Tracking Information Epidemics in Blogspace
Web Intelligence, Compiegne, France, (September 2005)Abstract
Beyond serving as online diaries, weblogs have evolved into a complex social structure, one which is in some ways ideal for the study of the propagation of information. As weblog authors discover and republish information, we are able to use the existing link structure of blogspace to track its flow. Where the path by which it spreads is ambiguous, we utilize a novel inference scheme that takes advantage of data describing historical, repeating patterns of "infection." Our paper describes this technique as well as a visualization system that allows for the graphical tracking of information flow.
