Blogs differ from other media in that authors are usually not remunerated and inscribe themselves in communities of similarly minded individuals. Bloggers value reciprocal attention, interaction with other bloggers and information from reading other blogs; they value being read but also writing...

Properties of blogging networks are derived from a model where bloggers devote attention to others, produce content for others, and exchange attention with content within their network of relations. The predictions from the model are tested with a novel dataset from LiveJournal, a major blogging...