Here’s an overview of how Maryland blogs have done from January through April, 2010.
In the first four months of this year, the 45 Maryland state and local blogs that release their site statistics recorded a combined total of 629,307 visits. That is 27% higher than the first four months of 2009 (when they collectively totaled 495,179) and 69% higher than the first four months of 2008 (when they totaled 373,312). The last nine months have been the best period ever in the Maryland blogosphere.
Since 2009, all of the growth in the state’s blogosphere has been in liberal blogs and blogs that cover local areas. Readership in conservative blogs has fallen by 3.4% between the first four months of 2009 and the first four months in 2010.
Here are the top ten state and local political blogs in Maryland, as well as the monthly site visit trend of the top five (MPW, Red Maryland, Annapolis Capital Punishment, PG Politics and Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack) since June 2007. The counts show combined totals over the first four months, while the chart shows monthly visits.
April 2010 produced a temporary spike in MPW’s traffic due to national interest in the blogoscabbing story. Our regular traffic is now on track to be roughly twice the levels of the leading local blogs and three times the levels of the second-ranked political blog.
Here are the top ten locally-focused blogs in Maryland, as well as the monthly site visit trend of the top five (Inside Charm City, Just Up the Pike, Tales of Two Cities, Rockville Central and Rethink College Park) since June 2007.
The big story here is the end of Inside Charm City’s streak as the most-visited local blog since January 2008. Howard County’s Tales of Two Cities passed it in both March and April 2010 and Just Up the Pike passed it in March. These three are now effectively tied as the leading local blogs in the state.
No mainstream media “blogs” release independently verifiable site visit statistics. Neither do Marylandreporter.com or Center Maryland.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Maryland Blogdom, January – April 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
A Tribute to Dan Reed
One of the biggest names in MoCo blogging, Just Up the Pike’s Dan Reed, has announced that he is leaving for graduate school in Pennsylvania. Now is a good time to look back on the career of one of our county’s very best.
Dan was one of the founders of MoCo’s blogosphere in 2006. Most of the blogs back then were anonymous gossip sites, or worse yet, attack blogs. Dan was different from the start because he was not obsessed with politics. He was a thoughtful nineteen-year-old who looked around his beloved East County, tried to understand what it was, wanted to understand where it was going and had definite views on what it should be. Politics was part of that, but not all of it. Dan was interested in planning, history, architecture, and above all, people. You never knew from week to week what kind of content you were going to get from Just Up the Pike, and that made it stand out.
Dan was first and foremost a committed writer. He perfected the long, in-depth series that later spread to other blogs (including MPW). Some of his finest work covered the Purple Line, the communities near Briggs Chaney Road and redevelopment in Burtonsville. Dan was attracted to content and viewpoints that did not often appear elsewhere. Just Up the Pike was a success in part because it was one place people could go to find it. That approach heavily influenced my writing for MPW years later.
But Dan also had a big political impact. He was one of the county’s best interviewers, sitting down with every candidate in the 2008 and 2009 District 4 special elections – even the Republicans. He interviewed the vast majority of the County Council Members at the beginning of this term. His quasi-endorsement of Nancy Navarro was an important moment in the 2009 election. And his long-ago post on Eating Pho with Hans Riemer put Riemer on the map way back in 2006.
Most of all, Dan’s message of change, progress and diversity put its imprint on the county’s direction much more than mere political rhetoric. Dan took risks in pushing that message – notably targeting bigots in Burtonsville for their statements criticizing “undesirables.” Dan took some heat for that but he also earned a lot of respect – the kind of respect that politicians who claim to be leaders but never take risks rarely get.
Dan Reed has shown that a person who works hard, knows how to write, has something interesting to say and cares about his community can make a difference – even if he is a gangly, Pho-slurping kid! We will be poorer for his departure, but his example will serve as a model for all of us he leaves behind.
Monday, June 15, 2009
George Leventhal Hires Dan Reed
Just Up the Pike's Dan Reed has announced his hire by County Council Member George Leventhal. There is precedent for a MoCo blogger to get such a plum job: Mike Raia, who wrote Outside the Beltway, was snatched up by Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown as Deputy Press Secretary in 2007. (He has since been promoted to Press Secretary.) Mike ended his blog but Dan intends to keep JUTP going.
