Phillip Martin - Strengthening the 50-State Blog Network

7/31/2019 Phillip Martin - Strengthening the 50-State Blog Network

1/48

THE 50-STATE BLOG NETWORKUnderstanding Current & Future Political Capacity

WRITTEN FOR:

Chris BowersOpen Left, Blog PAC

WRITTEN BY:

Phillip MartinMPP2 Candidate

FACULTY & THESIS ADVISOR:

Thomas PattersonHarvard Kennedy School of Government

March 31, 2009


2/48

[PAGELEFTINTENTIONALLYBLANK]


3/48

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...............................................................................PAGE 1 - 3

ABOUT: BLOGPAC AND THE 50-STATE BLOG NETWORK ........................ PAGE 5 - 6

METHODOLOGY ...............................................................................................PAGE 7

RECOMMENDATION 1: STRENGTHENING OF IDENTITY........................... PAGE 9 - 3 0

WHY IS A SHARED PURPOSE FOR THE50-STATE BLOG NETWORK IMPORTANT? ........................................PAGE 9 - 1 7

The Medium as the Movement:Opportunities and Barriers of Organizing Online................PAGE 9 - 1 2

Large Benefits of a Shared Purpose:Reeds Law and the Long Tail of Blogging.......................PAGE 13-15

Small Benefits of a Shared Purpose:Communication, Capacity, and Consequences..................PAGE 15-17

WHAT ARE THE SHARED PURPOSES OF THE

50-STATE BLOG NETWORK?..........................................................PAGE 18-30

RECOMMENDATION #2: COALITION ACTION STEPS ............................ PAGE 31-38

MORE THAN MONEY: SAYING GOODBYE TOONLINE ADVERTISING AS AN INVESTMENT ...................................PAGE 3134

MOVING FORWARD: COALITION ACTION STEPS TOINCREASE POLITICAL CAPACITY ....................................................PAGE 3538

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................... PAGE 39

ENDNOTES.................................................................................... PAGE 41-44


4/48



5/48

The 50-State Blog Network Phillip MartinPage 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

THE CHALLENGES

There is tremendous interest among politicians, political advocacy groups, and business,media, and public interest institutions alike to learn how to harness the power of theprogressive netroots community. However, there may be no collection of people that yearns forincreased organization and increased power more than the voices of the netroots communitythemselves a community challenged by the inherent disorganization of its own medium:

The netroots is not a singular entity with a clearly defined agenda.

It is, instead, a generic term used to describe a radically de-

centralized and diverse collection of people and organizations that

engage in political activism and discussion online. As such, there

is no formulaic means through which to appease "it" or anger "it."

There is no "it," exactly, so "it" doesn't have a clear agenda.

Chris Bowers, Why Should Anyone Respect the Netroots?1

Yet, while the vast network of the progressive netroots remains radically decentralized,there is also strong reason to believe that investing in a system that can unite the progressivenetroots is a worthwhile use of time and resources. If, for no other reason, than because themedium is, in and of itself, the movement:

The progressive netroots are seeking to change the way the

government operates, not the way the government itself isstructured and certainly not the way that people live. As such, the

netroots are not the movement, but the network-neutral internet is.

One seeks to change policy, while the other is actively

reorganizing major institutions in this country even as you read

this. In fact, the rise of progressive netroots, and the dominance of

the progressive netroots over its conservative rivals, is probably an

inevitable side-effect of this larger social movement. Democratized

cultural production and a pluralistic public sphere are inherently

progressive, after all.

Chris Bowers, Yes, The Medium is The Movement2

Bowers arguments identify the challenges and benefits of organizing the progressivenetroots. In order to help effectively organize and assert its influence in American politics, theprogressive netroots must expand their current political and organizational capacity. To do sowill allow them to create change for the candidates and causes they champion, as well as givethem an opportunity to succeed in furthering their mediums movement.


6/48


THE OPPORTUNITIES

The 50-state blog network is a small subset of the larger, more diverse netrootscommunity. With fifty-four participating blogs, the network is more clearly defined and shares astronger natural connection at various levels of professional and political nodes than the

larger, more disaggregate online progressive community.

However, with no central purpose and the current economic downturn limiting revenuesthat may be collected through the practice of online advertising, bloggers within the 50-statenetwork are struggling.3 The platform many of the state blogs run on, Soapblox, was recentlyhacked to within an inch of its life;a massive fundraiser was required to save it. 4 The state ofVirginia, championed as a netroots success story in the book,Netroots Rising, has had two of itsmajor state-level blogs shut down in the past four months though one appears to be making acomeback.5 Unless the challenges of the 50-state blog network can be met, local and state blogswill be met with the same dire fate of many newspapers around the country.

Yet, despite its challenges, the 50-state blog network has the opportunity to increase itspolitical capacity and effectiveness in a way that most community newspapers and politicalcampaigns cannot. Due to the progressive netroots underlying belief in what Yochai Benklercalls the networked information economy, the 50-state blog network is likely to exist, as agroup, for decades to come.6 Even if specific blogs shut down or change leadership, there willalways be other voices that will grow and gain influence over time. Focusing on strengtheningthe 50-state blog network as a system could give the larger actors in the netroots movement including and especially BlogPAC and its affiliated partnerships with national blogs such asDailyKos,MyDD, Firedoglake, Open Left, Swing State Project, and others a chance to developa more sophisticated and sustainable progressive infrastructure at the local levels.

THE RECOMMENDATIONS

The underlying premise of the following recommendations is that state and national progressiveblogs understand that enhancing their existing relationship would be mutually beneficial to eachothers success. Though other methods of growth and development are possible includingcompetition-based models and/or the monopolization of the netroots infrastructure as a whole the coalition-based approach is necessary because it embraces the inherent values of themovements medium: the internet.

BlogPAC and other national progressive blogs should focus on strengthening the infrastructureof the 50-state blog network through the implementation of the following actions:

TOP PRIORITY: STRENGTHENING OF IDENTITY

Develop a set of movement-based principles in order to create a shared purpose. Thisrecommendation is the most crucial and most urgent; without it, many of the moreaction-oriented recommendations will be difficult to fully execute. An extensivediscussion on potential sources for a shared purpose gathered from existingdiscussions among those in the netroots community is provided in this report.


7/48


OTHER PRIORITIES: COALITION ACTION STEPS

Create a dual syndication model for greater exchange of information. A two-wayagreement facilitated by BlogPAC between the national and state-level blogs in the50-state blog network should be developed that (1) allows national voices to write at

least once a week on all participating state blogs to speak about national BlogPACefforts and positive feedback loop policies, and (2) creates a schedule for 50-statebloggers to post original research ,on participating national blogs regarding state-levelcampaigns or policies that are important to the larger progressive movement.

Create an online training program for 50-state bloggers. The best ideas of socialmedia and grassroots campaigning should be more freely discussed, and not left toannual discussions at the progressive bloggersNetroots Nation convention or othersimilar events. In exchange for either monetary payments to BlogPAC or anagreement to meet specific performance goals of BlogPAC efforts such as the Use Itor Lose It campaign or the recent Accountability Now project, national blogs

should offer online training sessions at least twice a year to promote best practicesthroughout the 50-state blog network.

Promote the creation and growth of regional or state-based alliances. In order toincrease the political capacity of the progressive netroots infrastructure that are notpart of the 50-state blog network, BlogPAC should strengthen networked nodes forthe 50-state bloggers so they may, in turn, accept the mantle of leadership in theirown state or regional communities. BlogPAC can create networking opportunities,commission case studies, and develop their own connections at the state-level.

The recommendations listed above are not exclusive; that is, more and better ideas quitepossibly exist that should be considered, examined, and tested. The recommendation aboutdeveloping a shared purpose, especially, must be fully developed by participants in the netrootscommunity. Furthermore, the action-oriented recommendations could be tested with pilotprojects in order to determine what works, what doesnt, and what can be improved upon beforethe recommendations are played out across the larger coalition.

