MPSA 2009 - Socio-political profile of Quebec-based political bloggers

Structure of the presentation

1. Current state of the research;2. Overview of the Quebec blogosphere and its members;3. Rising profile of political blogs;4. Research objectives;5. Methodological considerations;6. Results;

Demographical analysis; Online political behavioural profile; Offline political behavioural profile.

7. Discussion.

Current state of the research

• Politically-oriented blogs: Publicly-available; Low-cost; Single or multi-authored (coproduction-oriented); Limited to no external editorial oversight; Publication of politically-oriented facts and

arguments; Ideologically-driven or partisan in nature; Content and human-interactive features.

• Growingly important source of information: 2006 Midterm U.S. Elections: 20% of Web users

got political news only, up from 9% in 2004;“One of the keys” to the rising “popularity of blog

reading

Sources; Sweetser and Kaye, 2008; Drezner and Farrell, 2008; Pirch, 2008; Rainie and Horrigan, 2006; Adamic and Glance, 2007;


• Political blogosphere studied in several national contexts:

United States; Canada; Europe.

• Many research projects focused on “A-list bloggers”: High profile; Opinion leaders (influential):

Recipient of large numbers of inbound links;

Quoted by conventional media organizations;

Heavily trafficked “information hubs”.

Sources; Wallsten, 2005, 2007; Munger, 2008; McKenna, 2007; Xenos, 2008; Bar-Ilan, 2005; Perlmutter, 2008; Woodly, 2008.

Potentially unrepresentative and distorted characterization of the blogosphere


• Different research methods and objectives: Quantitative (descriptive):

Content; Structure.

Qualitative: Political orientation of publications; Bloggers self-introduction techniques; Etc.

• Majority of politically-oriented blogs known as “filter”:• Heavy use of hyperlinks;• Emergence of “gated cybercommunities”

favouring “enclaved deliberations”; • Mapping the blogosphere.

Sources; Su, Wang et al., 2005, Hinduja and Patchin, 2009; Park, 2009; Trammell, 2007; Tremayne, 2005; Xenos, 2008; Veenstra, Sayre et al., 2007

• Previous research on the political blogosphere: Many wide-ranging studies, but few comprising

political dimensions: National; Local.

Few studies on the socio-political profile of political bloggers:

Study of the Swedish blogosphere (Kullin, 2006):

Study of the U.S. political blogosphere: Wallsten (2008); McKenna (2007); McKenna and Pole (2004).

Sources; Lenhart and Fox, 2006; Nardi, Schiano et al., 2004; Wallsten, 2008; McKenna and Pole, 2004; McKenna, 2007; Kullin, 2006.


Most comprehensive

Quebec blogosphere and its participants

• Characterization of weblog research in Canada: Initial stages; Most studies focusing on English language blogs

in the United States; Few studies published on the Canadian context:

Overview of the structure of the Canadian political blogosphere (Braaten, 2005);

Canadian Parliamentary blogosphere (Small, 2008);

Influence of Canadian bloggers on the press (Chu, 2007);

Content analysis of Canadian political blogs (Koop and Jansen, 2007)

Sources; Braaten, 2005; Small, 2008; Chu, 2007; Koop and Jansen, 2007;; Trammell, Takowski et al., 2007


• Quebec is a Canadian province characterized by its specificities:

Cultural; Economic; Linguistic; Political.

• Potentially sharp distinctions with North American studies;

• Small size of the Quebec political blogosphere (representativeness of the sample);

• Few studies on the socio-political profile of bloggers;

Sources; Fournier, 2001, 2002; Rocher, 2002; Wallsten, 2005; Hinduja and Patchin, 2008; Qian and Scott, 2007; Schmidt, 2007

Estimated 125 Quebec-based political bloggers.


• Growing interest of Quebec-based Web users for the blogosphere:

Source; CEFRIO, 2008

Data 26% of Quebec-based Internet

users have read at least one blog; 8% have authored at least one

weblog

Rising profile of political blogs

• Growing levels of distrust of conventional media organizations;

Political coverage revolving around strategy-oriented news frames;

tendency to provide interpretative coverage of political news;

Content fuelling political distrust among the public.• Increasing reliance on Web-based communication channels

for political information and opinion: News credibility of the Web hard to evaluate.

• Rising importance of blogs: Publication platforms enabling audience

participation; Growing popularity; Etc.

Sources; Best and Kueger,2005; Sweetser and Kaid, 2008, Druckman, 2005; Jones, 2004; De Vreese and Elenbaas, 2008; Kushin, Yamamoto et al., 2009.

