Why blog? (then and now): Exploring the motivations for blogging by popular american political bloggers

Brian Ekdale*, Kang Namkoong, Timothy K F FUNG, David D. Perlmutter

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

80 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Despite the impact that influential American political bloggers have had on public policies and the mainstream media agenda in recent years, very little research is currently available on the most widely read political bloggers.Through a survey of 66 top American political bloggers, the present study examines this elite group by analyzing their initial and current motivations for blogging as well as their online and offline behaviors. The findings demonstrate that nearly all motivations for blogging have increased over time, with the most substantial increases occurring in extrinsic motivations. The results also reveal a significant association between extrinsic motivations and blogger online and offline political participation. This study demonstrates that future research on political blogs needs to look beyond blog readers and blog content and investigate the influential political bloggers themselves.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)217-234
Number of pages18
JournalNew Media and Society
Volume12
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2010

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Communication
  • Sociology and Political Science

User-Defined Keywords

  • Bloggers
  • Extrinsic and intrinsic motivations
  • Political blogs
  • Political participation

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