As the number of blogs increases dramatically, these online forums have become important media people use to share feelings and information. Previous research of blogs focuses on writers (i.e., bloggers), but the influence of blogs also requires investigations from readers' perspectives. This study therefore explores motives for reading blogs and discusses their effects on the responses after reading blogs. According to a factor analysis of 204 respondents in Taiwan, motives for reading blogs consist of affective exchange, information search, entertainment, and getting on the bandwagon. A regression analysis suggests the effects of these motives on three major responses--opinion acceptance, interaction intentions, and word-of-mouth (WOM) intentions--reflect the influence of blogs. Specifically, readers who focus on affective exchanges believe blog messages, interact with bloggers, and spread messages to others. Information search and entertainment motives positively affect opinion acceptance; blog readers who focus on information and those who read for fun both view blogs as trustworthy sources. Getting on the bandwagon also positively influences interaction and WOM intentions; these readers interact with bloggers and transmit messages to others.

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Purpose -This paper aims to investigate the relationship between company identity information disclosure, trust, and consumer self-disclosure intentions during the first visit to a company website. Design/methodology/approach -This study conducts one-factor (company identity information disclosure) between-subject experiment design. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups: company identity information disclosure -high vs low. Furthermore, this study also uses LISREL to analyse the model. Findings -The analytical results indicate that when a company website discloses much of its identity information, consumers trust the company more, and exhibit greater intentions to provide their personal information. Specifically, this study's results show that consumer's trust mediates the relationship between company identity information disclosure and consumer self-disclosure intentions. Practical implications -Companies often invite consumers to disclose personal information on websites, and then use this information to build and maintain relationships with these customers. This study suggests that a company can disclose their information more on their website. Consequently, consumers trust more toward the company and then have higher disclosure intentions. Originality/value -Traditionally, most interpersonal communication research indicates when someone discloses more, the other communication participant also discloses more. Although previous research investigates the impact of online information disclosure on trust and consumer self-disclosure, there are no studies that address the potential impact of a company disclosing information about its identity. This study examines the influence of company identity information disclosure and emphasises the important role of trust during the first visit to a website.