Finally, it goes without saying that the entire report should be openly discussed in publicforums throughout the 50-state blog network. A task force of state-level bloggers, overseen by afew national bloggers, should facilitate the discussions. Those discussions and any short-runpilot projects that could be feasibly tested between today and August should be presented anddiscussed atNetroots Nation in August 2009.


8/48




9/48


ABOUT: BLOGPAC AND THE 50-STATE BLOG NETWORK

Netroots is the collective name given to progressive political blogs. Over the last sevenor eight years, the netroots have grown from a small collection of bloggers sharing thoughts in

online journals to a mammoth network comprised of thousands of citizen journalists and politicalactivists. Their work, which is largely voluntary, consists of chronicling the daily politicalactions of local, state, and national government, as well as engaging through various state andnational entry points in electoral politics. In August 2005, Chris Bowers and Matt Stollerauthored the report, Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere: A New Force in AmericanPolitics.7 Though the statistics they cite are now outdated, many of the structural strengths andweaknesses identified in their report still exist. This report is an attempt to build on their work,while focusing on a specific subset of the netroots: the 50-state blog network.

The 50-state blog network is a subset of the larger progressive netroots, which is a subsetof the larger movement of the internet revolution. There are five national blogs that are

considered to be part of the 50-state blog network, includingDaily Kos, Open Left,MyDD,Firedoglake, and Swing State Project. The remaining forty-nine blogs are state-level blogs thatfocus primarily on state-level politics. Among all the fifty states, only six Arkansas, Hawaii,Kansas, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Wyoming are not represented in the 50-state blognetwork. The states of Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, and Texas are represented twice.Though the network is relatively large in size, it exists as a loose-knit organization with anaccompanying loose-knit identity. The lack of clear identity within the progressive netroots is abarrier to its development, as Chris Bowers, founder ofMyDD and current writer for Open Left,discussed in a post he made titled, Why Should Anyone Respect the Netroots? 8 In his post,Bowers identified two central barriers to the netroots acting as a driving force in Americanpolitics: the inability to define what the netroots actually is, and the inability to create an agenda

to determine what the amorphous group of political activists can actually accomplish. Thequestion of identity is an important one, and is critically discussed in this report.

When talking about the netroots, many in existing political, media, and businessinstitutions refer to the group in broad and inaccurate generalizations. The conventional wisdomis that the netroots is comprised exclusively of white, young men who, as one pundit put it, dolittle more than sit around eating Cheetos in their underwear.9 Bowers refutes the argument:

A quick survey of staff and front-page writers of the twelve groups

most commonly associated with the "netroots" shows a wide range

of diversity in terms of race, gender and sexual orientation. Not

only are these groups more diverse than is commonly understood,but they blow away both the established media and the Democratic

political establishment in terms of diversity.

Chris Bowers, The Myth of the Non-Diverse Netroots10


10/48


11/48


METHODOLOGY

To make recommendations for how BlogPAC and other national blogs can enhance thepolitical capacity of the 50-state blog network, the following sources of information were used:

LITERATURE REVIEW

A large portion of the report is based on an extensive review of existing literature on theprogressive netroots predominantly the writings of netroots leaders. The discussion withinreport relies on the existing voices in the progressive netroots because those voices haveestablished credibility within the community, and, as such, are uniquely suited to make the casefor the needs and interests of the progressive netroots infrastructure.

Additionally, several books written by leaders of the netroots including Taking on theSystem, The Progressive Revolution, andNetroots Rising as well as other literature on the

internet revolution were used to shape the recommendations of the report.

SURVEY OF THE 50-STATE BLOG NETWORK

A survey of the 50-state blog network was conducted in order to better understand thenature of the 50-state blog network. The analysis, though, was for informational notinstructional purposes. Results were used to verify information gathered in the literature reviewand to better understand the existing political capacity of the 50-state blog network. Those resultsthat prove to be crucial to the analysis including participation in the Liberal Blog AdvertisingNetwork, the number of writers per blog, and what software platform bloggers use are includedin the report. Those that were not crucial to the analysis were not reproduced.

It should be noted that a preliminary survey to test the acceptance of the proposedrecommendations was deemed ineffectual without prior community-wide discussion of the report.Once the larger netroots community can discuss the proposed recommendations, a follow-upsurvey will be created to gauge opinions on existing and additional recommendations.

DISCUSSION FOCUSED RECOMMENDATIONS

The recommendations of the report are discussion focused in order to enhance thecredibility of each recommendation. As BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network continue todevelop within the scope of the evolving networked information economy created by the internet

revolution, identifying the right changes to the system remains an inexact science. However,technical solutions that attempt to provide hierarchical changes to complex problems areantithetical to the purpose of the movement. In accordance with the networked informationeconomy that exists within the progressive netroots infrastructure, all participants within thecoalition must be able to evaluate, discuss, critique, and improve ideas introduced in this report.In order for that to occur, discussion-focused recommendations must be made.


12/48




13/48


TOP PRIORITY: STRENGTHENING OF IDENTITY

The first priority must be to develop a set of movement-based principles in order to

create a shared purpose. This recommendation is the most crucial and most urgent;

without it, many of the more action-oriented recommendations that follow later in

the report will be difficult to execute to their furthest potential.

WHY IS A SHARED PURPOSE FOR THE 50-STATE BLOG NETWORK IMPORTANT?

BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network must pursue the formalization of a sharedpurpose in order to counteract the inherent disorganization of the community. Organizing arounda shared purpose creates opportunities for (1) a more efficient flow of communication across thenetwork; (2) the enhanced capacity to develop strategy that is beneficial to the network; and, (3)an increase in the return on investment for campaigns and causes championed by the network.

THE MEDIUM AS THE MOVEMENT: OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS OF ORGANIZING ONLINE

The Internet revolution has fundamentally reorganized the way humans interact. YochaiBenkler, the Co-Director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University,begins his book, The Wealth of Networks, by stressing the significance of how the internetrevolution has changed society:

Information, knowledge, and culture are central to human freedom

and human development. How they are produced and exchanged in

our society critically affects the way we see the state of the worldas it is and might be; who decides these questions; and how we, as

societies and politics, come to understand what can and ought to

be doneThe change brought about by the networked information

environment is deep. It is structural. It goes to the very foundations

of how liberal markets and liberal democracies have coevolved for

almost two centuries.14

The internet revolution marks a turning point for a new generation of individuals that,either through vocation or volunteer-efforts, want to change the American political system. TheMillennial generation, especially, has shown a propensity for advocating an administrative

approach that decentralizes the administration of government, even as it expands governmentand its functions.15 However, engagement with the internet revolution is not limited to youngergenerations of Americans; a 2008 Consumer Electronics Usage Survey conducted by Accentureshowed that baby boomers are embracing popular consumer technology applications nearly 20times faster than younger generation.16 An independent blog calledInside Facebookrecentlyreported that the number of United States Facebook users over age thirty-five nearly doubled insixty days from the end of January 2009 through March 2009.17 Persons of all age are embeddedin the internet revolution. It can be argued, though, that progressive bloggers are leading the way.


14/48


Bloggers within the 50-state blog network are not the driving force of the internetrevolution. Though some observers consider them the Early Majority18 of those who adaptedfastest to online communication, they are still just a piece of the larger online puzzle:

[T]he progressive netroots are simply a subset of a larger social

movement that is re-organizing the daily relationship Americanshave with our cultural and media institutions. That social

movement is the network-neutral internet. The medium is the

movement.


A 2006 study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project simply titled,Bloggers found that bloggers have taken to pushing the envelope of the interactive and user-generated properties of the internet revolution much more than other internet users. The studyfound that:

44% of bloggers compared to only 18% of internet users have taken content theyfound online and recreated it whether it was video, music, or simple words intotheir own artistic creation.

77% of bloggers have shared something online that they created themselves,compared to just 26% of internet users.

