Blogs and the Economics of Reciprocal Attention

Properties of blogging networks are derived from a model where bloggers devote attention to others, produce content for others, and exchange attention with content within their network of relations. The predictions from the model are tested with a novel dataset from LiveJournal, a major blogging community. The activity of a blogger is found to be related to the size of, and level of aggregate reciprocation within that blogger's relational network. Bloggers who do not adhere to reciprocity norms are found to have less readers than their activity might otherwise have predicted.

Keywords: Blog, Community, Interaction, Internet, LiveJournal, Media, Network, Reciprocity, Social Network, Web 2.0

JEL Classification: D63, D85, H41, L17, L82, L86, Z13

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Gaudeul, Alexia and Mathieu, Laurence and Peroni, Chiara, Blogs and the Economics of Reciprocal Attention (October 21, 2009). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1291376 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1291376