My recent blog posting about Twitter (it’s a text message blogging service, which I’ve just started using) was unusual -in that in triggered off a sequence of other blogs posts, both on Liberal Democrat sites (e.g. on this site and on Alex Foster’s blog) and also on others (e.g. Puffbox).
I say unusual – because it’s rare to see a story start on one Liberal Democrat blog and then be picked up and spread across the Liberal Democrat blogosphere, let alone beyond the confines of the party.
The contrast with the American political blogosphere – and even right-wing blogs in the UK – is, to me, striking. And I say that particularly because, from what I’ve seen of the stats, my blog has one of the largest readerships of any Liberal Democrat blog – not in Liberal Democrat Voice’s league, but possibly second only to it. So why is it that it is so rare for my stories to be picked up and spread online, even when they are newsworthy enough for mainstream journalists to be picking them up and running with them?
Perhaps you think it’s because of something I don’t get right with my blog – but the same question applies to all the Liberal Democrat blogs I’ve seen. Despite the impressive and growing range of Liberal Democrat blogs – it seems very rare for a story to be picked up and spread.
Where stories do get spread you see two benefits – they reach a wider audience, as we don’t all have exactly the same audience, and also along the way they often pick up more facts and details as different people chip in with their own pieces of information. To go back to my Twitter posting example – if you read the three pieces linked to above, you’ll end up with a more rounded picture of how politicians could and do use Twitter than if you’d just read my original piece.
Bigger audience, better information – that’s got to be a good thing, hasn’t it? So why doesn’t it happen more often?
It’s not as if we don’t know what each other is saying. Through things like the Blogger of the Year awards at conference, the excellent LibDemBlogs aggregator, the group blogger interviews with leading party figures etc etc I think there is a real sense of community amongst Liberal Democrat bloggers, and everyone spends time reading each other.
So overall I think this is symptomatic of a wider issue – and that’s that Liberal Democrat bloggers tend to be either fairly inward or local looking. There are many blogs that really talk just about what is happening in the party, along with a smaller number of – often excellent – blogs which are clearly aimed at a particular local audience (including some particularly good councillor blogs aimed as residents in those wards – understandably enough!).
What we seem to be mostly missing are those combative, outward looking souls who spot a story and want to help spread or extend the message or the point or the attack, as opposed to inwardly looking expressing their own views on it. So you tend to get stories not spreading, and where they are commented on, they are only commented on by those who have reservations to express.
Mark Pack made a similar point at the first Blogger of the Year awards in 2006:
A lot of people feel that blogging is very much them commentating on something. They’re expressing they’re views; they’re putting them out there; they’re letting people see what they think. [But] one of the trends that is very clear in the US is that a lot of bloggers feel that rather than being commentators actually they want to be really active participants in the political process and quite deliberately use their blogs to campaign.
At the moment, it is as if Liberal Democrat blogs provide the online equivalent of committee meetings and pizza and politics events – vital but inward looking – but don’t provide the online equivalent of those outward looking activities such as leafleting and canvassing.
To me, that is the collective challenge we face if we really want to help build the party into leading a wider liberal movement that doesn’t just bring greater electoral success for us, but also brings a stronger voice to liberal causes and which reaches out and engages with those audiences that are so often disaffected with politics.
Lynne Featherstone is the party’s Youth and Equality spokesperson.
25 Comments
I think you are asking too much of blogging. Hansard published some survey results yesterday finding that only 13% of voters are very interested in politics. Only 51% describe themselves as at all interested, and the number is falling.
Therefore the potential reach of political blogs is limited to 13% of the population, perhaps 51% at election time.
Political broadcast programmes and broadsheet papers command a limited audience. Politics is not interesting to most people, politics is a waste of time to most people.
Political blogs are a minority interest, you will only increase your audience reach going down a populist route. Which is why Guido’s gossip and gags will always have more readers than your policy punditry.
Personally I think it is a good thing that politics is held in low esteem and of little interest to most people. That is because I have an ideological preference for an increased non-politicised space in our culture and society. Less politics is concomitant of less government and reducing the role of the state is a libertarian priority.
Guido, what you say is a useful clarifier. Yes, political blogs are a minority interest, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility of wider influence, of a diluted sort.
The real question is not how can we get everyone in the UK reading a Lib Dem blog – that would be impossible, and worrying. The question is how can we present ourselves and expand our blogging activities so that more people, in certain politic-nerd sections of the media say, take notice of us. Is there (or not) an equation whereby a critical mass of blogging activity of a certain sort results either in newsworthiness of some sort (as it did during Ming’s resignation), or in a (slightly) wider audience having our point of view brought to them?
The point is, it only has to be a *slightly* wider audience. Don’t forget, our problem is that people just don’t know that much about us. It’s the drip-drip effect of information we’re after here, rather than anything more sophisticated, and that lends itself well to dilution.
Entirely in agreement with your last para though.
I think your last para, Guido, is exactly the opposite of what I think. A working democracy needs a healthy scepticism, but an active engagement – not a lack of interest.
