Top 100 Liberal Bloggers or Sites, by traffic as of 12/19/07
I haven’t done a traffic review of liberal sites in nearly 3 years, so I was curious how much change I’d encounter. Answer: plenty. But there was plenty of stasis, too.
As I began writing it out, I caught myself writing way too much about my research decisions, so I tossed a lot to get to the pertinent matter quicker. Two quick considerations should suffice.
Q: How do I define a ‘liberal’ or ‘progressive’ site/blog?
A: Generally, if they claim to be. Most on the list are apparently so. There might be half a dozen who rarely blog about politics that I included, which some can quarrel with. Go ahead, knock yourself out. I also knocked one off that some people cite because I found it so obsessively anti-Zionist that I found it anti-semitic. I also now consider Wonkette to be ‘celebrity gossip’ not a liberal politics’ site. Ultimately, I don’t claim my list is perfect, nor does it need be. Consider it a guide, not an absolute reference point. There’s too many variables for perfect.
Q: Where did you get your traffic numbers from?
A: For two sites, I guessed. The Huffington Post, obviously a monster for traffic, mixing political activists with celebrities. And for Glenn Greenwald, I used existing traffic to his old site, but noted his traffic is surely higher at Salon.
I began with the old standard that many rely on, The Truth Laid Bear traffic list (TTLB). All the sites I listed on December 18th I rechecked on the 19th to see if any numbers remained unchanged, which would indicate a likelihood of some sort of stats gaming occurring.
So on Dec 19th, the list began like this:
Daily Kos 515,821 visits/day
The Raw Story 340,054 visits/day
Crooks and Liars 151,037 visits/day
Common Dreams 105,774 visits/day
Eschaton 82,608 visits/day
Firedoglake 72,132 visits/day
Treehugger 64,293 visits/day
Glenn Greenwald 48,127 visits/day (likely an underestimate)
AMERICAblog 43,960 visits/day
Then I found some numbers that seemed suspicious, that didn’t change in the two day period. A resource I didn’t have at hand in 2005 were the numbers of the Liberal Blog Ad Network (LBAN). Some of those sites were on that list with far lower numbers. Between the static two-day record on TTLB, I went with the LBAN numbers.
I couldn’t utilize LBAN as a sole source, however, because non-blog sites can’t join that network and some bloggers simply choose to forego advertising. So my list is a blend from those two principal sources. I won’t define my decisions about how I resolved conflicting numbers in this posting, as I think I’d bore you doing so. I do thorough research, can defend my choices and if you need reassurance, well, pay me. (My integrity’s not for sale, but my keyboarding time is.)
CONCLUSIONS
The exact numbers don’t matter, so I included exact numbers for #1, for #3 and #100 only. After all, numbers fluctuate daily. And they dip at times, like weekends and holidays and for a couple of summer months. Some sites might be higher or lower than a longterm average would show, on the strength of links within the past week. I’ve also heard the complaint for years that a site’s listed numbers often don’t match what blog owners read internally. So I went with rough ranges that still should be useful as a guide.
I also presume there’s sites not using Sitemeter that would otherwise make this list. Hey, if you want perfection, close your eyes, strip, and pretend I’m Brangelina Jitt.
Some findings compared to my last survey 3 years ago:
Kos is now in a league by his own with 600,000 views/day. I make the presumption that Huffington Post is second. (Someone could inquire if they want to place it exactly) And another relative newcomer, Raw Story, is comfortably up there, well ahead of all others. As those three have individual features that approach unique, this wasn’t surprising. But it’s different, compared to the past. If you count the offline circulation of big newspapers in the country, only 14 exceed Kos’ readership.
In 2005, Kos and Eschaton switched top spots often, around 100K to 200K a day. TPM was often in third. So Eschaton has fallen off some. Big risers since 2005 include Raw Story, Crooks and Liars, Firedoglake, Treehugger, Glenn Greenwald, AMERICAblog, Pharyngula and Bad Astronomer.
The hardworking Steve Benen has advanced his Carpetbagger Report steadily as have the Sean-Paul Kelley (and his team) at The Agonist, News Hounds, Sadly No! and Big Head DC. Many of the rest in the first 50 look similar to their previous positions, though a few have dropped and a few have quit.
Most importantly, there’s been a lot of change in the next 50.
And there’s just more political blog viewership overall. Three years ago, 2,000 views/day would get you in the top 50. Now it takes 3,400 to get you in the top 100.
Other blog topics are growing even faster. Tech-geek blogs, sports, business and celebrity gossip dominate now. I used to cull 100 liberal sites from about the first 350 sites on the TTLB list. Now I had 900 to pore over.
Within that 900, there’s probably twice as many conservatives as these 100 liberals but the highest is Instapundit at 232,412 visits/day, Michelle Malkin and Hot Air are bookends around Crooks and Liars, LGF is just behind Common Dreams, Andrew Sullivan’s just ahead of Firedoglake, NewsBusters is a bit below Treehugger, Powerline’s just ahead of Glenn Greenwald, so it’s fairly equivalent throughout the upper end of the blogosphere (above 20K/day in traffic).
