Week 4 MDIA5003 Class Presentation The Blogosphere

1. Ekdale, Brian, Kang Namkoong, Timothy KF Fung and David D
Perlmutter (2010)
„Why blog? (then and now): exploring the motivations for blogging
by popular American political bloggers‟,
New Media and Society, 12(2):217-234.
Presented by Kimberly Lennard

2. Blogs that I like:
 http://how-i-met-your-
mother.wikia.com/wiki/Barney's_Blog
Adam Hills Stand up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpBYnL5fA
XE&feature=topics
Adam Hill‟s show blog:
http://www.adamhills.com.au/blog/

3. Reading overview:
 The Ekdale et al. (2010) article is on a study they conducted about
what motivates American Political Bloggers to blog.
 In 2006 surveyed 66 top American political bloggers to analyze their
motivations for blogging
 very little research available about the widely read political bloggers.
 Cases where Bloggers were instrumental:
(1) in 2002 resignation of Trent Lott as Senate Minority Leader
(2) Exposed a forged memo used in a 2004 CBS News report about
President George W. Bush‟s National Guard service
 Blogs:, http://www.dailykos.com/, http://www.powerlineblog.com/
http://www.rightwingnews.com/, http://pjmedia.com/

4. What
is
 Ekdale et al. (2010) says “academic
literature emphasizes the structural
a
components of blogs, characterizing a blog
as a web page consisting of a series of
entries, or posts, listed in reverse-
blog?
chronological order.”
 Boyd (2006) adds that early coverage used
the metaphor of online diaries or journals to
define blogs.
 She argues it limited the public‟s idea of
blogs and dismissed bloggers who
understand it journalistic activity.

5. How blogs were created
 Ekdale et al. (2010) says blogs have been around
since the early days of the world wide web but grew
dramatically after the 11 September 2001 terrorist
attacks because bloggers wanted to:
- to express their feelings about uncertain times
- search for information unavailable in mainstream
media.
- eventually turned their attention more generally to
American domestic and foreign policy issues
- political elites started to adopt bloggers into their
political campaigns

6. Blogs as news source
 Johnson and Kaye (2004) blog
readers perceive blogs as a more
credible source of news than any
other medium.
 Ekdale et al.(2010) says there‟s two
main reasons:
1) Often cover issues in greater depth
than traditional media
2) Present complex issues in a way
that is understandable to readers
Additionally:
 Blogs are form of narrative
 Reflects bloggers own perspective
which leaves interpretation to the
readers

7. The blogosphere (Ekdale et al
2010)
 Bloggers themselves:
- Do not subscribe to journalistic norms
- Writing usually grounded in strong ideological assumptions
- Increase number of bloggers and opinions “led to a fractured
blogosphere.”
 People naturally divide into ideological camps
 Readership patterns are diverse as most readers search for
blogs that reflect own opinion
 94 per cent of respondents who read political blogs only
for one side.
 Political blogs may only reach a small audience already in
agreement with its view point.

8. Motivations and  “Cognitive psychologists
assert that an individual‟s
Behaviours behavior is influenced by
both intrinsic and
extrinsic motivations
(Calder and Staw, 1975).
 Intrinsic motivations:
activity is inherently
interesting, enjoyable
and satisfying.
 Extrinsic motivations: the
pressures or rewards in
achieving outcomes that
come from outside the
individual.
(Ekdale et al. 2010)

9. Why bloggers blog
Nardi et al. (2004b, In Ekdale et al. 2010 ) identify five
motivational factors for blogging:
1) documenting one‟s life
2) providing commentary and opinions
3) expressing deeply felt emotions
4) articulating ideas through writing
5) forming and maintaining community forums.
Jung et al. (Apr 2012 ) PsycINFOComputers in Human Behavior
 Impression management
 Voyeuristic surveillance
 Social comparison
 Perceived anonymity and social support online
 Belonging, loneliness, and subjective well-being

10. Lenhart and Fox (July 19, 2006)
Bloggers survey
“The main reasons for keeping a blog are creative expression and
sharing personal experiences,”
 84% blog as hobby
 55% blog under a pseudonym, with 46% with own name.
 52% for themselves and 32% for their audience.
 72% look online for news or information about politics; by
contrast, just 58% of all internet users do so.
 45% of bloggers prefer news from sources that do not have a
particular political point of view
 24% of bloggers prefer political news from sources that challenge
their viewpoint;
 18% choose to use sources that share their political viewpoint.

11. Blogs in Chinese Political
Life
Hassid online article 28 FEB 2012
 “Despite censorship, Chinese bloggers routinely
uncover corruption, help solve social problems, and
even pressure state officials to change policy.”
 More than 200 million blogs in China
 surged in popularity in recent years.
 China has the largest community of bloggers in the
world
 Chinese internet users either challenge or reinforce
state power
 critical in exposing and popularizing official and
corporate misdeeds
 data collection from blogs is significantly easier than
from either bulletin boards or microblogs, both of
which often have restricted access

12. Why political bloggers blog
(Ekdale et al. 2010)
 In his study of non-„A-list‟ political bloggers, Wallsten
(2005) found bloggers were primarily driven by two
motivations:
1) self-expression on political issues
2) to influence the distribution of social goods and
social values
Also found political bloggers:
• higher sense of community collective efficacy
• better informed about local and larger
political problems
• belong to more formal social networks and are more likely to deliberate
• Bloggers‟ awareness of their readers can have an impact on what they chose to blog
about and what identity they present to their audience (Nardi et al., 2004a).

13. Ekdale et al. (2010) survey:
 Invited 154 American political bloggers in 2006, which 66
completed (42.9% response rate).
 Sample included 46 men and 16 women (4 unknown).
 The median age 44.4 years with the oldest 66 and the youngest
18.
 Most experienced started blogging in January 1998, while the
newest started in May 2006.
 42.6 percent made more than US$100,000 a year
 31.5 percent made less than US$40,000.
 52.6 percent described most posts be as „liberal‟ while the
remainder described their posts as „conservative‟.

14. Class Activity
Imagine you are a political blogger:
 Rate your motivations for blogging
(1 being most important and 10 being least important)
1) „to critique main­stream media‟,
2) „to influence mainstream media‟
3) „to provide an alternative perspective to the mainstream
media‟
4) „to help society‟
5) „to influence public opinion‟
6) „to help your political party or cause‟
7) „to critique political opponents,
8) „to serve as a political watch­dog‟
9) „to inform people about the most relevant information on
topics of interest‟
10) „to inform people about the most recent information on
topics of interest‟

15. Results:
 initially driven by intrinsic motivations and later increasingly by extrinsic
motivations.
 these bloggers were most significantly motivated by the desire to let off
steam, organize their thoughts and express their ideas when they first
began blogging.
 Strongest motivators were:
 1: „to provide an alter­native perspective to the mainstream media‟
 2:„to inform people about the most relevant information on topics of
interest‟
 3: „to influence public opinion‟
 Weakest motivators were:
 1: „to influence mainstream media‟
 2: „to critique your political opponents‟
 3: „to help your political party or cause‟