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Blogging the Time Away? Young Adults'

Motivations for Blog Use
a

Cory L. Armstrong & Melinda J. McAdams

College of Journalism and Communications University of Florida

Published online: 21 Apr 2011.

To cite this article: Cory L. Armstrong & Melinda J. McAdams (2011) Blogging the Time Away?
Young Adults' Motivations for Blog Use, Atlantic Journal of Communication, 19:2, 113-128, DOI:
10.1080/15456870.2011.561174
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2011.561174

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Atlantic Journal of Communication, 19:113128, 2011

Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1545-6870 print/1545-6889 online
DOI: 10.1080/15456870.2011.561174

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Blogging the Time Away?

Young Adults Motivations for Blog Use
Cory L. Armstrong and Melinda J. McAdams
College of Journalism and Communications
University of Florida

The content of Weblogs ranges from personal diary entries to interactive content from news
organizations. Employing the uses and gratifications framework, this study examined how much
time young adults spend with blogs and how well traditional predictors of media trust fit a model of
overall blog trust. Findings from data collections in 2005 and 2007 indicate that information seekers
trust blog content more than those using blogs for entertainment purposes. However, traditional
indicators of media trust, such as interest in current events, are negatively associated with blog
trust. Implications are discussed.

Online media, and particularly Weblogs, have reshaped the flow of information between the
public and media. The two-step flow of communication, where opinion leaders serve as an
intermediary between the media and public (Katz & Lazarsfeld, 1955), has been replaced by
what Reuters Information CEO Tom Glocer calls the two-way pipe. Glocer (2006) suggested
that the media can no longer dictate which information consumers obtainthe public can read,
publish, and disseminate material on a much larger scale than in the pre-Web era.
This shift has made way for the exponential growth of a kind of citizen journalism, where
individuals with little to no journalism training are producing content for mass audiences.
Although much of this content might not meet journalists criteria for reliable journalism,
the content nevertheless becomes part of a consumers diet of information and, in part, may
influence ones behaviors (see, e.g., Cooper, 2006; De Ziga, Puig-I-Abril, & Rojas, 2009).
Thus, the users trust in Weblogs deserves attention, as Weblogs constitute a large part of the
nonmainstream or noncommercial information content produced online.
Our research questions focus on how younger adults use Weblogs (hereafter blogs) and how
much they trust blog content. When they read a blog, how much time do they spend with the
blog? What motivations do they have for using blog content, and how does individual trust in
blog content compare to traditional predictors of media trust?
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Cory L. Armstrong, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida, P.O. Box 118400, Gainesville, FL 32611-8400. E-mail: carmstrong@jou.ufl.edu

113

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ARMSTRONG AND McADAMS

Examining young adults attitudes about trusting media and blogs is important for mass
communication scholars. In terms of blogs, more than 54% are written by someone younger
than the age of 30 (Pew Research Center, 2006). The authors, regardless of their age, in many
cases serve as information providers alongside (or in lieu of) newspaperswhich makes the
question of how much this content is trusted by the coveted young adult readers even more
compelling, to both academics and practitioners.

