The Politics of the Internet

Previously we have considered how the internet succeeded in the quantity of information and uses it has, and also its openness and generativity.  The general consensus was that the internet wasn't lacking in most fields, but Matthew Hindman has found some faults.  In regards to politics, the internet isn't the most reliable source.  Hindman argues that the internet has made politics less "democratic", information less credible, and creates a type of blog monopoly.

While Hindman does credit the internet with giving political information to those who don't pay attention to politics, he criticizes their political participation (Chapter 1).  Since participation is measured by those give their voice or take political action online, simply reading blogs does not make a person active.  It truly tests how or if people will react upon what they read.  The opportunity to give a greater voice to ordinary people has been given via the internet, it's all on the individual to use it.

Blogs have increased in popularity within the last few years and still are today.  While more and more people are blogging their political ideas, they are contributing to the theory of the Joe Average Blogger (Chapter 6).  While I feel it is great that everyone can voice their opinion, it asks the question does everyone want to hear it or care enough to pay attention? Most of these blogs are standard issues and are not seen as the most credible, but I'll get more into that later.  With posts such as these, it is tough to take a blog to the next level and get more web traffic.

To answer a previously asked question, unless a person is known in the political world, they will have a small audience.  This is stated by "The Missing Middle", which says the majority of views will go to the few credible sources and the rest goes to Joe Average Bloggers (Chapter 7).  The question of how democratic this is can be asked once again.  It seems that when it comes to voicing a political opinion, the internet is very democratic, however the majority of readers will go to the few blogs with known names, making the internet, in this sense, less democratic.