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of-mouth on the Internet spreads by information on
weblogs. Thus some weblog groups can be regarded
as buzz networks.
There are some famous and popular weblogs
which authors are celebrities. They are linked with
enormous other weblogs and some topics on their
entries have strong influences on the Internet. It
seems that celebrity's weblogs can be regarded as
social hubs on buzz network. On the other hand,
there are various professional weblogs which
authors are specialists in each area. Such weblogs
also have some trustful influence on many people in
each specific area. They can be also regarded as
expert hubs on buzz network. Thus, the weblog has
the characteristic as the hubs on the buzz network
now.
Obtaining some advertising effectiveness by
supporting authors to take up a specific topic in their
weblogs is practiced at Gawker as a new advertising
strategy. Moreover, some researches consider the
relation between the author and the readers by
analyzing the comments on weblogs, and try to use
the contribution for marketing (Glance et al., 2005).
4.2 Buzz-Nodes and Buzz-Hubs
When buzz networks are formed in weblog
communities, it is necessary to define the node and
the link. Each entry of a weblog is used for criteria
in most researches on weblogs. But in our research,
we have to consider categories of weblogs because
entries in each category share a specific topic and
the characteristics of each category define the
clusters. Then we define a set of entries in a category
as a ‘Buzz-Node’.
A weblog has some connections with each other.
Hyperlinks are used to connect with other web sites
or entries on other weblogs. Trackbacks,
characteristic feature of weblog, show that an entry
is referred by an entry of another weblog. Several
entries have some comments from readers. Some of
the readers who write comments have their own
weblogs. So some comments on the weblogs can be
regarded as a link from the commentator's weblogs.
Thus we consider these three connections as links on
buzz network.
A weblog consists of some buzz-nodes and has
some links to other buzz-nodes. Each buzz-node has
a specific characteristic (keyword) that is regarded
as a characteristic of a cluster on the buzz network.
Then we can consider such network structure as the
buzz network. In a word, a weblog has some buzz-
nodes and each buzz-node has a specific keyword
and buzz-nodes are linked with each other (See
Figure 4).
The characteristics of the buzz-nodes are
evaluated by various methods. We can find the
important keywords on the entry by analyzing the
document. The name of category may be used for
the keyword. Several approaches to find such
keywords are proposed in many researches.
Some of the advertisements on the weblogs also
can be used for characterizing them because there
are advertisements automatically displayed suitable
for each web site's characteristics. Then keywords
can be extracted from such advertising contents or
meta data of them. It is important to refer the
advertisements actually displayed on weblogs
because advertisers need to consider the
compatibility with advertising topics on the weblogs.
By extracting the keywords from advertisements, we
can find some potential interests not only for the
genre of topics but also for a specific product or
service.
The hubs are important nodes on the buzz
network. It is thought that such nodes have not only
just many links but also many connections with
similar characteristic nodes. In the weblog
community, a ‘Buzz-Hub’ is not one of the buzz-
nodes but an important weblog. So a buzz-hub may
consist of some buzz-nodes. It is important for buzz-
hubs to have the buzz-node connecting to many
similar buzz-nodes. The buzz-hubs that have two or
more such buzz-nodes are more important.
Furthermore, the connectors are also important in
buzz marketing for expanding some topics by word-
of-mouth even if the nodes are not hubs. On the buzz
network, such nodes have a role of connecting two
or more different clusters. It looks difficult to find
such connectors on the buzz network by people. In
the weblog community, we consider that a ‘Buzz-
Figure 4: Buzz Network on the Weblog Community.
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