Analysing the Impact of Social Media on the Publishing Industry: The Disruption of Darnton’s Model of the Communications Circuit of the Book

Abstract

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.