ZUNIGA: Based on the preliminary analyses presented here, it appears that the blogosphere seems to reinvigorate American politics rather than taking the wind out of its sails.

Weblogs, traditional sources online and political participation: an assessment of how the internet is changing the political environment

Homero Gil De Zúñiga, Eulàlia Puig-I-Abril and Hernando Rojas
New Media Society 2009; 11; 553
DOI: 10.1177/1461444809102960
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Abstract

Research has shown consistently that news consumption both online and offline is related positively to interpersonal discussion, political involvement and political engagement. However, little consideration has been given to the role that new sources of information may exert on different forms of political engagement. Based on secondary analysis of data collected by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, this article contrasts the influence of traditional sources of information online with that of emergent sources (blogs) in predicting further political discussion, campaigning and participation in both the online and the offline domains. The results show that the use of traditional sources online is related positively to different types of political engagement, both online and offline. Most interestingly, the article finds that blog use emerges as an equally important predictor of political engagement in the online domain.

Conclusion

In addition to the cross-sectional nature of the data, it is important to point out other limits of the analyses: the measure employed to assess blog use; the moderate variance explained by the models; and for offline political participation, the consistent pattern of effects presented by this article fails to materialize. 

Regarding the measure employed to asses blog use, these data do not allow us to distinguish between different blog content and specific traffic patterns within the blogosphere. These differences within the blogosphere are far from trivial (see Drezner and Farrell, 2004) ultimately, and future research that is able to flesh out these dimensions will provide more robust models of how the blogosphere facilitates the emergence of a networked public sphere or spheres (Fraser, 1992). 

In relation to the moderate amount of variance explained – and understanding that the general nature of the blog measure described above potentially underestimates the relationship between political-oriented blog use and political participation – the models are accounting for significant variance and most importantly, incremental variance above and beyond that explained by control blocks.

Finally, regarding offline political participation, it could be argued that eventually blog-‘sponsored’ political activity will not transcend the virtual realm, and therefore could be treated as inconsequential. 

However, the present authors do not agree with such an interpretation: their expectation is that political outcomes of blog use will result in enhanced participation at all levels of public life. Ultimately, it is likely that the distinction between online and offline activities will become blurred very quickly, with citizens ‘navigating’ all realms of public life passing from mediated to non-mediated scenarios in a fluid fashion. However, in the meantime, it is conceivable that as political blog use expands, these relationships will become significant.

It is important to keep in mind that this study has been very careful to control for multiple concepts that serve as antecedents to political participation. In addition to demographics and controlling for internet experience and access conditions, the study has included a host of media variables which have been related in the past to expanded political participation, and yet blog use remained a significant predictor of online discussion, online campaigning and other forms of online participation. This suggests that certain facets of the democratizing potential of the internet are being achieved through the blogosphere in terms of an expanded public debate and increased participation.

At the same time, these findings pose great challenges to the notion of a blogging-centered public. Will the introduction of this multiplicity of voices, some more concerned with expression than with ‘accurate’ accounts of situations, ultimately hinder the quality of public debate? Will blog use follow a power law distribution (see Barabasi, 2002), according to which newcomers become part of an expanded public debate, but one which does not have the potential to continue to grow due to limited attention spans, among other things? Of course, these are all questions for future research, but based on the preliminary analyses presented here, it appears that the blogosphere seems to reinvigorate American politics rather than taking the wind out of its sails.

However, it could be argued that these results merely document the migration of politically active citizens to the blogosphere with no net gains in political participation. Nonetheless, other data such as escalating voter turnout in the USA since 19966 are consistent with the argument of a reinvigorating political landscape. Acknowledging that new media may not be the only factor to explain this political revival, it seems plausible to think that it has an active role in such a process, although formally testing this proposition requires data which goes beyond the scope of this article.

An important caveat to consider is that, despite the important increase in internet access which has occurred over the past years (Gil de Zúñiga, 2006), other digital inequalities have appeared (for example in broadband connections or nuanced use). 

This study considers only internet users, and provides an optimistic outlook on the political engagement of those users that engage traditional news sources online, as well as blogs, but tells us very little about non-users and the potential pathways which can be used to further civic and political engagement among these individuals. It would appear that as the influence of online uses grows, groups without access, with limited access or that suffer from other forms of digital inequality can continue to be disenfranchised from the political system.

Suggestions for future research

Future research needs to address these questions, and most importantly, it will need to reconceptualize the relationship between news and blogs in a context of increased blurriness between news and opinion, as well as taking into account increasing fluidity between the offline and online domains. Overall, this study provides additional support for the notion that online news consumption matters for public engagement, but most importantly, that the sphere of public debate is being expanded by a blog-centered debate that contributes to a revitalization of American politics.