95% of bloggers get news from the internet, compared to 75% of internet users.20

Bloggers are creating more content online than average Americans while, at the same

time, more and more Americans are looking to the internet to collect their news. The PewResearch Center, as part of their 2009 State of the News Media Report, offered the followinganalysis:

According to Pew Research Center data, as of August 2008 the

percentage of Americans who went online regularly for news (at

least three times a week) was up 19% from two years earlier to

nearly four in ten Americans (37%). No other medium was

growing as quickly. Most saw audiences flat or declining.

The percentage of Americans who relied on the internet regularly,

according to this data, was now roughly similar to that who

regularly watched cable television for news (39%).

More people still read a newspaper yesterday (34%) or listened

to news radio (35%) than had viewed news online yesterday

(29%). But the gap was narrowing.21


15/48


Information, knowledge, and culture are increasingly produced and exchanged across theinternet, and the hundreds of bloggers that participate in the 50-state blog network many ofwhom have maintained an online presence for at least three years are in an advantageousposition to provide civic leadership on the web. Since they are a byproduct of the internetrevolution, they are better equipped than most to further its causes. As Bowers noted in his post

about the medium as the movement:

[T]he rise of progressive netroots, and the dominance of the

progressive netroots over its conservative rivals, is probably an

inevitable side-effect of this larger social movement. Democratized

cultural production and a pluralistic public sphere are inherently

progressive, after all.


However, there are weaknesses to the symbiotic relationship between the progressive

netroots infrastructure and the internet. Since the internet is a collection of autonomous agents, itis harder to develop a shared purpose of community. This systemic barrier makes it difficult toachieve success; it is a severe challenge to organize effectively with those with whom one sharesonly a loose connection at best. Bowers argues that the radically decentralized nature of theinternet (represented by the illustrated picture of the internet below) allows individuals andorganizations that dont exist exclusively on the net to summarily dismiss the netroots:

The netroots is not a singular entity with a clearly defined

agenda. It is, instead, a generic term used to describe a

radically de-centralized and diverse collection of people and

organizations that engage in political activism anddiscussion online. As such, there is no formulaic means

through which to appease "it" or anger "it." There is no "it,"

exactly, so "it" doesn't have a clear agenda

Chris Bowers,Why Should Anyone Respect the Netroots?23

Authored in 2008, the previous quote highlights the perceived barrier of disorganizationcreated by the internet. However, three years prior, Bowers and fellow Open Leftfounder MattStoller recommended that one must, create your own blogosphere out of existing small and

locally focused blogs, and invest time interacting with local online communities.24

One of themini-blogospheres Bowers, Stoller, and many other netroots leaders helped create was the 50-state blog network. With BlogPAC, Bowers, Stoller, and other netroots leaders set out toorganize and invest in the members of the 50-state blog network, as well as the largerprogressive netroots infrastructure. Its purpose was to grant money to two sets of emergingleaderactivists who have created change outside of a traditional party or campaign structure,[and] local bloggers that build community spaces for activists in their state. 25


16/48


However, simply creating a mini-blogosphere that receives financial assistance is notsufficient enough to organize and filter the progressive netroots. Any attempt to filter the internetis a challenge. In fact, Benkler, in The Wealth of Networks, addresses the tendency to organizethe enhanced autonomy of the internet and argues against it:

I underscore the increased capabilities of individuals as the coredriving social force behind the networked information economy.

This heightened individual capacity has raised concerns by many

that the internet further fragments community, continuing the long

trend of industrialization. A substantial body of empirical

literature suggests, however, that we are in fact using the internet

largely at the expense of television, and that this exchange is a

good one from the perspective of social ties26

Is it even possible, then, that the radical decentralization of the medium and thedisaggregated power structures that flow from such disorganization can be systematized and

aggregated? Is Benklers idea about social ties versus industrialization a way forward for theprogressive netroots? Bowers colleague at Open Left, Mike Lux, argues to the affirmative:

We have the potential to build community and collective

engagement as never before, but the individuality of doing your

own thing typing away at home on your computer can also lead to

the "leave me alone, let me do my own thing" syndrome. We should

do all in our power to build that good old community feeling, to

build a movement that works well together on behalf of goals that

benefit all of us.

Mike Lux, Talking About My Generation27

The good old community feeling Lux argues for is a justifiable and movement-appropriate answer to the barrier of disorganization. However, in order to truly embrace themedium as the movement, BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network must ensure that the valuesthat fuel the internet movement and not the values triumphed through the hierarchical practicesof the industrialized era are the guiding principles of any and all choices regarding inclusion,decision-making, and action of BlogPAC the 50-state blog network.

The connection between the new movement and the progressive netroots can be

established through a pursuit of movement-based values that promote the strengthening of socialties. The next step towards increasing the political capacity of the 50-state blog network must beto create a sense of purpose. However, before such a purpose can be identified, it must be clearlystated why identifying a shared purpose is important. Once the internal justifications for theincreased political capacity of the 50-state blog network are established it will be possible toidentify what specific identities of a shared purpose already exist, and what identities can befurther developed for the coalition formed by BlogPAC and the 50-state blog community.


17/48


LARGE BENEFITS OF A SHARED PURPOSE: REEDS LAW AND THE LONG TAIL OF BLOGGING

As Mike Lux wrote in his book, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in AmericaCame to Be, it is important to create a community around a common set of ideas:

The ideas of major leaders or the activities and the fervor of animportant movement cause ripples that make or allow other things

to happenIdeas and movements beget more ideas and other

movements. And thats an essential part of what causes change in

this country.28

In order for BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network to grow as a coalition, it mustrecognize the benefits of pursuing well-defined, individual purposes and a larger shared purposeamong its community members. Before discovering what those purposes may be, it is importantto make the case for the benefits of discovering the purpose. Purposes both large and small canevolve and change over time, but unless a coalition understands the possibility for good outputs

that can emanate from working around a shared purpose, the purpose(s) will not be developedwith the necessary urgency, attention, and passion that are needed for success to occur.

Organizing around a shared purpose creates opportunities for (1) a more efficient flow ofcommunication across the network; (2) the enhanced political capacity of the movement; and, (3)an increase in the return on investment for campaigns and causes championed by all participantswithin the network. Before turning to each of these specific benefits in detail, it is necessary todiscuss the larger benefits of organizing and, furthermore, how developing a shared purposewithin such organization is beneficial to both the group as its own system of agency and for thelarger system in which the group intends to operate.

David Patrick Reed is well-known for his contribution to the understanding of the utilityof large networks. His work is captured in a principle he created known, simply enough, asReeds Law. The law states that the value of a network is exponentially related to the ability toform groups within the network.29 His idea that social networks will scale exponentially wasfollowed by the development and creation of what could be called one of the first businessprinciples of the internet revolution, known as The Long Tail. Chris Anderson, who createdThe Long Tail theory, argues that the networked information economy allows for smallerautonomous units to produce and sell a tailored good for the market in which they operate:

This is the difference between push and pull, between broadcast

and personalized taste. Long Tail business can treat consumers as

individuals, offering mass customization as an alternative to mass-

market fare.30

The Long Tail theory (see the illustration on the following page) recognizes that in thenew marketplace of internet commerce a few businesses and/or products will dominate in anygiven market creating a Short Head where consumers flock to the most popular brand names.However, the increased ease by which consumers can exchange information, knowledge, and


18/48


culture through the internet has allowed for mass customization of the smaller businesseswithin the marketplace. Anderson argues that the volume of products in the Long Tail sectionof the market is roughly equal to the volume of products in the Short Head of the market, andthat additional power accumulated by those actors within the Long Tail portion of the marketallows for smaller actors of a market to improve their value. This is a redefined version of Reeds

Law the ability to form Short Head groups within a market increases the value of the market.