Leventhal is getting one of the best local writers in the county. Dan is getting access to one of the brainiest, and funniest, politicians in the state. Here's hoping the arrangement works out for both of them.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Blogs Dominate Online D4 Coverage
Imagine casual voters in District 4 investigating the candidates the new-fangled way: Googling their names. What would they find? You would think they would see a bunch of Washington Post and Gazette articles, right?
No way. They are seeing posts from Maryland Politics Watch and Just Up the Pike.
Check out these screen shots of Google searches from yesterday:
Yesterday, MPW had its fourth-most visited day in the blog's history. Six of our top ten most-visited days ever have occurred this month. (The other four occurred around the November 2008 general election.) Last month, MPW and Just Up the Pike set internal visit records. This month, MPW is on track to set another record.
Many voters still get their news from paper. But the online generation is increasingly adding blogs to their daily news diet. That's something to remember for 2010.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Dan Reed on the District 4 Race
District 4 resident Dan Reed of Just Up the Pike has written a must-read essay about the special election. Whether you agree with him or not, bear in mind that Dan is the most influential blogger in East County, has created a peerless body of work about that area for nearly three years and has a loyal readership of several hundred politically active East County residents. If I were running as a candidate in that district, Dan's support would be my most coveted prize on the way to Election Day.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Just Up the Pike D4 Interviews Continue
Just Up the Pike's Dan Reed is steadily interviewing every Council District 4 candidate. So far, he has talked to Cary Lamari, former candidate Chris Paladino, Rob Goldman, Robin Ficker, Nancy Navarro and Andrew Padula.
Monday, March 09, 2009
More District 4 Tidbits
OK D4 junkies, it’s time for a few more bits.
1. Ten candidates
The Gazette has the full roster of candidates in the race. The Democrats are Nancy Navarro, Ben Kramer, Cary Lamari, Robert Goldman, Thomas Hardman and Michael Bigler. The Republicans are Robin Ficker, Lou August and Andrew Padula. The Green candidate, who will not have to face a primary, is George Gluck.
2. Early voting
Rich Madaleno’s (D-18) early voting bill is now on-line. It would allow voters in all special elections prior to June 30, 2009 to receive and submit absentee ballots at the county Board of Elections building on these days prior to the Tuesday vote: Wednesday through Friday, 8 AM to 8 PM; Saturday, 10 AM to 4:30 PM; and Sunday noon to 3 PM.
3. Kramer, Gordon and Lamari
When Montgomery County Civic Federation President Arnold Gordon was honored at the March 1 Greater Olney Civic Association awards, Ben Kramer presented the award. That did not stop Gordon from praising his predecessor as civic federation President – and Kramer rival – Cary Lamari with Kramer standing at his side. Ouch!
Ben Kramer (left) with Arnold Gordon at the GOCA Awards. Photo by Richard Turner.
4. Reed vs. Goldman
When Just Up the Pike author (and East County chronicler) Dan Reed called out attorney Robert Goldman’s use of a Bethesda address for his campaign, commenter “MD_Lawyer” replied:For the record, Rob Goldman has lived in Burtonsville for some time. He only works in Bethesda. It seems reasonable to receive mail at a work address.
MD_Lawyer previously announced Goldman’s candidacy in our comments section.
So let’s see: we have a candidate who uses a Bethesda address, debates East County’s top blogger and uses an anonymous Google account. And you thought this race was interesting last year!
5. Alison Klumpp
Ever since Marilyn and Don Praisner’s daughter, Alison Klumpp, announced that she is not seeking her parents’ seat, political junkies have been speculating on whether she will endorse any candidates in the field. Her endorsement would be incredibly valuable to anyone. Mrs. Klumpp, if you do have a statement, please keep our blog in mind!
6. MCEA
We hear MCEA has begun candidate interviews. MCEA supported Nancy Navarro in last year’s special election, but they also supported Ben Kramer in his 1994 and 1998 County Council races. They did not support Kramer in his 2006 race for Delegate.
