The science grapevine: Influence of blog information on the online media coverage of the 2010 arsenic-based life study

Abstract

Informal chatter has always been part of the scientific community, but with the emergence of online blogs these casual debates have become public. Here, I present a case study of how blog information influenced the online news frames during the December 2010 coverage of the arsenic-based life study. The results show how media frames were homogeneous and transformed abruptly from a positive ‘Gee Whiz’ frame towards a critical frame and lastly to a meta media frame over the course of a few days. From beginning to end, the blogosphere heavily influenced the news content, use of sources and spread of information between news outlets. Such rapid and uncontrollable influence of blogosphere information on online news coverage can be explained theoretically as an example of science grapevine communication.

Science in the Social Media Age: Profiles of Science Blog Readers

“…Although social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have taken on some of the former functions of blogs, science blogs remain an established source of long-form, analytical, and niche science information in an ecosystem of more temporary micro-blog content (Jarreau, 2015; Su et al, 2015). Blogs continue to heavily influence science news content (Vestergaard, 2016), as they give experts space to discuss science information, news and up-to-date research in depth. Social networking sites may even further expand the reach of science blogs today, and their users may seek content based on similar motivation patterns as we have investigated here.…”

The case of #arseniclife: Blogs and Twitter in informal peer review

“…While mainstream news organizations began their coverage of the arsenic life story on the same day as the NASA press conference, focus quickly shifted from the Science article to the online expert discussion surrounding the controversy, quoting blog posts (Vestergaard, 2016). For example, on 6 December 2010, a news article quoted Redfield’s blog (CBC News, 2010): “Redfield dissected Wolfe-Simon’s molecular biology and microbiology methods and results in detail on her blog, RRResearch, garnering tens of thousands of hits and dozens of comments from other scientists.” Similar to other scientific controversies in which media have taken on the rhetorical role of scientific journals (Brossard, 2009), Redfield received comments from other scientists on her blog, which acted as a scientific venue.…”

“…What is interesting in this case is that peer review occurred in the blogosphere and captured the attention of Twitter audiences. Recent research shows online news media can rely on blog posts made salient through social media as sources (Vestergaard, 2016), which underscores journalists’ tendency to use Twitter as a tool for tracking news (Ahmad, 2010; Farhi, 2009; Hermida, 2010a, 2010b; Willnat and Weaver, 2014).…”