What Future for the EU Blogosphere?

When I’m not saying stupid things publicly in blogs about the European Union, I am a postgraduate student of European and International Studies at the University of Trento in Italy. My particular area of research is European identity and nationalism, and I’m currently drowning in books and articles in preparation for the June exams. I’m reading a lot about community building and group dynamics, and in the case of the EU blogosphere I think some of this research might help us understand what the future could have in store for us.

I’ve grouped my thoughts under headings taken from a list of the sources of group identity, drawn largely from Thomas Pedersen’s 2008 book “When Culture becomes Politics.” Pedersen has carried out a much more thorough literature review than me (although his original focus was on nationalism, not internet communities), so I consider this a good place to start when looking at the sources of blogosphere identity. Be warned, though: I have adapted Pedersen’s summary fairly liberally to fit my own thoughts, and any errors are entirely my own.

The general gist of my argument is that a blogosphere works best and produces the most interesting results when it is also a genuine community of bloggers. Right now is a critical point, because the blogosphere is fairly small, and fostering networks between bloggers and a shared sense of community (even if we have different political goals) is something we should be working towards.

So, how exactly do we go about building a community?

1) External Demarcation

This is also known as in-group/out-group demarcation. A person defines their identity by looking at what they are not. This happened to me when I was working in Northern Ireland – everybody around me defined me as British, and it was only at that point that I began to actually think of myself as British.

In the context of the EU blogosphere, it would be easy to draw this line of demarcation between pro-EU bloggers and anti-EU bloggers. I’m sure this would be a mistake. Debate about the EU is most valuable when it is objective instead of tribal. If you attach a sense of identity to a critical position, then it becomes much harder to let go of that position should it turn out to be flawed. The harder it becomes to admit that you have made a mistake, the poorer the debate in general.

There is no one solution to this. But it helps to realise that external demarcation does not have to be hostile and that the “out-group” does not have to be defined negatively. Demarcation could, for example, be made between those people that blog about the EU (including both “europhiles” and “eurosceptics”), and those people that don’t.

Well, doesn’t that sounds lovely? A nice, happy blogosphere, with no disagreements or arguments? But this, too, would be an absolute disaster. Heated debate is exactly what generates results and it is how we find answers to problems. It’s a juggling act, then: to avoid tribalism but to encourage arguments.

So what are the practical implications of this? Possibly that we should do our best to try and avoid building two seperate blogospheres: one pro-EU and one anti-EU. We should communicate with other bloggers as much as possible and do our best to avoid stereotyping those with different political opinions about the EU. Comment on blogs of all political stripes. Maintain a sort of informal “code of conduct” when you speak to other people, and try to hold other people to it as well.

2) Trust

Trust is an important part of any group identity. It is fundamentally about being able to predict how an individual will respond to your actions. Again, a “code of conduct” for EU bloggers would help here. The EU blogosphere is small right now, so this is the time when norms of behaviour are being established. This “code of conduct” doesn’t have to be a formal document (although a draft of suggestions might be helpful) because it just basic common sense. Behave towards other bloggers as you would behave towards anyone else in the “real world” – politely, with respect and without trying to cause offence. The golden rule: “Do unto others,” and all that.

The most important thing is to see that a certain minimum level of behaviour is observed by everyone, across the political spectrum. If you see someone hurling abuse, then try to check them – even if they are supporting your position and abusing an opponent. If they cannot be stopped, then ignore them. “Don’t feed the troll,” as they say in internet land.

I recently attended a lecture by Professor Frans van Winden of the University of Amsterdam. He and his colleagues are conducting interesting research into the nature of “trust” - including research into the psychological and physiological mechanisms that encourage trust during social interactions. His research includes looking at the effects of oxytocin, a hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter, on levels of trust between individuals. Crudely put, the higher the level of oxytocin, the greater the trust between individuals. Rather amazingly, studies have shown that oxytocin applied as a nasal spray can actually increase the level of trust felt between individuals [Kosfeld et al. 2005; Zak et al. 2007].

I’m not suggesting we all use oxytocin nasal spray when we blog. Oxytocin is released naturally during interactions between individuals. So all I’m suggesting is that we interact more to build up higher levels of trust. Van Winden also explained that oxytocin is released in greater quantities when you can actually see that you are interacting with a human. In other words, levels of trust can be built up when interacting with someone through a computer, but they are built up much faster when you see a human face and when you hear a human voice.

