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'Splain It To Me, Markos.




We're getting closer to a genuinely interesting election. Why are these three hardcore liberal blogs losing readership? (Caveat: I'm not a statistician. Or even competent to handle Fifth grade math.)

Shouldn't these bar graphs be trending upward? Is this a sign? A portent? A coincidence? A random fluctuation in the blogospheric ether? Don't know. Interesting though, huh? We need a pollster.com for blogs, someone who can analyze the rise and fall and distill it into a meaningful picture.

Suggestions for interpreting above data are welcome.

This entry was posted by Michael Reynolds, on Thursday, November 22, 2007. You can leave your response.

“'Splain It To Me, Markos.”

  1. Anonymous Anonymous Says:
    1:29 PM  

    Need parallel graphs for a couple of hardcore conservative blogs, in order to see if it's a matter of liberal blogs or of all political blogs. Better yet, include a couple of moderate blogs, to see if it's a matter of liberal blogs, extreminst blogs, or just all political blogs.

  2. Blogger Randy Says:
    2:37 PM  

    OTOH, wj is right. OTOH, americablog's numbers indicate a steady trend lower. If it were a stock, I'd want to know what has changed in the last year. Perhaps a management change? Daily Kos looks like it is not growing - the lower months and higher months are relatively stable. It's days as a growth stock appear to be behind it but it is holding its own in an off-election. Advertisers may find this comforting as it makes it hard to increase rates. Atrios showed pretty good month to month growth through April then backtracked. Having said all that, none of it probably matters. What would be interesting is to compare 2003, 2005, 2007 2004, 2006, and 2008 at the end of 2008.

  3. Blogger Michael Reynolds Says:
    3:23 PM  

    Yeah, guys, it feels like insufficient data, doesn't it? Just enough to puzzle over and make you say, "Hmmm."

  4. Blogger Randy Says:
    10:33 PM  

    Yes, largely insufficient data, except for the americablog numbers. They are definitely trending downward, which implies they are losing regular readers. They will probably look better in the election year itself but I would not be surprised to learn that their larger numbers in 2008 fail to match their larger numbers in 2006. That should not be the case for either of the other two.

  5. Blogger Melinda Says:
    10:09 AM  

    Why are these three hardcore liberal blogs losing readership?

    Perhaps for the same reason I'd let my subscription to The American Prospect lapse after Clinton took office.

    OTOH, perhaps wj is correct and we should see if this is a trend among all political blogs.

  6. Blogger kreiz1 Says:
    11:26 AM  

    Contradictory guesses:

    1. 2006 Dem election success has dissipated anti-war fervor; or
    2. The relative downswing in casualties post-Surge has diminished anti-war interest.
    3. Gravitational pull or something.
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