Atlantic Journal of Communication, 18:194210, 2010 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1545-6870 print/1545-6889 online

e DOI: 10.1080/15456870.2010.505904

Going to the Blogs: Toward the Development of a Uses and Gratications Measurement Scale for Blogs
Barbara K. Kaye
School of Journalism & Electronic Media University of Tennessee

This article investigates the uses and motivations for connecting to blogs. Rather than relying on motivations from preexisting scales measuring traditional media or Internet use that must be adapted for blogs, motivations are derived from open-ended questions about blog use from a preliminary survey. The current study is based on a follow-up survey conducted in 2007 to quantitatively investigate blog use. Factor analysis of 56 motivational items resulted in nine motivational factors: Convenient Information Seeking, Anti-Traditional Media Sentiment, Expression/Afliation, Guidance/Opinion Seeking, Blog Ambiance, Personal Fulllment, Political Debate, Variety of Opinion, and Specic Inquiry. This article also offers suggestions for reducing the number of motivational variables.

Blogs. They have written about much and much has been written about them. Blogs have permeated the information landscape. Estimates of the number of blogs vary widely, but most sources concede between 100 million and 133 million blogs oat around cyberspace (Baker, 2008; for Granted, 2008; Galliford, 2008). Unlike standard Web sites, blogs are hosted by a blogger who posts commentary, news, and other information. Blog users may reply to the blogger or other users with their own opinions or links to information. Blog content is usually as text but may also include graphics, photos, videos, audio recordings, or live podcasting. The interactive nature, varying delivery formats, and individualized content distinguish blogs from other online sources and certainly from traditional media. Although only about 33% of Internet users have caught the blog-reading bug (Smith, 2008), blogs have steadily become trusted sources of news and information. More important, they have become formidable online voices that speak for or against governments, social trends, and other causes and issues. Supporters rely on bloggers clout to bring about political and social reform by drawing media and public attention to controversial issues and perceived wrongdoings (Kaye & Johnson, 2007). Blogs have become a distinct institution, spreading the latest buzz on both sides of an ideological divide (Bai, 2007; Nagourney, 2006).
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Barbara K. Kaye, School of Journalism & Electronic Media, 333 Communication Building, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996. E-mail: bkk@utk.edu

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Because of their unique characteristics and because they embrace users as contributors, blogs may serve different purposes and needs than other online or ofine sources. But what are these purposes and needs? The underlying question is what motivates Internet users to turn to blogs. The primary purposes of this study are to quantitatively analyze the reasons for accessing blogs and to develop motivational items for further study of blogs within the uses and gratications framework. Different from other blog uses and gratications studies that relied on preexisting motivational items that were used for investigating the Internet as a whole (Johnson, Kaye, Bichard, & Wong, 2007; Kaye, 2005; Kaye & Johnson, 2006), this descriptive study draws blog use motivations from open-ended responses to a preliminary survey (Kaye, 2007). The current study is based on a follow-up survey conducted in 2007 for the purpose of quantifying the motivations identied by the earlier open-ended survey.

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS IN AN ONLINE WORLD Although academic researchers have applied the uses and gratications approach to the traditional media for a number of years, in the last decade they have turned their attention to reasons for accessing the Internet. Some studies have delved into the motivations for using the Internet as a whole (Charney & Greenberg, 2001; Ferguson & Perse, 2000; Kang & Atkin, 1999; Kaye, 1998; Lin, 2002) and for using its components, such as such as the Web, e-mail, bulletin boards, and chat rooms (Fuentes, 2000; James, Wotring, & Forrest, 1995; Kaye & Johnson, 2004; Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000), social networking sites (Kaye, 2009; Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008) and blogs (Johnson & Kaye, 2007a, 2007c; Johnson et al., 2007; Kaye, 2005, 2007; Kaye & Johnson, 2006, 2009; Trammell, Tarkowski, Hofmoki, & Sapp, 2006). The uses and gratications framework permits investigation of what motivates individuals to seek out a particular medium (Blumler & Katz, 1974). Uses and gratications sets forth several assumptions: (a) individuals seek out media, (b) media use is goal directed, (c) media exposure fullls a variety of human needs, and (d) individuals seek out media that will gratify those needs (McLeod & Becker, 1981; Palmgreen, Wenner, & Rosengren, 1985). In general, the uses and gratications approach is highly appropriate for studying new communication sources. Further, the emergence of online technologies has bolstered the theoretical potency of the framework (Ruggiero, 2000, p. 27). Motivations for using a particular resource vary according to how a resource functions, the types of interactions and levels of activity it allows (Levy & Windahl, 1985). Online sources may profoundly change media choices and uses because they allow varying levels of activity and because users are not equally active at all times (Ruggiero, 2000). For example, Web sites are largely one-way sources of information that do not require any particular level of activity to serve their purpose. Users tend to access Web sites to satisfy entertainment, escape, and social interaction needs and to pass the time (Charney & Greenberg, 2001; Eighmey, 1997; Ferguson & Perse, 2000; Kang & Atkin, 1999; Kaye, 1998; Korgaonkar & Wolin, 1999; Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000). Other Internet components such as bulletin boards, chat rooms, and e-mail are generally considered two-way communication because they require user interaction to function as intended (Kaye & Johnson, 2004; Medoff & Kaye, 2005). Bulletin boards/electronic mailing lists tend