LITERATURE REVIEW

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Uses and Gratifications

One segment of mass communication research has focused on an individuals motivations for
using a particular medium. That is, what drives an individual to use a particular medium
and what benefits does he or she receive from its use? Scholars have termed this theoretical
approach uses and gratifications and argue that media users have specific goals in mind, using
media purposefully to achieve those goals (Bantz, 1982; Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974;
Rosengren, Philip, & Wenner, 1985). Thus, when individuals are using media, their choice of
newspapers, television, or Internet is active and deliberate.
Although the uses and gratifications perspective has been used to explain many variations
in media use, recent research has focused on two dimensions of the overall use typologies:
surveillance use, where users seek information from media to increase, reinforce, or modify
viewpoints; and entertainment/leisure use, in which amusement and reduction of cognitive
stimulation become the main gratifications of media use (Rosengren et al., 1985; Rubin & Perse,
1987a, 1987b). Other researchers have reported that individuals found specific motivations for
media use, such as reducing anxiety (Kellerman & Reynolds, 1990), escaping from problems
(Rubin, 1983), and relieving boredom (Vincent & Basil, 1997). Scholars have designated four
types of need gratifications for media use (McQuail, Blumler, & Brown, 1972): diversion or
escape, personal relationships (both in the sense of providing fodder for conversation and as a
substitute for tangible relationships), personal identity or individual psychology (largely in the
sense of reinforcing values or exploring new ones, and reassurance for the ideas one already
holds), and surveillance (as a means to gain information and stay up to date).
However, much of the seminal work on uses and gratifications focused on the use of
traditional media, including newspapers and television. With the rise of the Internet and mobile
devices, uses of media have changed. A study of college students found that although the
basic motivations for media useinformation seeking or leisure activityhavent changed, the
sources and providers to which students go for these media have changed (Diddi & LaRose,
2006). This study of news consumption patterns suggested that the top two locations where
students seek news content are their campus newspaper and news Internet portals.
Given the pervasiveness of the Internetand, in particular for this study, blogsscholars
have attempted to determine the motivations for its use. Early research has generally found
that, similar to traditional media, individuals use the Internet largely for either surveillance or
entertainment purposes (Ferguson & Perse, 2000; Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000). A set of studies
by Johnson and Kaye attempted to isolate specific motivations and how each motivation relates
to specific Web sites. For example, the scholars found that information seeking was more likely

MOTIVATIONS FOR WEBLOG USE

115

for those visiting sports-focused Web sites (T. J. Johnson & Kaye, 2003) but that politically
oriented Web sites and forums may be more used for guidance purposes, such as determining
voter preference (Kaye & Johnson, 2004). Recent research has found that blog credibility was
higher for those using blogs for information-seeking purposes (e.g., Armstrong & McAdams,
2009; T. J. Johnson, Kaye, Bichard, & Wong, 2008).

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Blogs and Blog Users

This study focuses on blogs, a portion of the Internet that has seen exponential growth in
recent years. In this article, we define a blog as a hierarchy of text, images, media objects and
data, arranged chronologically, that can be viewed in an HTML browser (Winer, 2003). Many
blogs include predominantly or only text. A blog entry (or, more commonly, a blog post) is
a complete unit of content. There might be several posts in one day, but typically each post
has its own headline and can be linked to individually. The length of a post can vary widely
within one blog.
In perhaps the first study examining the uses and gratifications of blogs (in which 3,747 blog
users were surveyed), the main motivations found for blog use were surveillance (social and
political), convenience, and personal fulfillment (Kaye, 2005). However, Kaye pointed out that
reading and participating in blogs can also gratify excitement, entertainment and relaxation
needs (p. 90), which suggests that blogs are also used as a leisure activity. A 2006 study found
that bloggersthose who maintain their own blogstend to view their activity as a hobby, or
something they do in their leisure time (Pew Research Center, 2006). More recently, a 2008
study of journalists and public relations practitioners found that blog authors and users rated
blogs as more credible than nonblog users did (Sweetser, Porter, Chung, & Kim, 2008).
Kaye (2005) found that for some motivations, blog usage (measured in hours used per week)
was a predictor, but Internet experience (measured in years of use) was not. This suggests that
effects of blog usage may not be parallel to effects of other media and that the time spent with
individual blogs may be important for study. As she noted,
Blog users may be as actively engaged as they wish. They may fully participate in online discussions
and send in links to additional information or they may choose to be more passive and aloof and
merely read the opinions of others. The amount of participation can vary from session to session
and Weblog to Weblog, but is determined by the user, not the technology. (Kaye, 2005, p. 75)

A Pew Research Center study in 2003 found that about 11% of Internet users at that
time had read blogs (Rainie, 2005). Subsequent Pew studies showed that the percentage had
increased to 27% by November 2004 but had not changed by September 2005 (see, e.g., Pew
Internet & American Life, 2005; Rainie, 2005). Rainie (2005) concluded that blog readers are
somewhat more of a mainstream group than bloggers themselves and noted recent growth in
blog readership among women and minorities. In a 2008 study of 3,615 adults in the United
States, 23% said they regularly or sometimes read blogs about politics or current events (Pew
Research Center, 2008). Blog readers, therefore, are not rare, but the amount of experience
with blogs can be expected to vary widely in the population of U.S. Internet users.
The aforementioned research suggests that blog users are a subset of all Internet users.
Roughly 57 million Americans read blogs, compared with 147 million who use the Internet

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ARMSTRONG AND McADAMS

(Pew Research Center, 2006). These are people with more experience reading blogs, and
therefore they will evaluate content differently than nonblog users. In prior work, blog usage
served as a moderating variable in determining the credibility of blog content, in that blog users
were less likely than nonusers to subscribe to gender cues to determine credibility (Armstrong
& McAdams, 2010). This finding suggests that blog users have different criteria for evaluating
blogs than nonusers. In the present study, we believe that blog users will evaluate this blog
more quickly than nonusers and spend less time reading blogs employed in this study.

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H1: Blog users will spend less time with the content of the blogs employed in this study
than nonblog users.
Media Trust Versus Blog Trust
Scholars have been fascinated with the level of trust placed in media channels over time (Cook
& Gronke, 2001; Jones, 2004; MORI Research Inc., 1985). Public confidence in media dropped
22 points to 32% between 1989 and 2000, around the time of George W. Bushs election to
office (P. Johnson, 2003). However, despite this sharp decline, media use appears to be at an
all-time high. For example, a Kaiser Family Foundation study found that the average parent
spends nearly 2.25 hr in a typical day looking at either a television or a computer screen
(Lenhart & Fox, 2006).
Media trust has been characterized as ones disposition to view media content as either
favorable or unfavorable (Gunther, 1992). However, Gunthers study found that ones situational
involvement with an issue, event, or story is a strong predictor of media trust. In terms
of political news, scholars have offered three main explanations for media distrust (Jones,
2004): content, which is often focused on horse-race coverage and less about issues; media
penchant for interpretation of information, rather than observation and reporting of events;
and sensationalism, where scandal is the focus of reporting. Two European scholars suggested
four potential dimensions of media trust: selectivity of topics, selectivity of facts, accuracy of
depictions, and journalistic assessments (Kohring & Matthes, 2007).
Further, scholars have suggested that consumers flock to media even if they dont trust it
merely to be exposed to the viewpoints expressed by political leaders (Tsfati & Cappella, 2005).
A 2004 study found that as Internet users became more experienced, they did not engage in
more online activities and varying types of contentinstead, these long-time users visited the
same core sites regularly (T. J. Johnson & Kaye, 2004a). This may suggest that experienced
Web users have developed a level of trust with a select set of online sites.
Prior studies have found that blog users believe blogs are more credible than other media
(T. J. Johnson & Kaye, 2004b), which suggests there may also be a difference in the level of
trust afforded to blogs between users and nonusers. Recent research lends credence to this idea
by finding that blog usage appears to act differently than other information sources, particularly
in the political realm (De Ziga et al., 2009; Kenix, 2009). We argue that many of those trust
differences may stem from the motivations of media consumers. In particular, individuals who
use media to seek information are likely viewing the media with different evaluation criteria
than those simply surfing the Internet or flipping television channels as a leisure activity. Those
seeking information are looking to be challenged, or to have their views reinforced, and blogs
provide a popular way of doing both. A 2007 study found that respondents who distrusted

