Netroots - a Swedish progressive blog movement

N A progressive blog movement on the Internet

N Welcome to Nätrot ‘09 - about grass roots on the Internet You are holding in your hand statistics covering the by several people together, such as Alliansfritt Sweden efforts of 356 progressive bloggers to influence public and Arvid Falk. It is exciting to see that the network has opinion in the period from 20 April to 17 June. The blogs people from different backgrounds, ages and genders are part of the Social Democrats’ open network and the and that there is not just one way of being active in the Netroots blog portal, www.netroots.se. network. Everyone has the opportunity to participate in the debate. Progressive bloggers play a part in bringing about change, which is why we have chosen to emphasise the Three years ago, the platform for Netroots was estab- enormous work that people contribute in participating lished with the first organised Netroots meeting – Nätrot in the Internet debate. On the following pages you can ’06. This event gathered 70 Internet-active people read about: against a right-wing government. During this year’s seminar in Almedalen, Nätrot ’09, which is organised by • We highlight the 20 bloggers who have gained the the Social Democrats and the Aktuellt i politiken news- greatest attention from other bloggers, with links. paper, we will gain inspiration about how it was to blog • Articles in traditional media that receive the most links. for the Obama campaign. • Statistics show that the progressive blogging goes on 24 hours a day, every day of the week. So the best tip for those of you who wish to follow the • Four bloggers in the top-20 list give their best tips on debate among progressive bloggers on the Internet is to how to reach out with your blog message. go to www.netroots.se • A blog cloud shows which subjects engage Netroots’ readers most. Johan Ulvenlöv Blog contacts / New media The width of the network can be seen in the list of the Johan.ulvenlov@riksdagen.se 20 most linked bloggers in Netroots. The list is topped Almedalen in July 2009 by Rosemari Södergren with her Culture Blog. Next Footnote: comes Eva Rundkvist who started the “Blogging for Mona” campaign. We also see leading representa- The term netroots was coined by Jerome Armstrong tives such as the former minister of justice, Thomas in 2002. In Sweden the term was used by people who Bodström. The list includes active voices within the campaigned on the Internet against a right-wing govern- HBT movement and people who are concerned about ment for the first time in an organised context during the integration or employment issues, as well as blogs run Nätrot ’06 meeting. About the statistics - The period of the survey was from 20 April, when the Netroots blog portal was launched, up to and including 16 June. - The material is based on Netroots’ own database where registered bloggers can insert their own material, and data from the Twingly blog search engine, www.twingly.com - Do you want to blog about the report? Download the report and the diagram in a blog-friendly format from www.s- buzz.se.

Top 20 progressive blogs Blog No. of links Web address 1 Kulturbloggen 672 www.kulturbloggen.com 2 Promemorian 480 promemorian.blogspot.com 3 Arvid Falk 235 arvidfalk.se 4 Erik Laakso | På Uppstuds 204 www.eriklaakso.nu 5 Sjölander 177 johansjolander.blogspot.com 6 Alliansfritt Sverige 150 www.alliansfrittsverige.nu 7 HBT-sossen 150 hbt-sossen.blogspot.com 8 In The Pendent 148 www.hartman.nu 9 Claeskrantz.se 144 www.claeskrantz.se 10 In Your Face 127 krassman-inyourface.blogspot.com 11 Johanna Graf 124 johannagraf.blogspot.com 12 Eva-Lenas blogg 123 evalenajansson.blogspot.com 13 Peter Karlberg 113 peter.karlberg.org 14 Jakop Dalunde 104 jakopdalunde.wordpress.com 15 Monica Greens blogg 104 monicagreen.webblogg.se 16 Bodströmsamhället 103 www.bodstromsamhallet.se 17 Peter Andersson - med rätt att tycka... 101 peterlandersson.blogspot.com 18 Bengt Silfverstrand 100 www.s-info.se/silfverstrand 19 Käringen mot strömmen 94 evarundkvist.blogspot.com 20 Margot Wallströms Blog 88 blogs.ec.europa.eu/wallstrom Comments: The 20 most popular blogs in the Netroots network. The measuring tool we have used to rank the blogs is how many other bloggers have linked to them. Facts about Netroots No. of bloggers who are members of Netroots 356 Blog articles on Netroots per day on average 116 Blog articles per week per blog on average 2.3 Comments: On average Net- roots bloggers blog 2.3 times Blog articles per week for blogs in the top-20 list 7 per week. The bloggers in the top-20 list who get the most Total number of articles in the period 20 April to 17 June 6 484 number of links from other 2009 bloggers blog more often, on Total number of labels under blog articles 12 326 average 7 times per week.

