Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Existential Angst Caused by Commonwealth Conservative Closing Shop

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by

James A. Bacon
in

I am distressed to read that Chad Dotson, one of the bloggers who inspired me to launch the Bacon’s Rebellion blog, will stop making daily posts on Commonwealth Conservative. The demands of his job and obligations to his family make it impossible to keep up the pace. Chad says he will continue participating in the blogosphere mainly through posts other blogs.

Chad’s move to blogging semi-retirement underlines a fundamental weakness of the blogosphere. Over two years, Chad had built CC into what is probably the most heavily trafficked conservative blog with a Virginia focus. His latest metrics indicate daily readership of 1,850 per day — and it was probably higher before the election. All the more remarkable is that he accomplished this with only a couple hours of work every evening.

The work-to-reader ratio is remarkable. Think about it: A small weekly newspaper with a circulation of, say, 18,500, or 10 times CC, would employ 10 full-time editorial employees, not to mention sales staff, administrative staff, printing/production employees and people to deliver the newspaper. Ten times the readers but 30 times the number of employees and 100 times the number of man-hours worked.

Here’s the rub: CC, like other state-level blogs, was a labor of love. As successful as he was, Chad did not develop a sustainable business model that would have allowed him to engage someone else to keep the blog going. With competing real-world priorities like advancing his career and spending time with his family, passion could take him only so far.

The end result will be the dissipation of what could have been a valuable franchise. What a shame. Other conservative voices will arise to replace Chad — OK, no one could ever replace Chad, but others will arise to take his place. Maybe they’ll build a franchise over time, but they’ll face the same tension between passion and obligation. Until we can develop an economic underpinning for blogs, we may be destined to see even the best blogs wink in and out of existence like fireflies. Such a blogosphere may act as a corrective to the excesses of the Mainstream Media, but it is not likely to ever surpass the MSM as a source of authoritative information.

Update: Bart Hinkle ruminates on the role of blogs in light of the Gannett media chain’s announcement that it would begin incorporating reader-generated “citizen journalism” into the news gathering process.

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7 responses to “Existential Angst Caused by Commonwealth Conservative Closing Shop”

  1. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    Of course 3.7 million won’t buy even 1/2 mile of interstate-grade road and is 1/10th what you’d need for a garden variety interchange…

    but .. point taken…

    Here we have Fairfax and NoVa telling the rest of the state that their economy subsidizes the rest of the state (along with HRs economy – and I’ve yet to see data that demonstrates this)… but anyhow… so Kaine … is asserting that there IS a need in Fairfax… that the rest of the state should fund…

    ahem… maybe it’s true.. maybe it’s pay back of some net funds that should have stayed there to start with…

    … but that’s not what Kaine is doing… he’s basically putting “dibs” on funds for non-transportation purposes to, in part, demonstrate that a separate source of sustainable (not annual surplus) funding is needed for transportation.

    this is Richmond.. dirt kicking…in the sandlot… I wonder what the gal in Farmville thinks of this… maybe the gal who can barely afford to feed/clothe her kid… who stays at grandmas during the day.

    My wife teaches at a rural school. Almost half of the kids live in circumstances that qualify them for subsidized meals.

    Mon/Dad both are often “working poor”.. and the current game “plan” for the kids at SOL risk .. is a type of school-based “day-care” where those kids.. can get “more” while their parents work… Of course the private providers don’t think much of this…

    As No Child Left Behind… keeps upping the ante … it will gradually work it’s way to the kids that truly have been left behind… and some hard decisions about what can be done to help those kids get more time on task.

    This might well be what Fairfax is up to.. they’re usually ahead of the rest of the state in issues like this.

    By the way… in another thread.. “Little Poquoson” was mentioned. I assume folks know that this School System
    scores in the high 90’s on math,english, science and history… with a cost per student.. much lower than other locales including Fairfax… I don’t know the reason why.. it could be at least partially due to demographics
    and would be interesting to see how many kids in that jurisdiction are on subsidized meals.

  2. Jason Kenney Avatar
    Jason Kenney

    Until we can develop an economic underpinning for blogs, we may be destined to see even the best blogs wink in and out of existence like fireflies.

    I don’t think it’s just about the money, though. Blogging is impossible to make a career out of, and even if it were to create a supplemental income through BlogAds or the like, it’s hard to put blogging over real life responsiblities.

    I think beyond economics, if blogging proved to be a bit more rewarding even on the interaction level it would keep people around more. Readers commenting and truly providing thought provoking insights instead of flames and such would really go a long way to keeping some bloggers engaged in their own blogs. Someone’s reading, someone’s interested. Not that that would have kept Chad around, but it certainly could go a long way to keeping the smaller, valuable bloggers around.

    A sense of community needs to be developed. Whether the means of doing that is just folks interacting on other blogs more or the creation of a diary based blog as a hub of sorts, who knows.

  3. Dave Avatar
    Dave

    Part of the inspiration for BlogNetNews was my own experience with blog burnout. By having a front page or two for the local blogosphere it is easier for bloggers to post less frequently but still get their thoughts injected into the conversation.

  4. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Maybe we should declare conservatives to be an endangered species. Then we could take over their habitat without compensation in order to allow them to thrive.

  5. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Look,guys. Ilike to think I’m a true centrist. If the center is so far to the right that “user pays” is the only answer, then I’m willing to go along with that, so long as ALL users pay.

    If the center is so far to the left that everybody shoud pay for everything, and we let the details be settled by the Central Kommisariat, then I’m willing to go along with that, so long as what I get is somewhere balanced by what I pay.

    What I’m not willing to go along with is the idea that we can get something for nothing, that we can get it later for less. Or, that we can get it by getting someone else to pay.

    If Commonwealth Conservative has expired, maybe there is a reason. His daily readership was 1,850 per day — and it was probably higher before the election.

    The blogosphere is no more immune to the demands of popularity than the MSM is.

  6. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    “…even the best blogs wink in and out of existence like fireflies. Such a blogosphere may act as a corrective to the excesses of the Mainstream Media, but it is not likely to ever surpass the MSM as a source of authoritative information.”

    You are right. Passion can only take you so far.

    But tell me, how could the MSM ever expect to provide you with the sort of day to day, out of my own pocket, real life experience, that I have attempted to provide your readers with what really happens here on the farm, after 180 years?

    It takes passion.

  7. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    Ray, It’s the kind of reader feedback about real-life experiences that give blogs their power. The readers make the Bacon’s Rebellion blog much more compelling that I could possibly make it myself. And you’re right, that does take passion.

    Any successful business enterprise also takes passion. The people executing the business plan have to believe in it passionately. But 99.99 percent of all blogs have no business plan. Therefore, most of them are doomed to evanescence.

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