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MOTIVATIONS FOR WEBLOG USE

117

traditional news media content about health-related information were more likely to go to the
Web in search of information (Rains, 2007).
Put differently, one of the functions of blogs is to criticize and question traditional media
(Cooper, 2006). Therefore it makes sense that blog users would seek out information to confirm,
reinforce, or refute their pointsperhaps by using other blogs. Most blog posts are written
by an individual based on personal opinions and experiences. However, research has found
that despite these unedited, personalized entries, more than one third of all bloggers attempt
to verify their facts before posting material (Pew Research Center, 2006). That suggests that
information contained in some blogs may be well researched and compelling in a way that
attracts these information seekers. It seems likely that if they read these blogs for information,
or to supplement other media, they may be evaluating the accuracy, content, and presentation
of the blogs. Once those criteria are established, trust in the blogs would likely increase. On
the other hand, those who read blogs for leisure use are not evaluating the content in the same
way. They are looking to be amused and entertained. Enjoyable and entertainment blogs may
or may not be accurate and trustworthy. Thus, it follows that motivations for usage may be
factor in determining trust in blogs in the same way as trust for other media.
H2: Those with information-seeking motivations will have more trust in blogs than those
with non-information-seeking motivations.
Finally, this study provides for a unique comparison of how predictors of media trust may be
applied toward blogs. That is, are blogs perceived as having the same utility and trustworthiness
as are often attributed to traditional media? Given that bloggers have broken some major news
stories and, in many instances have been deemed citizen journalists (e.g., Cooper, 2006;
Gillmor, 2004), it seems possible that predictors of media trust and blog trust may be similar.
Further, recent research has found that blogs use can predict online political discussion in the
same way that traditional media sources predict offline political discussion (De Ziga et al.,
2009). However, we argue that blogs function as alternative mediathat although they share
some of the same characteristics as mainstream media, they differ in that citizen journalists
and bloggers are not held to the same standards and practices as more established media. Thus,
we pose the following research question:
RQ1: How do individual motivations predicting media trust compare with individual motivations as predictors of blog trust?
METHODS
This exploratory study employs two Web-based surveys conducted in November 2005 and
November 2007.1 Participants for the survey were drawn from several undergraduate classes
including some in a mass communications curriculumat a large southeastern university;
1 A three-cell experiment was embedded in each of the surveys. The blog text was identical in all versions, but the
gender of the writer was manipulated. The cells were collapsed for this analysis, and we have no reason to believe
the results were affected by this action. More information about the experiment within the survey is available upon
request.

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students were offered extra credit for participating in this research experience. In Study 1, the
mean age for participants was 20.7 (SD D 1.45), with 58% female. The sample size in Study 1
was 586. Study 2 had a total sample size of 786. The mean age for participants was 20.54
(SD D 2.35), also with 58% female.
In both studies, respondents read one version of a blog entry. In Study 1, all respondents
read a blog post about rebuilding homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, whereas in
Study 2 respondents were randomly assigned to read a blog post about either bottled water or
college rankings. The text for each of the three posts was seven paragraphs (500600 words) in
length, and each post included six external links to other actual Web sites containing additional
information about topics discussed in the blog post. Each post was based on a real blog post
written by an amateur blogger. Appropriate links were added; for example, in a sentence about
unemployment rates in pre-Katrina New Orleans, a link to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
employment rates was provided. Some editing was necessary to increase the similarity of
the three posts. The bottled water post was lengthened, and the college rankings post was
shortened, to make them more similar to the New Orleans post used in Study 1. However, the
study authors attempted to maintain the tone and attitude of the original post in the rewrites
through word selection and voice.2 Further, each of the three posts was formatted in the same
page design, taken from a standard template at a popular blog hosting site with few alterations,
giving the appearance of an average, somewhat plain blog. No images were used in the posts.
The blog entries were selected for several attributes. One was length; an entry of 500 words
was estimated to be substantial but not burdensome for an experiment with college students.
Another was subject matter. We wanted posts with a personal voice and informal tone that also
addressed a topic that might interest a general audience. We were looking for a strong opinion
that seemed well grounded and plausible.
For Study 1, the hurricane damage to New Orleans had dominated recent print and broadcast
news reports at that time, so it would have been a familiar topic and close to home for students
in the southeastern United States. We saw rebuilding in New Orleans as an aspect of the story
that had not yet been hammered in the mainstream media. Thus we chose a blog post that we
expected would be fresh to most of our study participants, without being obscure.
For Study 2, we decided to find two posts that might be even more interesting and relevant to
an audience of undergraduate college students while having different subject matter from each
other. We did not want posts that sounded like news stories, essays, or diary entries; our goal
was something informational but not too dull. Our two posts seemed to be good counterpoints
to each other. The bottled water post contained numerous facts about the environment, disposal
of plastics, and water purity, but it was written in a snide, casual style with a youthful voice.3
The college rankings post was more traditional in structure and slightly formal in style, with an
older, more authoritative voice; it concerned whether choosing a college based on rankings is
wise in light of how the rankings are compileda topic we thought might warrant the attention
of undergraduate students.
2 A screen capture of one version of the blog post used in Study 1 is available in the appendix. Upon request, the
authors can provide both the original and the edited text of each blog post.
3
The varying writing styles in Study 2 were employed to minimize artificiality in the experiment. By employing
different styles of writing, we could assume that the trust measures were based more in reality than by only providing
one type of blog for study. Each was a counterbalance to the post examined in Study 1.

