The Philippine Blogosphere and Political Thought 101: The Blogosphere as a Medium for Political Discourse, Part 5

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(Part 1 here.)
(Part 2 here.)
(Part 3 here.)
(Part 4 here.)
(Part 5 here.)

Continuing on answering RMBG's questionnaire, we go now to his final question:

How can the Philippine political blogosphere improve as a tool for political socialization and communication to the Filipino public, considering the limited reach of the internet at the present?

I think that any other measure short of expanding local internet accessibility and the narrowing of the digital divide would not be able to sufficiently make the blogosphere a political force relevant to the public at large. Thus, given that widespread connectivity will be quite likely a concept that the Philippines will not learn of -- at least in the near future -- I think that the sole means of the online politically-inclined Filipino to become more relevant to the general public is by going offline.

To phrase this differently: at the end of the day, for the Filipino political blogger to be relevant, he must suit actions to words, and move from online advocacy to real-life activity. Doing so, the Filipino political blogger will then be credible in his articulation of his political beliefs; the resulting online/ offline dynamic will redound to the increase in his visibility in cyberspace, and thus the blogger's message will turn increasingly viral and result in the persuasion of more readers.

Short version: if a blogger practices what he preaches, he will certainly be more persuasive; with the persuasion of others for or against a stand being the goal of any advocate, for one blogger to be more convincing in comparison to others is certainly in this blogger's best interests.

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Without going into the details of online/ offline dynamics, I think it will be sufficient to speak of the the approaches by which the political niche of the Philippine blogosphere can increase its influence, from the most superficial escalating to the more involved methods.

Increasing visibility is quite obviously the minimum activity. The goal of an online advocate is not merely to increase one's visibility in cyberspace (which will merely entail activities related to search engine optimization), but to increase to generate visibility in mainstream media; after all, mainstream media is still the primary source of the general public's information (said information the basis for opinions to be formed). To do this, there seems to me two paths to choose from: one, to establish one's blog as a source of information presented in a balanced and fair manner analoguous to reportage in the mainstream media, and; two, to establish one's blog as a source of incisive and thought-provoking analysis and commentary analoguous to punditry and commentary in mainstream media's news magazines and opinion talk shows.

The second approach is far more common than the first, given that few ordinary bloggers have the time and resources to spare to check out leads, attempt to get the "other side" of the story, and to perform the legwork necessary to research a story in the manner of professional journalists; as such, it is far easier (or at least, it is in general) for a blogger to depend on mainstream media's output for news and information, which then the blogger will attempt to analyze, the analysis being presented in a manner designed to sway the blogger's readership to his persuasion. Unfortunately for the those subscribing to the second approach, it is the approach that is the most common, and therefore the approach where it is harder for a blog to stand out due to the sheer volume of bloggers doing it. For either activity the key is, therefore, hard work and persistence, working to grow the base of one's readership and establishing oneself as either an alternative reporter or a subject-matter expert (SME) on key issues; blogs with large readerships will very likely be reported on by mainstream media.

Despite a high level of visibility in mainstream media, it is still likely that the blogger's reach and influence may not be sufficient to persuade readers and viewers of mainstream media who do not have access to the internet. One can be fairly certain that the reportage concerning the blog will contain less of the content of the blog posts and the quality of its ideas than the description of the blogger, his blog, the circumstances surrounding the blog, and other information pertinent to reportage to the public but not to the persuasion of the public. The next higher step, therefore, is to write posts of quality of enough level to interest mainstrean media into sharing these posts with mainstream media's audience -- the general public.

With the increasing popularity of such a blogger, he will soon receive commentary saying "put up or shut up", meaning to prove that he has the conviction to act as he claims to advocate. The more controversial (or unpopular) the blogger's stance, the greater is the need for the blogger to demonstrate that his advocacy for or against an issue is not limited to cyberspace; otherwise, the blogger will find himself a pariah at best and a laughingstock at worst. To be placed in such a situation is to result in the loss of credibility, which is the death knell for any advocate.

As was mentioned earlier on in this post, for an online advocate to be relevant in a society such as ours where internet access is not as widespread, the online advocate must act beyond cyberspace and demonstrate his activity in real life.

For the political niche of the Filipino blogosphere to improve as a tool for political socialization and communication of ideas and issues to the Filipino public, despite the limited reach of the internet, is for those engagements in the blogosphere to take these engagements to where the general public can access them. In the end, the use of the blogosphere should be merely one of the arrows in an advocates's quiver, and not viewed as the magic bullet that it is not.
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Whew. Done.

In all honesty, this is how I had originally begun this post:

You have got to be kidding me, RMBG. What would I know about how to improve the blogosphere as a tool for engagement and discourse, WITHOUT improving the limited reach of the internet? I'm an Occam's Razor sort of fellow -- the simplest solution is probably the most effective.

(All right, all right, enough histrionics. Let's doff the coxcomb and put on the mortarboard. I should be in a better mood, given that I've had lunch.)

(Or maybe not -- but let's not take it out on the boy.)

Heh heh. Now to provide RMBG an index.

Later, all.