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Why Blog?: Motivations for blogging

Sarah Pedersen, The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, UK

 - expands the discussion of the blogging phenomenon outside the US
 - incorporates original research into the British blogosphere
 - includes a discussion of the motivations of women bloggers
 - covers the blook phenomenon and benefits from the author’s knowledge of the publishing industry
 - written by a highly knowledgeable and well-respected practitioner in the field

'Weblogging' or ‘blogging’ has joined e-mail and Internet home pages as one of the most popular uses of the Internet. This book focuses on the British blogosphere, comparing British bloggers to the more researched US. Motivations covered include the desire to connect with others online, the need to express opinions or blow off steam, or to share experiences, and a growing financial motivation in the blogosphere. Other motivations explored include a desire to become a ‘citizen journalist’, a need for validation, the commercial possibilities of blogging and the possibility of turning your blog into a published ‘blook’.

ISBN 1 84334 583 8
ISBN-13: 978 1 84334 583 1
June 2010
162 pages  234 x 156mm  paperback  
£42.50 / US$70.00 / €55.00

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About the author

Dr Sarah Pedersen is a Reader in the Department of Communication, Marketing and Media, The Aberdeen Business School, at The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, where she is Course Leader of the MSc in Publishing Studies. Her research and teaching interests include computer-mediated communication, media history and gender and the media and she has published extensively on the subjects of UK blogging, women and blogging and women’s use of mass media. She is currently the Chair of the UK Association for Publishing Education (UK APE).

Contents

Introduction
 - What is a blog?
 - Early research on the blogosphere
 - Research on the British blogosphere
 - The aim of this book

The journal blog: a traditional form mediated by the Internet
 - The diary genre
 - The online diary

The journalism motivation
 - Letters to the editor
 - Making your voice heard: citizen journalism
 - Mainstream media response
 - Redressing the mainstream media
 - Blogging politicians
 - Blogging as creative writing

Benefi cial blogging
 - The blogging personality
 - Letting it all out
 - Positive feedback from readers
 - Keeping in touch with friends
 - Finding new friends

Do privacy concerns impact on blogging motivations?
 - Secret from friends and family
 - Secret from employers

The money motive
 - Advertising
 - Blooks

Blogs as tools
 - Blogs as tools for teaching and learning
 - Academic blogs
 - Information gathering

Doing it for different reasons I: Women’s motivations for blogging
 - Male dominance
 - Women’s motivations for blogging
 - Blogroll differences

Doing it for different reasons II: Americans and Brits
 - Demographic differences
 - Perceptions of blogging
 - Satisfactions from blogging
 - Blogroll differences