The Power and Politics of Blogs

The rise of bloggers raises the vexing question of why blogs have any influence at all, given their relatively low readership and lack of central organization. We argue that to answer this question we need to focus on two key factors—the unequal distribution of readers across weblogs, and the relati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Public choice 2008-01, Vol.134 (1/2), p.15-30
Main Authors: Farrell, Henry, Drezner, Daniel W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blogs
Coordinate systems
Economics
Economics and Finance
Focal points
Hyperlinks
Influence
Information and communication technologies
Internet
Journalism
Political Communication
Political debate
Political influence
Political Science
Politics
Power
Power laws
Public choice
Public Finance
Skewed distribution
Social impact
Studies
U.S.A
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Summary:The rise of bloggers raises the vexing question of why blogs have any influence at all, given their relatively low readership and lack of central organization. We argue that to answer this question we need to focus on two key factors—the unequal distribution of readers across weblogs, and the relatively high readership of blogs among journalists and other political elites. The unequal distribution of readership, combined with internal norms and linking practices allows interesting news and opinions to rise to the "top" of the blogosphere, and thus to the attention of elite actors, whose understanding of politics may be changed by frames adopted from the blogosphere.
ISSN:0048-5829
1573-7101
DOI:10.1007/s11127-007-9198-1