Sherlock Holmes asked Watson, “What stood out on the night of the murder?”
Watson replied that really nothing had stood out that night, casually commenting, “Why the dogs didn’t even bark.” - Aurther Conan Doyle

I didn’t know what to call this post. The religious world is a bit slow to catch up, bloggers being paid to cover an event isn’t new.
As more parachurch and church organizations want coverage they’ll turn to bloggers to get it for them. In what appears to be a first for religious groups online, bloggers were invited to attend, live blog, and report on a political rally in Nashville Sunday.

It is an opportunity to see how bloggers respond to staged events as opposed to unexpected events.

The 11 official bloggers were:

Quick Searches for Justice Sunday II

1. Google News archives today show 770 articles and press releases using the search term: Justice Sunday II.
2. Blog Search Engine TechnoratiSearch Term: Justice Sunday II - 6,356
   Search Term: Family Research Council Justice Sunday II - 1,274
   Search Term: Focus on the Family Justice Sunday - II 1,518

Looking at Bloggers Row

Technorati and Site Meter
Sunday night I queried the 12 blogs in Technorati and each blog’s hit counter when the blogger had one available. Blogging is perceived as a more open medium; which is why most bloggers have a tool on their side bar to allow readers to look at their traffic information.

It has been said the currency of blogs is links.

1. World Magazine blog: 487 inbound links
2. Evangelical Outpost - 1,459 inbound links
   Site Meter: N/A
3. Alarming News - 421 inbound links
4. Voluntary Conservative - 34 inbound links
   (Site Meter) Average visits per day: 1,041
5. Captains’s Quarters - 2,639 inbound links
   (Site Meter) Average visits per day: 32, 726
6. Jackson’s Junction - 285 inbound links
   (Site Meter)Average visits per day: 2,961
7. Red State Rant - 171 inbound links
   According to some members of the official bloggers row a blogger named Leon H was present from RedState.org Since I don’t see him on the official list, I’ll refrain from posting any Sunday stats.
8. BillHobbs.com - 808 inbound links
   (Site Meter) Average visits per day: 901
9. Nashville Files Technorati links into: 120 inbound links
   Hit counter: N/A
10. Yeah, Right, Whatever - 114 inbound links
    Hit counter: N/A
11. jaxn.org - 52 inbound links
    404 page not found Sunday
12. Reasoned Audacity 172 inbound links
    Hit counter: N/A

I didn’t do a search for other bloggers attending or posting. There were a couple.

Since Bloggers Row

I thought it would be interesting to see the following: posts done, links, hits, and comments. I looked at the blogs individually and in Technorati by URL.

I didn’t break down the Technorati hits by topic, so links could be Justice Sunday II or the cat. I took another look at available hit counters.
If there are errors, feel free to pop into the comments and provide the links and information and I’ll correct them.

1. World Magazine
   No posts.
   World search engine: search term
   Justice Sunday II: No posts
2. Evangelical Outpost:
   Joe Carter
   Manager of Internet Development and Information Technology at The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity.
   6 posts
   18 trackbacks recorded on the blog (12 blogs)
   Hit Counter: N/A
   Technorati: 18 posts in the past 7 days
   Comments: 85
3. Alarming News: Karol Sheinin is a political consultant.
   8 posts
   7 recorded trackbacks (3 blogs)
   Hit Counter:visits this week 7,286/average per day 1,041
   Technorati: 9 posts in the past 7 days
   Comments: 48
4. VOLuntarilyConservative: Robert Huddleson lists his occupation as law.
   4 posts
   Trackback: N/A
   Hit Counter: N/A
   Technorati: (currently borked - will update when available)
   Comments: 12
5. Captain’s Quarters: Ed Morrissey is a call centre manager
   4 posts
   Not all trackbacks available (sign in required) 9 listed
   Hit Counter: 228,324 visits the past 7 days/average per day 32, 618
   Comments: 26
6. Jackson’s Junction: Trey Jackson Video blogger?
   7 posts
   10 trackbacks recorded (7 blogs)
   Technorati: 8 links in the past five days
   Hit Counter: visits this week 11,201/average per day 1,600
   Comments: 13
7. Red State Rant: Lance McMurray ?
   11 posts
   1 trackback
   Technorati: 14 links in the last 2 days
   (172 inbound)
   Hit Counter: N/A
   Comments: 8
8. BillHobbs.com: Public relations and marketing
   9 posts
   no trackback
   Technorati: 7 posts in the last 6 days
   (817 inbound)
   Hit Counter: visits this week 6,252/average visits per day 893
   Comments: 9
9. Nashville Files: Blake Wylie ?
   4 posts
   no trackback
   Technorati: unavailabe, will update when available
   Hit Counter: visits this week 1,959/average per day 280
   Comments: 11
10. Yeah, Right, Whatever: Beth Woodfin, mother
    11 posts
    2 trackbacks recorded (2 blogs)
    Technorati: currently borked, will update when available
    Hit Counter: N/A
    Comments: 14
11. Jaxn.org:
    404 not found  
12. Reasoned Audacity: Charmaine Yoest is a part-time senior fellow and policy researcher at the Family Research Council
    13 posts
    20 trackbacks recorded (13 blogs)
    Technorati: 1 post in the last day
    Hit Counter: N/A
    Comments: 7

Conclusions

1. Site Meter, bravecounter, extreme tracker etc. remain iffy as reliable tracking tools and remain very generalized indicators

2. Tagging is over rated. For example, blogger #3 used several tags. You’d have to be really keen for information, a generalized look in a blog search engine brings up more than enough for the average reader

3. Blog platforms are far from standardized

4. Many of the trackbacks came from bloggers row, and many were friends and repeats

5. Links remain currency - the bloggers didn’t reach past the inhouse choir or their tribe as I might have expected

6. The bloggers gave the organizers what they requested, which was live blogging. Some accepted expense fees.

AIM, Accuracy in Media, looks at the ethics of payment.
Being blogs, there is commentary of course, that’s what can make a staged event a bit more interesting. Overall the topics Focus on the Family and The Family Research Council were hoping peope would address weren’t.

A comment was left at The Evangelical Outpost by a guy named Patrick on Sunday. He was responding to Septimus.

“Septimus says: But they are well meaning and — on the whole — on the side of the angels.”

And the road to Hell is paved with? ;-)”

Cross posted at connexions

Update: Well no. That’s changed. I took it down at connexions. Richard is ill, I had to get a professional in to code this so it wouldn’t look like a dog’s breakfast and the cut and paste into connexions WP I thought would be okay, isn’t.