Black Bloggers and the Blogosphere - Department of Digital Media ...

Hispanic Bloggers in the Blogosphere: Politics and Participation

Antoinette Pole, Ph.D. Southern Connecticut State University [email protected] or [email protected]

**A special thanks to Margaret Gray and Scott Simock for their comments. Paper prepared for presentation at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.

Abstract This paper explores the role of Latino and Hispanic political bloggers. Among the top political blogs, blogging has primarily been undertaken by white men, coined by Chris Nolan as the "Big Boys Club." This research assesses how Hispanic bloggers use their blogs for purposes related to politics, and it investigates whether blogging facilitates political participation. The data for this paper are based on in-depth interviews with 20 Hispanic bloggers, conducted in June 2007, whose blogs focus on politics. Primarily exploratory, this paper examines the issues and topics discussed by Hispanic bloggers, and whether and how bloggers are using their blogs to engage in political participation. Additionally this research investigates whether Hispanic bloggers face exclusion or discrimination by other political bloggers. Findings show that while Latino bloggers tend to write about a variety of issues, they tend to focus on topics relevant to Hispanics and the Latino communities. Results also indicate that Hispanic bloggers do indeed use their blogs to encourage their readers to engage in various forms of political participation. Finally, and perhaps most important, Latino political bloggers reported that they do not feel discriminated against or excluded by other bloggers.

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Continued expansion of Internet access and growth of the largest ethnic minority—Hispanics 1 —mark the turn of the twenty-first century in the United States. These occurrences will shape the political landscape both separately, and in concert with each other. While Latinos comprise 14 percent of the US population, only 56 percent of this group is online. In contrast, 71 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 60 percent of non-Hispanic blacks are online (Fox and Livingston 2007). Not only do Latinos lag behind other groups in terms of their online presence, but they also lag behind whites and blacks in terms of voting and other forms of civic engagement (Verba, Schlozman, and Brady 1995; Pew Research Center 2007). In the 2004 presidential election, for example, 66 percent of whites and blacks 18 years and older voted compared to 47 percent of Hispanics of any race (Holder 2006). Yet, despite historically low-levels of civic engagement (Verba, Schlozman, and Brady 1995; Putnam 2001), the Internet and blogging 2 in particular, may hold the key to improving participatory democracy. Estimates suggest that as of August 2007 there are 95.8 million blogs, with 175,000 new blogs being created on a daily basis (Technorati August 6, 2007). According to a 2006 study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 60 percent of bloggers are white, 54 percent of bloggers are male, two-fifths of bloggers earned a bachelors degree, and a majority of bloggers are between the ages of 18 and

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The terms Hispanic and Latino are used interchangeably throughout this paper, reflecting respondents’ use of both terms. 2 The term weblog was coined by Jorn Barger in December 1997, and later shortened to blogs in April 1999 by Peter Merholz, “who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog” (Blood 2007). Blogs are websites that contain entries or posts that are updated frequently and appear in reverse chronological order (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blog&oldid=133 182736; http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary.html). Typically, a title and date appear on each entry, and posts are accompanied by links, comments and trackbacks. Other features found on blogs include blogrolls—a list of other blogs located on the sidebar of a blog—and archives of older entries.

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29 (http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP%20Bloggers%20Report%20July%2019% 202006.pdf). Interestingly, the largest ethnic group to blog after whites is Englishspeaking Hispanics who compose 20 percent of the blogosphere. 3 Blogging has increasingly become an important force in American politics in the US as illustrated by a variety of events including but not limited to the unseating of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott in 2002 (Schatman 2002); the unearthing of falsified documents produced by CBS in 2004 (Alter 2005); the coverage of the 2004 presidential convention by bloggers (Klam 2004); the discovery of enhanced photos illustrating “plumes of smoke” in Iraq in 2006 (Seeyle and Bosman 2006); and the attendance of liberal bloggers covering the 2007 Democratic presidential debate in Chicago in 2007 (Zeleney 2007). Despite the evident importance of bloggers, the universe of political bloggers—that portion of the blogosphere devoted to politics, public policy and current events—remains unexamined. A recent study by McKenna and Pole (Forthcoming) provides a descriptive account of political bloggers. 4 Results from this study indicate that political bloggers are predominately white, well-educated males. These findings are consistent with the overall demographics of the blogosphere as noted in the Pew study. Compared to the bloggers surveyed by Pew, political bloggers are slightly older—in their thirties—and minorities comprise a smaller portion of the political blogosphere—less than one percent of bloggers. Though less numerous, the role of minorities in the blogosphere is arguably an important area of study given that Latinos are the largest minority group in

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The blogosphere, a term coined by William Quick in February 2002, is defined as the intellectual space shared by writers and readers of the blogs (http://www.dailypundit.com/) 4 Descriptive statistics are based on survey results (n = 141) from August 2005 (McKenna and Pole Forthcoming).