7. Gillogly vs. Greater Greater Washington
Last week, Greater Greater Washington, a transit-focused blog based in D.C., wrote a post called, “Who’s Our Candidate for Montgomery District 4?” The original version of the post read like an endorsement for Nancy Navarro, but the DuPont Circle-based author quickly rewrote it in more neutral language. That did not stop Montgomery Democratic super-activist (and District 4 resident) Kevin Gillogly from pouncing. Kevin pointed out that GGW had done no prior reporting on the D4 race and questioned why an out-of-state blog would do endorsements in local Montgomery races.
I’ll make GGW a deal: I won’t be foolish enough to endorse any D.C. candidates (even though I lived there for nine years) if you don’t endorse any Maryland candidates. As a bonus, Kevin won’t go back to your blog. Deal?
8. Facebook
Two candidates have Facebook support pages: Nancy Navarro (with 140 members) and Cary Lamari (with 56 members). Thank heavens that our state legislators can now access them.
9. First Debate Scheduled
The Montgomery County Young Democrats have announced the first D4 candidates’ debate. It is scheduled for Wednesday, April 1, 7-9 PM at the AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road in Silver Spring. They issued this statement:Have you ever wanted a politician to answer YOUR questions? Now's your chance!
Are bloggers allowed in? We hope so!
The Montgomery County Young Democrats are sponsoring a town hall debate of the Democratic candidates in the District 4 Special Election using questions submitted by the audience. You can even ask them yourself if you'd like.
It's your $4 billion... you should know the person we're choosing to spend it.
Please submit questions to District4Debate@gmail.com and indicate if you'd like to ask the question yourself and if you'd like the question to be directed at any specific candidate.
Doors open at 7pm & the debate starts at 7:30.
Any tips, bits, juice, gripes or gossip? Send them to me for our next installment!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Just Up the Pike Interviews Cary Lamari
As with all of Dan Reed's interviews, this one is a must-read.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
A Joint Statement Against Anonymous Attack Blogs
By Adam Pagnucco, Eric Luedtke and Dan Reed.
Recently, an anonymous blog appeared targeting Montgomery County Council Member Mike Knapp. The sole purpose of this blog was to attack Mr. Knapp's character in an effort to discourage him from running for County Executive. We will not do the author a favor by linking to his work. The issue for us is not Mr. Knapp or his fitness for office. Rather, the creation of this blog, which is neither the first nor the last of its kind, calls a question of vital importance to Maryland's blogosphere. And this is our response.
All of us blog under our own names. We do it because we believe what we say. We do it because we are willing to stand behind our words. And we do it because we do not fear accountability from our readers. In fact, transparency and accountability are good for the blogosphere. They are the primary tools by which our still young, and occasionally unruly, medium can be improved.
Unfortunately, our medium is subject to abuse by those who attempt to destroy the reputation of others while hiding behind a veil of anonymity. By spreading incorrect and possibly libelous information, anonymous attack bloggers do a disservice to legitimate bloggers and to the community as a whole.
While we may disagree on some matters, we agree on the fact that these anonymous attackers discredit the blogosphere and political activism as a whole. For the good of our craft, our readers and the public discourse, we the undersigned stand against them and condemn their work. Specifically, the creator of the anonymous blog attacking Mike Knapp should either have the courage to identify himself or herself or have the decency to delete the blog.
Dan Reed is the author of Just Up the Pike. Eric Luedtke is a contributor to Free State Politics. Adam Pagnucco is a contributor to Maryland Politics Watch. As measured by Sitemeter, Just Up the Pike, Free State Politics and Maryland Politics Watch are three of the five most-read blogs in the state of Maryland.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The State of Maryland Blogdom, Part Two
Maryland political blogs generally fall into one of three categories: liberal, conservative or local. Today, we will focus on the local blogs.
Liberal and conservative blogs are self-explanatory. Local blogs tend to cover a specific area, like Baltimore, Silver Spring or Howard County. They are sometimes not directly political in the sense that the author does not have a strong ideological bias. But they often touch on political issues as they apply to a particular local area. The Silver Spring blogs, for example, offered outstanding coverage of last year’s photography dispute on Ellsworth Drive and the recent debate over the Birchmere/Live Nation project.
