More of the write stuff: Why do people write blogs?

Given the large number of blogs I have published, I consider being a ‘blogger’ one of my core identities (although admittedly this is subsumed within my identity as a ‘writer’). I am often asked why I blog and why I blog so much (some would say excessively) which prompted me putting together the article you are now reading.

Academically, there have been a number of studies that have carried out research into why people blog. For instance, Dr. Bonnie Nardi and colleagues published a paper in Communications of the ACM, (2004) and concluded that bloggers are “driven to document their lives, provide commentary and opinions, express deeply felt emotions, articulate ideas through writing, and form and maintain community forums”. In 2008, Dr. Chin-Lung Hsu and Dr. Judy Lin published the results of a small survey of 212 bloggers in the journal Information and Management. Using the theory of reasoned action (a theory I have also used in relation to some of my gambling attitude research – see ‘Further reading’), they found that “ease of use and enjoyment, and knowledge sharing (altruism and reputation) were positively related to attitude toward blogging…[and that] social factors (community identification) and attitude toward blogging significantly influenced a blog participant’s intention to continue to use blogs”.

A 2007 paper by Dr. Su-Houn Liu and colleagues in the journal Issues in Information Systems surveyed 177 bloggers following a qualitative study where they interviewed five bloggers about their motivation for blogging. From the interviews they generated ten motivations to blog – five that were intrinsic (killing time; having space to store data and files; enjoying sharing life with others; pouring out feelings; gaining achievement) and five that were extrinsic (looking forward to others’ responses; finding good topics after talking with others; constantly connecting with known people; making new friends; understanding others’ feelings and opinions). Using these motivations they hypothesized that blogging motivation would be positively related to blogging intention and that a blogger’s intention would be positively related to the amount of blogging. In the survey results, they found that the two most important motivations for blogging were (i) pouring out feelings and (ii) connecting with people. The results also showed that bloggers who had (i) both high intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for rewards had higher levels of blogging intention, and (ii) higher blogging intention were willing to take more time to maintain their blog and post more articles.

A study by Dr. Chris Fullwood and colleagues in a 2009 issue of CyberPsychology and Behavior carried out a content analysis of MySpace blogs and concluded that “most blogs were written in a positive tone, and the main motivations for blogging appeared to be writing a diary and as an emotional outlet”. They found no significant gender differences but reported that the blog’s purpose and style differed across age groups. For instance, bloggers aged over 50 years were more likely to use their blog as “an emotional outlet with a negative tone”. Those aged between 18 and 29 years “used a semiformal language style” on their blog. A 2007 paper by Dr. Rong-An Shang and colleagues published in the PACIS Proceedings examined why people blog by investigating the impacts of task and technology characteristics on user evaluation of blogs and blog usage. They found that self-presentation, need for sociality, and the perception of social presence best explained why people blogged.

Despite the academic research into why people blog, the topic has been covered in dozens of online articles often with much longer lists of motivations as to why people blog and the benefits that can be got from blogging. (I include my own online article on this topic as to why I blog, and I would also draw you attention to the published articles I have had on the benefits of blogging – see ‘Further reading’ below). So here is a more definitive list that I have compiled from many different websites:

• To express thoughts and opinions – Blogs provide one of the easiest ways to write things for a potentially global audience. I often use my blogs to establish initial thoughts and ideas that can then be finessed and built upon more rigorously in more formal later published work. The best thing about blogs is that they are free, easy to set up, and you can publish something within seconds of finishing what you write.
• To connect and network with like-minded people – Blogs on specific topics can help in making contact with individuals that have similar thoughts and opinions. In short, blogs can be an aid to online networking. If you run a business, blogs can also be used to connect with your customers.
• To be free and creative – Writing blogs should be fun to do but they can also be an exercise in creativity and freedom. Similarly, blogs can be an extra creative outlet in which you can put into words thoughts and ideas that are hard to put into use elsewhere in your life.
• To become a more organized and better communicator, thinker and writer – Blog writing is a skill that can be developed and they can be used to become a better communicator. How you write something can sometimes be more important than what you want to say. Increased writing can also help you to become more organized in your thinking.
• To help focus thinking – Not only can blog writing make thinking become more organized, it can help making thinking more focused. Once I have chosen a topic to write about, my thinking becomes very focused and while writing everything else is in the periphery. I would also argue that your mindset becomes more objective and ‘well rounded’ the more blogs that you write.
• To help and inspire other people – Blogs can provide informative help to almost anything you can think of. Although a small amount of the feedback I get about my blog is negative the overwhelming majority is supportive and celebratory. It’s even better if someone says that your blog inspired that person to do something positive.
• To advertise and promote something – Blogs can be used to promote or market a product, a business and/or even yourself. Blogs can be an excellent vehicle for self-promotion and personal branding. Good blogs get you noticed and could be good for your career. Your next employer might even be one of your regular blog readers. I have also realized that blogs can be a great way to attract potential clients for consultancy opportunities.
• To establish expertise and create awareness – Blogs are a great way to help individuals establish themselves as an expert in a specific topic or area and can help in creating awareness of specific issues. One of the side benefits is that you also become more expert in researching a topic. Reading your old blogs can also help you in becoming more reflective and critical about your thinking.
• To make a difference (to oneself and/or others) – Blogs that are specific and issue-based can be used to educate and/or change opinion in someone else. Your writing might help make a difference in their lives (such as learning about something they didn’t know before reading your blog). Writing can be therapeutic and some people write blogs as a journal or diary. Sometimes ‘making a difference’ can be to the bloggers themselves. For instance, my blogs on survivor guilt and the death of David Bowie were primarily to help myself rather than anyone else reading.
• To keep up to date with a specific interest or topic and gain knowledge – Being a regular blogger means that you have to keep up-to-date with what’s going on in the area being written about. At the same time it increases your knowledge base.
• To make money – Making money from blogs may not be at the top of people’s lists but good bloggers can get paid for some of their efforts.
• To help time management and other life skills – Writing a regular blog takes time and dedication but can also help you become better in time management. My blogs complement the other things I do in my life (both professionally and personally) and I plan my blog writing around other areas of my life. Why watch a dull TV show when I could be bettering myself writing a blog? In short, it could lead to some healthier life habits.
• To boost self-esteem and ego needs – The one thing I love about blogging is that I have a running record of how many people have accessed my blog, which articles they are reading, where they were referred from, and who has re-blogged my writing. This all contributes to my overall sense of self-worth and helps raise my self-esteem. Positive feedback makes you feel good. In short, blog ‘success’ is measurable.

Many of the reasons I’ve listed above form part of my own motivations for blogging but the main reason I write my blogs is that I love writing them because others seem to like reading them. In short I have a passion for it. 

Dr. Mark Griffiths, Professor of Behavioural Addiction, International Gaming Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

Further reading

Becker, J. (2016). 15 reasons I think you should blog. Becoming Minimalist, January 14. Located at: http://www.becomingminimalist.com/15-reasons-i-think-you-should-blog/

Bullas, J. (2010). 12 reasons why people blog. jeffbullas.com. Located at: http://www.jeffbullas.com/2010/07/23/12-reasons-why-people-blog/

Fullwood, C., Sheehan, N., & Nicholls, W. (2009). Blog function revisited: A content analysis of MySpace blogs. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 12(6), 685-689.

Griffiths, M.D. (2013). How writing blogs can help your academic career. Psy-PAG Quarterly, 87, 39-40.

Griffiths, M.D. (2014). Top tips on…Writing blogs. Psy-PAG Quarterly, 90, 13-14.

Gunnellus, S. (2014). Top 10 reasons to start  blog. About Tech, December 16. Located at: http://weblogs.about.com/od/startingablog/tp/Top-Ten-Reasons-to-Blog.htm

Hsu, C.L., & Lin, J.C.C. (2008). Acceptance of blog usage: The roles of technology acceptance, social influence and knowledge sharing motivation. Information and Management, 45(1), 65-74.

Kim, H.N. (2008). The phenomenon of blogs and theoretical model of blog use in educational contexts. Computers and Education, 51(3), 1342-1352.

Li, J., & Chignell, M. (2010). Birds of a feather: How personality influences blog writing and reading. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 68(9), 589-602.

Liu, S.H., Liao, H.L., & Zeng, Y.T. (2007). Why people blog: an expectancy theory analysis. Issues in Information Systems, 8(2), 232-237.

Nardi, B.A., Schiano, D. J., & Gumbrecht, M. (2004). Blogging as social activity, or, would you let 900 million people read your diary? In Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work (pp. 222-231). ACM.

Reich, D. (2011). 9 reasons you should blog. Forbes, October 15. Located at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danreich/2011/10/15/9-reasons-you-should-blog/#616c4f2a5ab0

Shang, R.A., Chen, Y.C., & Chen, C.M. (2007). Why people blog? An empirical investigation of the task technology fit model. PACIS 2007 Proceedings, 5. PACIS.

Suyeoka, B. (2016). 6 things that blogging can do for you. Huffington Post, September 25. Located at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brandon-suyeoka/6-things-that-blogging-ca_b_3973092.html

Thacker, N. (2011). 10 reasons why you need a blog. Life Hack, October 15. Located at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/danreich/2011/10/15/9-reasons-you-should-blog/#616c4f2a5ab0

Websudasa (2015). Top 10 reasons why people blog. Shout Me Loud, July 16. Located at: http://www.shoutmeloud.com/top-10-reasons-why-people-blog.html

Wood, R.T.A. & Griffiths, M.D. (2004). Adolescent lottery and scratchcard players: Do their attitudes influence their gambling behaviour? Journal of Adolescence, 27, 467-475.