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the United States, coupled with the rise of political blogging as a medium for communicating and organizing. In addition to fostering political discussion, political blogs are also being used to organize individuals at the national, state and local levels. Mobilization efforts resulting from blogging have important political consequences. Who has influence in the blogosphere and how bloggers are using this new medium to undertake political action merits study. This paper explores the role of Hispanic bloggers in the blogosphere, investigating what types of activities Hispanic bloggers engage in and how they use their blogs for purposes related to politics. Specifically, this research studies the intersection of politics and blogging from the perspective of Hispanic bloggers paying particularly close attention to political participation. Comparing the data on Latino bloggers to a sample of all political bloggers—hereafter termed “average political bloggers,” —and studies of women and minority bloggers provides context for the subsequent discussion. Three hypotheses are tested: H1. Hispanic bloggers will blog about issues related specifically to ethnicity. The blogosphere is mostly comprised of white bloggers. Though the topics bloggers write about vary, political bloggers tend to focus on campaigns and elections, the media and politics, economics and politics, and campaigns and elections (McKenna and Pole Forthcoming). Attention to issues likely to be deemed relevant to Hispanics and Latinos is not prevalent among white or even black bloggers. Hispanic and Latino bloggers are more likely to focus on immigration, for example, than white or black bloggers. Similarly, English-only initiatives which have been put forth in many communities, is arguably more pertinent to Hispanics than non-Hispanics.

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H2. Hispanic bloggers will use their blogs to engage in and to encourage their readers to undertake various forms of political participation. Data show that white bloggers use their blogs to engage in a variety of activities including informing their readers, checking the media, engaging in advocacy efforts and encouraging readers to make charitable contributions (McKenna and Pole 2004, Forthcoming; Pole 2006a, 2006b, 2007). Findings from McKenna and Pole (Forthcoming) show that a greater percentage of bloggers engage in informing their readers and checking the media than other activities, whereas Pole (2006b, 2006a) finds that women and black bloggers tend to engage in all of these activities with nearly equal fervor. This research investigates whether or not Hispanic bloggers engage in these activities too. It examines whether and how Hispanic bloggers use their blogs to engage in advocacy efforts. H3. Hispanic bloggers will report that they face exclusion and discrimination by other bloggers. Not being linked 5 to other more popular bloggers and an absence of dialogue between Hispanic bloggers and bloggers of other races and ethnicities will be perceived by Hispanics as a form of discrimination. As a result, white bloggers are less likely to link to Hispanic bloggers because the former write about issues that affect the general population and they do not focus on how these issues impact minorities. Without overlapping interests dialogue between white and Hispanic bloggers is diminished. A study of women bloggers (Pole 2006b), however, illustrates that more than half of the

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Throughout this paper the term link refers to “a segment of text or a graphical item that serves as a cross-reference between parts of a webpage or other hypertext documents or between webpages or other hypertext documents” (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=link).

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women interviewed said they faced sexism in the blogosphere, which is arguably a form of gender discrimination.

The Importance of Political Blogging Studies of political bloggers conducted by McKenna and Pole (2004, Forthcoming) suggest that white male bloggers occupy a majority of the blogosphere devoted to politics. 6 Despite what appears to be a preponderance of white males in the political blogosphere, minority bloggers are actively engaged in political blogging. Both women and black bloggers have a noticeable presence in the political blogosphere. Two female bloggers, in particular, garnered national attention, albeit negative; when shortly after joining the Edwards campaign in the Spring of 2007, they were forced to resign following anti-Catholic remarks (Phillips 2007). Black bloggers have banded together to mobilize for a variety of causes, most notably the Million Man March (Pole 2007). The role of Hispanic political bloggers, specifically what topics they write about and what activities they engage in remain unexamined. This research attempts to fill that gap. While scholars (Barber 1984; Abramson, Arterton, and Orren 1988; Dahl 1989; Rosenthal 1998; Etizioni 1993; Grossman 1995; Barber 1998; Davis 1999; Bimber 2003; Pole 2005; West 2007) debate the impact of information technology on government largely from a theoretical perspective, blogging clearly has impacted US politics as mentioned previously. Blogs are not only used to highlight errors and to expose wrong-doing, but they can also be used as a conduit for political participation. The Dean campaign successfully used Blog for America http://www.blogforamerica. 6

