Exploring the dynamics of blog communities: The case of MetaFilter

Abstract

This paper explores the social processes and mechanisms that give form to a prominent type of online community: community blogs. We conducted an interpretive study that examines a particular community blog, MetaFilter, by drawing on the concepts of communities of practice as a theoretical lens. Theoretically, we contribute to the body of knowledge of online communities by identifying the structures of an emergent type of community that is brought together by blog technology. Our findings suggest that cohesion in a community blog is brought about by the following practices: (a) explicit ground rules regarding membership, (b) presence of moderators, (c) availability of profile information, (d) 'net etiquette', (e) tacit warrants for discerning pertinent posts, and (f) the deployment of specific techniques of discipline. © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.