Analysing the Impact of Social Media on the Publishing Industry: The Disruption of Darnton’s Model of the Communications Circuit of the Book
Summary
The publishing chain has remained relatively the same since the invention of the printing press.
Robert Darnton’s model of the communications circuit of the book, which tracks how intellectual
property circulates, has been a largely accurate representation of the publishing chain until the
late twentieth century. Then, the digital revolution started convulsing the publishing industry. The
changes brought by the new digital technologies were further enhanced by the development of
social media in the twenty-first century. This study investigates the disruption and
disintermediation of Darnton’s model, particularly looking at the shifts in the publishing chain’s
traditional roles, as a result of the deployment of social media into the publishing environment.