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The blogging phenomenon has become a primary mode of mainstream communication for the Web 2.0 era. While previous studies found that campaign web sites did not realise two‐way communication ideals, the current study aims to investigate potential differences in communication patterns between campaign blogs and web sites during Taiwan's 2008 general election, with the aim of exploring whether the blogging phenomenon can improve the process of online political communication.

The study used a content analysis approach, the web style analysis method, which was designed specifically for analysing web content, and applied it to an online campaign context in a different political culture, using Taiwan's general election as a case study.

Results indicated that the themes of both campaign blogs and web sites focused on “attacking opponents” rather than focusing on political policies or information on particular issues. However, campaign blogs and web sites significantly differed in all other dimensions, including structural features, functions, interactivity and appeal strategies. Overall, in terms of the online democratic ideal, campaign blogs appeared to allow more democratic, broader, deeper and easier two‐way communication models between candidates and voters or among voters.

The current study focused on candidates' blogs and web sites and did not explore the other vast parts of the online political sphere, particularly independent or citizen‐based blogs, which play significant roles in the decentralised and participant‐networked public spheres.

The study illuminates the role of hyperlinks on campaign blogs. By providing a greater abundance of external links than campaign web sites, campaign blogs allowed more voters, especially younger ones, to share political information in a manner that is quite different from the traditional one‐way communication model. The paper also argues that interactivity measures should be incorporated into the web style analysis method.

This paper aims to discuss and test the claim that user‐based tagging allows for access to a wider variety of viewpoints than is found using other forms of online searching.

A general overview of the nature of weblogs and user‐based tagging is given, along with other relevant concepts. A case is then analyzed where viewpoints towards a specific issue are searched for using both tag searching (Technorati) and general search engine searching (Google and Google Blog Search).

The claim to greater accessibility through user‐based tagging is not overtly supported with these experiments. Further results for both general and tag‐specific searching goes against some common assumptions about the types of content found on weblogs as opposed to more general web sites.

User‐based tagging is still not widespread enough to give conclusive data for analysis. As this changes, further research in this area, using a variety of search subjects, is warranted.

Although proponents of user‐based tagging attribute many qualities to the practice, these qualities have not been properly documented or demonstrated. This paper partially rectifies this gap by testing one of the claims made, that of accessibility to alternate views, thus adding to the discussion on tagging for both researchers and other interested parties.

The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences of three public libraries near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia of using Web 2.0 tools to reach existing and new users.

Using blogs and other social software and mash‐ups, Casey‐Cardinia Library Corporation, Eastern Regional Libraries and Frankston Library Service are opening up their web sites and services to their communities and giving voice to their users. The various tools are described and how the libraries are making use of them is detailed.

That Web 2.0 tools can be successfully utilised by public libraries to provide enhanced services to their users.

The paper provides practical examples of how Web 2.0 tools can be used by public libraries. It is of particular value to public libraries that are interested in or already providing service to their users using Web 2.0 tools.

Aims to describe systematically the characteristics of weblogs (blogs) – frequently modified web pages in which dated entries are listed in reverse chronological sequence and which are the latest genre of internet communication to attain widespread popularity.

This paper presents the results of a quantitative content analysis of 203 randomly selected blogs, comparing the empirically observable features of the corpus with popular claims about the nature of blogs, and finding them to differ in a number of respects.

Notably, blog authors, journalists and scholars alike exaggerate the extent to which blogs are interlinked, interactive, and oriented towards external events, and underestimate the importance of blogs as individualistic, intimate forms of self‐expression.

Based on the profile generated by the empirical analysis, considers the likely antecedents of the blog genre, situates it with respect to the dominant forms of digital communication on the internet today, and suggests possible developments of the use of blogs over time in response to changes in user behavior, technology, and the broader ecology of internet genres.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which the news is discussed in social network web sites.

This article reports a quantitative analysis of the text of 26,953 Windows Live Spaces from September 2006 to February 2007 using a heuristic designed to detect news discussions. In addition, a comparative link and page analysis of 20 popular general social network environments (e.g. MySpace and Facebook) and 11 popular blog environments (e.g. Typepad and Blogger) is presented.

The text analysis suggests that news plays little role in most Windows Live Spaces, but the link and page analysis suggests that the key difference is less between social network environments and blog environments than between free standardised environments (e.g. MySpace and Blogger) and professional or semi‐professional blogs, with the former tending to carry relatively little news‐related content.

The methods used are exploratory rather than giving definitive conclusions.

Those interested in public reactions to the news should focus on blogs and blog‐like social network sites rather than general social network sites, and should expect only a tiny proportion of the discussions to be news‐related.

Although the role of blogs in reporting, discussing and making the news has been analysed frequently, this is the first study about the extent to which general social networking sites engage with (mass media) news.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Kent and Taylor's dialogic features are used by agricultural associations in the USA and Germany to engage media.

A content analysis of 51 American Farm Bureau Federation and 18 Deutscher Bauernverband web sites was conducted to evaluate the incorporation of the principles of ease of interface, usefulness, dialogic loop, conservation of visitors, and generation of return visits.

