Will the blogosphere become a Fifth Estate? :: Pew & BuzzMetrics

My sister Karen has become quite interested in the political blogosphere. She sent me this recent publication from Pew Internet & American Life Project in association with Buzzmetrics. Thanks, Karen.

It is an interesting question. Fifth estate? I wrote a post (which I’ve never published) asking if the blogosphere was more like Levittown.

My main two points are: (1) most of the blogosphere looks/sounds the same (CMS/style) and the niche groups sound the same/think the same (the echo effect), (2) CMS has made it so easy (like tract homes) for all these like minded niche audiences to find one another and have conversations. Think “communities” and “neighborhoods” - so, are the blogs “the hood” of the 21st century? (Yes, I have a very big grin on my face as I write that.)

Once you do something unique - you’ll get them all buzzing. So, the key to success online seems to be - “Be unique” - if you really want to make the buzz start. The blogospheres seems to take care of the ‘buzz’ (echo) effect on its own, after you get your niche group’s attention.

The blogosphere: “Is it Levittown?” In some ways, yes. Read more

Stacey Campfield & TN Capitol Hill Intern

No, this isn’t a Jessica Culter type of story. But, there is an intern blog involved.

How would you like to be the PA handling this for any of the interested parties?

A Tennessee state representative, Stacey Campfield, has started a blog in Knoxville. It is not sitting well with old school Knoxville politicos. The silliest part is how an intern may have tried to get into the fray by anonymously answering Campfield in their own blog.

Campfield’s posts that have raised the most ire? Tempest in a Tea Cup and Reform. Of note are the numerous comments the ‘Rep’ has had to remove. Guess some people got a lil’ too vile? Who knows.

You need to know the players:

(1) Tennessee State Representative Stacey Campfield
(2) It is alleged that an intern for the Tennessee Speaker of the House, Jimmy Naifeh, launched a blog in response to Campfield. See the intern’s site (since emptied of posts). And the cached version is here: These Are The Days (Full text of the alleged intern’s two posts are below.)

And, read the story from the Tennessean.com.

Thanks to SayUncle for the lead. Visit there for more links on the story.
Read more

Fraser and Fatal Flaws :: 2004 Election Recap

Ya’ know, if we could just get Fraser P. Seitel to come out of his shell.

See Nov. 9, 2004 JOHN KERRY’S 10 PR FATAL FLAWS. (Registration Required)

And, yes, if you haven’t guessed - I have subscribed to O’Dwyer’s. For my students, if you would like to look at articles, just let me know. I’ll login and you can read at the computer. (I hope O’Dwyer’s doesn’t get mad.) Anyway, you can read while I grade your tests/projects. Uh, right.

Anyway, your grades will be coming along later this week.

Also, here are the remaining available lab hours. Read on: Read more

Here is an interesting application re: voting/politics

Matt Collins posted about how some people are ‘heckling’ other people in voting lines.

Never fear, we have equal opportunity offenders - Republicans and Democrats. It seems that the ‘early voter’ legislation failed to include the ‘50-foot cone of protection’ for voters standing in ‘early voting lines’. Don’t worry. You are protected on Nov. 2nd.

But, the thing I found on the Polipundit’s site that really caught my eye was “Click here to find your polling place“. While it doesn’t necessarily take you to the polling place, it is a listing of all county/parrish (whatever) voter registration offices. (Address and Phone numbers). A simple ‘cgi’ and ‘javascript’ clickable map.

Pretty cool idea. So, just how long did this take to put together. Well, the map probably took longer than all the text and pages - combined. 50 states and Washington, D.C. (No territories, like Puerto Rico. Uh, oh. A former student would not be happy with this. I miss Amy. She’s nice.) The lists are probably located online. So, cut-n-paste with reformatting, etc. But, still - it took some time … and it is cool!

Joe Trippi on MSNBC

Joe Trippi reports that a new poll, implemented via cell phone text messaging, shows that the target demographic of 18-29 year old voters are favoring Kerry by a 15% margin. Trippi suggests that these people (if they actually do vote) may be the deciding factor in the key swing states. If that is true, Kerry wins.

Two examples of these polls: Read more

Uh, “if” this breaks … true or not … it will make ‘October Surprise’ become firmly entrenched in our lexicon

Disclaimer: I had never heard this rumor. I am, quite obviously, late to the game. I am so truly skeptical about this. However, I did not think the mainstream press would cover the ‘isbushwired’ story. As we all know, they did. So, this latest ‘internet rumor’ from blogs is already leaking into some traditional media.

No matter what side of the political debate you are on, this has to be the most bizarre ‘late election’ attempt to discredit a candidate. It reads like a bad Hollywood movie. But, here it is …

October surprise? And we thought the the Osama Bin Laden video was a big story? How about Kerry’s discharge papers?

