This new weekly blog tells you about what’s new on bmj.com and links to some of the national and international coverage that the BMJ has received this week, both on websites and in blogs.

The BMJ paper that has received the widest coverage this week shows that happiness is contagious and can spread from person to person. It is the most read article on our website this week, with 12,327 viewers. The paper by James H Fowler and Nicholas A Christakis followed 4739 participants from 1983-2003. By studying social networks, the researchers found that happy people are more likely to be connected to other happy people. They also found that people at the centre of their social network were more likely to be happy than those on the periphery of it.

In our blogs section, Paediatrician Heather Payne warned of a “media orgy of blaming professionals” in the wake of the Baby P case. Her blog has been rated 10 out of 10 by scoring system PostRank (www.postrank.com). This means it received top scores on the system’s five Cs of engagement: creating, critiqueing, chatting, collecting, clicking.

Most read this week on bmj.com:

• Dynamic spread of happiness in a large social network
• Happiness, social networks, and health
• Impact of a new national screening policy for Down’s syndrome in Denmark
  
• Doctor is cleared of manslaughter for prescribing penicillin to man who said he was allergic
• Sleep disorder (insomnia)

Most commented this week on bmj.com:

• Life is for living
  
• Incremental prognostic value of the exercise electrocardiogram in the initial assessment of patients with suspected angina: cohort study
• Health secretary asks commission to look into role of four NHS trusts in Baby P case
• Who’s watching the watchdogs?
• AIDS and the irrational

BMJ in the news:

• Jeremy Laurance: It turns out that everybody needs good neighbours, Independent – UK
• Timeline: MMR controversy, guardian.co.uk
• Gardasil Vaccine Allergic Reactions Are Uncommon – Study, CNNMoney.com – USA
• Patients safety concerns as drug regulators pressured to approve …, Telegraph.co.uk
• Happiness is contagious, Melbourne Herald Sun
• Test all for Down, urge doctors, Sydney Morning Herald
• Good cheer may spread itself, a study suggests, Observer, UK
• Happiness rubs off on others, BBC News Front Page

BMJ in blogs:

• When you smile, the world smiles with you, By Theoben Orosa (Theoben Orosa)
• How to Get Yourself ‘Infected’ with Happiness, U.S. News & World Report – Washington, DC, USA
• Study concludes that happiness is contagious, By mikeinbama(mikeinbama)

Juliet Walker is the editorial intern at the BMJ.