The study found mixed results for the incorporation of Kent and Taylor's five dialogic principles. At the time of the content analysis, these sites failed to provide a solid dialogic loop between the organisation and the visitor, and they did not encourage return visits. This weakens the sites' potential to move past information provision and build lasting relationships with reporters.

The findings of this research project provide benchmark numbers for the presence of the five dialogic principles in the agriculture industry. Further, the findings strengthen the growing evidence of the impact of the principles in various sectors. Previous research has examined how nonprofit social service and activist organisations have incorporated the principles as well as for‐profit organizations. The current results shine light on how other organisations are using their web site to develop relationships with visitors.

Research on agricultural communication indicates that the media increasingly are downplaying the significance of the industry in mainstream news. Scholars have suggested that the agricultural industry is not well versed in media training and media relations. However, the findings of this study indicate that the leading agricultural associations in the USA and Germany are still primarily using their web sites as one‐way information subsidies rather than capitalizing on the interactive nature of the web. By incorporating the five dialogic principles into their web sites, the agricultural communicators will be in a better position to interact with media in a lasting manner rather than simply serving as a source of one‐way information.

Though the dialogic principles have been studied in other settings, this paper examines their use by organisations in multiple countries. Given the increasing globalisation of the agriculture industry, it is vital to understand how this industry communicates with the media given that it has repeatedly complained about media coverage of agricultural issues and the push by the American Farm Bureau to assist other national agricultural associations around the world.

This paper aims to provide an overview of the published literature and current use of social software by libraries primarily in the UK and USA.

The paper's approach is a literature review and desk research.

Libraries are experimenting considerably in this area and many Web 2.0 applications have been developed by libraries and librarians over the past few years. These tools offer the potential to enhance library services.

The area is one of rapid change, so the findings will date quickly.

An overview of which technologies are being used most widely and might offer the most potential for library staff considering experimenting in this area.

Web 2.0 is an area with which many library staff need to become familiar quickly. This paper provides a useful overview of the topic.

The purpose of the paper was to provide an in‐depth discussion of the poster session, Keep Blogging Along: Side by Side Library Blogs, presented at the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Washington, DC, June 27, 2007.

Complete with each blog discussed is a distinction of purpose, basic elements of blog design including organizational labels and tags, enhancement and usability tools, and a statement of success or failure for each project.

Comprehensive information concerning three academic library blogs; topics of collection development, children's literature review, a collaborative professional development project, and a supplemental academic course blog is provided.

To make available basic tools and resources for readers to create a blog, or blogs; keep statistical and evaluative information on individual projects; and enhance project usability with tools and widgets.

This paper details various innovative uses for blogs, or web logs, in an academic library setting and provides constructive resources to assist readers with researching and utilizing this technology.

The purpose of this study is to propose a model investigating the effectiveness of travel blogs as a relationship marketing tool. Specifically, the mediating role of online relationship quality (RQ) dimensions between the attributes of blogs and e-loyalty is modeled. Furthermore, the study investigates the e-loyalty to travel blogs in explaining the reader’s intention to purchase from its online retailer.

The subjects of this study were blog readers who had travel blog usage experiences. The online survey was conducted by one of the major portal Web sites in Taiwan. There were 288 usable responses obtained in total. The structural equation modeling approach was used to estimate the research model.

The research results indicate that information quality plays a dominant role in influencing online satisfaction and trust. The mediating role of e-satisfaction between e-trust and e-loyalty is identified, and thus the online RQ development process: information quality → e-trust → e-satisfaction → e-loyalty→ intention to buy travel products.

Travel blogs are still effective to maintain customer relationship. However, they seem to lose interactivity and entertainment to readers.

Managerial implications lay emphasis on providing a completed circuit by integrating different social media to facilitate tourism information seeking.

This study is to develop a context-specific model of relationship marketing drivers to the travel blogosphere.

The purpose of this paper is to present an exploratory survey as part of a presentation for the Bridging Worlds 2008 conference. It seeks to understand how library institutions in the South East Asia (SEA) region have implemented Web 2.0 technologies – blogs, RSS feeds, wikis, or the use of services like Flickr, YouTube, de.lici.ous.

Libraries surveyed were in: Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, People's Republic of China, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. The survey relied on references in published papers, internet searches and personal contacts.

The survey found that more academic libraries than public libraries were using Web 2.0. technologies. Blogs and RSS feeds were the most common. Blogs were used mainly as web publishing tools rather than as a means to engage library users.

The survey is not comprehensive. The search relied mainly on English publications and keywords, while the native language of most countries surveyed was non‐English. Future research could comprehensively cover each country, by the type of library or language.

The paper contends that Web 2.0 does not rely on technology, but more on practice and participation. The emphasis should be on relationships rather than transactions. Suggestions are offered on how libraries can adopt a Library 2.0 mindset without focusing on technology. A call is made to establish an East Asian Librarians 2.0 directory.

The paper offers a non‐technological perspective to institutions and practising professionals who are reviewing their Web 2.0 implementation.