N Most linked traditional media 1000  900  800  Comments: The biggest 700  media are also those that 600  get the most number of 500  links among the pro- 400  gressive bloggers. Blog 300  articles can provide com- 200  ments and an alternative 100  perspective on the media 0  situation. sydsvenskan.se  svd.se  expressen.se  sr.se  svt.se  dn.se  a34n5ladet.se  dagen.se  newsmill.se  gp.se  Most linked articles in mainstream media Source Title Date No. of blog links DN Debatt The Swedish Society for Nature Con- 6 May 2009 48 servation selects the EU parliamentary candidates who are best for the environ- ment DN Ekonomi The Swedish Fiscal Policy Council criti- 11 May 2009 17 cises the Swedish Government’s crisis policy Aftonbladet The party leaders criticise SVT 17 May 2009 15 SvD Euron splittrade alliansen 17 May 2009 14 DN Debatt “Maud Olofsson’s policy is a catastrophe 7 May 2009 14 for the Centre Party” SvD The battle for personal voting selection 24 May 2009 13 of candidates is being fought on the Internet Comments: Debate ar- SvD The Moderate Party is losing public 21 May 2009 13 ticles, opinion polls and opinion support TV debates are the most SvD Sahlin: “My position is strong” 26 April 2009 12 popular items to link to. DN Debatt “We promise 100 000 more jobs and 29 April 2009 12 trainee posts” SvD The opposition is still larger than the alli- 16 May 2009 11 ance parties together

Blog articles week by week EU-parliamentory 1200  election 1000  800  600  400  Comments: Netroots blogging reached a peak 200  during the EU parliamentary election in week 23. 0  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  24  Blog articles over the 24-hour period 350  300  250  Comments: Progressive bloggers publish material 200  24 hours a day. But the 150  peaks are in the morning and in the evening. The 100  diagram summarises blog 50  articles during the whole measurement period. 0  0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20  21  22  23  Blog articles by day of the week 900  800  700  600  500  400  Comments: Blogging is 300  well spread over the days 200  of the week. The diagram 100  summarises blog articles during the whole mea- 0  måndag  2sdag  onsdag  torsdag  fredag  lördag  söndag  surement period.

N Blog tips: Some of Netroots bloggers’ best tips to gain popularity for your blog Eva Rundkvist Peter Andersson Blogs at: “Käringen mot strömmen” Blogs at: “Peter Andersson med rätt att tycka” Address: evarundkvist.blogspot.com Address: peterandersson.blogspot.com Rank 18 in the top-20 list Rank 17 in the top-20 list 1. Write because you want to! 1. Try to write often with 2-3 articles per day. Continuity 2. Write brief articles and do it often, and dare to be is important. The blog should be busy. yourself, dare to vary and dare to be humorous. Politi- 2. Make sure that your articles are visible in many dif- cal blogs are (often) incredibly boring. Write about ferent portals. football or your crazy cat instead. Politics can still be If, like me, you get inspiration from reading the media, found though somewhere in the middle of everything. then insert a link and make sure that it is there at the Be personal, but not private. Only write what you can end of the article. I believe it is a fantastic feature of stand up for. democracy that the media make it possible for readers 3. Checking facts and clear source referencing in- to blog direct about an article. The article to which you creases the credibility and value of the blog. link shall have a connection with what you are writing 4. Focus on one area, link and comment often. Always about! Link to other bloggers, and do it widely. Democ- answer. Use headings intelligently, they are not a for- racy presupposes debate. mal description of the content – rather a way to arouse 3. Link to other debaters outside your own party as curiosity. well if the article adds something to the debate. 5. Then break all these rules, except the first one – 4. Write shorter articles than I do. write because you really want to! 5. Use photos more than I manage to. It lightens and il- lustrates the blog and accentuates the message better with the right choice of photos. Make sure to link to the various sources you have used so that the reader can access these better. 6. Be effervescent, energetic and happy when you blog AND furious and involved. It will shine through if the article has been written with honest and genuine commitment, or not.

Alexandra Einerstam Claes Krantz Blogs at: “HBT-sossen” Blogs at: Claeskrantz.se Address: hbt-sossen.blogspot.com Address: www.claeskrantz.se Rank 7 in the top-20 list. Rank 9 in the top-20 list 1. Update – at least one article per day. Why do I blog? As one of my friends said – “to write is to become visible”. In the same way blogging for me is 2. Link to articles and features in the traditional media a means of exerting influence and gaining attention, to and link to other bloggers. If another blogger has writ- reach other people. ten a good article but it is not relevant to your article – make a “feature article” where you write that “I would 1. As a blogger, write under your own name and with recommend the following blog article”. your own voice. 3. Ping for example nyligen.se and twingly.com to 2. Don’t be afraid. There will be mistakes. The content make the blog more visible in blog search engines. of what you say is more important than the design and layout. 4. Label your articles with as many words as possible. If you have written about Prime Minister Fredrik Rein- 3. Write what really interests you. It’s not about readers feldt, don’t just label Fredrik Reinfeldt and the Moder- or rankings. Even if just one person reads what you ate Party but use labels such as employment crisis, have written, then you have reached someone other passivity, government incompetence, jobs rescue etc. than yourself. Blogging is fundamentally about giving more voices the opportunity to be heard. 5. Design and layout is important if you want readers. Compact articles “without air” are difficult to get through. Articles without photos are perceived to be boring. You should therefore add photos to your article. 6. If you want to reach a different readership than just political activists – write a few articles about fashion, culture, music, food etc. (insert a “feature article” in such an article where you recommend a political blog article)

Word cloud: This is a word cloud, made by Wordle.net, that is based on all 12 326 tags that the Netroots bloggers have used. The size of the word indicates how often it was used as a label. About Netroots Netroots is the Social Democrats’ portal and network for progressive bloggers. The bloggers who are found in the portal are responsible themselves for the content of the blogs. The Social Demo- crats’ blog network organises a range of seminars and meetings, and dissemi- nates and exchanges information. Visit Netroots at www.netroots.se.

Netroots - a Swedish progressive blog movement

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Netroots - a Swedish progressive blog movement — Document Transcript