Seventy-five percent of political bloggers are male (106 out of 141) and 23 percent of respondents (33 out of 141) are female, and more than 80 percent of bloggers (116 out of 141) are white (McKenna and Pole Forthcoming).

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com/archives/2003/03) to harness grassroots support for presidential candidate Howard Dean. More recently, bloggers were credited with the ascendancy of Senate candidate Ned Lamont in Connecticut during the 2006 democratic primary (Melber 2006). These cases provide evidence that suggest that blogs have tremendous potential to influence politics and to shape political participation. Buttressing these accounts, data from McKenna and Pole (Forthcoming), illustrate how average political bloggers use their blogs to varying degrees as conduits for participation. Nearly two-thirds of bloggers indicated that they encourage their readers to vote or to contact an elected official, while only a quarter of bloggers said that they encourage their readers to attend rallies, protests or marches (McKenna and Pole Forthcoming). This research examines whether or not Hispanic bloggers differ from their counterparts and if they are using blogs to engage in political participation and advocacy efforts. Finally if the presence of minorities, in general, and Hispanic bloggers, in particular, is indeed meager why is this so? One explanation includes a digital divide within the blogosphere. Studies of Internet usage by the Pew Internet and American Life Project show that minorities are late adopters of technology (Spooner 2000), possibly explaining why minorities have a smaller presence in the blogosphere, since, as noted previously, there is a 15 percentage-point difference in Internet access between Latinos and non-Hispanic whites (Fox and Livingston 2007). Another explanation, which might elucidate why there might be few Hispanic bloggers, has to do with a gap in English language skills. Data show that Internet use hovers between 25 and 31 percent for individuals who have not completed high school. And, while 10 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 20 percent of non-Hispanic blacks

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have not completed high school, 41 percent of Latinos do not have a high school degree (Fox and Livingston 2007). Low rates of educational attainment appear to negatively impact Latinos’ online presence. Both the low levels of Internet access and educational attainment might explain why the presence of Latino political bloggers is not especially robust.

History of Bloggers and the Blogosphere Since blogging is an emerging field of research, acquiring information, especially in the area of political blogging, is problematic. Studies of the blogosphere can be grouped into four categories: descriptive accounts of blogging, exploration of blogging and politics, theory building, and analysis of the intersection of the media and politics. Most relevant to this research are the first two categories. Descriptive analyses of blogging largely examine why bloggers blog and the type of activities bloggers undertake on their blogs. Chang et al. (2005) and Nardi et al. (2004) examine the reasons that motivate bloggers to blog. According to the authors there are a variety of reason for blogging including, but not limited to, documenting their personal lives, providing commentary and opinions, articulating ideas through writing and maintaining community forums. McKenna and Pole (Forthcoming) investigate the activities of average bloggers. Activities that bloggers engage in include informing their readers, reporting errors or omissions in the mainstream media, engaging in political advocacy and encouraging their readers to donate to philanthropic causes. The authors find that 80 percent of bloggers engage in the first two activities. Complimenting these

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studies, my research attempts to describe how Hispanic political bloggers are using their blogs. Trippi (2004) and Williams et al. (2005) discuss the impact of blogs on the 2004 presidential campaign with Trippi’s analysis underscoring how Dean’s blog affected civic engagement. Trippi (2004) describes the role of the Internet, and more specifically notes the relevance of presidential candidate Howard Dean’s blog in building grassroots support. Findings from Williams et al. (2005) show that presidential candidates tend to use websites more than blogs. Despite this, blogs tend to have more external links and blogs tend to discuss more salient issues. In this exploratory study, I investigate whether Latino bloggers are using their blogs in ways similar to those described by Trippi. Also informing this research is the literature on the Internet and political participation. To varying degrees several authors (Ridlen Ray 1999; Putnam 2000; Sunstein 2001; and Davis, Elin and Reeher 2002) discuss the notion of the Internet as a community that potentially builds and reinforces social connectedness and ultimately leads to increased political participation. Accounts of the impact of the Internet on political participation range from optimistic to pessimistic. Both Ridlen Ray (1999) and Davis, Elin and Reeher (2002) offer optimistic accounts of the Internet’s potential to increase political participation and community. Ridlen Ray (1999) asserts that the Internet leads to increased social connectedness that improves interactions and participation in associational life. According to the author, “information sharing and interest in affiliation prompts involvement in politics and augments the political skill of the individual.” The ties between individuals and

