Social Gatekeeping, the Serendipitous Tie and Discovery: Authors Connecting Readers to Books Through Social Media Outreach
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Social Gatekeeping, the Serendipitous Tie and Discovery: Authors Connecting Readers to Books through Social Media Outreach Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Fulton, Bruce Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 30/09/2021 19:53:47 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/301549 SOCIAL GATEKEEPING, THE SERENDIPITOUS TIE AND DISCOVERY: AUTHORS CONNECTING READERS TO BOOKS THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA OUTREACH By Bruce Fulton __________________________ Copyright © Bruce Fulton 2013 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the SCHOOL OF INFORMATION RESOURCES AND LIBRARY SCIENCE In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2013 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Bruce D. Fulton, titled Social Gatekeeping, the Serendipitous Tie and Discovery: Authors Connecting Readers to Books through Social Media Outreach and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 7/19/2013 Jana Bradley _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 7/19/2013 Martin Frické _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 7/19/2013 P. Bryan Heidorn Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 7/19/2013 Dissertation Director: Jana Bradley ________________________________________________ Date: 7/19/2013 Dissertation Director: Martin Frické 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Bruce Fulton 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research project and completion of my PhD would not have been possible without the support, guidance and love of many individuals. A special thanks of gratitude and appreciation goes to my committee co-chair and dissertation advisor Jana Bradley, who went above and beyond to help make this work the best it could be. Thanks and appreciation also go to dissertation committee co-chair Martin Frické and to committee advisor P. Bryan Heidorn for their thoughtful consideration and evaluation of this research throughout the revision process and final defense. Thanks and appreciation are due for the additional help and guidance from minor advisor Stephen Rains and comprehensive committee advisor Patricia Montiel-Overall, who were invaluable in helping me get to the dissertation stage. A special note of thanks goes to the staff of the School of Information Resources and Library Science at the University of Arizona who guided and smoothed my journey through the administrative tasks necessary to complete the degree process, and to the full faculty who provided encouragement, support and valuable advice and counseling throughout my studies. Finally, thanks and love go to my wife, Lorrane, whose patience, love and faith throughout the difficult and challenging dissertation journey gave me the strength, inspiration and confidence to finish the task. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................. 11 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................... 13 LIST OF EQUATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 14 ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 17 Problem Statement – The Discoverability Problem .................................................................... 19 Background of the Problem – Current Understanding ................................................................ 23 Purpose ........................................................................................................................................... 27 Theoretical Framework.................................................................................................................. 28 The Publishing Chain ................................................................................................................ 28 Gatekeeping Theory ................................................................................................................... 29 Gatekeeping: Extending the Publishing Chain Framework .................................................... 32 Information Diffusion in Social Networks ............................................................................... 35 Toward a Theory of Social Gatekeeping .................................................................................. 39 Identification and Location of the Message as a Unit of Analysis ......................................... 44 The Serendipitous Tie ................................................................................................................ 46 Measuring Social Gatekeeping ................................................................................................. 51 Social Gatekeeping as Strategy ................................................................................................. 55 Research Questions ........................................................................................................................ 58 Nature of the Study ........................................................................................................................ 64 Assumptions ................................................................................................................................... 66 Limitations and Significance of the Study ................................................................................... 68 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS – Continued Definition of Terms ....................................................................................................................... 71 CHAPTER 2 - REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ......................................................................... 77 History and Definition of eBook ................................................................................................... 77 Publishing and the Publishing Chain ............................................................................................ 81 Gatekeeping .................................................................................................................................... 85 Discovery: Serendipity and Browse ............................................................................................. 94 Empirical Support for Social Gatekeeping and the Serendipitous Tie ....................................... 98 Social Gatekeeping, Sales and the Review ................................................................................ 104 Popular Conceptions of Gatekeeping ......................................................................................... 108 Multiple Regression ..................................................................................................................... 116 Search Engine Count as Dependent Variable ............................................................................ 119 Amazon Sales Rank as Dependent Variable .............................................................................. 123 CHAPTER 3 - METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 125 Introduction to the Methodology ................................................................................................ 125 Explanation of Data Collection Techniques............................................................................... 126 Technology Environment ............................................................................................................ 129 Description and Collection of the Random and Popular Samples ............................................ 130 Random Sample ....................................................................................................................... 130 Popular Sample .......................................................................................................................