In his book, Richard Davis analyzes the role that blogs are playing in American politics. His central argument is that blogs are impacting some aspects of American politics but nothing like the hype. Their influence, for the author, comes through a transactional relationship with agenda seekers such as politicians and organized groups. Traditional political players have adapted to the blogosphere, while bloggers have themselves moderated their practices to facilitate their relationship with political players. This take on the “normalization” hypothesis (Brian Winston, Media Technology, and Society, 1998; Michael Margolis and David Resnick, Politics as Usual, 2000) reinforces recent empirical research about political blogs (Mathew Hindman, The Myth of Digital Democracy, 2009).

In Chapter 1, Davis outlines his transactional account of agenda setting, noting that bloggers straddle different roles. First, bloggers do not have to rely on the media to communicate messages because they have their own audience. Second, they break traditional media norms by strongly advocating particular positions. However, Davis argues, blogs have “a confined sphere of influence” that must be expanded; otherwise “public officials may dismiss the blogosphere as mere ranting by fringe groups.” This requires them to “engage with other players—journalists, agenda seekers, and the audience—in the transactions that set broader agendas than those of the blogosphere's” (p. 13).

Chapter 2 draws together a range of familiar examples to provide an overview of the relationship between blogs and politics. This would be of particular interest to students who are new to the issue, and also helps to frame the empirical analysis that follows.

Chapter 3 analyzes the bloggers themselves. Davis makes an important distinction between what he characterizes as “common bloggers” (the majority of blogs, with minimal audience and influence) and “influential bloggers.” The book focuses on the latter because this is where the “locus of power” currently lies in the political blogosphere. However, Davis notes that the lack of attention paid to “common blogs” is “disturbing” (p. 39) because they “reflect the democratic elements of the blogosphere touted by pundits and journalists” (p. 35). Given the preponderant amount of research on influential bloggers, Typing Politics would have been strengthened if common bloggers had received detailed attention. The remainder of the chapter outlines the demographic characteristics of influential bloggers, draws a distinction between the liberal and conservative blogospheres, and describes some of the most prominent blogs on both sides.

Chapter 4 reports the findings of a content analysis conducted on seven influential blogs. While the findings are informative and helpful, they are, as Davis acknowledges, limited because of the narrow focus and short time frame: 2,951 messages coded over one month. The failure to analyze comments is disappointing given their widely perceived importance as a potential discursive space. The content analysis could also have been extended to cover subsequent topics, such as partisanship and the frequency of calls for mobilization.

Chapter 5 reinforces Davis's argument that bloggers are becoming mainstream players, showing how agenda seekers attempt to influence the blogosphere by making them paid consultants and giving them privileged access. He also outlines in more detail the pressure on bloggers to conform. However, the claim that “acceptance of bloggers by the larger political world requires adherence to standards of civility” (p. 99) is not sufficiently supported (p. 131). Indeed, in the British context, the most famous and arguably influential political blog, http://www.OrderOrder.com, revels in not adhering to such standards.

Chapter 6 usefully outlines debates about how blogs impact traditional media, and particularly the nature of journalism. It argues that blogs have drawn into question how to define what a journalist is and does, and the professional standards to which they adhere. It suggests that the nature of blogging, such as its speed and lower threshold to publication, creates pressures on traditional media to adapt. Moreover, blogs challenge the media's watchdog role, while also applying a much stronger lens to their own behavior and output. Davis argues that journalism has also impacted blogging, including pressures to establish standards, linked to commercialization, before arguing powerfully that a symbiotic relationship is developing between bloggers and journalists. To further substantiate the analysis, he surveyed (traditional media) journalists about their readership and use of blogs, and compared the blog content with the content of four national newspaper front pages (though this is not necessarily a direct comparison). Chapter 7 surveys blog readers, drawing a distinction between active, regular, and occasional readers.

The book contains much of value but also has two principal weaknesses. First, it offers no real theoretical context. The empirical analysis and interpretation of findings are grounded in the hype that surrounds blogs. It is thus unsurprising that findings are interpreted rather negatively, and, at times, somewhat speculatively. If the benchmark is whether or not blogs are “revolutionary” (pp. 186–8), then they are unlikely to achieve this end. The danger is that this framing influences what research questions get asked (without any real justification) and which parts of the blogosphere are subjected to empirical analysis (the “influentials”). The book would have been strengthened by a broader approach that included “common” blog content and comment analysis. It might also have led Davis to be unduly harsh when interpreting the significance of some results. For example, he states: “Only 11% of bloggers in one survey said that the primary topic of their blogs is politics or political issues” (p. 7). It is unclear on what basis this was deemed to be a surprisingly low finding, but it struck this reader as surprisingly high. As David Edgerton (The Shock of the Old, 2006, p.ix) contended: “too often the agenda for discussing the past, present and future of technology is set by the promoters of new technologies.” Davis appears to have fallen into this trap.

Second, the book makes very little attempt to compare the findings from the American political blogosphere with blogging in other countries, and where it does, it refers to newspapers rather than the academic literature (p. 97). Moreover, the research design cannot capture the influence (if any) of non-US blogs on American politics. There are examples where US blogs have influenced British political agendas (e.g., criticism of the UK's National Health Service in debates about US health-care reform).

In spite of these limitations, Davis has gathered together some interesting empirical data that adds to our growing understanding of political blogging in the United States.