Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platforms, is cre... more Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platforms, is creating a user-generated dynamic, complex information ecosystem. The flow of information across multiple platforms means that traditional media gatekeepers (newspapers and other ‘mainstream media’) become just one of many pathways by which we learn about and make sense of new information. This research note reports preliminary results of a study based on a dataset of more than 65 million tweets related to the Occupy Wall Street movement, coupled with searches of LexisNexis, to examine information about six events related to Occupy sites in Maine, New York City, Oakland, and the University of California Davis. The study seeks to understand the relationships among newspapers, blogs, and Twitter as users of each platform report and comment on these events. The preliminary results suggest that the platforms perform distinct but overlapping roles at different periods in the information diffusio...
2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2011
The debate about the role of political blogs in politics generally and its effect on democracy an... more The debate about the role of political blogs in politics generally and its effect on democracy and participation in particular has deepened since the 2008 U.S. presidential election. While some studies warn that the Internet may undermine deliberation, and replicate patterns of homophily and polarization among blogs with the same political inclination, other studies emphasize the potential of the Internet to strengthen cross-ideological discourse and participation. This paper suggests, using a hybrid theoretical framework which acknowledges homophily and the power law distribution among political blogs, and at the same time exhibits the use of the Internet also as a cross-participation platform and as strengthening participation. For that purpose, this paper looks at 83 videos that went viral during the 2008 election and examines patterns of behavior of the top 50 political blogs (conservative and liberal) in respect these videos over a period of two years.
This empirical study addresses dynamics of viral information in the blogosphere, presenting a new... more 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.
Proceedings of the 13th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research - dg.o '12, 2012
E-government initiatives have been stepping forward in governments of all levels around the world... more E-government initiatives have been stepping forward in governments of all levels around the world. One of the most important strategies that are being carried is that of providing citizens with a single entry point for services that involve different government entities. The Smart Cities and Service Integration project (hereafter, SmartCities) aims to establish a framework for smart city service integration
2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2012
Making a city "smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban p... more Making a city "smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban population growth and rapid urbanization. Yet little academic research has sparingly discussed the phenomenon. To close the gap in the literature about smart cities and in response to the increasing use of the concept, this paper proposes a framework to understand the concept of smart cities. Based on the exploration of a wide and extensive array of literature from various disciplinary areas we identify eight critical factors of smart city initiatives: management and organization, technology, governance, policy context, people and communities, economy, built infrastructure, and natural environment. These factors form the basis of an integrative framework that can be used to examine how local governments are envisioning smart city initiatives. The framework suggests directions and agendas for smart city research and outlines practical implications for government professionals.
Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platforms, is cre... more Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platforms, is creating a user-generated dynamic, complex information ecosystem. The flow of information across multiple platforms means that traditional media gatekeepers (newspapers and other 'mainstream media') become just one of many pathways by which we learn about and make sense of new information. This research note reports preliminary results of a study based on a dataset of more than 65 million tweets related to the Occupy ...
The Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics, 2015
This chapter discusses the role of politics in social media-the power interplays among actors on ... more This chapter discusses the role of politics in social media-the power interplays among actors on social media as they attempt to promote their interests and values. It argues that social media cannot exist without some kind of political involvement: where there is social media there is politics; neutrality is the exception rather than the norm in social media. Next, it discusses the different manifestations this involvement and suggests classifying the social media politics into politics of architecture (platforms and networks structure) and politics of dynamics (networks structure, information flows, and curated flows). Power is exercised in each dimension in three key modes: influencing decisions, setting the agenda, and shaping stakeholder preferences and norms. Social media are the collection of web-and mobile-based platforms where individuals and groups interact. They include blogs such as Wordpress, update streams such as Twitter, general social networks such as Facebook, image-sharing platforms such as Flickr, location platforms such as Swarm, social news forums such as Reddit, business networks such as LinkedIn, and curation platform such as Pinterest. Given its unique affordances and rules,
We live in a world where a tweet can be instantly retweeted and read by millions around the world... more We live in a world where a tweet can be instantly retweeted and read by millions around the world in minutes, where a video forwarded to friends can destroy a political career in hours, and where an unknown man or woman can become an international celebrity overnight. Virality: individuals create it, governments fear it, companies would die for it. So what is virality and how does it work? Why does one particular video get millions of views while hundreds of thousands of others get only a handful? In Going Viral, Nahon and Hemsley uncover the factors that make things go viral online. They analyze the characteristics of networks that shape virality, including the crucial role of gatekeepers who control the flow of information and connect networks to one another. They also explore the role of human attention, showing how phenomena like word of mouth, bandwagon effects, homophily and interest networks help to explain the patterns of individual behavior that make viral events. Drawing o...