BlogPAC and other national blogs couldincrease their share of power in a Long Tailmarketplace by improving their relationshipwith and increasing the political capacity of the 50-state blog network. The principle ofoffering mass customization as an alternativeto mass-market fare fits squarely with theprogressive netroots goal of abandoningindustrialized practices of hierarchy for a more

community-driven movement that, as Lux said,can benefit all of us. By subscribing to theselarger forces in the networked informationeconomy, BlogPAC can participate in a system

that (1) creates a foundation of cooperation that all participants in the 50-state blog network caneasily understand, and (2) leads by example in its role as a small subset within the largermovement of the internet revolution.

Unfortunately, the national blogs and state-level blogs do not co-exist within the LongTail area of the progressive blogosphere. In their 2005 report on the emergence of theprogressive blogosphere, Bowers and Stoller noted that, There are likely a few hundredthousand blogs in this country that talk about politics, but less than one-tenth of one percent ofthem account for more than 99% of all political blogging traffic.31 Two years later, little hadchanged, as Bowers admitted that dominant Short Head progressive blogs were still creatingoverwhelming barriers of entry for smaller Long Tail blogs:

Still, no matter the causes, no matter the intentions, and no matter

the positive impacts, the challenge of breaking into the "short

head" of the progressive, political blogosphere is a problem that

must not only be addressed, but also be alleviated. Simply put, the

progressive blogosphere thrives on mass participation, innovative

ideas, and vibrant discussion. If the barriers to entry stay too high

for too long and if the people directing discussion and actionremain the same for an extended period of time, then there will be

a corresponding drop-off in the political effectiveness of the

progressive blogosphere.

Chris Bowers,New Establishment Rising? The End of the Flat Blogosphere"32


19/48


Two years later, the same problem exists. The decrease in revenue of online advertisinghas only exacerbated the pre-existing barriers to entry into the progressive blogosphere. Newmethods must be developed in order to increase the political capacity of the 50-state blognetwork. Though the networked information economy provides for a more democratized systemof exchanging goods, it still relies on goods to be exchanged. The difference, as Benkler writes

in The Wealth of Networks, is that goods no longer have to be financial:

Better access to knowledge and the emergence of less capital-

dependent forms of productive social organization offer the

possibility that the emergence of the networked information

economy will open up opportunities for improvement in economic

justice, on scales both global and local.33

The possibility for increasing the political capacity of the 50-state blog network throughnon-financial methods is improved with a clear sense of purpose. Yet, BlogPAC and othernational bloggers will not assist state-level bloggers out of pure kindness of heart. A specific

purpose for assistance is necessary to justify the expenditure of the limited time and energyresources of bloggers, even those that may exist in the Short Head of the blogosphere:

What are individual bloggers trying to accomplish? What is the

blogosphere in general trying to accomplish? Once we answer

those questions, then and only then can we determine whether

someone should or should not provide links to specific blogs.

To be more specific, as an activist blogger, I seek ways to help

make progressive political machinery more effective. If, at any

given moment, I think linking to you helps to achieve that goal,then I will probably link to you. On the other hand, if I don't think

linking to you helps achieve that goal, then I probably won't link to

you. It is little more complicated than that

Chris Bowers, Purposeful Blogging34

If BlogPAC can develop action steps that improve the connections among thedisorganized participants of the 50-state blog network, the effectiveness or increased politicalcapacity of the progressive netroots infrastructure as a whole will benefit. The large-scalebenefit of exponentially increasing the capacity of the social network can help facilitate the

generation of smaller, more easily defined benefits within the system of the progressive netroots.

SMALL BENEFITS OF A SHARED PURPOSE: COMMUNICATION, CAPACITY, AND CONSEQUENCES

There are at least three identifiable small-scale benefits for the 50-state blog network thatare generated by developing a shared sense of purpose. Each of these benefits has what MalcolmGladwell terms an outsize affect on the coalition, as well as direct benefits to the individualparticipants in the 50-state blog network. Those benefits include:


20/48


(1) A more efficient flow of communication across the network;(2) The enhanced capacity to develop strategy that is beneficial to the network; and(3) An increase in the return on investment for campaigns and causes championed by

all participants within the 50-state blog network.

Identifying specific roles within the 50-state blog network is important because it allowsthose on the inside and outside of the progressive netroots to better understand where theseenumerated benefits are realized. Without clarifying the specific roles and identifyingpurposeful work for each role BlogPAC runs the risk of being misunderstood by others as littlemore than an echo chamber, which is a concern Bowers has raised before:

To get better results from progressive grassroots activists, please

treat them like more than just an echo chamber. It is much more

useful to find some way to invest them in the campaign, whether

that means providing a community representative in strategy

meetings or providing them with a contact person who takes their

concerns as more than just extremist, ignorant--but alsoexploitable--hotheads.

Chris Bowers, The Desire to Be More Than an Echo Chamber

Lowell Feld and Nate Wilcoxs book,Netroots Rising, argues that the progressivenetroots is much more than an echo chamber. Their work focuses on telling the story of how acitizen army of bloggers and online activists is changing American politics.35 The bookchronicles an array of battles fought, won, and lost by those on the frontlines of netroots politics.In their book, they explain the effect of netroots participants through three outsize rolesidentified by sociologist Malcolm Gladwell in his book, The Tipping Point. Those roles are

connectors, mavens, and salesmen.36 According to Feld and Wilcox, the emphasis on outsizeroles easily translates to participants in the 50-state blog network, where the exponential value ofcreating and expanding networks plays out in real time with bloggers on a daily basis. Theyargued for the following correlation between outsize roles and the netroots:

In other words, the bloggers are mavens whose influence far

exceeds their relatively small numbers. The political operatives are

connectors who use e-mail and websites to turn isolated

individuals into an organized political force. The netroots and

grassroots foot soldiers are the salespeople of the movement,

carrying the message offline to their real-world friends and

neighbors.37

Gladwells observations in The Tipping Point and the added level of construct appliedby Feld and Wilcox inNetroots Rising serve as an instructive framework for understanding thespecific roles and locations within the 50-state blog network where we can predict to see benefitsof organizing and developing a shared purpose of community.


21/48


The connection between Gladwells outsize roles, the corresponding netroots agents, andthe benefits that can be realized by increasing the political capacity of those netroots agents canbe described as such:

1. Those bloggers who serve as mavens well-connected bloggers who, despite a small

audience, influence other important people could benefit from the increasedefficiency of communication exchange if there was a greater political capacity withinthe 50-state network. The more and better information they know, the more and betterinformation everyone who connects with those mavens will have.

2. Those bloggers who serve as connectors operatives who are effective at creatingstrategies to form a political force for campaigns and then using their website andinternet savvy as a platform for announcing and mobilizing forces could benefitfrom the increased political capacity of having a larger base of individuals to mobilizetowards action. The more nodes and subgroups that exist in the system (the morebloggers in the network), the more powerful the system as a whole.

3. Those bloggers who serve as salespeople effective message deliverers whovolunteer, raise money, and carry the message to as many people as possible couldbe better capable of marketing the successes and strategies of the progressive netrootswith the potential increase in successes of an online movement that, with increasedpolitical capacity, would be able to generate a greater number of victories for thecampaigns and causes it champions. Those who are spreading the news outside of thesystem can avoid the echo chamber tag more easily if there are clear talking pointsabout how and why internet politics is important for political campaigns.

Understanding the individual roles of bloggers and potential small-scale benefits theincreased political capacity of a strengthened relationship between BlogPAC and the 50-stateblog network could deliver to these roles is critical to recognizing how a unified purpose canprovide tremendous value to the progressive netroots community. Strengthening the individualnodes of the network could exponentially increase other connecting nodes in the system, therebymaximizing the market presence of progressive campaigns and online communications.

The remaining challenge, then, is identifying specific elements of purpose for BlogPACand the 50-state blog network. The next section attempts to establish such purposes.


22/48


WHAT ARE THE SHARED PURPOSES OF THE 50-STATE BLOG NETWORK?

