Are there differences between popular and regular bloggers? This paper seeks to answer this question and describe some potential differences. It examines three hypotheses: (H1) there is a difference in the main topics discussed by these two groups of bloggers; (H2) there is an observable trend in the time at which these groups of bloggers make their postings; and (H3) readers can expect ordinary bloggers to write shorter posts and receive fewer comments. The authors conducted this study using blogs found on the Russian edition of the popular blogging platform LiveJournal.

The first hypothesis (H1) is especially intriguing because it could have implications on how researchers should draw samples from existing and new blog datasets. Following their analysis, the authors report that there are no discernible differences in the topics that these two groups of bloggers discuss, despite the big viewership differences.

Being a short paper, the paper does not offer very much beyond this finding. Many of the other observations reported are intuitive and less illuminating. For example, the paper observes that ordinary bloggers are less active in making new posts than popular bloggers, or that more than 40 percent of ordinary bloggers do not receive any comments, while only 1 percent of popular bloggers do not receive any.

It will be interesting to see the authors explore more of the differences between these groups of bloggers. Beyond just the topics that they write about, are there differences in their writing style? Are popular bloggers popular because they are more opinionated?

In conclusion, this paper makes for a good, short read. Readers who are keen on insights into online social communities will probably find it worth their while.