The aim of this study is to understand the role of bloggers in driving viral information. More sp... more The aim of this study is to understand the role of bloggers in driving viral information. More specifically, we develop a new methodology that creates a map of the "life cycle" of blogs posting links to viral information. Our dataset focuses blogs linking to the most significant viral videos of the 2008 US presidential election. To do so, we gathered data on all blogs (n=9,765) and their posts (n=13,173) linking to 65 of the top US presidential election videos that went viral on the Internet during the period between March 2007 and June 2009. Among other things, our findings illuminate the importance of different types of blogs: elite, top-political, topgeneral and tail blogs. We also found that while elite and topgeneral blogs create political information, they drive and sustain the viral process, whereas top-political and tail blogs act as followers in the process.
This empirical study addresses dynamics of viral information in the blogosphere and aims to fi... more This empirical study addresses dynamics of viral information in the blogosphere and aims to fill gaps in the literature. In this study, we present a new methodology which enables us to capture the dynamism and the time-factor of information diffusion in networks. Moreover, we argue that the blogosphere is not monolithic and illuminate the role of four important blog types: elite, toppolitical, top-general and tail blogs. We also create a map of the ‗life cycle‘ of blogs posting links to viral information, specifically viral videos at the 2008 US presidential election. Finally, we show 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. To accomplish this, we gathered data on blogs (n=9,765) and their posts (n=13,173) linking to 65 of the top US presidential election videos that became viral on the Internet during the period between March 2007 and June 2009.
Abstract: Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platfor... more Abstract: Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platforms, is creating a user-generated dynamic, complex information ecosystem. The flow of information across multiple platforms means that traditional media gatekeepers (newspapers and other 'mainstream media') become just one of many pathways by which we learn about and make sense of new information.
Abstract Making a city" smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by th... more Abstract Making a city" smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban population growth and rapid urbanization. Yet little academic research has sparingly discussed the phenomenon. To close the gap in the literature about smart cities and in response to the increasing use of the concept, this paper proposes a framework to understand the concept of smart cities.
Proceedings of the 13th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research - dg.o '12, 2012
Making a city "smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban p... more Making a city "smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban population growth and rapid urbanization. Yet little academic research has sparingly discussed the phenomenon. To close the gap in the literature about smart cities and in response to the increasing use of the concept, this paper proposes a framework to understand the concept of smart cities. Based on the exploration of a wide and extensive array of literature from various disciplinary areas we identify eight critical factors of smart city initiatives: management and organization, technology, governance, policy context, people and communities, economy, built infrastructure, and natural environment. These factors form the basis of an integrative framework that can be used to examine how local governments are envisioning smart city initiatives. The framework suggests directions and agendas for smart city research and outlines practical implications for government professionals.
Abstract Social scientists utilizing the big datasets gathered from social media are faced with u... more Abstract Social scientists utilizing the big datasets gathered from social media are faced with unique technical, methodological, and ethical challenges that are often not foregrounded in academic literature. This work addresses these technical, methodological and ethical gaps by describing the evolving system used by the Social Media Lab at the University of Washington to collect cross platform data related to the Occupy movement (38+ million tweets, Meetup. com check-ins, and Facebook posts). Design considerations inform the ...
This paper discusses the benefits and problems inherent in biometric identification, first from a... more This paper discusses the benefits and problems inherent in biometric identification, first from a theoretical perspective, then with examples from the Israeli experience. The differences between civilian and security considerations are highlighted.
For more than a decade e-Commerce and e-Government applications have made major impacts in their ... more For more than a decade e-Commerce and e-Government applications have made major impacts in their respective sectors, private and public. Some time ago, we presented early insights from a comparative study of the two phenomena. This paper reports on more robust findings from an ongoing empirical investigation and deepens our understanding of similarities and differences between e-Commerce and e-Government. The findings show that despite major similarities the two phenomena follow quite separate and distinct trajectories.
In this article we identify four principal dimensions of religious fundamentalism as they interac... more In this article we identify four principal dimensions of religious fundamentalism as they interact with the Internet: hierarchy, patriarchy, discipline, and seclusion. We also develop the concept of cultured technology, and analyze the ways communities reshape a technology and make it a part of their culture, while at the same time changing their customary ways of life and unwritten laws to adapt to it. Later, we give examples for our theoretical framework through an empirical examination of ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Israel. Our empirical study is based on a data set of 686,192 users and 60,346 virtual communities. The results show the complexity of interactions between religious fundamentalism and the Internet, and invite further discussions of cultured technology as a means to understand how the Internet has been culturally constructed, modified, and adapted to the needs of fundamentalist communities and how they in turn have been affected by it.
