John Hawkins on the Blogosphere

Posted on November 25, 2009

You are considered a leader in the conservative blogosphere. How do you feel leadership qualities are essential in making a difference in the political blogosphere?

It’s nice of you to say I’m a leader in the blogosphere, but nobody really leads bloggers. It’s like herding cats through a yarn factory in the middle of a flood.

Did you intend to become a leader or did it come naturally? How much responsibility comes with this role, and how serious do you take the role?

My original goal was to become a full-time blogger. I did that. Now, my goal is to get my ideas out to a much wider audience. If I can help other bloggers during that process, all the better.

How has the blogosphere changed for the better since you first began? Do you consider yourself a pioneer?

The blogosphere is more corporate, more professional, and much more competitive than when I got started. A new solo blogger whose name isn’t something like Ann Coulter or Thomas Sowell would have a tough time breaking in and building an audience with a general solo blog these days. As to my being a pioneer, I don’t feel like I’ve had it tough enough to be considered a real pioneer.

How has it changed for the worse?

I don’t think it has changed for the worse. It has just gotten more mature and more saturated.

What changes for the better and worse do you see in the near future for blogs?

I keep expecting bigger outlets to swoop in and bring bloggers who’ve built audiences into their fold. It hasn’t happened yet, but it would seem to make sense. I also think the next big leap will be when some of the conservative money men start giving blogs on the Right the money they need to take things to the next level.

Right vs. Left, who is faring better in the blogosphere and why?

The Left. They grew much bigger than the Right because the party out of power tends to have more energy and momentum.

It’s been said conservative blogs seem to fare better when a liberal is in power. Have you seen this since Obama got elected?

A couple of conservative blogs have really taken off since Obama was elected, but most of them seem to be growing slowly so far. I’m hoping this will change soon.

There seems to be a split in the conservative and moderate side of the Republican Party. What are your predictions on the direction this will ultimately go?

Conservatives have the money, energy, ideas, and momentum. Moderates have only been able to stay in control of the GOP because conservatives have allowed it to happen. That’s starting to change and it’s a good thing.

In the conservative blogosphere, do you see cliques that have developed? If so, can you expound a bit?

Not necessarily cliques per se. It’s very easy when you are inundated with emails and swamped with work to get into the habit of just looking at and linking your favorite blogs. That’s not really fair to the other talented bloggers out there, but it’s reality.

Are there any new blogs without money backing like Breitbart’s that you see potentially becoming a major influence in the future or growing to more success?

That’s the thing — there are lots of blogs that could become influential — but they do need the resources and backing to get there. If Big Hollywood would have had Joe Blow behind it as opposed to Andrew Breitbart, it would probably have 2000 people a day reading it right now. That’s not an insult to Andrew Breitbart, who is amazingly talented; it’s just an acknowledgment that talent alone is not enough in the blogosphere.

Do you see Twitter and Facebook expanding influence amongst bloggers?

Perhaps — but more likely, they’re taking traffic and money away from bloggers instead of expanding their influence. The more time people spend Tweeting and Facebooking, the less time they have to read blogs.

Do you ever see blogs becoming something lucrative or is this only for the very talented and lucky bloggers?