Blogosphere Authority Index 2.0: Change and Continuity in the American Political Blogosphere, 2007–2010

Abstract

Political blogs have emerged as a vibrant component of the information ecology of American politics. Previous scholars have described bloggers as ‘agenda seekers’ or as the digital equivalent to Op-ed columnists (Hindman 2008; Davis 2009). Researchers have investigated the motivations of bloggers and their attentive readers, the impact of blogs on elections, the demographics of reader bases and the mass participatory and agenda-setting impacts of the medium (McKenna and Pole 2004; Wallsten 2007, 2008; Pole 2009; Gil de Zuniga et al. 2009; Gil de Zuniga et al. 2010; Lawrence et al. 2010). A few scholars have also explored structural differences between the left and right blogospheres (Karpf 2008b; Benkler and Shaw 2010). Once a passing curiosity with a funny name, blogs today have become a well-established piece of the political landscape. They have been replaced by Twitter as the funny-sounding social media object of fascination. Blogs have been incorporated into existing media and political institutions, even being termed ‘passé’ in some circles.