This study examines the behavior of influential political blogs (conservative and liberal) in ref... more This study examines the behavior of influential political blogs (conservative and liberal) in reference to external viral content during March 2007 and June 2009. We analyze homophily and cross-ideological (heterophily) practices. We propose a multi-dimensional model that employs both qualitative and quantitative methods for examining homophily behaviors by looking at three dimensions: blog-to-blog, blog-to-video, blog post-to-video. Findings show that while homophily patterns prevail, some limited occurrences of cross-ideological practices exist. The cross-linking practices may include deliberative motives, but in essence they are not created for the purposes of discourse. Instead, these cross-linking practices strengthen previously held political stances of the users who create them and negatively portray and reframe content of alternative views. This represents homophily in the guise of cross-linking.
This paper develops and tests a theoretical model, which proposes to examine citie’s commitment t... more This paper develops and tests a theoretical model, which proposes to examine citie’s commitment to the concept of open government data (OGD) according to three typical levels. Level 1, Way of Life, indicates high commitment to OGD; Level 2, On the Fence, represents either a low or erratic commitment; Level 3, Lip Service, refers to either scarce or no commitment. This study shows that these types exhibit distinct behavior in four key indicators: (1) Rhythm, (2) Coverage, (3) Categorization, and (4) Feedback. This theoretical framework is examined using longitudinal mixed-method analysis of the OGD behavior of 16 US cities over a period of four years, using a corpus of municipal quantitative metadata and primary qualitative data. This methodology allows us to represent, for the first time, cities’ evolving OGD commitment, or “OGD heartbeat” .
Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platforms, is cre... more Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platforms, is creating a user-generated dynamic, complex information ecosystem. The flow of information across multiple platforms means that traditional media gatekeepers (newspapers and other ‘mainstream media’) become just one of many pathways by which we learn about and make sense of new information. This research note reports preliminary results of a study based on a dataset of more than 65 million tweets related to the Occupy Wall Street movement, coupled with searches of LexisNexis, to examine information about six events related to Occupy sites in Maine, New York City, Oakland, and the University of California Davis. The study seeks to understand the relationships among newspapers, blogs, and Twitter as users of each platform report and comment on these events. The preliminary results suggest that the platforms perform distinct but overlapping roles at different periods in the information diffusio...
2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2011
The debate about the role of political blogs in politics generally and its effect on democracy an... more The debate about the role of political blogs in politics generally and its effect on democracy and participation in particular has deepened since the 2008 U.S. presidential election. While some studies warn that the Internet may undermine deliberation, and replicate patterns of homophily and polarization among blogs with the same political inclination, other studies emphasize the potential of the Internet to strengthen cross-ideological discourse and participation. This paper suggests, using a hybrid theoretical framework which acknowledges homophily and the power law distribution among political blogs, and at the same time exhibits the use of the Internet also as a cross-participation platform and as strengthening participation. For that purpose, this paper looks at 83 videos that went viral during the 2008 election and examines patterns of behavior of the top 50 political blogs (conservative and liberal) in respect these videos over a period of two years.
This empirical study addresses dynamics of viral information in the blogosphere, presenting a new... more 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.
Proceedings of the 13th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research - dg.o '12, 2012
E-government initiatives have been stepping forward in governments of all levels around the world... more E-government initiatives have been stepping forward in governments of all levels around the world. One of the most important strategies that are being carried is that of providing citizens with a single entry point for services that involve different government entities. The Smart Cities and Service Integration project (hereafter, SmartCities) aims to establish a framework for smart city service integration
2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2012
Making a city "smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban p... more Making a city "smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban population growth and rapid urbanization. Yet little academic research has sparingly discussed the phenomenon. To close the gap in the literature about smart cities and in response to the increasing use of the concept, this paper proposes a framework to understand the concept of smart cities. Based on the exploration of a wide and extensive array of literature from various disciplinary areas we identify eight critical factors of smart city initiatives: management and organization, technology, governance, policy context, people and communities, economy, built infrastructure, and natural environment. These factors form the basis of an integrative framework that can be used to examine how local governments are envisioning smart city initiatives. The framework suggests directions and agendas for smart city research and outlines practical implications for government professionals.
Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platforms, is cre... more Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platforms, is creating a user-generated dynamic, complex information ecosystem. The flow of information across multiple platforms means that traditional media gatekeepers (newspapers and other 'mainstream media') become just one of many pathways by which we learn about and make sense of new information. This research note reports preliminary results of a study based on a dataset of more than 65 million tweets related to the Occupy ...
The Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics, 2015
This chapter discusses the role of politics in social media-the power interplays among actors on ... more This chapter discusses the role of politics in social media-the power interplays among actors on social media as they attempt to promote their interests and values. It argues that social media cannot exist without some kind of political involvement: where there is social media there is politics; neutrality is the exception rather than the norm in social media. Next, it discusses the different manifestations this involvement and suggests classifying the social media politics into politics of architecture (platforms and networks structure) and politics of dynamics (networks structure, information flows, and curated flows). Power is exercised in each dimension in three key modes: influencing decisions, setting the agenda, and shaping stakeholder preferences and norms. Social media are the collection of web-and mobile-based platforms where individuals and groups interact. They include blogs such as Wordpress, update streams such as Twitter, general social networks such as Facebook, image-sharing platforms such as Flickr, location platforms such as Swarm, social news forums such as Reddit, business networks such as LinkedIn, and curation platform such as Pinterest. Given its unique affordances and rules,
We live in a world where a tweet can be instantly retweeted and read by millions around the world... more We live in a world where a tweet can be instantly retweeted and read by millions around the world in minutes, where a video forwarded to friends can destroy a political career in hours, and where an unknown man or woman can become an international celebrity overnight. Virality: individuals create it, governments fear it, companies would die for it. So what is virality and how does it work? Why does one particular video get millions of views while hundreds of thousands of others get only a handful? In Going Viral, Nahon and Hemsley uncover the factors that make things go viral online. They analyze the characteristics of networks that shape virality, including the crucial role of gatekeepers who control the flow of information and connect networks to one another. They also explore the role of human attention, showing how phenomena like word of mouth, bandwagon effects, homophily and interest networks help to explain the patterns of individual behavior that make viral events. Drawing o...
The aim of this study is to understand the role of bloggers in driving viral information. More sp... more The aim of this study is to understand the role of bloggers in driving viral information. More specifically, we develop a new methodology that creates a map of the "life cycle" of blogs posting links to viral information. Our dataset focuses blogs linking to the most significant viral videos of the 2008 US presidential election. To do so, we gathered data on all blogs (n=9,765) and their posts (n=13,173) linking to 65 of the top US presidential election videos that went viral on the Internet during the period between March 2007 and June 2009. Among other things, our findings illuminate the importance of different types of blogs: elite, top-political, topgeneral and tail blogs. We also found that while elite and topgeneral blogs create political information, they drive and sustain the viral process, whereas top-political and tail blogs act as followers in the process.
This empirical study addresses dynamics of viral information in the blogosphere and aims to fi... more This empirical study addresses dynamics of viral information in the blogosphere and aims to fill gaps in the literature. In this study, we present a new methodology which enables us to capture the dynamism and the time-factor of information diffusion in networks. Moreover, we argue that the blogosphere is not monolithic and illuminate the role of four important blog types: elite, toppolitical, top-general and tail blogs. We also create a map of the ‗life cycle‘ of blogs posting links to viral information, specifically viral videos at the 2008 US presidential election. Finally, we show 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. To accomplish this, we gathered data on blogs (n=9,765) and their posts (n=13,173) linking to 65 of the top US presidential election videos that became viral on the Internet during the period between March 2007 and June 2009.
Abstract: Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platfor... more Abstract: Social media, as the set of tools typified by blogs and other social networking platforms, is creating a user-generated dynamic, complex information ecosystem. The flow of information across multiple platforms means that traditional media gatekeepers (newspapers and other 'mainstream media') become just one of many pathways by which we learn about and make sense of new information.
Abstract Making a city" smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by th... more Abstract Making a city" smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban population growth and rapid urbanization. Yet little academic research has sparingly discussed the phenomenon. To close the gap in the literature about smart cities and in response to the increasing use of the concept, this paper proposes a framework to understand the concept of smart cities.
Proceedings of the 13th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research - dg.o '12, 2012
Making a city "smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban p... more Making a city "smart" is emerging as a strategy to mitigate the problems generated by the urban population growth and rapid urbanization. Yet little academic research has sparingly discussed the phenomenon. To close the gap in the literature about smart cities and in response to the increasing use of the concept, this paper proposes a framework to understand the concept of smart cities. Based on the exploration of a wide and extensive array of literature from various disciplinary areas we identify eight critical factors of smart city initiatives: management and organization, technology, governance, policy context, people and communities, economy, built infrastructure, and natural environment. These factors form the basis of an integrative framework that can be used to examine how local governments are envisioning smart city initiatives. The framework suggests directions and agendas for smart city research and outlines practical implications for government professionals.
