Monday Research Seminar Series 

April 7, Dina Mayzlin (Yale University)

Noon, Hamburg Hall, Room 1502

Link to Success: How Blogs Build an Audience by Promoting Rivals Predictions

According to a recent survey, 57 million adults read web logs (blogs).  The extent of blogs’ popularity is surprising given the multitude of sites, the heterogeneity in their quality, and the lack of brand equity.  We suggest that linking enables a system of mutual monitoring and hence is an important reason behind blogs’ success.  We present a model where we show that linking to potential rivals can be rational.  By linking a blog credibly signals its ability to find information in other sites, which may outweigh the risk of promoting a rival.  Finally, we provide some empirical evidence that is consistent with our theoretical.