The division of labor in the blogosphere

Tyler Cowen comes to the following conclusion after dinner with Glenn Reynolds:

Glenn is so successful because he understands the idea of blogs as portals. (This is my view, not Glenn’s own self-description.) Blogs that offer too much of the author, and the author alone, are vulnerable to other blogs that cream-skim them, and other blogs, thereby offering the superior product. The question is not who can write the best stuff, but who can collect the best stuff, and comment on it most effectively. Really smart people are not always used to these terms of competition, I might add. The future of blogging lies in the hands of those who recognize the intellectual and literary division of labor. (emphasis in original) The greater the number of blogs, the greater the importance of “portal blogs,” such as Glenn’s.

This has prompted a fair amount of angry reaction in the blogosphere. Will Baude summarizes the objections nicely:

Pardon, but an RSS feed can do that. The reason I don’t read Instapundit is that I don’t particularly agree with Glenn Reynolds about what’s wheat and what’s chaff…. Sure, there’s a place for aggregator blogs like Instapundit (or more critically How Appealling). But if you’re trying to make your way in the blogosphere, it’s better to offer an occasional portal to the truly obscure and a lot of original, sound, and hard-hitting analysis.

The problem with this debate is that it’s not an “either-or” situation. A while back I wrote that there were two types of blogs:

First, some blogs can act as focal points for information provision. Now, by definition, there can only be one or two focal points. Glenn Reynolds generally acts as one for bloggers. During concentrated crises — Josh Marshall in the case of Trent Lott’s downfall, or Kelley for Operation Iraqi Freedom — others can spring up. These blogs serve the useful purpose of collecting and distributing already available information to interested readers. In doing so, these individuals help to frame and propel debates of the day. They also reduce search costs for the rest of us…. Second, most bloggers provide value added in the form of criticism and commentary. We don’t generate new facts so much as put already existing facts into a larger framework. We then look at other people who do this and comment and critique their efforts. This is my comparative advantage, at least.

A glance at the Blogosphere Ecosystem suggests this division of labor is more stable than Cowen’s post suggests. Consider the top ten blogs:

1. Instapundit 2. Eschaton (Atrios) 3. Talking Points Memo 4. Daily Kos / Political State Report 5. The Truth Laid Bear 6. Andrew Sullivan 7. Little Green Footballs 8. CalPundit 9. USS Clueless 10. The Volokh Conspiracy

I’d characterize five of these blogs (Instapundit, Atrios, Daily Kos, N.Z. Bear, and LGF) as primarily portals or focal points. The other five (Marshall, Sullivan, Drum, Den Beste, and Volokh) are more commentary than portal. [C’mon, Atrios and Glenn offer commentary!–ed. Yes, but I’m using a simple dichotomy. Drudge would be an example of the perfect portal, but beyond him most blogs have a mix of links and commentary.] Given that by definition one would predict portal blogs to be clustered among the top ten, it looks like commentary blogs aren’t going anywhere. If you think about, this makes sense, and like most divisions of labor improves the productivity of both sides. Without commentary blogs, there would be less of a demand for the skills required to be a portal blog. Without portals, those specializing in commentary would face higher search costs in developing their topics and arguments. Baude is also correct that newcomers to the blogosphere will have to go the commentary route. For example, here’s a new blog that’s worth checking out, especially for Californians. I particularly like this post critiquing Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem.