Abstract
A journal-type blog offers audiences a venue, through which to exchange ideas about bloggers’ feelings and provide feedback, which could be regarded as a kind of social support. Based on a social support category system proposed by Cutrona and Suhr (1992), this study aims to identify the kinds of social support offered by audiences to continuous popular journal-type bloggers(A-list), as well as explore the possible benefits bloggers may obtain from these kinds of social support. Content analysis was used to analyze the feedback or comments of 479 members of the audiences of highly popular journal-type blog posts. The research results revealed that “validation, encouragement, and compliment” are the most common types of social support given by the audience to A-list journal-type bloggers, implying that the audience often conveys validation and support to bloggers, encourages them to continue writing, and confirms their abilities through their responses. Such types of social support may help bloggers obtain the benefits of social validation and relationship development, which in turn encourage bloggers to commit continuous self-disclosure.
Keywords
Blog, Social Support, Self-disclosure, Social Validation, Relationship Development
ISBN
ISBN: [978-1-86435-644-1]; Full paper
Recommended Citation
Ko, Hsiu-Chia; Wang, Li-Ling; and Xu, Yi-Ting, "What Kinds Of Social Support Does The Audience Offer To A-List Journal-Type Bloggers?" (2011). PACIS 2011 Proceedings. 99.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2011/99