Fifteen Minutes of Fame: The Power of Blogs in the Lifecycle of Viral Political Information

• Nahon, Karine; Hemsley, Jeff; Walker, Shawn; and Hussain, Muzammil (2011) "Fifteen Minutes of Fame: The Power of Blogs in the Lifecycle of Viral Political Information," Policy & Internet: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 2. DOI: 10.2202/1944-2866.1108, Available at: http://www.psocommons.org/policyandinternet/vol3/iss1/art2

Abstract
This empirical study addresses dynamics of viral information in the blogosphere, presenting a new methodology which enables the capture of dynamism and the time-factor of information diffusion in networks. Data was gathered on nearly 10,000 blogs and 13,000 blog posts, linking to 65 of the top U.S. presidential election videos that became viral on the Internet between March 2007 and June 2009. The article argues that the blogosphere is not monolithic and illuminates the role of four important blog types: elite, top-political, top-general and tail blogs. It creates a map of the ‘life cycle’ of blogs posting links to viral information. It shows that elite and top-general blogs ignite the virality process, which means that they get the chance to frame messages and influence agenda setting while top-political and tail blogs act as followers in the process.