What could it be compared to? Hmm? Well, not the same thing, but how about McGovern’s selection of Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri and the discoveries that ensued thereafter? No. But, that is the closest thing I can think of … anyone have a better comparison?

Thank goodness this never made it to the mainstream media. Rational thought prevailed. So, I remove the post. The story was so bizarre and foolish. I’m glad cooler heads prevailed.

Media Bias is everywhere … even the ‘Weekly Reader’

nikkiana has a blog. It is a WordPress blog. In it she talks about politics. And, through nikkiana, I learned that even the ‘Weekly Reader‘ is guilty of ‘media bias’…

Every Tomorrow In Which, We Discuss Politics

I distinctively remember recieving an issue of Weekly Reader and on the back page was a little poll to do a mock election within the classroom. There was a picture of Bush and Clinton with checkboxes next to their pictures, and missing from the options was Ross Perot. I was horrified and before our mock election started, I made a fuss over the missing name of the ballot, and if I remember correctly, Perot even won our mock election.

Nonetheless, Weekly Reader’s omission of Ross Perot on their mock election ballot was my first encounter with the media bias towards the Republican and Demoratic parties. I may not have recognized it for what it was at eight years old, but it disgusted me then and it disgusts me now.

I really like her blog. I hope you’ll check it out and click on her ‘WordPress Top Sites’ button in the bottom right. Her blog deserves to be ranked high!

More on Blogs in politics and fund-raising

Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/23/2004 |
Web logs influence is growing

Online political opinion sites give big boost to some underdog campaigns.

By Leonard N. Fleming

In the savvy world of online political pundits, Democrat Virginia “Ginny” Schrader didn’t have a prayer against popular incumbent U.S. Rep. James C. Greenwood. But when he shocked Congress by scrapping his reelection bid in July, they smelled blood.

And after a 16-year-old New Jerseyan and self-proclaimed “blogger” broke the news over the Internet, online contributors rained cash down on Schrader like gifts from heaven. Forty-eight hours after Greenwood’s announcement, Schrader - with about $7,000 in the bank before Greenwood dropped out - had $34,954.

To date, both blogger and campaign officials estimate that Schrader has received more than $50,000 in blogger money. Last week, she reported a total of $374,545 to the Federal Election Commission in her battle with Republican Michael G. Fitzpatrick in the nationally watched Eighth Congressional District race.

Steve Rubel: Micro Persuasion Endorses John Kerry for President

Via Poynter Online: Posted by Steve Outing 2:29:01 PM

A Blogger’s Endorsement

PR blogger Steve Rubel has endorsed John Kerry for U.S. president. He made the pronouncement yesterday, in what I suspect will become a trend among bloggers to make their views known and to influence others.

Due to his popularity, and his ‘celebrity’, in the PR and blogging world, Rubel’s ‘coming out’ is noteworthy.

Micro Persuasion: Micro Persuasion Endorses John Kerry for President

I have shied away from any significant discussion of politics on this weblog, but after seeing Fahrenheit 911 over the weekend, watching the debates and thinking about it a lot, I now feel compelled to officially endorse John Kerry for President.

Read more

what is a meeting with Tom Ridge really like? and, blogs in Crisis Management

Always interesting, here is a new post from Rex Hammock. He was in Washington, D.C. meeting with Tom Ridge, Homeland Security Secretary.

You should find this interesting for a number of reasons. First, to read a first-person account of the atmosphere in such a meeting. Second, this insight into “blogs in Crisis Management” — “One of the items on our still-in-draft emergency plan is a temporary blog that will replace our usual website,” writes Hammock. We’ve discussed ‘fast’ blog implementation for crisis situtations.

Consider this on Crisis Blogs from ‘tBBC‘ (the Big Blog Company) and this from WOLves: Crisis Management.

Visit Hammock Publishing and use your ‘common sense’ in deciphering what magazine / website he’ll write in re: the meeting.

Supplemental reading: ready.gov | NEA Crisis Planning | PRSA Crisis Planning | Survive the Unthinkable … | Crisis Communication Series (McLoughlin Media)

Christian Science Monitor Online strategy game … check this out!

The Christian Science Monitor is proud to make available “Power Politics III”

New presidential election simulation game lets you create an aggressive ad strategy, debate opponents – even schedule a whistle-stop tour. Do you have what it takes to create a winning presidential campaign?

The Christian Science Monitor is proud to make available “Power Politics III”, the third version of the award-winning presidential election simulation game developed and owned by Kellogg Creek Software, Inc. This free online game lets you act as a campaign manager for any of the past and present 2004 presidential candidates.

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