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Dependent Variables
Three main dependent variables were used in this analysis. Unless otherwise noted, all of the
questions were measured on a 1-to-7 Likert scale asking participants their level of agreement
with a particular statement. In Study 1, of the 586 participants, 120 (20%; M D .47, SD D
1.14) clicked on at least one link in the story. Time spent was measured in seconds from the
time the respondent clicked into the blog post from the consent page until the time until the
respondent clicked out of the post and into the survey; the median was 174 s. In Study 2, 25.4%
of the 786 respondents clicked on at least one link (M D .28, SD D .43), and the median time
spent was 168 s.
Trust in media was measured from a two-item index asking respondents whether they trust
information they read in the news media and if they find most information in the news media
to be accurate (Study 1: r D .42, M D 8.86, SD D 2.21; Study 2: r D .37, M D 8.19,
SD D 2.20). Trust in blogs was measured using a three-item index asking respondents whether
personal blogs were just as trustworthy as those written by professionals, whether information
contained in blogs should be trusted, and whether a blog is an informative news article (Study 1
descriptives: D .66, M D 8.78, SD D 3.01; Study 2 descriptives: D .65, M D 9.29, SD D
2.99).4 The correlation between blog trust and media trust was r D .10 (p < .05) in Study 1
and r D .08 (p < .05) in Study 2.
Independent Variables
In Study 1, the variable blog users ( D .76, M D 5.05, SD D 4.22) was created from a threeitem index that asked respondents how many online blogs they read in the last seven days, the
average number of hours per week they spend reading or posting to blogs, and whether they
read blogs regularly (Study 2 descriptives: D .68, M D 3.82, SD D 2.75). Credibility of the
blog post (Study 1 descriptives: D .84; M D 24.8, SD D 6.3; Study 2 descriptives: D .85;
M D 29.48, SD D 6.01) was created from a six-item index asking participants to whether they
thought the blog post was interesting, accurate, credible, trustworthy, believable, and held the
respondents attention.5
Interest in current events (Study 1 descriptives: r D .53; M D 11.49, SD D 2.28; Study 2
descriptives: r D .51, M D11.65, SD D 2.13) was measured from two items asking respondents
if they were interested in news and information or whether they were interested in current
events. Media reflection (Study 1 descriptives: r D .35, M D 8.74, SD D 2.33; Study 2
descriptives: r D .37, M D 9.52, SD D 2.37) was measured by asking respondents whether
they try to make sense of what they encounter in the media by comparing it to their own
experiences and whether, after getting information from the media, they use it to help organize
their thoughts (Cho et al., 2009). An eight-item index was used to create the surveillance-use
variable (Study 1 descriptives: D .93, M D 25.65, SD D 10.99; Study 2 descriptives: D
.92, M D 28.00, SD D 11.05), including questions asking respondents on a 1-to-7 scale to
4 The

alpha coefficient for this variable is lower than ideal, but all three items loaded strongly on one factor in
Study 1 (.76 or above factor loading) and the findings were the same using a one-item indicator of trust only. Therefore,
we believe the three-item scale bolstered the findings and we replicated the measure in Study 2.
5 These source credibility measures were taken from Armstrong and Nelson (2005). Scholars have argued that trust
and credibility are separate, although related, concepts (see, e.g., Kohring & Matthes, 2007).

