What causes some memes to spread through the blogosphere and others to die on the blog? To me that is one of the key questions that must be resolved if blogging is going to have a serious impact in the marketplace of ideas. Unless we understand the key factors in the transmission of ideas through our chosen medium we can never be completely effective.
When I read criticisms of bloggers by people like John Dvorak I get an aching suspicion that they may be more right than I care to admit. Most blogs remain inconsequential when it comes to shaping opinion. The important topics that catch on and spread across blogs tend to be initiated by either the mainstream media or one of the top tier bloggers.
(Think I'm overstating the case? Name a subject that is currently posted on over 10 blogs that did not originate from these sources. With over 5,000 blogs listed in the Ecosystem alone that should be a simple task, shouldn't it?)
I have a completely unscientific theory about the way memes spread across the Web. I find that the transmission of memes is inversely proportional to the importance of the subject multiplied by the influence of mainstream media. (Tr (M) = I / Sig (M) * BM)
For example, a relatively insignificant pseudo-event (i.e., the Michael Jackson incident) has the ability to gain as much attention in the blogosphere as would an important story (e.g., casualties in Iraq). Without the mainstream media multiplier, though, the less important and trivial a meme is (such as those "Which _____ are you?" tests) the more likely it is to hit the tipping point and be posted everywhere.
I recently wrote about a topic that I thought would lead to outrage throughout the conservative wing of the blogosphere (tax-deductible contribution being used to finance ANSWER's anti-war protest) but instead it fizzled out within a matter of hours. On the other hand, the most widely read post I ever wrote was, ironically, a throwaway rant about how memes fail to catch on (The Perfect Post).
Of course it could be that I am simply a terrible judge of what is of interest to others. Maybe the ideas and topics that I feel strongly about are of little interest to other bloggers. While that may very well be the case, I still get a nagging sense that I am not the only one who feels this medium's potential is underutilized.
I'd like to hear from other bloggers about whether I am completely off base or if they agree that these are questions that need to be answered. What causes memes to spread? Can memes be resuscitated? What topics are more likely to catch on?
Any thoughts on this matter would be greatly appreciated.
1
I'm also fascinated by this topic, the quantitative dynamics of the Blogosphere, the influence of the largest bloggers, etc..
My post here:
http://acepilots.com/mt/archives/000320.html
It is interesting to note that, like you, some posts that I thought were real "solid hits" fizzled, while the one noted here attracted mucho attention (15 Trackbacks). Which suggests a tactical lesson for us small-to-medium bloggers --- our likeliest topic for a decent meme is the Blogosphere itself. Both you and I had some success with that topic, while many other subjects have languished.
posted on 11.25.2003 5:10 PM2
It's depressing to admit, but I think you're right. The fastest way to gain attention is by blogging on blogging.
Which leads me to wonder if a blogger can use that topic in order to gain an audience and influence for their more "substantial" posts.
posted on 11.25.2003 5:17 PM3
Although, trackbacks and comments are not always a good indicator of post acceptance. There have been many times where I have read an excellent post and found it such that there was nothing to add.
There are also times I choose not to link to an excellent article because I have already linked to many articles already that day - or because I got there by a link and don't want to link to what everyone else is linking to.
posted on 11.25.2003 5:36 PM