At 3,400, you reach the top 100 progressive websites. Around 6,500, you reach the top 50. It’s a lot harder to get and maintain a spot in the top 35, however. Money, savvy, connections, hard work: all the elements of success in the offline world generally come into play in that uppermost group.
Oh, and talent. However, great blogging talent exists in many blogs, including many that fell well short of this list. I have a lot more to say about that but will go into that in another post a few days from now. For now, just take a look at the list.
It begins right after the fold.
THE TOP 100 LIST
At the very top, Dkos had 515,821 visits/day per TTLB and had 600,307 visits/day on LBAN as of 12/19/07 when this was written. For guide purposes, it makes more sense to report groups within a traffic range and assume the order is very close to correct (with Huffington Post and Glenn Greenwald being the only purely speculative ones in the list.)
.
600,000 - 300,000 visits/day
Daily Kos 600,307 views/day
Huffington Post … [numbers unknown; purely speculative]
The Raw Story 330,231 views/day
.
300,000 - 100,000 visits/day
TPM
AlterNet
Crooks and Liars
Democratic Underground
Common Dreams
.
100,000 - 65,000 visits/day
That’s the top 10.
.
65,000 - 40,000 visits/day
Treehugger
Glenn Greenwald (probably considerably higher)
AMERICAblog
The Agonist
MyDD
.
40,000 - 30,000 visits/day
Feministing
BartCop.com
Washington Monthly/Political Animal
Drudge Retort
News Hounds
Truthdig
Politics1
Pharyngula
Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire
The Smirking Chimp
That’s the top 25.
.
30,000 - 20,000 visits/day
Bad Astronomy
Hullabaloo
The Carpetbagger Report
Sadly, No!
The American Prospect/Tapped
.
20,000 - 10,000 visits/day
Pandagon
TalkLeft
Informed Comment
OneGoodMove
OpenLeft
Big Head DC
That’s the top 36.
.
10,000 - 7,000 visits/day
Sisters Talk
This Modern World
Cursor.org
The Young Turks
Democrats.com
BuzzFlash
Pam’s House Blend
Brad DeLong
Shakesville
That’s the top 45.
.
7,000 - 6,000 visits/day
Drug WarRant
Raising Kaine
PageOneQ
blogACTIVE
Brad Blog
Docudharma
Lawyers Guns & Money
Swing State Project
Corrente
Booman Tribune
That’s the top 55.
.
6,000 - 5,000 visits/day
Washington Note
Jesus’ General
Rod 2.0
Blue Mass Group
BlueOregon
My Left Wing
Feministe
Oliver Willis
Blue Hampshire
That’s the top 64.
.
5,000 - 4,000 visits/day
The Left Coaster
The Rude Pundit
Taylor Marsh
Knox Views
Majikthise
BluegrassReport.org
That’s the top 71.
.
4,000 - 3,500 visits/day
The Hollywood Liberal
Liberally Lean From The Land Of Dairy Queen … (with no blogroll. WTF?)
Calitics
Buckeye State Blog
That’s the top 75.
3,500 - 3,000 visits/day
Shapely Prose
Obsidian Wings
Orcinus
Dependable Renegade
Fired Up! Missouri … (no blogroll either)
HorsesAss.org
Slacktivist
Empire Burlesque
Balkinization
Susie Bright’s Journal
wood s lot
I’m Taking My Country Back! … (content’s great, but loads slow and no blogroll)
That’s the top 87.
.
3,000 - 2,400 visits/day
Burnt Orange Report
Stupid Evil Bastard
Blue Jersey
JURIST - Paper Chase
BlueNC
All Spin Zone
Bitch Ph.D.
The Seminal
Peace is Patriotic Along
The Mahablog
Jon Swift
Rhode Island’s Future
The Reality-Based Community 2396 visits/day
That’s the top 100.
.
There’s three other sites I know of that might belong in that list:
FLApolitics
ColoradoPols.com
Crimes and Corruption of the New World Order News … (odd: left or anarchist?)
But as I said, this is only a guide.
If you want to see what the Top 50 looked like on the 7th of January 2005, go and scroll down here, while watching the blue column on the right.
Questions? Corrections? That’s what comments are for. Complaints? Feel lucky, bunky?
.
UPDATE: To clarify my purpose in writing about this, please note that all these sites are NOT blogs. And all blogs are not on equal footing. Some have venture capital behind them. Some have substantive private investment behind them. What I said in my mini-summary bears repeating: “Money, savvy, connections, hard work: all the elements of success in the offline world generally come into play in that uppermost group.”
Translated, that means one might have savvy and hard work, but not the money and connections, which makes it harder to reach those traffic realms. (And speaking personally, I can attest to that: mine was one of the blogs that dropped way below the minimum threshold between 2005 and 2007. I didn’t go into that previously because this was never intended to be about me, nor to boost or diminish anyone at any level).