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rate their level of agreement with their media use habits. They were asked if they use blogs to
check accuracy of other media, to access information quickly, to find information not found in
traditional media, to supplement other media, to keep up with the main issues of the day, to be
informed, to find specific information, or to compare to traditional media accounts. The leisureuse variable (Study 1 descriptives: D .87, M D 20.22, SD D 8.03; Study 2 descriptives: D
.86, M D 20.82, SD D 7.70) was created from six questions asking whether respondents used
blogs for excitement, to be in contact with like-minded people, for entertainment purposes, to
be amused, because it helps me relax, to follow what my personal friends and colleagues are
doing (see past studies, such as Kaye, 2005, or Rubin & Perse, 1987b, for an in-depth look at
uses and gratifications measures).
The hypotheses and research questions in this study were examined using the SPSS statistical
package, including difference of mean tests and hierarchical linear regression.

RESULTS
The first hypothesis focused on blog users, suggesting that blog users would spend less time
reading the post. Using difference of mean tests, the median number of seconds for nonusers
was 162, whereas the median for blog users was 182.1, for a difference of 20.1 s, t (532) D
1.65, p D .10, ns. In Study 2, the median number of seconds for nonusers was 183, whereas
the median for blog users was 293 s, for a difference of 110 s, t (752) D 1.23, p D .21, ns.
The first hypothesis was not supported in this analysis.
The second hypothesis suggested that those with information-seeking motivations would be
more trusting of blog content. Again, using difference of mean tests, the mean level of blog trust
for low information seekers in Study 1 was 7.82, compared to a mean of 9.70 for those who are
high information seekers, t (536) D 7.78, p D .01. In Study 2, the mean level of blog trust for
low information seekers was 8.19, compared to a mean of 10.30 for those who are high information seekers, t (739) D 10.28, p D .01. This result lends support to the second hypothesis.
The research question examined how predictors of media trust compared with those predicting blog trust. It was tested from two hierarchical regressions, with trust in blogs and trust
in media as the dependent variables (see Tables 1 and 2). In Study 1, the first regression block
included demographic variables of gender and race and was not a significant predictor in this
analysis for either variable. The second block, which accounted for 12.0% of the variance for
blog trust (p < .01), included characteristics of blog users and the specific blog. Credibility of
the blog post was found to be a significant positive predictor of overall trust in blogs ( D
.28, p < .01). For media trust, no significant results were found in this block.
In the third block, media use variables were added. Blog usage was found to be a negative
predictor of media trust ( D .27, p < .05), but the block was not a significant contributor
to the analysis. The fourth block accounted for 20.1% of variance (p < .01) for overall blog
trust. Informational media use was found to be a positive predictor of overall trust in blogs
( D .20, p < .05) along with media reflection ( D .31, p < .01), whereas interest in current
events ( D .35, p < .01) was found to be a negative predictor of overall trust in blogs.
Leisure use was found to be a positive predictor for overall media use ( D .22, p < .05).
In Study 2 (see Table 2), the first block controlled for demographics and the different blog
posts and was not a significant contributor to the analysis for either overall blog trust or overall

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TABLE 1
Hierarchical Linear Regression of Blogging Attitudes and Behavior on Media and Blog Trust in Study 1

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Variable
Block 1
Gender (Female)
Race (White)
Inc. R2 (%)
Block 2
Number of seconds on post
Credibility of blog post
Total links clicked
Inc. R2 (%)
Block 3
Blog usage
Media usage
Inc. R2 (%)
Block 4
Informational Weblog use
Leisure Weblog use
Interest in current events
Media reflection
Trust in media/blogs overall
Inc. R2 (%)

