Abstract
Despite the attention given to political blogs in recent campaigns, scholars have often overlooked something without which they could not thrive: readers. Moreover, literature has considered that readers have generally done so without taking account of significant differences between conservative and liberal blogs. This study uses panel data collected during the 2008 U.S. election to examine how conservative, liberal, and non-blog readers differ. Results show little demographic difference between readers and non-readers. However, blog readers consume political media that is aligned with their blog use. Blog readers participate more in politics than non-readers as a result of their blog use, particularly readers of liberal blogs. Finally, blog readers exhibit greater political sophistication than non-readers, and develop greater political interest as a result of blog reading.
Highlights
Though seen as part of “new media”, the blog is more than a decade and a half old
Attitude constraint .08* .03 −.02 .12*** .04 .03 .01 −.06 .12*** .14** .12*** −.01 .12**. The results of these analyses suggest that a re-evaluation of the political blogosphere and its readers may be in order
The notion of blog communities as centers of youthful exuberance is not supported by these data, which indicate no significant difference in the ages of blog readers and non-readers
Summary
Though seen as part of “new media”, the blog is more than a decade and a half old. Blogs saw a tremendous increase in influence in the mid-2000s, as more than a quarter of all Americans consulted blogs for information concerning the 2008 U.S elections (Smith, 2009), about double the level from 2004 (Pew, 2008). This jump includes unprecedented use of non-news sources to find political information—social networking and online video sites play important roles, How to cite this paper: Veenstra, A. The Two Blogospheres: Political Blog Use, Participation, and Sophistication during the 2008 U.S Election Season.
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