Psychological and Social Influences on Blog Writing: An Online Survey of Blog Authors in Japan

Abstract

We conducted a questionnaire survey of personal blog authors (N = 1,434) and examined two hypothesized models using structural equation modeling to clarify the psychological and social process associated with why authors continue to write their blogs. Two final models with good fit were obtained. It was confirmed that being satisfied with benefits to self, relationships with others, and skill in handling information had significant positive effects on the intention to continue blog writing. The psychological traits of private self-consciousness, reassurance-seeking, and information need were hypothesized to be effective in establishing consciousness of the benefits; these also had significant positive effects. In contrast, only positive feedback had a significant influence on satisfaction related to information handling skill, whereas both negative and positive feedback had significant influences on satisfaction related to information handling skill. This suggests that communication with readers who gave positive feedback strongly encouraged blog authors to continue writing. Similarities and differences between the two models and recommendations for further theoretical development are discussed.

Understanding student perceptions and motivation towards academic blogs: An exploratory study

“…One line of such work focuses on the impact of personal traits. Miura and Yamashita (2007) sought to clarify the psychological and social processes that motivated Japanese bloggers to continue writing personal blogs. They identified two psychological traits -self-consciousness and reassurance-seeking -that directly influenced the perceived benefits of blogging.…”

Feedback Loops of Attention in Peer Production

“…Attention was previously shown to spur further contributions in video sharing [12] and blogging [13]. However, no attempt was made to account for social effects in how attention was allocated among the various contributors in this work.…”

Seeking Variety: A Dynamic Model of Employee Blog Reading Behavior

“…They have also shed light on why people blog (Nardi et al 2005, Miura and Yamashita 2007, Furukawa et al 2007, why bloggers cite others' posts, and leave comments on posts (Adamic and Glance 2005), and how information diffuses in blogosphere (Adar andAdamic 2005, Leskovec et al 2007). Several researches have also developed ways to detect communities in blogosphere (Lin et al 2006) and discover important bloggers (Nakajima et al 2005).…”