netroots

[Benjamin Zimmer]

"Netroots", analogized from "grassroots", gained popularity among Deaniacs
in 2003-04, but the term is still going strong in the lefty blogosphere.
Recent cites refer to the camaign for DNC chair (one candidate, Simon
Rosenberg, is touting his "netroots" experience) and mobilization against
Bush's Social Security plan.  As always, Technorati is useful for tracking
blog usage: <http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?url=netroots>.


1993 "Reply to Cliff Figallo" in _bit.listserv.words-l_ 15 Jan., Too bad
there's no netroots organization that can demand more than keyboard
accountability from those who claim to be acting on behalf of the "greater
good" when they do things like this.

1995 _Socialism and Democracy_ Spring 151 (Proquest) New York based Paper
Tiger Television ... has pioneered work on progressive uses of the
electronic media through its two programs, "Staking a Claim in Cyberspace"
and "Netroots: Cultivating Digital Park."

2003 _Dean Nation_ (weblog) 10 Mar., The challenge is for all of us
Meetup.com enthusiasts and netroots fans of Dean to raise a million
dollars for Dean's candidacy by March 31st.
http://dean2004.blogspot.com/2003/03/take-million-dollar-meetup-challenge.html

2003 _Daily Kos_ (weblog) 1 Jul., The Dean campaign has shown the power of
the Netroots to raise money. ... It'll also help the grass- and netroots
choose candidates that are not afraid to be Democrats.
http://www.dailykos.net/archives/003234.html

2003 _CommonDreams.org_ 11 Aug., What we have in Dean is a man who can
articulate liberal positions intelligently, passionately, and
commandingly, and who has the grassroots/netroots support and an appeal to
diverse constituencies that will allow him to defeat George Bush.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0811-09.htm

2003 _Boston Globe_ 9 Oct. A41 (Nexis) "You have a team of consultants
completely at odds with what a real net-roots effort is all about,"
Moulitsas said.

2004 _Blog for America_ (weblog) 18 Oct., This surge of net roots support
persuaded the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to get behind
Ginny, and her contest is now one of the DCCC's top targeted races.
http://www.blogforamerica.com/archives/005355.html

2004 _East Bay Express_ 15 Dec. (Proquest) Mastery of the mechanisms of
netroots mobilization is a different thing from mastery of the methods.

2005 _Swing State Project_ (weblog) 18 Jan., A revolutionary website that
gives the netroots the tools necessary to protect the integrity of social
security.
http://www.swingstateproject.com/2005/01/there_is_no_cri_1.html

2005 _Salon.com_ 28 Jan., "What you get with me is a proven track record
of winning in red states and the proven history of working with grass
roots and 'net roots,'" Rosenberg said.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/01/28/dnc/


--Ben Zimmer