The new kids on the blog: the rapid evolution of weblogs ? or blogs ? as movie marketing tools.
Costing almost nothing to maintain, the vast majority of blogs are mental clearinghouses for their authors, lo-fi Web confessionals or bully pulpits that vary from current events to niche pastimes to sex. Directors' blogs, by contrast, are slickly engineered to virally market their movies ? to stoke fan ardor.
Some observers say this approach allows studios to put a spin on moviemaking ? and, by playing to fan interest, head off potential controversies. Movie marketers say the sites allow blogger-directors to reach out to fans in an up-close-and-personal way.
Modellers measure 'word of mouth' for films: César Hidalgo, now a graduate student in physics at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, and his colleagues, decided to study the 'word of mouth' effect in the film world simply because reviews often have a huge impact on audience numbers and there are copious data on ticket sales.