Abstract Social scientists utilizing the big datasets gathered from social media are faced with u... more Abstract Social scientists utilizing the big datasets gathered from social media are faced with unique technical, methodological, and ethical challenges that are often not foregrounded in academic literature. This work addresses these technical, methodological and ethical gaps by describing the evolving system used by the Social Media Lab at the University of Washington to collect cross platform data related to the Occupy movement (38+ million tweets, Meetup. com check-ins, and Facebook posts). Design considerations inform the ...
This paper discusses the benefits and problems inherent in biometric identification, first from a... more This paper discusses the benefits and problems inherent in biometric identification, first from a theoretical perspective, then with examples from the Israeli experience. The differences between civilian and security considerations are highlighted.
For more than a decade e-Commerce and e-Government applications have made major impacts in their ... more For more than a decade e-Commerce and e-Government applications have made major impacts in their respective sectors, private and public. Some time ago, we presented early insights from a comparative study of the two phenomena. This paper reports on more robust findings from an ongoing empirical investigation and deepens our understanding of similarities and differences between e-Commerce and e-Government. The findings show that despite major similarities the two phenomena follow quite separate and distinct trajectories.
In this article we identify four principal dimensions of religious fundamentalism as they interac... more In this article we identify four principal dimensions of religious fundamentalism as they interact with the Internet: hierarchy, patriarchy, discipline, and seclusion. We also develop the concept of cultured technology, and analyze the ways communities reshape a technology and make it a part of their culture, while at the same time changing their customary ways of life and unwritten laws to adapt to it. Later, we give examples for our theoretical framework through an empirical examination of ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Israel. Our empirical study is based on a data set of 686,192 users and 60,346 virtual communities. The results show the complexity of interactions between religious fundamentalism and the Internet, and invite further discussions of cultured technology as a means to understand how the Internet has been culturally constructed, modified, and adapted to the needs of fundamentalist communities and how they in turn have been affected by it.
This study examines the behavior of influential political blogs (conservative and liberal) in ref... more This study examines the behavior of influential political blogs (conservative and liberal) in reference to external viral content during March 2007 and June 2009. We analyze homophily and cross-ideological (heterophily) practices. We propose a multi-dimensional model that employs both qualitative and quantitative methods for examining homophily behaviors by looking at three dimensions: blog-to-blog, blog-to-video, blog post-to-video. Findings show that while homophily patterns prevail, some limited occurrences of cross-ideological practices exist. The cross-linking practices may include deliberative motives, but in essence they are not created for the purposes of discourse. Instead, these cross-linking practices strengthen previously held political stances of the users who create them and negatively portray and reframe content of alternative views. This represents homophily in the guise of cross-linking.
This paper develops and tests a theoretical model, which proposes to examine citie’s commitment t... more This paper develops and tests a theoretical model, which proposes to examine citie’s commitment to the concept of open government data (OGD) according to three typical levels. Level 1, Way of Life, indicates high commitment to OGD; Level 2, On the Fence, represents either a low or erratic commitment; Level 3, Lip Service, refers to either scarce or no commitment. This study shows that these types exhibit distinct behavior in four key indicators: (1) Rhythm, (2) Coverage, (3) Categorization, and (4) Feedback. This theoretical framework is examined using longitudinal mixed-method analysis of the OGD behavior of 16 US cities over a period of four years, using a corpus of municipal quantitative metadata and primary qualitative data. This methodology allows us to represent, for the first time, cities’ evolving OGD commitment, or “OGD heartbeat” .
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Papers by Karine Nahon
information diffusion in networks. Moreover, we argue that the blogosphere is not monolithic and illuminate the role of four important blog types: elite, toppolitical, top-general and tail blogs. We also create a map of the ‗life cycle‘ of
blogs posting links to viral information, specifically viral videos at the 2008 US presidential election. Finally, we show 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. To accomplish this, we gathered data on blogs (n=9,765) and their posts (n=13,173) linking to 65 of the top US presidential election videos that became
viral on the Internet during the period between March 2007 and June 2009.
information diffusion in networks. Moreover, we argue that the blogosphere is not monolithic and illuminate the role of four important blog types: elite, toppolitical, top-general and tail blogs. We also create a map of the ‗life cycle‘ of
blogs posting links to viral information, specifically viral videos at the 2008 US presidential election. Finally, we show 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. To accomplish this, we gathered data on blogs (n=9,765) and their posts (n=13,173) linking to 65 of the top US presidential election videos that became
viral on the Internet during the period between March 2007 and June 2009.