Empirical Investigation of the Blog Space: The Case of European Pharmaceuticals

This paper provides the findings from a research project commissioned to assess the emerging body of information being published in Web logs (blogs) in the field of European pharmaceuticals and European health care. The hypothesis behind this research was that the rise of blogs as a rich information source may provide a challenge to the traditionally held view of a ´key opinion leader´ - could an anonymous blogger have as much influence over public debate as a recognised scientific expert? The results reveal that in spite of high volume of emerging blogs, only a small number are interlinked, and the emerging network configuration is a small core component and a large number of dyads, or short tails. The public opinion broadcasted in blogs shows differentiation related to specific health issues or pharmaceutical companies.