Blogs: spinning a web of virality

Authors:
Karine Nahon;Jeff Hemsley;Shawn Walker;Muzammil Hussain
Affiliations:
University of Washington;University of Washington;University of Washington;University of Washington
Venue:
Proceedings of the 2011 iConference
Year:
2011

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to understand the role of bloggers in driving viral information. More specifically, we develop a new methodology that creates a map of the 'life cycle' of blogs posting links to viral information. Our dataset focuses blogs linking to the most significant viral videos of the 2008 US presidential election. To do so, we gathered data on all blogs (n=9,765) and their posts (n=13,173) linking to 65 of the top US presidential election videos that went viral on the Internet during the period between March 2007 and June 2009. Among other things, our findings illuminate the importance of different types of blogs: elite, top-political, top-general and tail blogs. We also found that while elite and top-general blogs create political information, they drive and sustain the viral process, whereas top-political and tail blogs act as followers in the process.