Information flows and social capital in weblogs: a case study in the Brazilian blogosphere

ABSTRACT

Blogs are tools for publishing information that have become very popular due to the way they facilitate the process of publishing on the Internet. Due to their popularity, blogs influence how information flows in cyberspace. This paper deals with the relations between bloggers' perceived social capital and motivations with the information they choose to publish. Based on a case study of a network of 48 weblogs, 32 interviews and 988 analyzed memes, we show how, for the studied case, information flow is influenced by bloggers' motivations and perceptions.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.4 SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
      Subjects: Sociology

General Terms:
Human Factors

Keywords:
information flows, meme, social capital, social networks, weblogs