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technologies vary from weak to strong and associational life has changed with the advent of new technologies. Valuing both individualism and social connectedness the author contends that Americans will continue to balance these values as they apply technology to their individual and associational lives (Ridlen Ray 1999). Similarly, Davis, Elin and Reeher (2002) view the Internet as a community that can lead to increased civic engagement. The authors maintain that two types of Internet communities have evolved. The first community develops online and is maintained online, and the second community develops online and is sustained offline. I evaluate whether bloggers foster political participation among respondents. While Putnam (2000) is less optimistic about the impact of the Internet on political participation, Sunstein (2001) and Bimber (2003) are decidedly pessimistic. Findings from Putnam’s research show that almost every form of community involvement has declined in recent years. He suggests that the Internet may reverse this trend and improve civic engagement and social connectedness (Putnam 2000); however, he worries that the Internet may lead to greater political polarization (Harmon 2004). Sunstein (2001) cautions readers about the dangers of the Internet. He asserts that the Internet leads to “cyberbalkanization” or the creation of insular, politically homogenous communities. Similarly, Bimber (2003) worries that the Internet fragments people into like-minded groups and that it does not necessarily improve participation. To a lesser degree, this study also assesses political discourse in the context of political participation.

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Methodology This paper examines the role of Hispanic bloggers, the unit of analysis, with blogs written in English 7 that focus on politics, public policy or current events. Specifically, this research investigates whether and how Hispanic bloggers use their blogs to engage in political participation. Since there is little research which examines the role of Hispanic bloggers in the blogosphere, this research is primarily exploratory and descriptive. The universe of Hispanic political bloggers is unknown. According to a study conducted by McKenna and Pole (Forthcoming), Hispanic bloggers comprise a small percentage of bloggers in the political blogosphere. Based on this information, a survey of Hispanic bloggers would likely yield a low response rate. 8 Hence, to conduct this exploratory research, in-depth interviews were conducted. Interviews are especially useful for exploratory research because they enable the researcher to ask how and why questions, which can not be asked as easily through a survey. To gather a sample of Hispanic bloggers to interview, snowball sampling was employed. Given what appears to be a relatively small population of Hispanic bloggers who focus on politics and political participation, this sampling technique best enabled me to identify individuals in this population. The blogs Latino Pundit (http://www.Latino pundit.com/) and Hispanic Pundit (http://www.hispanicpundit.com/) provided starting points for the sample. Using their blogrolls, and the blogrolls of other Hispanic and Latino bloggers, a list of e-mail addresses of Hispanic and Latino bloggers who focused

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This study is limited to Hispanic blogs that are written in English since this paper is part of a larger project that focuses on the impact of political blogging on politics and participation in the United States. In particular this research is concerned with the influence of political blogs on individuals who speak and read English. That said, future studies should include blogs written in Spanish. 8 McKenna and Pole (Forthcoming) found that less than 12 percent of bloggers are Hispanic, Hispanic and Asian compared to 30 percent of the US population (Evans 2001).

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on politics was compiled. To augment the e-mail list, a keyword 9 search of several search engines devoted specifically to blogs including, but not limited to, http://blog search.google.com, http://technorati.com, and http://blogspot.com was also employed. In addition, a list of the “The 2006 Weblog Awards: Best Latino, Caribbean or South American Blog” was also used (http://2006.weblogawards.org/2006/12/best_latino _ caribbean_or_south_american_blog.php). Because the emphasis of this study is on politics and political participation only blogs with an emphasis on politics were selected to participate in the study. To solicit bloggers an e-mail was sent to approximately 53 Hispanic bloggers. Interested bloggers responded to the e-mail and interviews were conducted. During the interviews, respondents were asked to identify other Hispanic bloggers who wrote about politics. These referrals also were contacted via e-mail, with the inclusion of the original e-mail, plus a short note indicating the name of the blogger who had referred them to me. A total of 20 Hispanic bloggers were interviewed via telephone in June of 2007. On average interviews lasted approximately one and a half hours though they ranged from one to two hours. Interviewees were asked 25 questions and all but three of the questions were open-ended. The interview questions were designed to assess what issues Hispanic bloggers blog about; who their target audience is; what types of activities they ask their readers to engage in; whether or not being a minority affects their ability to blog; whether or not they feel blogging is a form of political participation; and how much influence they feel they have as a result of their blog. During the interview the responses to all questions were typed almost verbatim as the interview was being conducted. 9