Holding politicians in a low esteem, no interest, leads to terrible polticians, both locally and nationally, making increasingly authoritiarian pronouncements that aren’t challenged or even considered. It ruins any pretence of accountability.
Like it or not, there are many things that require some form of collective decision-making process – although I certainly don’t want to see central Government doing it, and I think the proper line between representative democracy and direct democracy is a hard one to get right. I also think that there’s a lot that the “state” of whatever level should stay out of.
But the way to ensure the state stays out of my business, is not to encourage my friends and neighbours to take no interest in the decisions being taken in their names and mine.
As to the proper place for blogs and blogging: if anyone becomes engaged with small ‘p’ politics because of a blog then that’s a good thing.
That said, they are a minority interest and will remain so for the near future.
If the aim is to use them for campaigning (as opposed to interest and discussion) then I seriously wonder if they’re worth the time and effort. Far better to knock on some doors and ask people what they think, or to acheive something locally.
If they can help spread stories wider through journalists, then that’s a good thing – but perhaps that’s something for press/pr officers to be doing. Journalists know what angle they want, when they come to the blogs they know what they’re looking for to back up the stance they want to take (eg disquiet about Ming or right-wing “Tory grassroots” on ConHome).
Sometimes local blogs need to focus things from other blogs down to the local level, rather than try to disperse them more widely up and across the blogosphere.
I try to find local examples and show the relevance of the broader political debates to local issues.
And it does get picked up by the local press very well. An item I wrote about Nick Clegg and ID cards got in the local papers, with the reporter himself making the link to the loss of data from the hospital.
I’d have to go along with Mary. The problem Lynne is the nature of the beast. There are thousands of Tories blogging away because they wouldn’t dream of writing a leaflet, knocking on a door or talking to members of the public. Lib Dems (with the honourable exception of Lawrence Boyce) do all of this as well as being very involved in their local communities. Most of us blog irregularly and more often than not on local matters. I think you are right Lynne, but unless you can get legislation through to create a 30 hour day….
From now on, I’m going to assume that anyone who can’t spell my name right is an idiot.
Guido’s last paragraph is interesting, but flawed by the way it correlates state with government.
I’d say the measure of esteem politics is held in is a direct reflection of the level of informed awareness of the population, while the level of interest reflects the relevance the political process has to any specific individual.
I also support an increased non-politicised space in culture and society, but we should know and be conscious that doesn’t mean anything is de-politicised or disengaged from the social mix (except in the abstract). Less group-state is concomitant with increased individual engagement and responsibility – politics and government are unavoidable.
Blogs are one further step towards providing the full means for personal government, but I think there is still a long way to go.
Its good to see an mp trying out twitter. It may or may not be useful, but the only way to find out is to try.
@gudo – blogs have a potentially wider audience than just people who read them or are directly interested in politics via google, especially if MPs are blogging about every day issues that matter to their constituents.
Memespring – you’re right. I believe the majority of people who find my blog are not specifically interested in politics, but they are interested in the community. The top Google search phrases are for local personalities, local services like park and ride, and for local news events like a recent road accident. This gives me an opportunity to gently show that politics is relevant to local life.
Well im a combative soul lol but seriously I see the point here and I have often lamented the contrast with America and admire how things are over there in this regard at least. I blog quite frequently on Daily Kos which is a big liberal blog and quite vibrant.
If you want to reach out to those disaffected then my advice would be to produce a more rounded culture. I think political blogs in America often are more newspaperish in that there is consistent diet of politics but also more what you might call lifestyle content too (though this isnt really true of Daily Kos). After all part of the problem with political engagement is that it is seen as elitist, the preserve of a rather weird species of human being who possibly come from another planet. Of course this isnt true but I think it is certainly a preception out there….
In reality although people may abhor poilitics, they almost certainly hold political views of some sort although they may not think so. If you want to connect to people then you have to start showing that politicians and activists are people too who just happen to take an active role in politics….
I think the danger in politics is to be inward looking but the internet can be a place where we cure that…that doesnt mean diluting politics in anyway….then the other thing is to have everything in its place…quite frankly id rather blog on LDV than have a blog on my own with minimal visitors but when I write on it I am primarily expecting to address fellow Liberal Democrats who are already in the process and the party…however I think LDV does synthasise opinion well with news…a LDV like approach in a more outward facing blog addressed to people not currently engaged with politics would work wonders to my mind…
Are we making the most of blogging?
Not quite would be my answer. For a start, the blogosphere is just too fragmented. Very few people can realistically own a high traffic blog. The rest of us, in my view, should club together on a site such as Lib Dem Voice and thereby exert a greater collective influence. (You would think that a pro-European party would get this instantly.) I’ve lost count of the number of times people have asked me why I have not set up my own blog. The answer is that I have never been more determined not to do so, for the reasons just given. And I’m not sure that politics is quite so boring as Guido makes out. Though I certainly think that Guido can be a bit of a bore himself sometimes.
