Map of the Blogosphere

by Brad Linder Apr 23rd 2007

Nielsen's Matthew Hurts recently drafted a nifty graphic showing the blogosphere in links. This picture is based on an examination of six weeks of blogosphere data.

Each little white dot represents a blog. The bigger white dots represent blogs with more incoming and outgoing links, while the smaller dots are blogs with fewer links.

The green lines represent one-way links from one blog to another, and the blue lines show reciprocal links, or blogs that link back and forth to one another regularly.

So what do we see in this big messy blob?

The biggest white dots are popular blogs like Boing Boing and the Daily KOZ.
That isolated streak of green in the upper right hand (by the number three) shows LiveJournal blogs. LiveJournal users tend to link heavily to other LiveJournal blogs, but don't communicate as frequently with the outside world.
The blue spots show bloggers who frequently link back and forth, possibly writing responses on their own blogs to items they've read on other sites and vice versa.
Number 5 shows the fringe community of bloggers who share pornographic images and write about adult industry news and gossip.
Number 6 sports enthusiasts who are a bit more linked into the rest of the mainstream blogosphere than the pornography enthusiasts or LiveJournal bloggers. But it's still a distinct community with users communicating primarily amongst themselves.

Tags: blogosphere, discover magazine, DiscoverMagazine, hyperlinks, links

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

James said 1:01PM on 4-23-2007

It's a shame that he went to all that trouble, but didn't make the map interactive -- it would be interesting to be able to rotate and zoom (since it looks like the data were plotted on an actual sphere) and see for ourselves what the sites are -- you know, to get a bit more meaning.

It's kind of funny to me that (if I read the article correctly) it's very revealing about American politics. The conservative grouping near the number 4 is solid blue, with equal discussion and people linking back and forth to each other, a sort of relationship of peer discussion. Meanwhile, the liberal side near the number 1 is just a few massive dots radiating green (one-way) lines to a bunch of smaller sites, a relationship of a bunch of echo-chambers linking out to a very small number of leaders who set the "party line".

That's the way I perceive it in real life: on the right, you have thoughtful discussions where people have a considered interest in the opinions of others; on the left, you have a cult of personality where a few demagogues determine what everybody is supposed to think and dictate The One True Path. I know which side sounds more likely to produce good solutions.

VV said 1:41PM on 4-23-2007

Wow. Never underestimate the delusion under which the right labors.

Let's list some achievements of the right:

"No Child Left Behind" - resounding success.
War against Al Qaeda - Osama's not been captured yet and the Taliban are still at large in Afghanistan.
Iraq situation - thousands of brave fighting men and women dead, thousands more injured. Hundreds of billions of dollars wasted.
Federal deficit - up, up, up.
House prices - previously at unsustainable levels, now in the doldrums.
Attorney General - what a guy. Doing a fine job. His performances in front of various committees in Congress have been outstanding.

Oh, and who won back both houses of Congress back in November? And remind me, what are the President's approval ratings?

Ankher said 7:53PM on 4-23-2007

Hey! Play nice you two! So, where is downloadsquad on this? It would be cool if it were interactive, but w/e :)

Uncle Mike said 7:54PM on 4-23-2007

So, the first guy makes an intellectual comment on the information in the story. the second guy goes off on a tirade about something totally different. Standing in the corner flinging poo like a chimp at the zoo is not political discourse. VV, do you actually have anything to say about the points made by James or do you just spew on command???

phoenix said 10:22AM on 4-24-2007

Actually, sounds like the first person made no such intellectual commentary whatsoever, and \/\/ came back with some interesting commentary about the right's so-called "discussion." Sorry, but what the map really says to me is that there are a few popular resources that people flock to on the intellectual left, while the smaller, right-wing sites wind up feeding on their own tails with a small, relatively ignorant set of readers who essentially all link to one another and say the same things. We all know that in American politics, right-wing political blogging is essentially dominated by talking points issued from the RNC every morning anyway.

It takes the political left on the blogosphere to actually draw intellectual commentary and popular viewership. It's also worth mentioning that more left-wing political blogs, the Daily KOS included, are community authored, where tons of people can come and pen their own articles and offer up their own commentary to be shared with readers, something that the banner waving conservative authors can't claim. They're too busy deleting comments from people who disagree with them to participate in any such "dialogue."

Matt said 10:33AM on 4-25-2007

Looks like Uncle Mike is a typical right wing blogger. He responds to the truth with personal attacks, then accuses anyone who disagreed of mud slinging (or poo slinging, which Uncle Mikey seems to be good at). Good job proving the point we all knew. - when it comes to accusations and sad attempts to disinform people with spin, we know which side is better at that, but when it comes to solutions to real problems...well.. that's a different story. One told by the bright spots on the blogosphere map! :)

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