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to gratify information/education and social needs (James et al., 1995; Kaye & Johnson, 2004, 2006). Chat rooms satisfy social contact, personal identity, and expression needs (Fuentes, 2000; Kaye & Johnson, 2006; Turkle, 1999), and e-mail satises interpersonal needs (Dimmick, Kline, & Stafford, 2000; Stafford, Kline, & Dimmick, 1999) and convenience (Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000), and social networking sites are used primarily to keep in touch with friends and to make new friends (Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008). Each Internet component serves different needs and inuences motivations for using each online source (James et al., 1995; Kaye & Johnson, 2004). Studies have identied uses and gratications of most Internet components but blogs are a relatively new resource that requires further study.

MOTIVATIONS FOR USING BLOGS Blogs differ from other online sources because they allow varying levels of activity. Users may simply read postings, but to take advantage of the interactive nature of blogs some activity is required, such as clicking on links provided by others or sending in comments and links. Users control their own level of participation, which may vary from one blog session to another and from blog to blog. Blogs also differ among themselves. The earliest blogs were online diaries that were used to keep in touch with friends and family. From these personal blogs, more general information blogs emerged, which led to blogs that deal with specic topics, such as gardening and dog breeding, and blogs hosted by various organizations and entities, such as the media and the military. Although it is possible to classify blogs in many different ways, it is not certain whether such distinctions exist in the minds of ordinary users. Several academic studies offer motivations for accessing blogs (Johnson & Kaye, 2007a, 2007c; Johnson et al., 2007; Kaye, 2005, 2007; Kaye & Johnson, 2006). Kaye (2005) factor analyzed 28 blog use motivations yielding six factors: Information Seeking/Media Check, Convenience, Personal Fulllment, Political Surveillance, Social Surveillance, and Expression/Afliation. Politically interested Internet users are motivated to use blogs for the same reasons except for Expression/Afliation (Kaye & Johnson, 2006). Journalism professionals and educators are driven to blogs for surveillance/research and interactive blog communication (Chung, Eunseong, Trammell, & Porter, 2007). It has also been suggested that blogs are used as a substitute for traditional media especially when seeking information about the war in Iraq (Johnson & Kaye, 2007a). Another study coded university students open-ended reasons for accessing blogs into ve categories: guidance, sociability, entertainment, surveillance, and convenience/instrumentality (Lee, 2007).

MEASURING USES AND GRATIFICATIONS Researchers studying uses and gratications of newer communication sources and technologies often rely on preexisting motivational items and then adapt them to the technology or medium under study (Chung et al., 2007; Eighmey, 1997; Johnson & Kaye, 2003a, 2003c; Kang & Atkin, 1999; Kaye, 1998; Kaye & Johnson, 2002, 2004; Kippax & Murray, 1980; Lin, 2002;