Enumerating specific purposes for a coalition that is comprised of individuals from awide range of backgrounds is challenging. The framers of the United States Constitution metsuch a challenge when considering whether or not to include an enumerated Bill of Rights, as

Mike Lux described in his book, The Progressive Revolution:

Alexander Hamilton and other framers posited that a Bill of Rights

would be dangerous, as well as unnecessary, because it would

inevitably not list all freedoms and would therefore make more

likely the future restricting of liberties that were not listed.38

Thankfully, Thomas Jefferson provided the justification for overcoming such challenges:

After listing rights that he thought deserved special protection,

starting with freedom of religion and of the press, he added, Letme add that a Bill of Rights are what the people are entitled to

against every government on earth, general or particular, and

what no just government should refuse or rest on inference....As

to the point that the Bill of Rights could not be perfect and might

leave out some rights, Jefferson replied that half a loaf is better

than none. Even if all rights cold not be secured, let us secure what

we can, he argued.39

Enumerating rights, of course, is different from enumerating shared purposes. But thelessons learned in the creation of our Constitution can are instructive and still relevant in

American politics today. Among todays political organizations, statements of purpose are oftenmade manifest either as mission statements that contain few specific ideas, or as public policyplatforms filled with innumerable hyper-specific ideas. A nonspecific mission statement isunlikely to add much organizational strength to a collection of diverse individuals. For example,BlogPACs current About page contains the following language:

Blogpac funds progressive leadership and experiments with

injecting new voices in the political process using internet

activism. We give grants, no strings attached, to activists on the

internet who have a demonstrated record of success in either

creating progressive change or creating the space for progressives

to make change. We also seek moments to inject progressive power

into the political system through focused internet and new media

activism.40

Those sentences are simple, yet unsubstantial. Of course, it can be argued that if oneshould not cannot enumerate shared purposes without dovetailing into an engorged policyplatform, then a non-descript purpose like the one BlogPAC currently maintains is preferable.


23/48


Chris Bowers, quite forcefully, argues that the over-enumeration of purposes in the formof a public policy platform is counter-productive to the progressive movement:

Platforms are where democratic movements and changes in the

national social fabric go to die. Once a political movement is

delineated into a specific set of planks, then factionalism,totalitarianism, and stereotyping set in, while creativity, innovation

and pluralism are tossed aside. Once a movement can be clearly

defined by a specifically delineated set of characteristics and

beliefs, any ability for that movement to grow, change or develop

is lost.

The netroots is a consistently innovative and pluralistic uprising of

the American left and center-left. To place artificial ideological

and policy planks on an organically developing, decentralized, and

creative group of people is the antithesis of what makes the

netroots great. We are freeing up boundaries to participation inpolitics and the dissemination of political information, not seeking

to create new ones. Let's keep left-wing political platforms where

they belong--in the mid-20th century and earlier--and embrace the

play of the signifier in our new, elastic future.

Chris Bowers, Against Progressive Platforms41

If a nondescript mission statement is unable to successfully engage a radicallydecentralized organization, and if a public policy platform is where democratic movementsgoto die, then what is left? The answer exists, perhaps, in the creation of an elastic purpose to

connect the elastic future of BlogPAC, the 50-state blog network, and the progressive netroots.

Ron Heifetz, a professor on leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, talks about thevarious scopes of purpose in his book,Leadership Without Easy Answers. He argues there aremany layers of purpose, and a good coalition will generate a fuller sense of purpose as opposedto a nondescript mission statement from the more specific purposes of its group members:

A sense of purpose is not the same as a clearly defined purpose. A

sense of purpose generates defined purposes within any given

context by asking these simple questions: What is the opportunity

now? What should our purpose be? Organizations and societies

are full of well-defined purposes, and these are essential. Defined

purposes are the single most important source of orientation in

doing both technical and adaptive work, like a ships compass

heading at sea. But even more precious than any defined purpose

is a sense of purpose that can enable one to step back and review,

perhaps with doubt, perhaps with delight, the orienting values

embedded in any particular mission.42


24/48


A process of review allows for the sustainability of an elastic purpose that can adapt tothe evolving purposes of a growing coalition like BlogPAC. Fortunately, the participants of the50-state blog network generate and support, on a daily basis, public forums that encourage andreward the review of ideas, policies, and candidates in an open and honest setting. As a system,BlogPAC and its partnership with the 50-state blog network already possess a built-in model for

reviewing purposes as they need to evolve.

Therefore, the only remaining task is to suggest an early enumeration of elementalpurposes that provide both an overarching sense of purpose to connect bloggers to the largermovement of the internet revolution, and more defined purposes that address the specific needsand roles of bloggers. The following five purposes are suggested as starting points for thecreation of a shared organizational purpose for BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network:

Provide citizens with information to promote an engaged citizenry Develop and spread best practices of Web 2.0 organization Explain, strengthen and expand the practice of emergence politics

Advocate positive feedback loop policies for progressives Encourage the return of strong Democratic party primaries

Each of the five purposes is an articulation of existing principles in the progressiveblogosphere. However, at least two common objectives of many BlogPAC efforts weredeliberately excluded from the list above. One is electing more and better Democrats to office;the other is increasing the financial strength of the progressive netroots community.

It is not recommended that a core purpose of BlogPAC be to elect more and betterDemocrats because campaigns are finite, situational events whose circumstances are neverreproduced in an identical fashion. Campaigns should be viewed, instead, as experiments in thegreater progressive movement and serve as testing grounds for the strength of the progressiveblogosphere. They may further serve as official markers for processes of review. Furthermore, allcampaigns are not created equal, and if the short head of the progressive blogosphere expectsto increase the political capacity of the long tail of the 50-state blog network, then they cannotexpect all participants in the system to be able to act equally or effectively on campaigns withoutsignificant financial assistance.

Though the fight for increased financial strength like the fight for increased electoralstrength would tremendously benefit the progressive blogosphere, each of those fightsrepresents ends-focused changes, as opposed to means-based changes. Given that no twocampaigns are alike, it would be a better use of BlogPACs time and resources to advocate andpursue shared purposes that increase the political capacity of the 50-state blog network to deliverlarger, more system-wide changes on their own accord. Such changes should be focused onenacting practices that can increase the likelihood of electing more and better Democrats acrossall levels of government in all elections, now and into the future, and not just those targeted fewthat draw the immediate attention of the blogosphere.

A more detailed discussion of the five principles listed above is presented in thefollowing pages.


25/48


1. PROVIDE CITIZENS WITH INFORMATION TO PROMOTE AN ENGAGED CITIZENRY

The importance of informing and promoting an engaged citizenry is universally acceptedthroughout the blogosphere. Of the forty-nine state-level blogs in the 50-state blog network,every one of them mentioned either in an about the blog section, in the initial post of the site,

or in a why I/we blog post on the site continuing the long-standing practice of journalism asone of the main reasons, if not the reason, for blogging. The California-based blog Calitics listsits first and foremost purpose as, Building a progressive online community that will provideindividual Californians a place to discuss progressive issues.43Bluegrassroots, the 50-state blogof Kentucky, proclaims in its about section:

BlueGrassRoots is Kentucky's oldest blog devoted to covering

politics in the Bluegrass State. It endeavors to promote a

Democratic and liberal agenda while also serving as a space for

citizens to participate in robust and thoughtful dialogue about

local, state, and national politics and the awesomeness of UK

basketball.44

Progressive bloggers have continued to pursue what Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstielidentified in their book, The Elements of Journalism, as the primary purpose of journalism: toprovide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing.45 MarkosMoulitsas Zniga, founder of DailyKos, penned the following opening to the first chapter of hissecond book, Taking on the System:

To create long-lasting change in democracy, you must shape

public opinion by making your voice heard, your ideas clear, and

your cause visible.

46

Promoting and protecting the free exchange of information must be the primary sharedpurpose of BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network. On behalf of this premiere purpose, smallerand more defined purposes can develop over time. However, there is one policy that at least fornow must be clearly unified with this first shared purpose, and that is the promise of netneutrality.

