Blogs, Politics
May 31, 2006
TBGStaff
View Comments

2006 Senate Blog Review…the Sequel

We recently took a closer look at the 2006 Senate candidate’s blogs in an attempt to judge the overall quality of blog quality and blog offerings. Here is what we found:

78 percent of the 18 campaign blogs included RSS feeds.

Only 33 percent of blogs included a blogroll or links to other blogs.

78 percent of blogs accepted comments, but only 61% actually published these comments.  In addition, many blogs appeared to only show positive user comments. Jon Tester’s “Testertime” is an example of this. testertime logoTom Kean’s blog was an exception, where arguments over issues actually developed in the comments section. Either most candidates’ blogs are only attracting supporters, or blog managers are filtering user comments and only posting positive input.

In 56 percent of the blogs, the candidates themselves posted blog entries. When candidates posted entries, it really gave the blogs a personal touch, giving the candidates a “down to earth” quality that would be attractive to voters. Claire McCaskill used this technique particularly well.

Many of the candidates’ blogs were well-maintained and sophisticated. However, it was disappointing to find that interactive features of the blogs were limited. With just over half of the blogs publishing user comments, it is questionable whether some candidates blogs can really be considered blogs at all. This is another example of our main findings from our political campaign study: candidates are still underutilizing Web tools, and many are hesitant to open their campaigns to interactive strategies. It seems that most candidates are more comfortable with traditional forms of campaigning; the transition to “cyber-campaigns” will indeed be a gradual one.

Update: For those interested, you can see the Excel sheet with the backing data here (Excel sheet). Note that Pete Ashdown got credit in our study for having every blog element that we looked at. We edited the entry to reflect Ashdown’s policy of posting un-censored blog comments.

  • http://peteashdown.org Pete Ashdown

    I’m sorry, I don’t know what your methodology in testing was, but I allow all comments through excepting spam. Once you have a single comment approved in WordPress, then all your comments are automatically approved after that point.

    The only reason I do it this way is spam. I would rather have a spam-free blog that requires approval on your first comment that a blog that is rendered useless by spam. Believe me, the blog-spam problem is constant in spite of WordPress tools to stop it.

    There are contradictory comments on my blogs about Net Neutrality, the Torture Amendment, and the INDUCE act. Please take some time to read all the comments before passing summary judgement.

    Unfortunately, I had to take the same action on my Wiki after spending several hours battling right wing vandals. However, I have not hesitated to use every tool at my disposal to make my senate campaign interactive and transparent.

  • http://peteashdown.org Pete Ashdown

    I’m sorry, I don’t know what your methodology in testing was, but I allow all comments through excepting spam. Once you have a single comment approved in WordPress, then all your comments are automatically approved after that point.

    The only reason I do it this way is spam. I would rather have a spam-free blog that requires approval on your first comment that a blog that is rendered useless by spam. Believe me, the blog-spam problem is constant in spite of WordPress tools to stop it.

    There are contradictory comments on my blogs about Net Neutrality, the Torture Amendment, and the INDUCE act. Please take some time to read all the comments before passing summary judgement.

    Unfortunately, I had to take the same action on my Wiki after spending several hours battling right wing vandals. However, I have not hesitated to use every tool at my disposal to make my senate campaign interactive and transparent.

  • http://www.bivingsreport.com Todd Zeigler

    Pete,

    We updated our entry to acknowledge your objection.

    If you are having spam problems in WordPress, I’d suggest the Akismet plugin (http://akismet.com/). Our spam problem here has been reduced dramatically since it was installed.

    Thanks for you comment.

    Todd

  • http://www.bivingsreport.com Todd Zeigler

    Pete,

    We updated our entry to acknowledge your objection.

    If you are having spam problems in WordPress, I’d suggest the Akismet plugin (http://akismet.com/). Our spam problem here has been reduced dramatically since it was installed.

    Thanks for you comment.

    Todd

  • http://www.mynameiskate.ca/2006/05/social_media_an.html My Name is Kate

    Social Media and Elections … what’s happening after the campaign…

    With this being an election year in the US and the Canadian parliament always seemingly on the verge of an election, there have been a number of posts and reports recently on the use of social media and elections. Boyd…

  • http://www.bivingsreport.com/2006/most-web-20-politicians/ Most Web 2.0 Politicians » The Bivings Report

    [...] On the Democrat side, I’d have to go with Utah Senate candidate Pete Ashdown. Not only does Ashdown blog and podcast himself, he actually took the time to personally comment on our blog here. Ashdown also has a wiki that he uses to collect feedback on issues and campaign tactics from supporters. [...]

  • http://www.bivingsreport.com/2006/campaign-study-on-pbs-mediashift/ Campaign Study on PBS MediaShift » The Bivings Report

    [...] 2006 Senate Blog Review…The Sequel [...]

  • http://blogcampaigning.wordpress.com/2006/09/11/how-well-networked-are-political-campaign-blogs/ How Well Networked are Political Campaign Blogs? « Blog Campaigning

    [...] Findings [...]

blog comments powered by Disqus

Notice

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Brick Factory, a Washington, DC-based digital agency founded by former employees of The Bivings Group. You can read the details of the transition here.

As a result of the change, The Bivings Report will no longer be updated, although we intend to keep it up for archival purposes. You can read the Brick Factory's new blog here.

Categories

Archives