Study looks into how Bloggers blog and why?

What do you use your Tumblr for?  In the Tumblr age a slew of Wordpress blogs, gifs and other post often draw plenty of commentary and retweets, but a recent study looked further into why bloggers really blog and the effects of blogging.

           

            A study from Swinburne University researchers James R. Baker, and Susan Moore asked 182 MySpace bloggers from the  30 most popular blogs of certain days of the week why they blog and the effects blogging has on them.

            Bloggers were asked to rate which style of blogging theirs most closely mirrors.  Bloggers  rated their identification with Therapeutic Blogging, Substitution Blogging, Self-Censoring Blogging and Connected Blogging.  They then rated their relation to statements like, “Blogging helps me to gain insight into my problems,” “Its harder to talk about my problems through my blog than it is face-to-face, on the phone, or by email,” “When I’m upset, blogging helps ease my distress.” 

            The study found that those who scored high under Therapeutic Blogging were more likely to use their blogs for emotional support, instrumental support, acceptance and other coping strategies. 

The study also showed that females were more likely to participate in Therapeutic Blogging than males. 

Chart 1.1 shows those who scored high under the category of Self-Censoring Blogging utilized blogs as a form of venting and acceptance. 

            Those scoring high under the Connected Blogging category had high interactive blogs with high comments and a larger number of readers. 

            Those scoring high under the Substitution Blogging category were satisfied with the amount and closeness with face-to-face friends. 

The study continued past research that found bloggers using the medium for a number of reasons to keep up with news, self promote, pass time and express emotions and that discontinued blogs showed discontent with their blogging experience.  

Though many of the bloggers were from the same pool of MySpace bloggers, they still found essential information for those serious about blogging.  The study found that those practicing Connected Blogging had a larger audience and higher comments.  Next time you want to boost your followers, look more into connected blogging.