Tree of Knowledge

A recent event in the London, hosted by LiberalConspiracy (the largest ‘left-wing’ blog in the UK blogosphere) and titled “How can liberal-left bloggers affect national politics” has triggered a bit of self reflection about the intersection between blogging and political influence in the UK.

For Australian readers, this debate occurs in the context of the ‘left’ (led by LiberalConspiracy and LabourHome) being comprehensively demolished by the ‘right’ (led by Guido Fawkes, Iain Dale and conservativehome) in the UK blogosphere. Or as Charlie Beckett describes it:

It seems to me that the Leftwing blogosphere is as knackkered as Gordon Brown’s poll ratings.

Much of the discussion about the event has focused on why this is, and how the left can be more influential online in the future.

LiberalConspiracy suggested three reasons for the right’s dominance:

1. Having Labour in power splits the left-wing blogosphere, between those who support New Labour and those who are disillusioned with New Labour.

I think it’s reasonable to say that it’s easier to get traction online from opposition (it’s certainly been the case in the US and Australia as well). But I’m not sure this is a function of unity. I don’t see a whole lot of unity within the US left blogosphere (the Kossacks are notorious for their infighting) and opposition has traditionally been a time of ideological conflict rather than cohesion. Call me half convinced here.

1. There are lots more left-liberal blogs, its just that a few Conservative blogs get all the attention. It may be that for the left the readership is more dispersed while for the right its concentrated at a few top-level blogs. Its also worthwhile noticing that Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale have built strong readerships on the back of media attention, not organically. In other words, its not that people online instinctively prefer right-wing news, but that these are the only few brand names they know. The second tier right-wing blogs (Dizzy Thinks for example) have far lower readership stats that I bet are easily comparable with many left-wing blogs. In other words, to attract a big readership one has to attract mainstream media attention.

I don’t buy this argument at all. There’s heaps of academic research that repeatedly finds that both audience and incoming links take the form of a power distribution, both within the blogosphere itself, and within smaller, clustered communities of interest (see Yochai Benker’s The Wealth of Networks for a good summary of this). I’d be shocked if the empirical evidence found that the readership of the left wing blogosphere is any more dispersed than for the right.

As for the claim that MSM attention increases audience; well obviously.

1. Issues. I think there is also a vast difference in how the left and right approach politics online. The popular right-wing blogs are obsessed by Westminster. In contrast, left-wing blogs are split into networks not only along party lines but also on issues (civil liberties, environment, trade unionism, feminism). And because the media isn’t interested in issues related bloggers as opposed to Westminster bloggers, they get relatively less attention.

I think this is a fair point. I can also see this dove-tailing with the oppositional effect. There will be far more talented and connected bloggers who could write in a Westminster blog style that will have too much to lose from writing in the oeuvre of a Guido Fawkes. It’s not likely that issues blogging is going to be get more MSM attention any time soon, but a stint in opposition might cause a few of these kinds of bloggers to emerge on the left.

Charlie Beckett picks up on this and notes:

Georgina Henry from the Guardian made the important point that the Left is in opposition to the Government. So it is much more fun to be a right-wing blogger. What does Iain Dale do when his party gets in to power? I suspect he will be as slavishly pro-Cameronite as he is now.

Which will presumably be less interesting and attract a smaller audience…

All this is to the good, but are there any implications from all this that can actually be applied by political practitioners. What are the strategic lessons from all this? LiberalConspiracy suggests the following questions for bloggers to consider to guide their political engagement:

Once New Labour goes out of power, it will be enveloped in furious infighting to resolve its future direction. What part can bloggers play in influencing the narratives and supporting various groups (factions?).

Can the web be used to build grass-roots activism? Isn’t that the future of the liberal-left when a right-wing government is in power?

How can we facilitate and have the discussions about taking the liberal-left forward?

And there is the obvious question: can left liberal bloggers actually have an impact on national politics?

Unfortunately, they’ve left off the most important question for online left activists: How can they contribute to keeping Labour in government?

My friend Mario Lopez Areu also weighs in.

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