The keywords used in the search included Hispanic, Latino/a, and blogger.

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Content analysis was performed using the transcripts from the interviews. Major themes were identified and quantified for each interview question. Some of the themes that emerged in the interviews included identity politics, immigration, Latin America, mainstream media, civil rights, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, war in Iraq, California politics, New York City politics, Alberto Gonzalez, bilingualism, race, elections and the economy. Analysis of these themes provides evidence that support hypotheses one and two, while hypothesis three is disproved.

Findings The Who & What of Hispanic Bloggers The Hispanic bloggers interviewed for this study range in age from 26 to 63 years with an average age of 44 years. Comparatively, Latino bloggers are not as welleducated as average political bloggers and women, and they have more formal education than black bloggers. More than half of the interviewees (12 out of 20) hold a bachelor’s degree and another 30 percent of Hispanic bloggers earned a master’s or law degree. In comparison, more than 40 percent of average (McKenna and Pole Forthcoming) and women political bloggers (Pole 2006) earned an advanced degree. The occupations of these bloggers vary from an accounting clerk to a consultant, with a large number of individuals reporting careers as writers. Sixty-five percent of the bloggers I interviewed are male (13 out of 20) and 35 percent are female (7 out of 20). These findings are not surprising since previous studies (McKenna and Pole Forthcoming) suggest that the blogosphere is comprised of well-educated, males in their 30s. In terms of the length of time respondents have been blogging, less than half

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of bloggers said they began writing their blog in the past two years, though one blogger indicated blogging as early as 2003. Compared to other groups of political bloggers, Latinos appear to have taken up blogging more recently, whereas a greater percentage of women (Pole 2006b) and black (Pole 2006a) political bloggers have a longer history in the blogosphere. Hispanic bloggers write about a variety of topics though nearly all respondents reported writing on immigration and Latin America. Following these topics, the next most frequently blogged about topics included the war in Iraq, the Hispanic/Latino perspective, and campaigns and elections. Of the 20 bloggers interviewed for this study, 85 percent of respondents (18 out of 20) reported that more than half of their posts pertain to politics, public policy or current events. 10 Interestingly half of the Hispanic bloggers reported that the issues they blog about are in fact unique to minorities. While other bloggers, including blacks and women, said they blog about general issues, this is not necessarily the case for Latinos. For the most part, Latinos tend to focus on issues relevant to Latinos, and Latino perspectives. Many interviewees expressed how the mainstream media fails to adequately address issues relevant to Latinos in terms of coverage and perspective. One blogger said, Immigration obviously affects other groups, but it disproportionately affects Latinos. The political potential the Latino community has, in terms of votes, is specific to Latinos. The communities in the old south, those states have the most undeveloped infrastructure of organizations, and these are the new communities and therefore the most vulnerable. I try to find stories of Latinos in these state to give people support since these 10

The selection of participants for this study was based on the ethnicity of the blogger and the content of the blog. In soliciting participants, an initial e-mail outlined the parameters of the project, indicating that the focus of the study was on bloggers who focused wrote about politics, public policy, and/or current events. During the interview two filter questions asked respondents whether or not they blog about politics, public policy, and/or current events and how much of their blog was devoted to politics, public policy, and/or current events.

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communities are growing. I try to let people know we are everywhere and we are contributing everywhere. Not only laborers, but professionals [too]. Although few bloggers in this sample are able to identify who their readers are, almost half identified a core or target audience they seek to capture—Latinos. In contrast, other interviewees said they blogged from a distinct ideological perspective and still others said they write for whoever will read their blog. One respondent stated, he sought out “progressive Hispanics,” while another blogger said he sought an audience that shared his conservative political perspective. Repeatedly bloggers hinted that they believe their readership is comprised of Hispanics able to read English, welleducated, and interested in politics.