BlogPAC, the 50-state blog network, and the larger progressive netroots have focusedtremendous efforts on advocating for net neutrality. Mike Lux, in the closing chapter of his book,The Progressive Revolution, articulates its importance as one of six major policies that

progressives must champion in the coming years:

There is nothing more important to our democracy, and few things

more essential to our long-term economic health, than a

progressive telecommunications policy that preserves the even

playing field for content that we have on the internet47


26/48


Benkler, writing in The Wealth of Networks, raises the bar even higher:

Technology will not overcome [industrial giants] resistance

through an insurmountable progressive impulse of history. The

reorganization of production and the advances it can bring in

freedom and justice will emerge only as a result of social practicesand political actions that successfully resist efforts to regulate the

emergence of the networked information economy in order to

minimize its impact on the incumbents.48

Net neutrality is an essential, big-picture component of the internet revolution, and is anatural and obvious part of the shared purpose of BlogPAC. Promoting net neutrality isinherently linked with promoting an informed and engaged citizenry; however, not allcomponents of promoting an engaged citizenry rely on net neutrality. Therefore, the largershared purpose must be the commitment to create an advance an educated public, and throughsuch education, teach net neutrality as one of the 21st centurys core principles of democracy.

2. DEVELOP AND SPREAD BEST PRACTICES OF WEB 2.0 ORGANIZATION

BlogPAC should maintain as its second central shared purpose that developing andspreading the best practices of Web 2.0 organization is an essential component to the success ofthe 50-state blog network and national blogs alike. Though the actual lessons would evolve overtime, it is essential that a commitment to education is a core purpose of the coalition. Without anoverview of best practices and ideas that have been tried and tested in other campaigns or evenbasic theories about the internet revolution itself local participants throughout the 50-state blognetwork will continue to reinvent the wheel each and every campaign cycle, thereby stunting the

possibility for quick and efficient progress that could lead to larger benefits of online politics.

The central principle behind the success of the giants born in the

Web 1.0 era who have survived to lead the Web 2.0 era appears to

be this, that they have embraced the power of the web to harness

collective intelligence.49

The above passage is excerpted from Tim OReillys groundbreaking work, What isWeb 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. OReillystates that one can understand the internet as a platform that can host a set of principles and

practices that tie together a veritable solar system of sites that demonstrate some or all of thoseprinciples, at a varying distance from that core. Web 2.0 is, by design, a collection of largerpurposes that are interconnected through smaller nodes in the network which, in turn, shareelements of purpose with the system as a whole.

What does Web 2.0 have to do with the 50-state blog network? Blogging is a corecomponent of what makes Web 2.0 an effective and powerful concept. In his piece, OReillydiscusses the importance of blogging in a Web 2.0 world:


27/48


If an essential part of Web 2.0 is harnessing collective intelligence,

turning the web into a kind of global brain, the blogosphere is the

equivalent of constant mental chatter in the forebrain, the voice we

hear in all of our heads. It may not reflect the deep structure of the

brain, which is often unconscious, but is instead the equivalent of

conscious thought. And as a reflection of conscious thought andattention, the blogosphere has begun to have a powerful effect.

First, because search engines use link structure to help predict

useful pages, bloggers, as the most prolific and timely linkers, have

a disproportionate role in shaping search engine results. Second,

because the blogging community is so highly self-referential,

bloggers paying attention to other bloggers magnifies their

visibility and power. The "echo chamber" that critics decry is also

an amplifier.

If it were merely an amplifier, blogging would be uninteresting.

But like Wikipedia, blogging harnesses collective intelligence as akind of filter. What James Suriowecki calls "the wisdom of crowds"

comes into play, and much as PageRank produces better results

than analysis of any individual document, the collective attention

of the blogosphere selects for value.

There is a wealth of information on the philosophy of Web 2.0 and what the bestpractices of engaging in a Web 2.0 world are; however, the progressive netroots, as closelyconnected as it may be to the internet revolution, continue to struggle to achieve success intransforming the predominantly a 20th century industrialized system of governance and electoralpolitics that exists throughout America. Though President Barack Obama has made efforts to

improve internet practices of the White House, changes in the judicial and legislative branch inaddition to state and local areas of government are still necessary. Part of the reason why thenetroots struggles to deliver change is the lack of focused educational efforts to inform 50-statebloggers about existing theories and best practices of Web 2.0 organization.

As businesses and corporations move forward with new corporatist groundswellcampaigns designed to define, understand, and inhabit the Web 2.0 world50, little literature existsto educate and inform the participants of the 50-state blog network. Zniga, writing in Taking onthe System, proclaims:

Todays new tools allow an exciting hybrid of technological and

digital advocacy matched with real-life demonstrations, and much

of the most effective current organizing is taking place under the

radar before it goes public and visible.51

The book does an excellent job highlighting successes of the online community andexplaining the actual what of what happened. However, because it is a static piece of writing,it cannot recommend the best practices of new technologies because the best practices are


28/48


constantly emerging, improving, re-emerging, and re-improving. Zniga is not alone in thisuphill battle against the permanence of the printing press; Feld and Wilcox, inNetroots Rising,chronicle the history of several campaigns where the netroots played a leading or supporting role.However, the book published in late 2007 was without much strategic or technical advice. Infact, in their closing chapter titled Whats Next for the Netroots Feld and Wilcox admit that,

while there is unanimous consensus that the progressive netroots have changed the face ofAmerican politics, opinion differed with regard to exactly what that changed constituted.52

Bowers has argued that in order to succeed, the progressive netroots must first andforemost practice self-respect, proclaiming that, If you think that self-starting, people-powered,progressive grassroots activism is good in and of itself, then you should both support it and liveit.53 He then goes on to list several action steps, including: (1) giving money to netrootsorganizations; (2) only supporting candidates that support the netroots; (3) lobbying on behalf ofpolicies such as net neutrality; and (4) creating ones own paid media campaign. Bowers effortsto demonstrate how to run ones own paid media campaign using Google ads is one of the onlyself activism instructional pieces of literature on how to engage creatively through online

politics that is financially feasible for the 50-state blog network.

Maintaining the status quo in online political advocacy is not an acceptable practice forBlogPAC, or the participants of the 50-state blog network. As a guiding principle in its actionsand decision-making processes as a coalition, BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network shoulddevelop and spread the best practices of Web 2.0 organization, as well as accompanying newdevelopments in the broader sphere of social media. Sharing such knowledge will strengthentheir respective online communities and could institute a pay it forward system of politics thatcreates positive feedback loops for other players in the progressive movement, should theprogressive netroots continue to act as the Early Majority in the internet revolution.

3. EXPLAIN, STRENGTHEN, AND EXPAND THE PRACTICE OF EMERGENCE POLITICS

One of the shared purposes BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network should develop is toexplain, strengthen, and expand the practice of emergence politics. BlogPAC and state-levelbloggers should focus on opportunities to engage in emergence politics when deciding whatcauses to champion, which candidates to support, or which actions to take. Doing so willincrease the opportunities for progressive bloggers to demonstrate what is known as the FightSmall, Win Big credo of the netroots.

Every one of the participants in the 50-state blog network began blogging before BarackObama was elected President of the United States. In fact, according to survey results, almostevery blog in the 50-state blog network came into existence before the Democratic takeover ofCongress in 2006. Though some individual bloggers of the sites may not have begun blogginguntil later on, many have long-standing experience with blogging. With that experience there is afundamental belief that every vote and every small action counts. Though the most famousexample of the roots of this belief is the U.S. Supreme CourtBush v. Gore decision that decidedthe 2000 presidential elections, many bloggers view to blogging as a natural extension to theiroffline, grassroots involvement in political campaigns.


