Deciphering blog users: young adults’ personalities, motivations, and perceived importance of blog features

ABSTRACT

The present study examines the cyberpsychology of blog readership as well as the digital content preferences of the Millennial generation by examining the links between college students’ personality traits, motivations to read blogs, and preferred blog features. Results indicate that personality influences motivations for reading blogs, which in turn helps predict perceived importance of blog characteristics. Notably, extraversion and neuroticism were related to reading blogs for social interaction; extraversion negatively predicted use of blogs to meet identity needs; openness was related to blog reading for entertainment purposes; and conscientiousness was positively associated with information seeking via blogs. Additionally, motivations for blog readership as explanatory mechanisms for the relationships found between personality traits and perceived importance of blog features are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Blog readership
• motivations
• uses and gratifications
• personality traits
• new media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Szu-Wei Chen (PhD, University of Missouri) is an Assistant Professor of New Media and Communication at I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Dr Chen is media scholar interested in how transformation in digital technology affects human communication. His research interests center on human interactions in the computer-mediated environment, and he explores topics such as media and health, gender, and social advertising and marketing. [email: [email protected]].

Dr. Elizabeth (Lissa) Behm-Morawitz (PhD, Arizona) is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication at University of Missouri. Her research examines how mediated gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality influence stereotyping, self-concept, and health. Much of her work examines cultural representation in interactive media contexts, where the media user can create and interact with virtual representations. [email: [email protected]].