Long time between drinks/the “second wave”

  • Posted by jason
  • August 25, 2008

It’s been awhile between drinks here on Gatewatching. My excuse is that I’ve moved jobs, and things have been (and remain) frantic here at GetUp! (Not sure about Axel and Barry’s excuses ;) )Big news soon, but the job has been something of a continuation of my work on youdecide2007 and queenslanddecides, with a little bit of open australia mixed in, and some other spesh features. Watch this space.

Anyway, I’m inspired to post today by what seems to me to be indications of a definite move into a second “wave” or “phase” of Australian political blogging. A lot of bloggers seem to be moving towards group blogging, underwritten by advertising revenue - higher-traffic political bloggers are moving towards long-term, monetised and (hopefully) more sustainable models of content-making. (This is apart from those bloggers - the Bolts, Blairs and Dunlops - who are already operating successfully within MSM sites).

Examples:

  • The group of blogs including LP, Club Troppo, Skeptic Lawyer, Ambit Gambit etc who are all operating under an umbrella of paid ads.
  • Andrew Landeryou’s new “Vexnews” site, which appears to have multiple contributors.
  • Possum’s new venture, Pollytics, announced yesterday:

There’s obviously a crucial tipping-point here. If anybody can make a living, or even a decent retainer, out of political blogging through advertising, this offers the prospect of long-term sustainability. Recent reports by Mark on LP suggest that some of the biggest blogs are getting close to this tipping-point. That’s good news for media diversity in a country that badly needs some.

Of course, it doesn’t wash away the problems of financing investigative journalism into the future, which even established MSM outlets seem to be having trouble with. But it does suggest that alternative political commentary in the blogosphere is getting near the point where it pays well enough to pay the rent, and that bloggers are reorganising their activities to make the most of these opportunities.

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August 25th, 2008
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Comment Number:
1
Written by:
Kevin Rennie
Posted on:
August 25, 2008 at 8:41 pm

Labor View earned just over $4 in 2 months using Google Ads as a trial. Unless you are syndicated it seems a waste of time. The hit rate was very small on a low traffic blog. Need to get more exposure through a group blog if anyone out here is interested. Anyway you know what Groucho Marx said about joining clubs.

Comment Number:
2
Written by:
Pankaj
Posted on:
August 25, 2008 at 10:40 pm

Hi! I came across your site while researching on citizen journalism. I was looking for a contact id but since i could not find one i am writing it down as a comment. Since you track citizen journalism you might want to look at The Viewspaper (www.theviewspaper.net) - a citizen journalist initiative for the youth and Viewspaper Hindi (www.theviewspaper.in) - India’s first citizen journalism paper in Hindi(a regional language of India)

Personally i enjoy reading citizen journalist papers far more than anything else. And i think citizen journalism is definately gaining ground.

Comment Number:
3
Written by:
Iain Hall
Posted on:
August 26, 2008 at 11:36 am

Personally I think that to get good traffic any blog must be updated daily and most bloggers who have jobs and commitments can find it rather too big an ask to read, research and comment everyday let alone be across all of the issues.
The possibility of advertising revenue is hardly likely to be a big motivator for most political bloggers and I know in the case of the Sceptic lawyer blog the two authors would be more that happy if the advertising on the site subsidises some of the hosting costs. I actually think that a better reason to want to contribute to a group blog has more to do with the fact that more authors that contribute to a page the fresher it’s content will be for those who read it. I know of some really well written and insightful blogs that never get much traffic precisely because they are so infrequently updated, and as the afore mention Sceptic Lawyer blog shows just having two authors can be enough to make the difference.
the aspect of blogs that is helped by the group platform is in terms of discussion, you can generally expect that those who write the blog will be willing to comment on each others posts but this can be a two edged sword it this ends up being just collective bitching or backslapping, because the sad fact is that most group blogs like Lavatus Prodeo can be terribly unwelcoming to the constrain viewpoint as can conservative sites like AWH.

Comment Number:
4
Written by:
The Editor
Posted on:
August 26, 2008 at 4:16 pm

I hate it when my afore mention constrain viewpoint is not tolerated.

Comment Number:
5
Written by:
jason
Posted on:
August 26, 2008 at 4:26 pm

Kevin - nice to hear from you again - don’t spend all that money at once ;) Group blogging may be the way to go, partly because of the reasons Iain nominates blow.

Pankaj - lovely of you to get in touch. Email is j[dot]5[dot]wilson[at]qut[dot]edu[dot]au
I think you may be right, and citizen journalism in India does seem lively.

Iain - the principles you offer seem pretty sound - frequent updates are important, and group blogs make it easier. You’re right that a day job or other commitments can get in the way of blogging - but that’s why the apparent ability of some blogs now to approach financial sustainability is intriguing. Money may not be a prime motivation, but an income stream - even if it only amounts to a part-time income - will probably help generate more copy.

Occasionally group blogs can be unwelcoming, but I’d have to leave it to you to single out specific examples. It’s horses for courses. Some people engage with blog communities in order to “commune” with like minds, just as others like a more confrontational experience. Whether or not blogs become self-sustaining depends on the durability and liveliness of the community they attract.

Thanks to all of you for dropping by.