There have been a few Meta discussions on Bluesky Social:

Jess Piper ‪@piperformissouri.bsky.social‬
I’ve been organizing in rural areas since the first Trump administration. Rural Dems can make the difference in races at the top of the ticket.

Republicans have all of the electorate they’re ever going to have. Organize to turn out 5% to 10% more Dems in rural spaces. Watch what happens…
November 29, 2024 at 7:46 AM

Jess Piper (D) [2023 file photo].

I replied:

Michael Bersin ‪@michaelbersin.bsky.social‬
When corporate media bought out local newspapers they cut the costs that provided local content. The irony of a news organization cutting back content shouldn’t escape us. Across the nation there’s been a massive reduction in the local paper capitol press covering the state legislature.
November 29, 2024 at 8:48 AM

Michael Bersin ‪@michaelbersin.bsky.social‬
As a result, there’s no local accountability for what the local legislator does in the legislative session. At best the now skeletal local paper prints a weekly self-serving propaganda piece authored by the right wing nut leadership under the legislator’s name.
November 29, 2024 at 8:51 AM

Michael Bersin ‪@michaelbersin.bsky.social‬
This self-replicating echo chamber doesn’t serve anyone locally. When “You did what?” is removed from the constituent conversation all we’re left with is legislative dogma which only serves the powerful few. The ones, who as one candidate put it, “strip our communities for parts.”
November 29, 2024 at 8:55 AM

Apparently, nature does not abhor a vacuum.

Show Me Progress LLC was founded in August 2007 in association with the Fifty State Blog Project. The blog operated on the Soapblox platform from 2007 to October 2015 with over 10,500 posts in that period.

We cover government and politics in Missouri and the region.

From August 1, 2007 to October 1, 2015 we had 493,874 users, 884,497 sessions, and 1,737,838 page views. Not bad, eh, for an enterprise held together with spit, baling wire and duct tape? That was on the Soapblox platform.

Our current stats on WordPress, since 2015: Views 964,656; Visitors 667,304; Posts 16,747; Comments 12,583 [The posts and comments include those in the Soapblox era which were migrated over with the assistance of Belarus software engineers (we’re not joking – that’s what actually happened).]

As far as we can tell, there aren’t many, if any, survivors from the Fifty State Blog Project era, other than us.

We’re a “Z-list” blog. Our term for our relative place in progressive Blogtopia (yes, Skippy coined the phrase!).

Support in the information landscape for non-corporate progressive outlets is a continuing discussion, especially compared to the “wingnut welfare” on the right. The point being, there is none.

There are “A-list” progressive blogs with substantial readership and great reputations. Balloon Juice; Crooks and Liars; Digby; First Draft; Lawyers, Guns & Money; No More Mister Nice Blog; and The Great Orange Satan, just to name a few.

The thing is, there’s no centralized control nor coordinated messaging. These and many other blogs are self-supporting sources of solid and vetted information. There are no billionaires throwing cash their way. That should tell you something.

A discussion started yesterday on Bluesky:

Pam Spaulding ‪@pamspaulding.bsky.social‬
Back in the early 2000s, you know, when OG bloggers / citizen journalists were trailblazing, that’s when the left could have invested in alt media. Regardless of how popular, influential & necessary we were told our blogs were, there was no investment. So they fell 20 years behind the right. [….]
November 28, 2024 at 6:46 PM

Pam Spaulding ‪@pamspaulding.bsky.social‬
And then OG bloggers saw the right developing its network. Back during early Netroots Nations, the right held a companion conference (RightOnline?). I was invited to one by a conservative colleague (remember, pre-MAGA), many of them were supported — and later became part of the current ecosystem.
November 28, 2024 at 7:13 PM

Pam Spaulding ‪@pamspaulding.bsky.social‬
Playing catch up is a lot harder than visionary planning long-term. They missed the boat in the early 2000s to get a foothold. Obviously it can be done but as you said, the landscape is more challenging now. It was wide open back in the day.
November 28, 2024 at 8:56 PM

There we are.

Read and support your local progressive newsblog. The Democracy you save may be your own.