Link to Success: How Blogs Build an Audience by Promoting Rivals
研究发现博客常链接同类博客，通过模型解释理性博主为何链接对手：链接能向读者传递未来可引导其找到新闻的信号，但也会提升对手声誉；当博主间爆料能力差异小于找新闻能力差异时，链接达到均衡，最终提升读者学习效果。
Empirically, we find that Web logs (or “blogs”) often link to other blogs in the same category. We present an analytical model that explains why a rational blogger may choose to link to another blog. We allow bloggers to differ along two dimensions: (1) the ability to post news-breaking content, and (2) the ability to find news in other blogs. By linking, a blog signals to the reader that it will be able to direct her to news in other blogs in the future. The downside of a link is that it is a positive signal on the rival's news-breaking ability. We show that linking will be in equilibrium when the heterogeneity on the ability to break news is low relative to the heterogeneity on the ability to find news in other blogs. One implication of the linking mechanism is that blogs that are high on the news-breaking ability are more likely to gain readers. Hence, despite the fact that bloggers link for purely selfish reasons, the macro effects of this activity is that readers' learning is enhanced. This paper was accepted by J. Miguel Villas-Boas, marketing.