Activities of Hispanic Bloggers & Influence Bloggers engage and ask their readers to engage in a variety of activities. These activities include informing their readers, reporting errors or omissions in the mainstream media, engaging and encouraging their readers to engage in advocacy efforts, and making charitable contributions. According to the Hispanic bloggers that were interviewed, all interviewees said that they inform their readers, and all but one respondent indicated engaging in advocacy efforts through their blog. These activities are clearly core components of blogging for both Hispanics and other groups. Among Hispanic bloggers, reporting errors or omissions in the mainstream media and soliciting charitable contributions are also important. Eighty-five percent of the bloggers I interviewed (17 out of 20) reported that they use their blogs to report errors or omissions in the media and 40 percent (8 out of 20) said they use their blogs to raise money for charitable causes. Compared to research which looks at the intersection of blogging

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and political participation (McKenna and Pole Forthcoming), the advocacy efforts of Hispanic bloggers appears to mirror average political bloggers and other groups. Because of the small sample size, however, is it not possible to state this with any certainty. Hispanic bloggers also solicit charitable contributions at rates comparable to average political bloggers (McKenna and Pole Forthcoming), but they do not do solicit contributions as often as women (Pole 2006b) or black bloggers (Pole 2006a). Despite the vigor with which Hispanic bloggers engage in the aforementioned activities, they are not convinced that they are able to exert sizable influence or agency because of their blogs. Bloggers were asked to rate how much influence they have on a scale from one to 10, one being little to no influence and 10 being a lot of influence as a result of writing a blog. On average bloggers rated their influence a score of 4.2 out of 10, illustrating that Hispanics bloggers do not believe that they yield much influence in the blogosphere. This is not surprising, given that a study of black bloggers (Pole 2005) produced similar findings. However one blogger said, I have great agency. For example, this past month I was able to deliver 1,900 e-mails to senators—I know because I have the data. Does this mean that the senator’s mind was changed? These people are participating in the democratic process. This is extremely important. Having a system and providing individuals an opportunity to do this is important. This response was atypical. Instead, most bloggers were quick to contextualize their influence. For example, one interviewee reported that within the Cuban community she has been especially adept at facilitating reconciliation between Cubans and exiles through her writing. Latino bloggers conceded that individually certain people might be particularly effective, but collectively or within a particular community blogs have the potential to be more influential. Moreover, several bloggers suggested that the

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blogosphere is a reflection of the real world, in which Latinos typically do not write letters to the editor nor do they have an especially strong voice. These sentiments clearly underline Latino bloggers’ perception that they have little influence because of blogging, yet despite their perceived lack of influence bloggers inform their readers and engage in advocacy efforts.

Political Participation & Mobilization An overwhelming number of the Hispanic bloggers (17 out of 20) that were interviewed asserted that blogging is indeed a form of political participation. Blogs, according to interviewees, are a medium for political discussion facilitating an exchange of views. Respondents likened blogs to a digital soapbox. According Wallsten’s study (2005), this is not uncommon. Several bloggers maintained that blogs engage citizens by informing individuals as to what is occurring and in turn blogs can spur people to act. Interviewees also articulated that blogging is an equalizing medium. According to one interviewee, …blogging allows for different voices. In a sense politics is like an “our gang club” or the “he-man club.” It’s a particular set of people that are allowed in. For the rest of us, we are on the outside with really good ideas. Prior to blogging, we haven’t had an opportunity to speak out loud. Now it’s different with blogs. I like that it’s for ordinary people. Blogs clearly facilitate political discourse and an exchange of ideas through email and the comment section akin to an electronic town hall meeting. Respondents not only asserted that blogging is a form of political participation, but they also engage and ask their readers to engage in a variety of political activities both online and offline. A majority of the bloggers that were

