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Very few moderate or "neutral" political blogs attract much attention. While most newspapers (editorial pages notwithstanding) have sought the middle ground of objectivity for more than a century, blogs have tended to thrive by choosing sides. So it is not surprising to me in this protracted primary battle that the progressive blogosphere, usually fairly united on election-related topics, has split into Obama and Clinton camps (and Edwards before he dropped out). This tendency of "birds of a feather" to "flock together" is called homophily. In this case it's "value homophily," blog readers and contributors have gravitated toward the blogs that support their values, in this case the blog or blogs where writers say nice things about their preferred candidate. For example, for much of 2007 the Big Orange Satan was an Edwards blog and slowly morphed into an Obama blog in January. MyDD has become the home of Clinton supporters. This "flocking" was seen most dramatically when DKos contributors went on "strike" and took their efforts to more Clinton-friendly environs. Lately, I have been seeing signs of a detente. For example, this post by a Clinton supporter apologizing for getting carried away and this hilarious comment by a one-time "enemy." And, of course, there are still people pushing a "Unity Ticket" although this idea eminates mostly from Clinton supporters. So, what happens when the primaries are over? Can "unflocking" occur or will there be permanent blog use patterns that result from the bifurcation of Feb-April 2008? Is this split entirely candidate driven or are there underlying value differences which could persist long beyond the spring/summer of this year?
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STATE BLOGS
