Transformations  in
Business & Economics

FUZZY COGNITIVE MAPS AND RULES FOR MODELING BLOG VISIBILITY DYNAMICS
Dalia Kriksciuniene, Virgilijus Sakalauskas

ABSTRACT. The authors of this article explore the influence of web blog design elements from the dynamic perspective, how the initial efforts of their authors ignite the flow and capture the interest of visitors. The model is proposed for investigating dynamic effect of three types of design elements embedded for increasing blog visibility, which is expressed by the following output variables: number of unique visitors, total number of blog visitors and logarithmic trend of the visitor flow. The model is designed by applying principles of fuzzy cognitive mapping, which enables finding strength of interrelationships among the design widgets and dynamically model their weights starting from systems' activation to achieving its stabilized state. The research aims to elaborate interpretation of the results by defuzzification of computational values. The experimental research of proprietary blogs revealed the differences and potential for exploring causal relationships among the design widgets. The method of fuzzy cognitive mapping enhanced the analytical power of the conceptual approach and led to quantitative evaluation of the explored effects .

KEYWORDS: fuzzy influence, Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCM), fuzzy system stability, internet blog, blog visibility, design widgets.

JEL classification: G12, G14, G17, E27.