Final Beta for

Overall Blog Trust

Final Beta for

Overall Media Trust

.17*
.06
1.4

.14
.18#
5.3#

.05
.28**
.16#
12.0**

.01
.09
.11
2.7

.01
.11
0.5

.27*
.06
4.6#

.20*
.06
.35**
.31**
.07
20.1**
34.0**

.15
.22*
.07
.08
.09
5.7
19.6

Total R2
*p < .05. **p < .01. # D p < :10.

media trust. The second block focused on the individual blog characteristics and accounted for
18.5% of the variance for overall blog trust (p < .01). Credibility writer ( D .11, p < .01)
and time spent on post ( D .12, p < .05) were positive predictors of blog trust. Credibility
of the blog post was a positive predictor for media trust. Block three contained media use and
blog use variablesneither was found to be a significant predictor in this analysis.
In the fourth block, media uses and gratifications, variables of media trust and reflection
on media content were added, accounting for 18.7% of the variance for blog trust (p < .01)
and 2.3% in the media trust analysis (p < .05). For overall blog trust, a significant negative
relationships was found for interest in current events ( D .23, p < .01). Informational media
use was found to be a positive predictor ( D .39, p < .01), similar to Study 1. For overall
media trust, media reflection was a significant positive contributor ( D .12, p < .01).

DISCUSSION
This study examined the motivations for individuals use of blogs and explored the factors that
affect the time individuals spend on this type of content. Two major findings resulted from
this study: (a) Individuals who use blogs for information-seeking purposes are more likely to

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TABLE 2
Hierarchical Linear Regression of Blogging Attitudes and Behavior on Media and Blog Trust in Study 2

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Variable
Block 1
Gender (Female)
Race (White)
Post (Bottled water)
Inc. R2 (%)
Block 2
Number of seconds on post
Credibility of blog post
Credibility of post writer
Total links clicked
Inc. R2 (%)
Block 3
Blog use
Media use
Inc. R2 (%)
Block 4
Informational Weblog use
Leisure Weblog use
Interest in current events
Media reflection
Trust in media/blogs overall
Inc. R2 (%)

Final Beta for

Overall Blog Trust

Final Beta for

Overall Media Trust

.06
.05
.01
1.0#

.02
.05
.00
0.6

.12*
.04*
.11**
.05
8.5**

.01
.13*
.08
.03
1.5*

.07#
.15
4.5**

.08
.06
0.9#

.39**
.06
.23**
.00
.04
18.7**
32.7**

.07
.01
.02
.12**
.84
2.3*
5.2*

Total R2
*p < .05. **p < .01. # D p < :10.

trust the content contained in the blogs than those who use blogs for leisure activities, and
(b) individual motivations for blog trust appear to be different from those for other types of
media trust.
Our major findings concern how blogs are used by young adults. The idea that individuals
who use blogs specifically for information-seeking purposes are more likely to trust them is
intriguing for a number of reasons. First, overall users of blogs do not necessarily trust blogs.
Thus, blog use is not a predictor of blog trust. The motivation or intention of the blog user,
however, does appear to be a predictor of blog trust.
The respondents within this survey are young adults, and they may hear (or read) more
about blogs than the general population does. Blogs are often seen as antimainstream or
alternative media. Given younger adults avoidance of traditional news media (Mindich, 2005;
Pew Research Center, 2010), blogs may be considered informational by these users because
they dont consume traditional news media. This idea is supported by our findings that interest
in current events has an inverse relationship with blog trust. More specifically, those individuals
interested in current events in this study did not demonstrate trust in blog content. These users
may well be looking for types of information other than public affairs or traditional news

