Blogs of the future: Alliances?

Are the days of individual blogging personalities gone? Is there power in numbers?

Sun Tzu said know your enemy and you will win every battle. It is always useful to analyze the tactics used by the left to avoid being blindsided in the future.

I usually do not agree with the liberal Raising Kaine. However, RK has an excellent post today about the future of the blogosphere in which they suggest the future of blogging is coalitions ... alliances ... groups of individual bloggers working together.

In the past, the blogs were dominated by individual personalities such as Not Larry Sabato, Chad Dotson, Waldo Jaquith, Shaun Kenney. However, the new and emerging blogosphere is dominated by small groups of individuals who work together to get their message out.

Local bloggers who work in groups show they are more concerned about the message. They edit each other, share information with each other, and support each other. I agree with the assessment that this appears to be the future of the blogosphere.

Raising Kaine wrote:

Over at Daily Kos, Markos is extolling the growing influence of state and local blogs. In his front-page diary "Local bloggers are the future," Markos writes:
... I'm excited that the Daily Kos blogroll is now featuring these organizing heroes. As we evolve as a movement, it'll be the Albany Projects, Raising Kaines, Burnt Orange Reports, Calitics and other sites like them that will transform the way we wage politics.

The lefty liberal bloggers have led the way in the past. Take, for example, Phriendly Jaime and Terry who contribute to RK and communicate with other Dems in the Richmond area.

But conservative bloggers have picked up on the liberal tactics.

Consider the SWAC area bloggers who make up CASTLE, a small group who have been very effective in getting their message out at the local and state level.

ODBA is another example of individuals working at the state, and sometimes local, level ... although it is actually rather large to operate as one unit. Research has shown groups of no more than eight are considered functional, well-working groups of individuals.

In an earlier post I listed suggestions for conservative bloggers to communicate and work in tandem in order to rebut Democrat talking points ("Open letter to conservative bloggers," December 23, 2006).

Again, taking a cue from the lefty bloggers, we as conservatives need to communicate, organize, and pull together. Daily Kos, hardly a friend of mine, has now made this abundantly clear to those thousands of young Democrats who will be working this fall's campaigns.

Conservative bloggers need to pay attention to what lefty bloggers are doing:

1. Redefine words: For example, the libs defined "macaca" as a racial slur. "Marriage" was redefined as same sex. "Pornography" is now a picture of a terrorist act. This is easily stopped if the right would hold the left accountable when they try to redefine words. The right's failure to do so will be our demise.
2. Character assassination: The left uses words like bigot, racist, homophobe. This is in their playbook. They will gang up and smear whoever is a threat to them. They use these words to intimidate us and others. Whenever we see this happening, we must call them on the carpet. Failure to do so will result in an unpleasant experience.
3. Trial balloons: The left will make an accusation and see how the right replies. They will then analyze the message, refine it, and then send it off to the mainstream press. Remember ... the press is lazy and will let the left write the story. Many conservative bloggers unknowingly interact with the lefty bloggers, allowing them to craft their message. At that point, the message is ripe for the mainstream press to publish. We should be careful how we interact with the left and avoid letting them gain control.
4. Real estate: The right does not own real estate. Look at who owns the VA blog roll aggregator: the left does. (BNN is neutral.) The right, like lambs to the slaughter, participate on the left's terms. When the left cannot control the message, they attack and, if unsuccessful, de-blog the poster such as what happened to a conservative blogger in December. I would encourage a person with time on their hands to start an aggregator and let the left come to us.
5. They are not your friend: The lefty bloggers may turn on you in a heartbeat if you do not play their game.
6. They are paid: They have paid computer hacks to construct the message. Even the best of us do not have the time to compete against that.

Blogs of the future ... alliances?