I chose to include all types of liberal sites as a comparative, choosing to avoid arguments about what’s a blog? or to suggest any blog not on the list lacks substantial merit. I also said some choose not to use Sitemeter that could belong on this list.
There’s an old saying I’ll paraphrase: “freedom of the press is great, if you can afford one.” From an historical standpoint, handbills, flyers and what came to be collected as The Federalist Papers have long demonstrated the merits of talent reaching small audiences. The same was true of underground newspapers in the Sixties, or of poets in any era published in limited runs by small, obscure publishers. Geewhizgolly Wally, I can even recall a sixthgrader who discovered a classmate owned a mimeograph machine and a light table. He used that connection to trace Playboy nudes, made a calendar of them and tried to sell them to horny freshly pubertized classmates. And was quickly exposed, his father called in, and he had to serve the first detention he’d ever experienced as a result.
His father told him after school: “if you really feel compelled to look at naked women, I can always ask your mother and sisters to walk around naked when they get up in the morning for breakfast.” Completely embarrassed by that, he pulled the plug on his innovative venture, despite the high quality of his visual communications product. It may even have diminished the odds of him growing up to be a chauvinist pig, forcing him to write this dreary list instead.
There are numerous values to bloggers, big, small and miniscule. Their richness, depth and talent or their value to a small community of readers, or their talent undiscovered because they’d rather write than promote …. the bottom line suggestion from here is to avoid underestimating some and overestimating others based on numbers alone. contrary to free market gurus, mobs and majorities have given us Tucker Carlson and and Ayn Clouter and scads of unfunny photoshoppers in the footsteps of Ed Bradley, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Margaret Bourke White.
I’ll have more to say later - another thing I stated in the original post. This is intended as a guide that bloggers and readers may interpret in a myriad of ways. And it’s also setting the foundation for more, by me (and others if they wish), when I have more time in a few days. After going through lists as long as I did over the past three days, I just need to catch my breath a bit and focus on more of the current events I’ve sidestepped this week.
Stick around, maybe I’ll include some tracings of prehistoric pre-internet pron, so while I ramble, you can tingle.
December 21st, 2007 at 3:09 pm
I’ve always argued that there’s a sort of intrinsic purity in smaller sites which do not advertise. This is particularly true for those of us who blog for the love of it and aren’t slaves to any sort of agenda. Not beholden to the demands of advertisers or censorship, I often enjoy their writing far more than the big guys.
As you argue, not every site with high traffic is automatically awful and there are any number of small potatoes like me who are awful.
My site gets an average of twenty or so hits a day. If I get mentioned on a reasonably high traffic aggregator, then I will have a brief few delicious days where my hits get as high as four times that.
Hits are nice, but they’re not nearly as important as having a forum to voice my ideas.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:09 pm
By the way, the one blog that’s intentionally left out because it’s deemed anti-semitic is whatreallyhappened.com.
The truth is that there’s about as much spin on that blog as there are on 90% of these on the list. It’s because of our state of censorship that this blog was left out. Apparently, one can criticize politics, political figures, and anybody who runs counter to our modern idea of progress, yet, Israel is above criticism and condemnation because doing so is labelled anti-semitic. The truth is no entity is above reproach, especially considering the hostile actions Israel takes against neighboring countries, nuclear ambiguity going unchecked, and of course, repression and occupation of a sovereign people against dozens of UN resolutions. Naturally, had any of these blogs rightfully criticized Iran, Saudi Arabia, or any other Middle Eastern entity, they would have made the list.
December 21st, 2007 at 5:33 pm
No it’s not. I visit that site. Is it listed at The Truth Laid Bear? I must have missed it.
And I criticize Israel’s government actions, too.
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:39 pm
Where in the heck is Think Progress?
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:44 am
Think Progress doesn’t meter its site properly to show up on these lists. But you’d hav to think they’re up in the top 10 too.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Pretty illuminating, although I personally feel that calling Raw Story and Huffington Post “Blogs” is stretching it a bit - outstanding as they both are. They’re magazines. I don’t think of Drudge as a blog either. It’s a link portal. Even Firedoglake seems like it’s not reallly a blog anymore - but as above, that says nothing about the quality. I hate trying to find a way to phrase that without sounding like I’m demeaning blogs, or spurning the news magazines as being “too sophisticated”.
December 23rd, 2007 at 1:53 pm
That’s why the title says ‘blogs or sites’. My task would have been way harder if I had to make judgments about which were blogs. It would have been dicier still if I indicated what had vc or big private funding sources behind them. Personally, I was more interested about what the bottom 80 looked like than the top 20, which most anyone could guess pretty easily.
January 10th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Hey Kevin,
You missed Group News Blog.
We’re averaging just over 3,400 visits/day.
It’s my bad, I guess, for not making sure we were up on TTLB. *sighs* So damn many lists.
Take care,
Jesse Wendel, Publisher
Group News Blog
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:32 am
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