Blog-nitive psychology: 500 articles and counting

It’s hard for me to believe that this is the 500th article that I have published on my personal blog. It’s also the shortest. I apologise that it is not about any particular topic but a brief look back at what my readers access when they come across my site. (Regular readers might recall I did the same thing back in October 2012 in an article I wrote called ‘Google surf: What does the search for sex online say about someone?’). As of August 26 (2014), my blog had 1,788,932 visitors and is something I am very proud of (as I am now averaging around 3,500 visitors a day). As I write this blog, my most looked at page is my blog’s home page (256,262 visitors) but as that changes every few days this doesn’t really tell me anything about people like to access on my site.

Below is a list of all the blogs that I have written that have had over 10,000 visitors (and just happens to be 25 articles exactly).

• Coprophilia (40,001)
• Urophilia (38,933)
• Somnophilia (22,291)
• Trampling fetishes (20,651)
• Urethral manipulation (20,234)
• Scrotal infusion (20,041)
• Genital bisection (18,715)
• Felching (18,193)
• Vorarephilia (16,566)
• Insect sting fetishes (16,236)
• Transformation fetishes (15,731)
• Amputee fetishes (15,467)
• Macrophilia (15,322)
• Sexual masochism (13,937)
• Formicophilia (13,655)
• Eproctophilia (13,295)
• Lactophilia (12,656)
• Equinophilia (12,434)
• Spit fetishes (12,259)
• Menophilia (11,855)
• Paraphilic infantilism (11,590)
• Zoophilia (11,235)
• Transvestic fetishism (10,661)
• Forniphilia (10,046)
• Necrophilia (10,020)

The first thing that struck me about my most read about articles is that they all concern sexual fetishes and paraphilias (in fact the top 30 all concern sexual fetishes and paraphilias – the 31st most read article is one on coprophagia [7,250 views] with my article on excessive nose picking being the 33rd most read [6,745 views]). This obviously reflects either (a) what people want to read about, and/or (b) reflect issues that people have in their own lives.

I’ve had at least five emails from readers who have written me saying (words to the effect of) “Why can’t you write what you are supposed to write about (i.e., gambling)?” to which I reply that although I am a Professor of Gambling Studies, I widely research in other areas of addictive behaviour. I simply write about the extremes of human behaviour and things that I find of interest. (In fact, only one article on gambling that I have written is in the top 100 most read articles and that was on gambling personality [3,050 views]). If other people find them of interest, that’s even better. However, I am sometimes guided by my readers, and a small but significant minority of the blogs I have written have actually been suggested by emails I have received (my blogs on extreme couponing, IVF addiction, loom bands, ornithophilia, condom snorting, and haircut fetishes come to mind).

Given this is my 500th article in my personal blog, it won’t come as any surprise to know that I take my blogging seriously (in fact I have written academic articles on the benefits of blogging and using blogs to collect research data [see ‘Further reading’ below] and also written an article on ‘addictive blogging’!). Additionally (if you didn’t already know), I also have a regular blog column on the Psychology Today website (‘In Excess’), as well as regular blogging for The Independent newspaper, The Conversation, GamaSutra, and Rehabs.com. If there was a 12-step ‘Blogaholics Anonymous’ I might even be the first member.

“My name is Mark and I am a compulsive blogger”

Dr. Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies, International Gaming Research Unit, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

Further reading

Griffiths, M.D. (2012). Blog eat blog: Can blogging be addictive? April 23. Located at: https://drmarkgriffiths.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/blog-eat-blog-can-blogging-be-addictive/

Griffiths, M.D. (2012). Stats entertainment: A review of my 2012 blogs. December 31. Located at: https://drmarkgriffiths.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/stats-entertainment-a-review-of-my-2012-blogs/

Griffiths, M.D. (2013). How writing blogs can help your academic career. Psy-PAG Quarterly, 87, 39-40.

Griffiths, M.D. (2013). Stats entertainment (Part 2): A 2013 review of my personal blog. December 31. Located at: https://drmarkgriffiths.wordpress.com/2013/12/31/stats-entertainment-part-2-a-2013-review-of-my-personal-blog/

Griffiths, M.D. (2014). Top tips on…Writing blogs. Psy-PAG Quarterly, 90, 13-14.

Griffiths, M.D. (2014). Blogging the limelight: A personal account of the benefit of excessive blogging. May 8. Located at: https://drmarkgriffiths.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/blogging-the-limelight-a-personal-account-of-the-benefits-of-excessive-blogging/

Griffiths, M.D., Lewis, A., Ortiz de Gortari, A.B. & Kuss, D.J. (2014). Online forums and blogs: A new and innovative methodology for data collection. Studia Psychologica, in press.