The following blogs have very much in common, but at the same time there are many differences between them in terms of culture:
The blog Daily Kos, one of the largest progressive community blogs, covers the themes associated with politics. The authors represent many significant issues in their articles and attract the audience that is interested in politics, community issues, public policies, reforms, etc. The major sections of the blog include PEOPLE, GROUPS, DIARIES, TAGS, LABOR, COMICS, and ELECTIONS.
The blog Madiaite can be defined as filter because it filters the information from the Web. There are many different themes discussed on this site. The bloggers are skilled authors who use standard blogging language in their discussions. For example, the blogger Josh Feldman discusses gay marriage issues in his article Jon Stewart Reacts To Supreme Court Hearing Gay Marriage Cases: ”˜Sh*t Just Got Real’, using video to support the most important facts in his blog. 20 comments provide by online audience help to better understand the issues discussed by Josh Feldman.
RedState is one of the well-known sites that provide many interesting articles to the audience. Today, RedState can be viewed as “the most widely read right of center blog on Capitol Hill” Moreover, RedState is often cited in the media, and some experts consider that it is one of the most “influential voices of the grassroots on the right” (RedState).
The blog Wonkette is one of the blogs that contains much additional information to the themes discussed by the authors. For example, this blog has many videos, advertisements, and images. Most information is taken from the Web; that is why the blog Wonkette can be defined as filter. This blog is very popular among the Internet users because the number of commentaries is very large.
The blog TPM (Talking Points Memo) refers to the premier digital native political news organization in the USA which covers a broad range of political news, policy and national news (TPM). This site contains such sections as NEWS, LIVEWIRE, EDITOR’S BLOG, TPMDC, IDEALAB, POLLS, and TV. Each article of the blog is unique as the authors express their own points of views which in some cases do not coincide with the opinions of the majority.
The blog White House Dossier is “the only 24/7, totally independent, and fully unauthorized White House news website” (White House Dossier). It provides the readers with unique information from White House reporting, including commentaries and analysis of the reports. The main peculiarity of this blog is the use of frequent doses of humor and satire. This website is focused mainly on President Obama’s administration and on his antagonists. Most articles are long essay-type postings written by the veteran White House reporter Keith Koffler. Some additional information of the blog is represented in the following sections: Obama’s Schedule, Quote of the Day, The Best Recent WHD Posts.
To sum up, the blogosphere seems to have cultural traits because most blogs adhere to certain standards in posting. However, bloggers have different cultural values and their blogs can be distinguished from each other by the use of humor, satire, music, videos, ads, etc. Â Most blogs are of public nature, and specially designed for communication. Six blogs discussed in this paper are focused on politics and help the online audience to better understand the major political issues that are discussed in the world of politics. These blogs represent a new type of online information that begins to rival traditional news media sites not only in readership size, but also in loyalty.