the liberal side, conservative blogs still have a large readership, but conservative blogs have not had the impact on politics that the liberal blogs have.

Case in point.  The Senate turned (barely) Democratic in 2006 on the strength of two extremely close races, Tester-Burns in Montana and Allen-Webb in Virginia.  Both these races were the focus of DailyKos, which raised a lot of money for them, and squeaked the underdog candidates across the line with microscopic margins.

Those few thousand "local" votes in a state like Montana with a small population made a huge difference nationally. Turning the Senate Democratic was a major political gain for the Democrats that would not have been likely without left-blogosphere fund raising.  I'm not seeing any such success stories on the conservative side.

Actually, I 'm not seeing ANY success stories in conservative politics lately, although if anyone wishes to prove me wrong, I will be interested in hearing about it.

I don't have any solutions, only observations.  This blog is a start in the direction of conservative blogs that DO affect races, but until it happens, it hasn't happened.

The time is not right. The motivation not there yet.

Submitted by davidfarrar on Mon, 06/16/2008 - 21:46.

You don't innovate when you win.  It's a simple point And who knows, McCain's' brand of middle-of-the road Republicanism might  just be enough. In such a case, real cybernetic innovation will once again be taken up by the Democrats and move even further ahead until they do win, and win big.

ex animo

davidfarrar

McCain has admitted

Submitted by Repack Rider on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 01:06.

That he can't use a computer.  I'm sure he has "people for that," but it does raise a concern that he does not understand the medium from which many in our country now draw their political information.  How does one even begin to look into a subject without Google?  It's no wonder older voters favor him heavily, while younger, computer savvy voters, not so much. 

The same cannot be said for Obama, who not only understands the new medium, he used it spectacularly to beat a candidate expected to stroll into the convention with the nomination.  Obama's campaign has suddenly become the model to emulate in the 21st Century (nothing succeeds like success), and John MCain does not have the tools to do that.

Just as John F. Kennedy's mastery of TV beat Nixon (barely, if at all).  Obama's mastery of the Internet does not bode well for a man who barely knows it exists.

I've Never Seen Obama Use A Computer

Submitted by RedMango on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 01:35.

Let's not confuse Obama's aides ability to use the internet as a sign he's knows how to use it as well.  Pity the Silicon Valley people though because once Obama kickstarts his high-tax economic plan, they are pretty much the first one screwed.  Silicon Valley people are geniuses in their world, but, the politics are so disconnected to the economic reality that made them successful in the first place.  Defense spending, low taxes, and loose regulations made SV what it is, and they are the first three things Obama promises to kick away. 

Whether or not Obama uses a computer

Submitted by Repack Rider on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 02:14.

Is completely irrelevant.  He used the internet brilliantly to gain the nomination, and there is absolutely no chance that McCain will do likewise.

I would be extremely surprised if Obama did not use a computer all the time.  I'm 62, and I have been using one since 1980, when Obama was about 19.  He grew up in the computer age.  To think that an intelligent young man who did a lot of legal research couldn't use a computer is ridiculous.  You are not going to find any attorneys his age that don't use computers.

Didn't we hear that he had email from Scarlet Johansen?  If I got email from her, I sure wouldn't let anyone else read it to me.  I think I also read that he uses a Blackberry constantly.

No offense, but McCain would probably have trouble using a cell phone.

Obama's definitely net-literate

Submitted by Bryan Pick on Tue, 06/17/2008 - 13:59.

An anecdote in this recent Politico piece (which, btw, includes several quotes from The Next Right's own Jon Henke) illustrates it:

 "Every time Obama had seven seconds when we spent the day together in South Carolina, he whipped out his Blackberry," recalled Noble. Contrast that to McCain's response when Politico's Mike Allen asked him whether he used a Mac or a PC: "Neither. I'm an illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance I can get."