What is a Mainstream blog?

The division between mainstream and independent blogs is ambiguous. However, mainstream blogs tend to have the following features:

- Put out by large corporations (like Fox News or CNN blogs) that often branch out into more capital-heavy forms of media, such as television
- Explicitly backed by corporate advertising
- Have their own website (unlike this blog)
- Produced by a group of people, usually as employment (unlike those who blog just for fun)
- Read by more people than independent blogs, because the information is seen as more credible and those people are used to these corporations in other media formats

The factual information in these blogs is usually more credible, but the opinions, biases, and analyses may be skewed differently.

With our increasingly fast journalistic practices today, the line between regular news stories and blogs is also unclear at times. However, blogs tend to have comments and a gennerally greater sense of interactivity between the blogger(s) and the blog readers.

What makes an Independent Blog?

There are a few factors that go into these Blogs being categorized as Independent. One of the main ones is their ownership. For a truly Independent Blog, it is not owned or sponsored by anyone. However, the bulk of these blogs do not get viewed regularly, and so we are discounting these from our research. The kind of Independent Blog we are focusing on is not always related to their cause or opinions, but rather to who owns and operates them.
For example, let's look at a Blog that supports electing Mitt Romney in the 08 Elections. The Blog, titled CoMITTed to Romney, is owned by a 33 year old self described "wife, mother, and business owner of the technology solutions company BlodgetTech" (Source). This Blog is privately owned and operated by Ann Marie Curling, and is posted on by a small group of bloggers. There is no major corporate ownership or sponsorship that is present, and the site is hosted by Blodgetech, a Blog Tech company.
This Blog is the perfect example of an Independent Blog. It's views are controlled by the few Bloggers who post, and by the owner, an average person.

Independent Blogs are not defined by the views, but by the ownership. However, the viewpoints and opinions of Independent Blogs seem to be different from the Mainstream Blogs.

Welcome to The MC Symposium Blog!

For the symposium, we are studying the differences and similarities between Mainstream and Independent Blogs. On this page, you will find different comparisons, interpretations, and other writings involving the Blogs we have studied. Feel free to post comments on any of the posts, as well as to read through our analysis. Thanks!