This is perhaps a reason to experiment more with our medium. Webcasts and podcasts are two ways to make EU blogging seem more human. I hope that both of these will become more popular as the blogosphere develops, because I’m sure that these would help build a community.

3) Loyalty

It is sometimes difficult to determine exactly what is a source of group identity and what is an effect of group identity. Group loyalty is one of those grey areas that lies somewhere in between source and effect.

What is clear, however, is that it’s intimately bound up with questions of trust. In general, trust is about how the group interacts with the individual, and loyalty is about how the individual interacts with the group. It might seem difficult to be “loyal” to someone you’re arguing with, but again, follow you can be loyal by following a personal “code of conduct” that moderates how you behave.

4) Origin

This is a tricky one for EU bloggers. Origin most often means a shared sense of ethnic, cultural or national origin. On the one hand, most of us all share the same origin: Europe. On the other hand, not all of us do. There are several bloggers writing about the EU from the US, for example, and potentially many more from further afield. It would be completely wrong to exclude them.

Furthermore, not all of us agree that “Europe” really exists in any sort of shared ethnic, cultural or national sense. It is better, then, not to focus too much on a shared sense of origin. Perhaps a shared “destination” is a better source of identification than a shared origin. We are all seeking better, more informed and more interesting debate about the EU.

5) Identification

I interpret this to be identification in the sense that the individual explicitly identifies themselves with a certain group. In other words, telling anybody that asks: I am an EU blogger. Social constructivists would see this as the perfect example of a constructed reality. If enough people announce that they belong to a group (such as a blogosphere), then they can make it a reality.

In the context of EU blogging, this could possibly take the form of banners announcing that you are part of an EU blogosphere, or setting up a web-ring of EU blogs. Many of us already have blogrolls, but some sort of cross-political web-ring might help people navigate between the various blogs with greater ease. Alternatively, it could literally just take the form of telling people who ask: I am an EU blogger.

6) Rights

This one is difficult to apply to an EU blogging context. Essentially, it is the idea that individuals will identify with a group (especially a political entity) if it confers upon them certain rights that they otherwise would not have.

In this respect, it might not be a bad idea to draft some sort of “code of conduct” that EU bloggers can agree on. It would essentially be a set of ground rules moderating behaviour, keeping things from becoming personal. Bloggers would agree to moderate not only their own posts, but also the comments made on their blogs, according to the rules they have signed up to.

It would be a great idea. But I can’t see it happening. A blogosphere is perhaps too chaotic to adopt an official set of ground rules. Better to keep things based on an unofficial “common sense” approach. If there was support for a written set of voluntary ground rules, then I would fully support it. It could be a condition of membership of an EU blogosphere web-ring.

But I doubt such a thing is possible without enough support.

7) Performance

Increased performance is definitely something that can help to build the EU blogosphere. Performance is achieved through highly visible and successful individual and group efforts. To put it differently: people want to be involved with something successful.

The EU blogosphere has already got an impressive record when it comes to performance. These last few weeks have seen Jon Worth speaking on Radio 5 and J Clive-Matthews (aka Nosemonkey) on BBC 4. Here at the TH!NK ABOUT IT project, bloggers have been interviewing politicians and experimenting with the format of blogging to produce all sorts of videos and media projects.

In terms of building an EU blogosphere, the more group projects that take place between bloggers, the better. Individual efforts are fantastic, but to build a community takes co-operation between individuals.

Get in touch with those bloggers that share similar interests with you. See if you can work with them on their various projects, and invite them to take part in yours. If you’re researching a certain topic, then try to share the work with someone interested in the same thing. Blogging is naturally an individual effort, but it is possible to work together and achieve results. It just takes a bit of initiative.
Deliberation

This is the heart of the EU blogosphere. It is ultimately only through increased contact and communication with others that we foster a true sense of community. Deliberation takes place when we comment on other blogs and and when we write posts about what we find on other blogs.

Deliberation is taking place every day in our blogosphere. The important thing for us now is to decide what form that deliberation will take in the future. If the deliberation grows aggressive and abusive, then not only will it make the blogosphere a less attractive place for newcomers, but it will increase a sense of tribalism and restrict genuine debate.

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