29/48


Before she started blogging, Katherine Haenschen or Kath25 to those who used toread her on DailyKos helped register voters for a Chicago State Senator who, four years later,was elected President of the United States. When she was brought on as a front-page writer forthe Texas-based blog,Burnt Orange Report, she wrote about how she came to blogging:

I started reading and commenting on political blogs in the springof 2006 to find a sense of community. I was frustrated, outraged,

faxing my Senators and calling my Congressman about every bill

or vote, and looking for an outlet. At first I wanted a group of

simpaticos to grouse with, other people who were similarly

informed and concerned. Over time, I learned so much more about

our dysfunctional political system and the potential I believe it still

holds to empower every American. My awareness translated into a

need to get involved, to help elect the people who can realize this

potential, and help bring progressive change to our country.54

Katherines story reflects two important ideas. First, she articulates a reason for bloggingthat is often shared and expressed throughout the progressive netroots community. Her offline,grassroots efforts translated naturally into netroots communication. That is important becausealong with her passion for connecting with others, Katherine and the hundreds upon hundredsof bloggers like her found a simple yet powerful purpose for blogging: the idea that emergencepolitics can make a difference. Markos Moulitsas Zniga, writing in Taking on the System, bestarticulates the concept of emergence politics at the start of his chapter, Fight Small, Win Big:

Permanent change is created only through long-term effort, with

small gains leading to larger achievements. Resist the lure of

notching up quick and easy conquests that may harm long-termgoals. On the other hand, small, well-planned skirmishes leading

to incremental advances can hone strategies and skills while

rewarding activists with occasional, welcome victories.55

The possibility of turning small gains into success for long-term politics is madeincreasingly possible by the development of the networked information economy. Prior to theproliferation of communication through the internet, conservative television and radio stationowners were able to control stories and capitalize on dramatic moments with tremendous ease.Stoller wrote about this capitalization of crisis events in 2007:

Conservatives see politics as a nonlinear dynamic system, not as atwo party system. They take advantage of crisis moments, as

Naomi Klein points out in the Shock Doctrine, or even foment

them, to create positive feedback loops for conservative

ideas. Media consolidation under such institutions as GE and the

gutting of antitrust create a dishonest media system that allows the

country to go to war.


30/48


War allows companies like GE to make money from selling

weapons. Tax breaks for churches that become an arm of the

GOP, creating corruption in government as a way to attack the

concept of government, etc. These are all positive feedback loops

for conservatives. The evisceration of the Fairness Doctrine in the

1980s by conservative Republicans allowed the rise of RushLimbaugh, who then promoted more conservative Republican

policies such as further media consolidation to spread Rush to

more channels across the board, along with increased capital to

fund more right-wing talk radio.

Matt Stoller, Emergence Politics and Rush Limbaugh56

It was only with the sudden growth of the networked information economy and thegrowth of the progressive netroots community that entered that market that Democrats finallyfound an answer to Rush Limbaugh and the nonlinear dynamic system. The internet, as Benkler

writes in The Wealth of Networks, made it easier for citizens to communicate:

The networked information economy is departing from the

industrial information economy along two dimensions that suggest

a radical increase in the number of storytellers and the qualitative

diversity of stories toldRanging from an e-mail account, to a few

megabytes of hosting capacity to host a subscribers Web site, to

space on a peer-to-peer distribution network available for any kind

of file, individuals are now increasingly in possession of the basic

means necessary to have an outlet for their stories

The basic filter of marketability has been removed, allowing

anything that emerges out of the great diversity of human

experience, interest, taste, and expressive motivation to flow to and

from everyone connected to everyone else.57

Stoller further recognized the advantage afforded to the progressive netroots due to thechanging information economy. He argues that by mastering emergence politics, the progressivenetroots can identify specific leverage points within the American political system to argue forand create change.58 Emergence politics, therefore, is not only an indirect motivator in whybloggers start blogging in the first place; it is also a direct outcome of the increased

communications capacity of the internet.

Emergence politics has the potential to exponentially expand the social and politicalnetworks of the BlogPAC and 50-state blog network. Explaining, strengthening, and expandingthe practice of emergence politics should be considered a fundamental and shared purpose of allpolitical actors within the BlogPAC coalition.


31/48


4. ENCOURAGE THE RETURN OF STRONG DEMOCRATIC PARTY PRIMARIES

A fourth shared purpose for BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network should be topromote strong primaries in order to promote a strong democracy.

Positive feedback loops for progressive bloggers will, when engaged properly, strengthenthe progressive movement, thereby increasing the political capacity of progressive bloggers,which will allow them to further strengthen the progressive movement, and so on. There are atleast two system-wide conditions that serve as positive feedback loops for the progressivenetroots: the development of emergence politics, and the return of strong primaries. Encouragingstrong primaries corresponds to at least two indirect principles of the progressive blogosphere:

Strong primaries promote a stronger democracy The progressive netroots are decision-makers, not echo chambers

One of the largest across-the-board increases in readership for bloggers in the 50-state

blog network occurred in the spring months of 2008, when then-Senators Barack Obama andHillary Clinton engaged in a strong fight in the Democratic Partys presidential primary. At theTexas-based blog,Burnt Orange Report, traffic more than tripled beyond normal numbers inmid-February.59 National blogs soon learned that tracking the detailed day-to-day events ofeither presidential campaign was too difficult on their own because they, on balance, hadcomparatively less knowledge and experience with the local politics of individual states than thestate blogs did. Joe Sudbay ofAmericablog wrote in February 2008 that, a guiding principleduring this election has been to trust the locals over the national pundits.60

The contentious presidential primary between Obama and Clinton was a positivefeedback loop for progressive bloggers because it increased political activity in the primary,which gave bloggers a chance to engage more with their community, who then engaged morewith the netroots community to ensure more favorable coverage for their candidate, whichincreased the exchange of information available to bloggers, and so on. The entire processstrengthened the legitimacy and capacity of the state bloggers to speak authoritatively to anincreasingly larger audience about the politics and issues that were important to their state.

By supporting strong primaries, BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network wouldautomatically be supporting stronger democracies. Additionally, by creating challenges withintheir own party, the progressive netroots can learn best practices to carry forward towardsgeneral elections. Matt Stoller, writing for Open Left, identified four reasons why primaries areessential vehicles for an improved democracy:61

Lack of primaries cause inefficiencies for activists No primary is actually a negativefeedback loop for progressives, because the only way to affect change for anelected official would be to phone in and lobby. Elected officials are lessresponsive to such efforts than they are electoral challenges.


32/48


Democracy is a core democratic value It is better to have a more engaged citizenry,and the more involved one is in a primary, the more likely it is that one will beinvolved as a voter and/or a volunteer in the general election.

Lack of primaries disenfranchises Democratic voters If an elected official does not

have to be responsive, there is no reason to listen to his or her constituents.

Primaries provide a check on corruption within the party Activists need to haveregular conversations with elected officials and party leaders to ensure they areacting out of the interest of the whole community, and not a select few.

Stoller summarizes his arguments that strong Democratic Party primaries are necessarybecause they create opportunities for emergence politics within the American political system:

Politics is complex, but sometimes we can identify a systemic

problem and a model to address it. The broken market for

primaries is one such problem, and it's very fixable. OnceDemocratic leaders recognize that they represent both the

Democratic Party and their district/state, their behavior will shift

in important ways, and allow us to focus on other activities.

Matt Stoller, The Broken Market for Democratic Primaries62

BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network must focus on purposes that are ongoing,movement-centered efforts. Encouraging stronger Democratic Party primaries provides a big-picture purpose that can help justify and argue for case-by-case elections and efforts includingthe recent Accountability Now effort BlogPAC helped launch in late February 200963 that

can and should be part of the coalitions work for years to come.

5. ADVOCATE POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP POLICIES FOR PROGRESSIVES

The final shared purpose that BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network should develop isan advocacy for positive feedback loop policies for progressives.

Creating a guiding purpose for the type of public policies that BlogPAC would supportwould automatically weaken the attempt by forces inside and outside the coalition to useBlogPAC as an instrument for anything other than efforts that naturally enhance the political

capacity of the 50-state blog network. Establishing a threshold for policies helps define the scopeof efforts for BlogPAC, and creates the opportunity for a shared set of policy goals that, withincreased political capacity, the coalition can highlight for the rest of the progressive movement.

