] The most-read webloggers aren't necessarily the ones with
] the most original ideas, say researchers at
] Hewlett-Packard Labs.
]
] Using newly developed techniques for graphing the flow of
] information between blogs, the researchers have
] discovered that authors of popular blog sites regularly
] borrow topics from lesser-known bloggers -- and they
] often do so without attribution.
]
These findings are important to
] sociologists who are interested in learning how ideas
] grow from isolated topics into full-blown epidemics that
] "infect" large populations. Such an understanding is also
] important to marketers, who hope to be able to pitch
] products and ideas directly to the mos

Wired News: Warning: Blogs Can Be Infectious