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interviewed said they have asked their readers to vote and to register to vote. When compared to black (Pole 2005) and average political bloggers (McKenna and Pole Forthcoming), a greater percentage of Hispanic bloggers asked their readers to vote than do blacks, but a smaller percentage of interviewees asked their readers to vote than average political bloggers. Slightly less than 60 percent of Hispanic bloggers (11 out of 20) encouraged their readers to contact elected officials, while two-fifths of bloggers (8 out of 20) asked their readers sign a petition. Blogs are potentially being used as conduits for political participation though the efficacy of this media is unknown. Hispanic bloggers recounted specific examples of how they use their blogs to engage in political advocacy. Latino bloggers most often engage in advocacy efforts that are directly related to the passage of legislation, and in particular a majority of the bloggers interviewed for this study indicated they have been actively involved in promoting or opposing the passage of the aforementioned immigration bill, as well as bills pertaining to education, such as the Dream Act, both debated in the 110th Congress. With regard to immigration an interviewee remarked, I never thought I would set out to do this. I saw a strange convergence and you are expected to take action. All of a sudden I felt I had to [participate]—even though I personally had different feelings [about the immigration bill]. This new medium I was using as a writing vehicle then all of a sudden there was this new activism element. Others said that they do not take positions on issues, but rather encourage their readers to participate, be it by contacting their congressional members or by voting. Remaining “neutral” and unbiased is a quality some Latino bloggers described as important because taking a political position potentially alienated a bloc of readers. Additionally,

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some bloggers are journalists who adhere to a code of ethics established by their profession, prohibiting them from providing a political opinion and thereby diminishing their advocacy efforts. Bloggers also mentioned encouraging their readers to attend marches and fundraisers, sending letters to the editor, signing petitions and supporting candidates, but these activities were not mentioned as frequently as the immigration bill. Compared to black bloggers who are actively engaged in electoral politics (Pole 2005), only a few Latinos said they supported a candidate or asked readers to vote. This might be attributed to the historically low voting rates that Hispanics experience, lagging behind both whites and blacks (Pew Research Center 2007).

Challenges & Exclusion in the Blogosphere? Hispanic bloggers face a number of challenges. These challenges can be contextualized in two ways; one set of challenges are the obstacles that anyone faces in the blogosphere and the other set of challenges are those obstacles relating directly to being a minority blogger. Bloggers face a number of challenges ranging from having enough time to blog to attracting a substantial readership. Receiving hate e-mail is commonplace among bloggers. Several of the respondents I interviewed reported receiving hate e-mail, and one woman suggested that being Latina was not the reason why she received hate mail; rather it was because she is a woman. Research by Pole (2006b) finds that women bloggers repeatedly remarked receiving hate e-mail with invectives and threats, so these findings are not surprising. Other bloggers mentioned attracting new readers, writing daily, and writing shorter pieces. Oddly, only a few Latino bloggers mentioned

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facing time constraints, having Internet access or possessing adequate writing skills, which are challenges that other bloggers frequently face (Pole 2006a, 2006b). Although a majority of bloggers indicated that they do not face challenges because of their race and/or ethnicity, the data highlight an expected fragmentation within the Latino blogosphere, not evident among other groups such as blacks (Pole 2006a) and women (2006b) bloggers. Repeatedly interviewees stressed how research on Latinos refers to Hispanics as if they are a monolithic group, when in fact they are anything but monolithic and homogenous. While language serves to unite Latinos, their place of birth is potentially a greater source of division. There is considerable fragmentation among Latinos because they lack a cohesive identity that might be used to further bolster collective actions of sorts (Jordan 2007). Keenly noted by one blogger, We tend to lack unification…it’s not that we aren’t trying. When I look around and see other blogs, run by these educated, articulate Anglos— these people are very influential—they are regarded as cult figures. There was no recognition of an Hispanic blogger. They didn’t know I existed. I had one instance that I was blogging about immigration detention facilities….and all of a sudden my blog was picked up by Fire Dog Lake, and other progressive blogs…because we lack name recognition or any kind of position in the blogosphere people don’t know about us and they don’t know what we are doing, and they dismiss us as not doing anything, when in fact they aren’t aware. Similarly, bloggers reported being pigeon-holed. This happens often with regard to the immigration debate. One individual said, “When we write about immigration people automatically assume that we are open border advocates. There is an assumption that I speak for everyone [meaning all Latinos].” Being viewed as offering a “Latino-perspective” frustrated many of the respondents. As for contact with other bloggers, half of the Hispanic bloggers in this study are primarily in contact with other Latino bloggers, while the other half are in contact with

