To go along with
Blogads,
Pew,
David Perlmutter, and
the BlogPac Netroots poll, Media Metrix has new data that confirms what we have known about the netroots for some time. The netroots are middle-aged, well-to-do, and extremely high consumers of news media.
From the article on the study:
While visitors to DailyKos.com do not represent the entire netroots community, the following profile provides insight into this segment of the activist community:
- Category visitation habits among DailyKos.com visitors reveals that these internet users are perhaps more philosophical (Politics, Religion), financially savvy (Online Trading, Finance -- News/Research) and more engaged in online entertainment (Humor, Entertainment -- News, and Retail -- Music) than the average internet user.
- DailyKos.com readers also appear to be internet news junkies, exhibiting very high tendencies to visit news sites. When looking at sites that they are more likely to frequent versus the norm, news-related sites account for eight of the top 10 such sites. For example, DailyKos.com visitors index high for visitation to the Independent News & Media (Index = 3,914) and Salon.com (Index = 3,872).
- The Demographic snapshot of DailyKos.com readers reveals that while all adult age groups are represented, there is a very large skew toward adults 65 and older. In fact, this age group is nearly four times as likely as the norm to visit the site.
- DailyKos.com visitors also skew toward higher income levels, with those households making at least $75,000 being 56 percent more likely to visit the site. Zuniga has noted that income is likely one area in which netroots might differ from a representative cross-section of the Democratic Party.
- Regional skews correspond heavily to the coastal "blue state" regions. Visitors are 82 percent more likely than average to come from the Pacific region, 36 percent more likely to come from New England, and 19 percent more likely to hail from the Mid-Atlantic region.
Considering the tremendous evidence that has been compiled, there is no longer any way for the old stereotypes about netroots activists to survive. While netroots activist were once thought of as drooling, anti-social, rabid teenagers in their basements, every major study on the netroots have shown instead that they are middle-aged, extremely politically active, very well educated, intense consumers of news media, and generally from higher income brackets. That simply can no longer be disputed. Those who continue to insist otherwise simply reveal how out of touch they are with the changing media environment.
This is actually why I think the direction of attacks against the netroots have changed since Yearly Kos. As the evidence mounted that the stereotypes long used to dismiss the masses of people who participate in the progressive netroots were completely unsupported by the facts, it has become necessary for those who fear the progressive netroots to begin criticizing its leaders. With it now clear that, in terms of demographics, netroots activists are perhaps the best possible audience for any establishment media publication or political campaign to reach, the pundit class that most fears the netroots have decided that instead of insulting their best customers, they have decided that their best customers do not matter at all. For conservatives of both parties, the netroots are now thus characterized as entirely represented by just two people: Markos and Jerome. The millions of highly engaged, educated, and active progressive Americans who participate in the netroots are merely pawns in Markos and Jerome's grand plan.
As Glenn Smith noted, this is a typical response form an elite that does not understand--or like--the nature of mass, participatory democracy.
As Matt noted, it also won't work, since such an absurd idea comes off as both paranoid and hilarious. As Eric Boehlert noted,
the entire narrative is based on some of the shoddiest and most biased journalism you will ever witness. What I would like to note, in the fashion of former Springfield Mayor Sideshow Bob, is how irritating it is to work one's way up from lurker to mid-level leader in this movement over the course of four years only to have conspiracy theorists credit all of your contributions to the movement to two other people. I mean, come on--I even made two detailed posts back on Thursday describing how I control the Liberal Blog Advertising Network (see
here and
here), and the conspiracy nuts at TNR and the New York Times still want to credit that achievement to Markos and Jerome. What do I have to do to get some credit from the tin-foil hat crowd for being one of the main conspirators here?
I mean, if we are going to have an insane conspiracy about how a handful of people somehow control the progressive netroots, I want to be one of the people cited in that handful. It is probably connected to my long-standing desire to play a super-villain in a blockbuster movie, preferably one with several Dr. Evil-type laughs. This might have been my one chance to make that dream come true. Oh well. I thought I was making some progress
when I was described as the minister of politics in the court of the blogosphere by Salon, and when
the Philadelphia Democratic Party started a PAC apparently with the express purpose of doing battle with me and my friends, but I guess it is two steps forward, and one step back. I think my next move is to start purchasing some nice bling-bling with the MyDD logo on it. Then, I will start making netroots activists, political candidates, and staffers kiss said bling-bling before I grant them an audience with me. If I do that, then maybe Chapelle's Show will start doing Charlie Murphy--Rick James type sketches about me. I'm Chris Bowers, b**ch!