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MOTIVATIONS FOR WEBLOG USE

123

content, or they may conceptualize news and information differently. This line of research
should be fruitful for future scholarship.
Second, these findings may result because many blogs are, in fact, well researched and well
thought-out. Previous research on bloggers has found that more than 35% attempt to verify
information before posting it and that roughly the same number include the location of the
original information within their post (Pew Research Center, 2006). For example, the most
popular blogs are authored by individuals who consider their blog posts to be a job, not just
a hobby. Among the Top 10 blogs listed in Technorati are The Huffington Post, Engadget,
and Lifehackerall of which are commercial, for-profit entities.6 To be fair, a content analysis
would have to be conducted to empirically test this idea, which is speculative on our part.
Our results also indicate that respondents view blogs differently than other news media,
which supports some prior findings from De Ziga et al. (2009). Traditional predictors, such
as current events interest and media reflection, did not have the same impact on blog trust as
on media trust, suggesting that despite the exponential growth of blogs in recent years, young
adults may not evaluate blogs in the same way as they do newspapers, television news, or online
news sites, despite the fact that the blogs may be owned by some of the same organizations.
Conversely, the negative association between interest in current events and blog trust may
indicate that respondents arent going to use blogs to learn about current events. Although
current events could include any type of timely information, these respondents may link that
concept with, for example, primarily political information. Thus, it could be that respondents
who reflect on media are actually connecting their blog usage with consumption of soft news
(e.g., celebrity news and television), whereas traditional hard news and current event seekers
may not be the ones using blogs on a regular basis. Future research may want to examine this
idea further, as this study did not attempt to differentiate blog content in that way.
It was somewhat of a surprise to find no significant difference in time spent between the
blog users and the nonblog users. One possible explanation is that as undergraduate students
involved in a study, our participants simply had a low level of interest in the subjects of the
blog posts. The question remains as to whether blog users make conclusions related to trust
based on a blogs appearance or design, or whether their trust decision is based purely on the
content. What is certain, however, is that as increasing numbers of people create blogs and
other online information sources in an expanding network of noncommercial peer production
(Benkler, 2006), researchers should address questions about which factors contribute to users
trust in these sources. Future scholarship is undoubtedly needed to flesh out this idea.
Finally, it is noteworthy that the results for media reflection were inconsistent between the
two studies. Reflection and integration of ideas have often been examined by asking respondents
how often they incorporate media content into their deliberation about ideas and societal issues
(see, e.g., McLeod et al., 1999). In this case, media reflection was found to predict blog trust
but not media trust in Study 1; however, the findings were reversed in Study 2. Because
blogs of all types grew exponentially between 2005 and 2007, it seems likely that more
reflectionand perhaps skepticism toward their contentoccurred among those who were
early adopters of blog content. Thus, when blogs became mainstream, early adopters began to
lose faith in their usefulness as an informational tool. This could also coincide with the grown

Information obtained from http://technorati.com/pop/blogs/ on March 30, 2009.

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ARMSTRONG AND McADAMS

of social media, such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, but this study did not address that
connection.

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Limitations and Future Directions

A few caveats are necessary for discussion. This study examined three blog entries. We did
not measure subject interest in the topics. Future research may want to examine how varying
designs and topics may change motivations or trust in blog content. Second, the generic design
of the blog may have influenced trust. Experienced blog users may have recognized the blog
post design as being rather generic and therefore deemed it less trustworthy. Although we found
no significant differences between the blog posts in Study 2, it may be that the different writing
styles were more influential than accounted for here. We employed different measures to capture
blog trust and media trust, which could, in part, account for some of the differences in the
empirical findings. However, we feel our measures more accurately reflect individual attitudes
about those constructs. Finally, we used an undergraduate student sample within this study, so
generalizing the results to the general population should be done with caution, although we
point out that those younger than 30 are still the most prevalent blog authors, so we believe
our sample is appropriate.7
Overall, this study provided new insight into how blogs are being perceived by media consumers. Both scholars and practitioners can use our findings to rethink how they develop online
informational content based on their varying audiences. Blogs clearly have unique influence
over consumers from other informational and recreational media, which opens up a new line of
research. Finally, our study extended work in media gratifications scholarship, reinforcing the
idea that younger readers use and consume media differently than other demographic segments.

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APPENDIX
Screen Capture of a Version of the Study 1 Blog Post

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