Why no one will read this blog post.
Recently came across a paper by Eric Lawrence, John Sides, and Henry Farrell (from George Washington University). (H/T The Monkey Cage).
From the abstract:
We find that blog readers gravitate toward blogs that accord with their political beliefs. Few read blogs on both the left and right of the ideological spectrum. Furthermore, those who read left-wing blogs and those who read right-wing blogs are ideologically far apart. Blog readers are more polarized than either non-blog-readers or consumers of various television news programs, and roughly as polarized as US senators.
The study discusses how blog authors of similar political persuasion tend to reinforce each other’s beliefs and push further from the center, with something similar occurring among blog readers. Only 6% of those who read political blogs read both right and left wing blogs. The remainder, 94%, read only left wing or right wing but not both.
Which fits in with a few earlier comments on polarization of the US electorate, but suggests the View From Down Under is unlikely to appeal to the majority of blog readers.
Which is fine by me.
UPDATE: There is also a cool chart in the study showing how liberals watch PBS Newshour and conservatives watch Fox News. We all knew that, but the graph is well presented.
Isn’t there likely to also be a Goldilocks + Boiling Frog effect? A blog reader is more likely to identify with and prefer a blog posting that is “just right” rather than distant from their political beliefs. Over time, they are likely if they remain a regular reader to continue to identify even should the blog move away from their original position.
Slightly scary, actually. Just like radicalisation employed by political and terrorist groups.
David
Oh, do keep reading David. I’ll boil you yet!
Actually, it’s feeling pretty comfortable in here. Feels like about 23C, but [tap, tap, tap in background] this old thermometer doesn’t appear to be working.
I expect you have a new model you can recommend with which I can replace this old one?
Or should I just paint “23C” on a board and place it nearby?
David