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both Hispanics and non-Hispanic bloggers. Contact typically takes the form of e-mail and comments posted in the “comment section” of blogs. Many of the relationships which have been forged are often with friends and work colleagues who blog about similar issues. One blogger said he was focused on speaking directly to the Hispanic community and trying to encourage Hispanic blogging and readership of Hispanic blogs. A common reason people are in contact with non-Latino bloggers includes sharing a common ideological perspective. That said, some bloggers did not identify with any community in the blogosphere or they identified with an all-together different community of bloggers not related to race or ethnicity. For example, one blogger strongly identified with gay bloggers. When asked whether or not Hispanic bloggers felt excluded by other bloggers a majority of bloggers said they do not feel excluded by other bloggers, and only a quarter of respondents indicated that they faced discrimination in the blogosphere. The word exclusion was not defined; however, several bloggers interpreted this as exclusion by more popular bloggers while still others interpreted this to mean they were excluded because they are Latino. Popularity in the blogosphere, largely determined by the number of hits a blogger receives, is important to bloggers because it is an indicator of readership. “I feel excluded by the bigger ones,” said one blogger. “It’s a like a clique. It’s like all of the spaces at the table are taken. And, they aren’t going to advocate for anyone with different views.” Among the one-third of bloggers (6 out of 20) who acknowledged feeling excluded, respondents qualified their responses by stating that they did not care. An example of this is best illustrated by a blogger who countered, “I get pretty good reviews from the people who read me so I don’t really care about those

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[other] people. When the mainstream blogosphere excludes people like me, it’s like society. This further exemplifies the invisible hierarchical structures.” With regard to ethnicity, a blogger I interviewed lamented, “The Daily Kos [http://www.dailykos.com/]— the events they have—makes no effort to reach out to other Latinos or bloggers of color. The blogosphere is extremely white. They make no effort to talk to us.” Other respondents were more nuanced, suggesting that some bloggers exclude them but most do not. Reasons for exclusion were also attributed to ideological differences, as well as not being linked by other bloggers and being passed over or missed by other bloggers. The latter are potentially subtler forms of exclusion.

Conclusion The data from this exploratory study suggest that the demographics of Hispanic bloggers differ slightly from average political bloggers. When compared to average and women political bloggers, Hispanic bloggers are not quite as well-educated in terms of advanced degrees, yet they fair as well as black political bloggers. Latino bloggers are also slightly older than average political bloggers, with a mean age of 44 and 37 respectively. Latinos bloggers are more or less newcomers to political blogging. Fewer than half of the bloggers in this study have been blogging for two or more years. And, while bloggers indicated that they do not know who reads their blog, a majority said that their target audience is well-educated Hispanic readers. The bloggers in this study write about a variety of issues, and in particular they tend to focus on issues related to Hispanics and the Latino community lending support to hypothesis number one. Furthermore, findings suggest that the issues Hispanics blog

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about are indeed specific to Latinos. While blogging with an emphasis on the Latino community may be a great service to Hispanics, it may also be divisive—serving to exclude or isolate Latinos within the political blogosphere and potentially beyond, to politics. Hispanic bloggers use their blogs to engage in a variety of activities ranging from informing their readers to reporting errors in the media, but in particular they claim to use their blogs to engage in various forms of political participation. When asked what activities they requested their readers to engage in however, the results provide moderate support for hypothesis two. Only 50 to 55 percent of respondents said they asked their readers to vote, register to vote or contact an elected official. The rate of involvement on these activities is much lower for Hispanics than average and women political bloggers, but their behavior mirrors black bloggers. Most noteworthy, a significant number of interviewees said they are actively engaged in promoting or opposing legislation such as immigration and education, issues that are likely to have a dramatic impact on Latinos. Results indicate that few Latino bloggers are using their blogs to endorse candidates for office and to encourage their readers to attend rallies, protests, marches and party meetings again largely mirroring their black counterparts. That said, blogging can certainly be a means of facilitating advocacy and participation, providing users realize the potency of blogs. Finally, a majority of Hispanic bloggers said they do not feel excluded in the blogosphere, disconfirming hypothesis three. While Hispanic bloggers reported facing challenges such as receiving hate e-mail or being pigeon-holed, they perceive the blogosphere as inclusive. In the few instances bloggers indicated that they experienced

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exclusion, they compared this to larger societal and institutionalized forms of exclusion, which carried over to the blogosphere. In the end, findings from this research suggest that the blogosphere can be an avenue for greater political participation on the part of Hispanics and other minorities, given the relatively low threshold to entry and what appear to be low levels of discrimination.

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