Of the 25 blogs for which we have obtained visit statistics, nine are local blogs. Of those, Inside Charm City is the most widely-read with a peak of 16,267 visits in April. Inside Charm City is a general news blog reporting on events in and around Baltimore. Jeff Quinton has established himself as perhaps the city’s most prominent blogger since founding the site in April 2007.
Dan Reed’s Just Up the Pike ranks second with a peak of 6,331 visits in April. In a previous post, I proclaimed Dan the “best interviewer in MoCo blogdom.” He is that and more. Dan chronicles often over-looked East County and occasionally branches out to Downtown Silver Spring and Wheaton. Dan is an architectural student and often comments on development-related issues. He is one of a handful of MoCo bloggers who has kept his blog alive since the summer of 2006. Before I started with MPW, I was a guest-blogger on Just Up the Pike and I continue to read it daily.
Rethink College Park wants Maryland’s biggest college town to become “a walkable, inclusive, and dynamic city.” The site peaked at 7,977 visits in December 2007 and now draws around 4,000 visits a month. Authors David Daddio and Rob Goodspeed have a style similar to Dan Reed’s: highly detailed, very local and forward-looking.
The nine blogs for which I have data have grown steadily in visit counts. Prior to the fall of 2007, they drew combined monthly visit counts in the low twenty thousands. Now they are drawing around thirty thousand visits a month. But that understates their influence because I do not have data for some of the most prominent local blogs including the Pocomoke Tattler, Delusional Duck (in Charles County), Salisbury News and most of the other Silver Spring blogs. Silver Spring, serviced by not only Just Up the Pike but no fewer than three other long-running, frequently-updated blogs is probably the blog capital of Maryland.
Local blogs offer a mix of news, opinion, humor and detail that are indispensable supplements to mainstream media (MSM) sources. That is why demand for them is rising steadily and surely. The only constraint to their growth is the time demands on the bloggers themselves. That is an important constraint (as I can testify!) but enough people have overcome it to make this sector of the blogosphere a serious factor in the state’s political scene.
In Part Three, we will cover Maryland’s conservative blogs.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
More on County Council District 4
Here’s our latest roundup for D4 residents and MoCo political junkies. (Yes, we know that you junkies need help, but in the meantime, keep reading our blog!)
Dan Reed at Just Up the Pike has posted an interview with Nancy Navarro. Once again, Dan shows off his knack for picking out the most interesting, and even the most provocative, statements from his interviewees.
Progressive Neighbors has posted interviews with Nancy Navarro and Don Praisner. These interviews contain the most detailed positions on issues so far released by either candidate. They even address our beloved CARR bill! Progressive Neighbors did not endorse in the contest.
Navarro has wrapped up the vast majority of union endorsements in the county. The only union to have endorsed another candidate is the Montgomery County Federation of Teachers, an American Federation of Teachers local union, which is supporting Don Praisner. MCFT has no contracts with the county and should not be confused with the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA), which represents county teachers and has endorsed Navarro.
Steve Kanstoroom and Pat Ryan have websites up. Don Praisner has completely redone his website and it is much improved.
The recent County Council committee changes hinge on who wins the District 4 race. If the winner disagrees with Council President Mike Knapp’s assignments, they could change next year.
Kevin Gillogly and I are working on a joint post about last week’s candidate forum. Hurry up, Kevin! We know you are still grumpy because of your decision not to run, but that is no excuse for not covering this race for our all-important readers. The Gazette’s coverage of the forum is here. They missed the central exchange in the debate over the relationship of the education budget and the county’s deficit, but we will cover that for our readers.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Lamari Is Out; Opts for Praisner
Dan over at Just Up The Pike beat me to the punch. In fact, his post is so good that there is nothing else I can add. I just got off the phone with Cary Lamari and he confirmed that he will be at Don's announcement on Monday in Rockville.
There are several moving parts to this race. So stay close to MPW and we will keep your up to the date with the latest news.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
MoCo Barbie
Dan of Just Up the Pike has a howling send up of local sterotypes and communities. The easily offended should not click on the link. He also did an interview with County Executive Ike Leggett. Dan is no fan of our new Exec but concedes that he is a "nice guy."
