Blog links as pipelines to buzz elsewhere: the case of New York theater blogs

摘要

The concept of buzz is both new and heavily contested. One of the strongest debates about buzz is the possibility of `virtual buzz' or buzz that takes place online. At the heart of this debate is the importance of real-time, face-to-face contact. To investigate virtual buzz we present a study of a network of weblogs, or blogs, which share a topical focus on the New York City theater scene. Using social network analysis we find that these blogs exhibit a dense network of interlinkages between each other, with no dominant blog controlling the discourse. We believe this to be indicative of a buzz-like environment. We conclude by discussing the advantages that the study of blogs has for the field of economic geography.