The structural determinants of media contagion

Informal exchanges between friends, family and acquaintances play a crucial role in the dissemination of news and opinion. These casual interactions are embedded in a network of communication that spans our society, allowing information to spread from any one person to another via some set of intermediary ties. Weblogs have recently emerged as a part of our media ecology and incidentally engender this process of media contagion; because weblog authors are tied by social networks of readership, contagious media events happen frequently, and in a form that is immediately measurable. The generally accepted notion of media diffusion is that it occurs through two channels: externally, as applied by a constant force such as the mass media, and internally through socio-structural means. Sitting between our traditional notions of mass media and the public, weblogs problematize this classical theory of mass media influence. This thesis aims to elucidate the role of weblogs in media contagion through a sociological study of this community in two parts: First, I will address the issues of modeling the social structure of weblogs as observed through their readership network, and the various media events that occur therein.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Marlow, Cameron Alexander, 1977-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Walter Bender.

• Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/33883
• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/33883

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/33883