In October 2007, Bowers argued that, what progressives need are the creation andinstitutionalization of positive feedback loops that will make America a more progressive place,and thus make all other progressive policy more likely to be enacted.64 He went on to identifyseven policies that would create a positive feedback loop for progressives, including:


33/48


The Employee Free Choice Act Clean Election Laws Reversing Corporate Media Consolidation Progressive Immigration Reform Colonial Reform

Re-locating Government Spending Voting Reform

Though specific policies could be added and removed to that list over time a reviewprocess that could easily be administered through public forums and voting procedures designedby the coalition members the reason to support positive feedback loop policies is to generate ashared purpose that can easily unite progressive bloggers behind ideas that will help strengthentheir movement, thereby giving each blogger a larger audience to address.

The shared purposes enumerated above are recommendations; they are not, by any means,all-encompassing. If BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network wish to commit to increasing theirpolitical capacity, they must designate a task force of state-level bloggers, overseen by two orthree national bloggers, which will be held responsible for facilitating discussions about theseproposed recommendations. Without a full vetting of the aforementioned ideas by the coalition,participants will not buy-in to the purposes or the process, which will severely mitigate thepositive effects of increasing the political capacity of the network.

SUMMARY

The bloggers of the 50-state blog network, including all affiliated national blogs, arefundamentally connected through the medium of the internet, as well as through general acts ofpolitical communication and organization on behalf of Democrats. However, most partnershipsare built project-to-project, formed around a specific campaign, cause, or election cycle. Oncethat time-sensitive work is complete, bloggers are often left without work or shared purpose untilthe next cause or candidate emerges.

There must be ongoing, movement-centered efforts constantly in motion if BlogPAC wants toincrease the political capacity of the 50-state blog network. In order to help identify the nature ofsuch efforts, BlogPAC must work with the 50-state blog network to develop a shared purposebased on existing principles within the network. Elements of the purpose could include:

Provide citizens with information to promote an engaged citizenry Develop and spread best practices of Web 2.0 organization Explain, strengthen and expand the practice of emergence politics Encourage the return of strong Democratic party primaries Advocate positive feedback loop policies for progressives


34/48




35/48


OTHER PRIORITIES: COALITION ACTION STEPS

With a stronger identity, BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network can begin to take

coalition-building action steps that increase the political capacity of the state-level

bloggers and, in turn, amplify the efforts of BlogPAC and the progressive netroots.

WHAT COALITION ACTION STEPS ARE NECESSARY FOR BLOGPAC AND THE 50-STATE BLOG NETWORK TO SUCCEED AS INSTRUMENTS OF EMERGENCE POLITICS?

BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network mainly practice politics online, in the networkedinformation economy. One of the most prevalent challenges for bloggers to overcome is a barrierthat Benkler terms, in The Wealth of Networks, the Babel objection:

Individuals must have access to some mechanism that sifts through

the universe of information, knowledge, and cultural moves inorder to whittle them down to a manageable and usable scope. The

question then becomes whether the networked information

economy, given the human need for filtration, actually improves

the information environment of individuals relative to the

industrial information economy.65

BlogPAC and its national partners can help strengthen a commons-based, nonmarketmodel for filtration and accreditation by working to increase the political capacity of the 50-state blog network.66 In order to do that, BlogPAC must move away from relying exclusively onfinancial systems of support for the 50-state blog network and move towards systems of supportthat create positive feedback loops for movement-based efforts derived from the shared purposesestablished by the coalition as a whole.

MORE THAN MONEY: SAYING GOODBYE TO ONLINE ADVERTISING AS AN INVESTMENT

As of today, no sustainable model exists for financing the infrastructure of theprogressive netroots. However, there are at least two efforts that have been made by nationalbloggers to create investment opportunities for the progressive netroots. One method forfinancial rewarding grants-based investments adheres to the concept of the positive feedbackloop principle. The other method the Liberal Blog Advertising Network does not.

The appeal of the progressive netroots is that they help orient their audience to importantstories, campaigns, and issues that are important to their community. Though that orientation ispart of the core value offered by the progressive netroots, it is not easily quantifiable and thus,under existing models of financial reward, remains undervalued. Action steps to increase theeffectiveness of BlogPAC and the 50-state blog network must develop around these traditionallyundervalued goods while, at the same, strengthening the political capacity of all participants toact as autonomous leaders within their respective communities.


36/48


The financial difficulties facing the progressive netroots infrastructure are largelyunnoticed by many outside the community. The success of ActBlue as a business, as well as thesuccess of many netroots-led efforts that have used ActBlue67, has created the impression thatprogressive bloggers are financially successful.68 However, though more and more money israised online, the actual infrastructure that raises most of the money is still dramatically under-

funded and under-supported. The immediacy of this lack of funding was made evident onWednesday, January 5, 2009, when the inexpensive, community-building content managementplatform Soapblox, was hacked to within an inch of its life:69

[Soapblox] is a lot of functionality for not much price, making it

ideal for independent, progressive, grassroots media. As such, it

has been adopted by about 90% of the fifty-state blog network, and

also by several national sites including Pams House Blend, My

Left Wing, Swing State Project, and my own Open Left.

Collectively, the blogs on Soapblox received over 50,000,000 page

views in 2008, and provided a huge percentage of the state-level,

local politics coverage in the progressive blogosphere.

Chris Bowers, Save Soapblox!70

The Save Soapblox campaign ultimately raised more than $17,000 for the progressivenetroots community. However, as of mid-March 2009, many problems still persisted with thesystem. In fact, some of the larger participants of the 50-state blog network had threatened toshut down their sites altogether rather than wait for the problems to be fully addressed.71

Financial problems for the progressive netroots infrastructure are not new. In January2007, Bowers discussed how non-internet progressives are rarely willing to invest in groups like

BlogPAC or the participants of the 50-state blog network:

[T]he main problem has always been that large progressive

donors, institutions and politicians just don't want to fund

something they can't control. []

If progressivism is going to continue to be on the rise in America,

the one way flow of progressive movement money has to end. Not

only do netroots activists have to do a better job of providing

resources to build netroots infrastructure, we have to let the

establishment know it needs to help build that infrastructure itself.

Doing so is in their own best interest, and just not because the

progressive movement helps the Democratic Party and the

progressive, political ecosystem.

Chris Bowers,The One Way Flow of Progressive Movement Money72


37/48


One of the initial attempts to counteract the lack of top-down funding in addition to thecreation of BlogPAC and its grant funding approach was the establishment of the Liberal BlogAdvertising Network (LBAN). The goal was to create a place where campaigns could purchaseweb advertisements on political sites within their community. However, though the LBAN canbe a sizable source of income for national bloggers, it has shown to be a poorly designed

approach to generate funds for most, if not all, state bloggers.

Of the forty-nine state-level blogs within the 50-state blog network, only twenty-fourparticipate in the Liberal Blog Advertising Network. On March 29, 2009, the price for thehighest cost ad for national blogs far outdistanced the cost for the average blogger in the 50-stateblog network. In fact, of the twenty four national and state-level blogs of the 50-state blognetwork who participate in the LBAN, only five were selling ads of any price through the LBAN.

LIBERAL BLOG ADVERTISING NETWORK: COST & AD IMPRESSIONS

WebsiteCost for ad

(highest price)

Estimated

impressions for ad

# of ad impressions

per $1 raised

Daily Kos $12,500 5,406,227 432

MyDD $750 152,680 204

Open Left $1,175 134,917 115

SSP $100 73,279 733

State blog (avg.) $80 12,631 157

The Liberal Blog Advertising Network fails to raise even minimal funds for bloggers.Even worse, if bloggers see the revenue generated by the LBAN as an incentive to blog, then itactually can act as a negative feedback loop, As the table shows, traffic does not necessarilycorrelate with cost of the ads, thus negating any ability to increase revenues for bloggers otherthan by point-of-contac

Documents

Phillip Martin - Strengthening the 50-State Blog Network