In this article, titled 'Personal Blogs as online presences on the internet Exploring self-presentation and self-disclosure in blogging' a study on Latin American bloggers details how managing a blog does something 'special' to the individual.
This post will summarize the findings from these Latin American bloggers on reasons why they blog.
People find blogging an important area to study because a lot of individuals blog not for income but just to express their 'personal musings' according to Technorati Media State of the Blogosphere (2011).
Blogs are often characterised by high amounts of self-disclosure (Chen, 2012; Herring et al., 2005;Vie´gas, 2005) that foster the development of social connections and the communication of one’s identity (Hollenbaugh, 2011; Nardi et al., 2004; Stefanone and Jang, 2007). The Free Dictionary (2014) defines self disclosure as the process by which one person lets his or her inner being, thoughts,
and emotions be known to another. The study that this article conducted will look at 5 elements of blogging that support a personal presence in the online world and self disclosure will be one of them. These include
(1) the degree and the nature of the anonymity adopted in the bloggers’
self-presentation;
(2) the frequency and depth of the disclosure of personal information;
(3) the significance of blogs in the bloggers’ lives;
(4) the topics depicted in the blog posts; and
(5) the feelings or reactions that different aspects of blogging elicit in the bloggers.
Self-presentation refers to how people present themselves in a variety of ways,
tailoring the images they convey to others that vary according to situational demands
(Goffman, 1959). Since blogging takes place online, people don't have a chance to show themselves. This is a form of anonymity. Papachrissi (2002) states that this anonymity that is inherent in online communications enables individuals to express themselves freely and behave in ways not permissible or acceptable in their usual social sphere.
Self-disclosure refers to communication of personal information, thoughts, and
feelings to other people (Archer, 1980). Within a blog, people may be particular about what exactly they share about themselves because the bloggers may not know everyone who reads their blogs. However Bronstein (2013) states since self-disclosure can be a frightening thing that might invite ridicule or rejection people are more likely to disclose personal information to a stranger, therefore not knowing their audience makes them feel secure that whatever is shared will not reach people in their social sphere. So in actual fact because bloggers don't know all their audience they feel more comfortable sharing information.
In the study that was actually testing self disclosure, the bloggers were asked to rate the level of intimacy of personal information that they disclose in their blogs, the frequency of the
disclosure of personal information and to what extent their self-disclosure of personal
information is a conscious act. The results showed that there was a correlation between age and disclosure of personal information. The younger bloggers tend to disclose information they consider more personal. All of the bloggers over the age of 46 reported never disclosing very
personal information in their blogs.
Blogging Topics
Bronstein (2013) also states that the topics that people blog about all contribute to a personal online presence. The findings show that the labels chosen by the bloggers to describe the topics they blog about are natural language words that reflect a wide range of interests and topics. They included words such as 'love' and 'friendship'.
The study also took a look at how the bloggers felt when they received negative comments. These bloggers stated that they felt feelings of anger and frustration which was contrary to other studies.
Overall the study showed that blogging carried meant a lot to the bloggers.
Another aspect that has been investigated in the study, most likely the most important research topic was what does blogging mean to you. The general results showed that the individuals blogged because blogging was a part of them, blogging was a good source of communicating, blogging was a good writing tool and lastly blogging is just a hobby.
Overall this article was an interesting read in finding out why people run a blog rather than monetary reasons. I found it interesting in discovering what ages of people are likely in disclosing personal information even such as a profile picture and what ages of people do not.
References
Archer, J.L. (1980), “To reveal or not to reveal: a theoretical model of anonymous
communication”, Communication Theory, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 381-401.
Bronstein Journal of New Information Perspectives Vol. 65 No. 2, 2013 pp. 161-181
Chen, G.M. (2012), “Why do women write personal blogs? Satisfying needs for self-disclosure and
affiliation tell part of the story”, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 171-80.
Goffman, E. (1959), Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Penguin Books, New York, NY.
Herring, S.C., Scheidt, L.A., Bonus, S. and Wright, E. (2004), “Bridging the gap: a genre analysis of weblogs”, Proceedings of the 37th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS’04)
Hollenbaugh, E.E. (2011), “Motives for maintaining personal journal blogs”, Cyberpsychology,
Behavior, and Social Networking, Vol. 14 Nos 1-2, pp. 13-20.
Nardi, B.A., Schiano, D.J., Gumbrecht, M. and Swartz, L. (2004), “Why we blog”, Communications
of the ACM, Vol. 47 No. 12, pp. 41-6.
Technorati Media State of the Blogosphere (2011), [Online] accessed at [http://technorati.com/socialmedia/
article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2011-introduction] May 10th 2014
The Free Dictionary (2014) The Free Dictionary [Online] accessed at [http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/self-disclosure]
Vie´gas, F.B. (2005), “Bloggers’ expectations of privacy and accountability: an initial survey”,
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 10 No. 3, article 12, available at: http://
jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue3/viegas.html
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