Lol…Laurence makes a good point about owning your own blog…id rather pour my effort into LDV and something like it than have a blog of my own….
I think the main problem is that most Lib Dem Bloggers use Lib Dem Blogs as their blog roll. You, or I should say we, now I’ve been pressganged, mostly only read each other’s blogs. If you read and comment on blogs outside the politisphere, the owners of those blogs will read and comment on your blogs.
For instance, I read and linked to your blog post on the embryology bill the other day, Lynne. My friend Debi read my post, and thereby your post, and then went to the recording of the Now Show, in which she saw Mitch Benn perform a song which pretty much paraphrased your post (see her post here). You to me to Debi to Mitch Benn is not a big leap, but it’s still four separate audiences for your original post (even if, as seems likely, Mitch Benn’s song does not end up being broadcast).
If every Lib Demmer had an audience of non Lib Dems, even if it was just friends and family, that would help enormously.
Yes, thanks Jennie – that little spreading of my posting amongst your friends produced a little flurry of extra traffic to my site from all sorts of places – and that’s what I think we need to achieve more often in future. Not just to my site though!
Very good point. I think it is useful in our inward looking process but the question is, how to we get our blogs to be recognised outside?
Re: “…only 13% of voters are very interested in politics.”
Only? That is a vast audience which — forgive me — none of you have yet cracked. Not even Guido.
Most of the political blogs in the UK are far too focused on what I would classify as big-P Politics — ie, Parliament, the Parties, the Policies. Institutional politics. Frankly, it’s the easy stuff, because the mainstream media cover it. All you need is a URL or two, a pithy observation, and you’re done. PMQs, the latest poll, a leader speech….whatever the MSM have covered or are likely to cover.
I don’t think one needs to be especially populist, in the tabloid sense, but finding a distinctive mission and putting passion into it surely is step one. I find a certain bloodlessness in the UK blogosphere, together with a good deal of cynicism.
Guido is monitored because he’s a bit of fun, and because politicians are afraid he’ll mention them. But Iain Dale is watched because he’s human and humane, not because he outdoes the Sun or the Express.
And, for what’s it’s worth, my vote for best political blog in the UK would have to go to a blog which isn’t very political at all – Rachel North’s blog. Just look at this: http://rachelnorthlondon.blogspot.com/2008/03/blackstock-road-raids.html
Intensely personal, filled with tangible detail, her posts contain authentic emotion and experience with which people can identify.
Difficult for an MP, I realize. Your experiences are bound to be different. But perhaps that’s the opportunity – to share what you see behind the scenes at Westminster in ways us ordinary folks can connect with. Could you have gotten away with disclosing ambiguous feelings, assuming you had some, when told to sit out the EU treaty vote?
So will you publish you statistics Lynne so that we can judge the size of your readership for ourselves? My stats are openly available on my blog.
I tend to avoid blogging on introspective Liberal Democrat subjects if I can and concentrate on what is going on in the real world. I also use my blog as a database for campaigning material so, if I see a good campaign angle or useful statistic I will put it on the blog and then use the search engine to find it again if and when I need it. I can also refer others to it as well.
I find that my blog is well-read by journalists and that occasionally they will pick up on a story from it. Often it will be used as background research by myself, my researchers or even by the media, and in some instances because I tend to adopt themes such as social justice issues in my posts, a journalist will think of using me for a story because he or she is aware that I have an interest/strong view on it, a fact he/she has picked up from reading the blog.
Peter – I’ve just had a look through your blog and can’t spot the webstats. Have I missed something?
I’d actually be a bit worried if displaying visitor rates became the norm for blogs. Many of us are aiming at quite small audiences, such as our wards, and we don’t need to be competitive about readership. What matters is that it is being read by the right people; in my case that means some of my electors plus the media.
Click on the extreme tracking symbol below the blogroll.
Thanks, found them.
One other problem with webstats is that different systems report different measures. Mine, for example, gives visits, but not unique visitors. I guess my ‘visits’ are the equivalent of your ‘visits including reloads’.
Although I’m not sure that comparing webstats helps much because it discourages bloggers with lower readerships, I have to say that I’m quite pleased to see that my little local blog is quite comparable to yours having clocked up 11,000 visits last month.
And you said you were not competitive 🙂
I don’t allow access to my stats so as to allow comparisons nor do I seek any. I do so because it just seemed natural to be transparent.
The only reason I asked Lynne to publish her stats is because she made assertions about them. In such instances, having boasted about your stats it seems only right to then make them widely available.
I lied 🙂
A rather thoughtful take on this issue here: http://clickeral.blogspot.com/2008/03/blogging-and-stuff-part-2.html
Chris makes the point that American liberals and conservatives constitute formidable movements not dependent on the Republican or Democratic parties. I think that’s correct. In fact, the party-affiliated blogs in the US aren’t much different from our own.
As a further point, the USA does not have a national tabloid press – that is now done by the blogs.
Our niche is narrower.