Gene Rose wrote yesterday about declining newspaper readership and how legislatures should look for non-traditional methods of getting their message across.
A growing number of legislators are writing blogs. Blog readership, in contrast to newspaper readership, is increasing. A January 2005 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported that in the spring of 2003, only about 11 percent of internet users had read blogs. The figure jumped to 17 percent in February 2004 and then leapt to 27 percent in November. The growth in 2004 alone amounts to 58 percent.
Blogs give legislators a forum to present their own unfiltered ideas and opinions or to discuss issues that the mainstream media might not cover in depth or at all. Blogs and other Internet forums also may reach some people more than the traditional media, including political "influentials" and people who might not otherwise be politically involved.
A study by George Washington University's Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet in 2004 found that Americans who are politically active via the Internet are almost seven times more likely than the average American to serve as opinion leaders to others. Three researchers at the Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations at the University of California, Irvine studied whether political practices online are simply an extension of offline political practices. Their research suggests that the Internet may be a place "some who are otherwise inactive are freed from traditional offline authority structures that might deter their participation."
Interestingly, some of the earliest and most prolific legislator-bloggers – like Rep. Aaron Peña (TX), Rep. Ray Cox (MN), and Rep. Steve Urquhart (UT) – point out that it's not necessary to be particularly computer-savvy to blog, and all have encouraged other legislators to join them in blogging. Rep. Peña offers great tips about why and how to get started.
Comments