Research objectives

• Political and media environment increasingly turning to “gatewatching”-oriented processes;

• Research objectives: Provide a socio-demographical portrait of Quebec-

based political bloggers; Define their political preferences and interests.

• Research hypotheses: Emerging Quebec blogging community will

contain highly politically-engaged and sophisticated individuals;

Quebec-based political bloggers are more likely to be predominantly conservative.

Sources; Bowers and Stoller, 2005; Ackland, 2005; Kavanaugh and Patterson, 2001: 499; Polat, 2005: 451; Jackson and Lilleker, 2007: 245.

Methodological considerations

• Publicly-available secure online survey available from April 15th 2008 to May 1st 2008 inclusively;

• 58 questions unevenly distributed in seven sections of different sizes addressing specific themes;

• Constitution of the research sample was twofold: Selection of 22 A-list political bloggers; snowball technique used in a viral dissemination

approach for the information circulation of the survey:

Through A-list bloggers; Through conventional

media representatives (journalists).

Research sample 56 respondents; 73% of A-list bloggers; 71% recruited through the

viral procedure.

Results

• Socio-demographical profile of Quebec-based political bloggers:

Quebec-basedpolitical blogger

Data Men(84%); 18-35 years-old (54%); Completed university

degree(54%); Members of the active workforce

(54%); Annual income exceeding 25 000$

(CAN) (64%); French is the mother tongue

(92.7%).

Results

• Geographical distribution of Quebec-based political bloggers:

Québec (29%)

Quebec-basedpolitical blogger

Montréal (46%)

Results

• Political preferences of Quebec-based political bloggers:

Data 63% have left-leaning political views:

Progressivism; Socialism; Communism.

21.4% have right-leaning political views;

3.6% defined themselves as greens or ecologists.

The U.S. conservative blogging community was “two to three times as large” than its progressive counterpart in 2003.

Source; Bowers and Stoller, 2005.

Results

• Positions on issues specific to the Quebec political environment:

Data 66% support the project of the political

sovereignty of Quebec; 21.4% oppose the project of the

political sorereignty of Quebec; 13% did not answer the questions

Among the general public, the level of support varies between 39% and 54%.

Sources; Léger Marketing, 2008; Béland and Lecours, 2006.

Results

• Time spent online by Quebec-based political bloggers:

Time spent online Percetage of bloggers

Less than 15 hours online per week

32.7%

20 hours online per week 25.5%



Online socio-political behavioural profile

Results

• Years spent in the blogosphere by the respondents:

• Quebec-based political bloggers dedicate an average of de 23,16 hours to their blog(s) per week.


Years spent in the blogosphere Percetage of bloggers

Less than one (1) year 16%

More than one (1) year 83%

More than three (3) years 34%

More than five (5) years 14%

Results

• Characterization of their publications:

Characteristics Percetage of bloggers

Majority of posts comprising politically-oriented information

77%

Partisan tone 50%

Focusing on provincial, regional or local political matters

68%

Focusing on international political matters

15%

Focusing on Canadian federal issues

5%


• Presence of Quebec-based bloggers on social networking platforms:


Results

Data67.9% of Quebec-based political bloggers

are usingWeb-based social networking services.

• Quebec-based political bloggers’ voting behaviour:

• Quebec population’s participation in the elections:

Offline socio-political behavioural profile

Results

2007 Quebec Provincial elections

2006 Canadian Federal elections

88% voted 84% voted

2007 Quebec Provincial elections

2006 Canadian Federal elections

88% voted 84% voted

• Quebec-based political bloggers’ political preferences during the 2007 Quebec Provincial election:


Results

Political party Level of support among bloggers

Liberal Party of Quebec 5.4%

Parti Québécois 35.7%

Action Démocratique 10.7%

Québec Solidaire 16.1%

Green Party of Quebec 5.4%

• Quebec-based political bloggers’ political preferences during the 2006 Canadian Federal election:


Results

Political party Level of support among bloggers

Liberal Party of Canada 1.8%

Bloc Québécois 41.1%

Conservative Party of Canada 12.5%

New Democratic Party 14.3%

• Here are elements to consider: Impact of the blogosphere on mainstream political

actors; Future of research:

Importance to consider specificities within the blogosphere:

Geographical concerns; Demographical characteristics of

bloggers; Etc.

Discussion

QUESTIONS

Technology

MPSA 2009 - Socio-political profile of Quebec-based political bloggers