I'm surprised it took Amazon this long to exploit their own political book buying data. The Amazon maps go to where the power is -- state by state -- the Electoral College.
The Amazon maps indicate whether each state's residents purchased a larger number of red or blue books. Comparing my recent book network maps to the above pictured book volume map, seems to show that while the Left read a larger variety of books, in most states the Right buys greater quantities of a smaller set of books.
Some interesting questions remain...
- are book buyers influential with voters in their social network?
- how many voters does a typical political book reader reach/influence?
- are Amazon book buyers representative of the political book buying population?
Amazon clusters the political book sales data into 60 day slices. When you go back earlier in the year 2008, you see more blue or neutral shaded states. The most recent 60 day slice of 2008 [before and after the conventions] shows a blossoming of deep red. If polemics predict [no one knows for sure], and the election were today, then the latest Amazon political book data maps appear to indicate a President McCain in 2009.
Another nice feature that Amazon provides is to go back to 2004 and look at the political book buying patterns then. The most interesting change of patterns is between the map just before the 2004 election and the map immediately after the 2004 election.
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3 comments:
It may be that book buying is not the best indicator of votes. First of all, determining which are "red" and which are "blue" books is somewhat arbitrary. And it's possible that readers from one camp may be more likely to read books of the other camp to be informed about their "facts." At least 3 of the top handful of "red" books are about Obama. And some Obamites may read them to understand the criticisms.
It may be that not all book purchasing is along lines of political ideology, but it's certainly an interesting indicator.
Valdis, do you think that some of the books are being bought in bulk for distribution through other channels?
You know there's a payoff for authors to create bursts of purchasing for their works, which propels them (temporarily) to the top of lists, and their presence on the lists propels further book-buying by fast followers.
Valdis, do you think that some of the books are being bought in bulk for distribution through other channels?
You know there's a payoff for authors to create bursts of purchasing for their works, which propels them (temporarily) to the top of lists, and their presence on the lists propels further book-buying by fast followers.
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