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Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000; Perse & Dunn, 1998; Rubin & Rubin, 1982; Rubin & Step, 2000). For example, in her studies of Internet use, Kaye (1998) adapted motivations for examining television viewing that were developed by Rubin (1981, 1983). Later, Kaye and Johnson (2004) modied Internet motivation items for examination of bulletin boards and chat rooms. The importance of open-ended questions in developing motivational items for a new medium or technology has been well documented. For example, Palmgreen, Cook, Harvill, and Helm (1988) used open-ended interviews to counter what they perceived as weaknesses in closedended uses and gratications items not developed from qualitative investigation. Charney and Greenberg (2001) opted for open-ended questions so not to : : : inuence the manner in which respondents thought about the subject of study (p. 384). Further, Donohew, Palmgreen, and Rayburn (1987) and Rubin and Bantz (1989) asserted that developing a gratications instrument from prior interviews is necessary when no established scale exists for a medium. Essentially, open-ended questions may yield motivations that are unique to a particular medium or technology. For example, through open-ended questions, James et al. (1995) found ve categories of use, including communication medium appeal and socializing, which were linked to special characteristics of bulletin boards. The researchers regard their work as a benchmark for further study of online bulletin boards. When Bellamy and Walker (1990) developed seven remote control device gratication factors based on open-ended responses to a prior survey, selective avoidance emerged as a distinct motivation for using a remote control device. Charney and Greenbergs (2001) open-ended responses yielded several unique Internet motivations: aesthetic, fame, identity, future, and peer pressure. Most existing uses and gratications scales have been found reliable and valid (Ruggiero, 2000). Although these scales should continue to be used and adapted, further inquiry is needed to develop a robust understanding of how consumers use new communication sources and Internet components such as blogs. RESEARCH QUESTIONS This study builds on an earlier open-ended inquiry (Kaye, 2007) that identied reasons for accessing blogs that may have been missed by other studies that used preexisting motivational scales. This work quantitatively analyzes the motivations uncovered the in the earlier work and answers the following research questions. RQ1: What will users identify as their strongest to weakest motivations for using blogs? RQ2: Into what broader categories will factor analysis group these motivations? RQ3: Are demographics associated with motivations? METHOD A preliminary survey targeted to blog users was posted online for 1 month in spring 2003. Open-ended responses from 2,397 survey participants to a question asking why they used blogs were condensed into 62 motivational items that were then categorized into nine broad motivational blocks based on the words and phrases used by each respondent to describe his or her reasons for accessing blogs (Kaye, 2007).

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The follow-up survey on which this study is based was created to measure the gratication items derived from the earlier open-ended study. Using the same method, the follow-up survey was available online exactly 4 years later (April 23 to May 22, 2007). To specically reach blog users, the survey was linked from 70 blogs of diverse types and ideologies,1 such as such Moderate Voice, Daily Kos, Newsbusters, Slate, CNN, Instapundit, and Citizen Journalism. These blogs were among the most popular and enjoyed large followings at the time of data collection. In addition, a snowball technique (Babbie, 2002) allowed respondents to automatically forward the survey to fellow blog readers. The survey was completed by 1,989 respondents.2 Blog Use Motivations The motivations used in this study were derived from the authors earlier research (Kaye, 2007). Two communication researchers working independently reviewed the original list of 62 motivational items and identied those that were conceptually similar. In total, 7 of the original motivations were deleted due to conceptual overlap and to minimize respondent fatigue without sacricing depth. Respondents marked their level of agreement with each of 56 reasons for using blogs on a scale that ranged from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Demographics. Respondents indicated their gender and age as of their last birthday and estimated their 2007 income. They also selected their highest level of education from among seven options that ranged from less than high school to Ph.D. degree and other. Data Analysis First, mean scores were computed for each motivation item. Next, the items were factored using principal components analysis with varimax rotation, and each item was assigned to a particular factor if the primary loading was greater than .40, as recommended for more that 400 responses (Stevens, 1986). If a variable loaded on two factors it was assigned to the factor where it had the highest loading. A summated index of each factor was created by combining the individual variables. Reliability analysis was conducted for each indexCronbachs alpha ranges from
1 Links to the survey were posted on the following blogs: A Family in Baghdad, A Family in Iraq, Ace of Spades HQ, Ann Althouse, AOL, Appalachian Scribe, Betseys Page, Blogometer, Boortz News, Brians Blog, Center for Citizen Media, Citizen Journalism, CNN, Crooks & Liars, Daily Kos, Dan Gillmor, DC Metblogs, Democratic Underground, Fark, Firedoglake, Hassenpfeffer, Highclearing, Hotline Blogometer, brianhornback.blogspot, edwardwillett.blogspot, journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink, Noshnonuts, Secrets In Baghdad, Joanne Jacobs, Newshounds, www.wakeupamericans-spree.blogspot, Hufngton Post, Hullabaloo, Infomaniac, Instapolit, Instapundit, Jay Rosens Press Think, Jesus General, Journalism.co.uk, Khalid Jarrar, Knox News No Silence Here, KnoxViews, Mike the Mad Biologist, Mindy McAdams, Moderate Voice, MoveOn.org, NewsHounds, NewsBusters, NewsDissector, Obsidian Wings, Oraculations, Outside the Beltway, Poliblogger, Political Mavens-Steven Taylor, Politics in the Zeros, PowerLine, Power of Narrative, Poynter.org/Romenesko, Pressthink.org, Raw Story, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, Slate, Teaching Online Journalism (UNC), Tell Me a Secret, tojou.blogspot, Unqualied Offerings, Wake Up America. 2 The surveys rst question asked respondents to enter their e-mail addresses; all but 17 (99.1%) complied. The respondents e-mail addresses together with a computer-generated ID (programmed to appear on every completed survey) were used to delete duplicated surveys. In addition, after sending the completed survey a Web page would immediately appear thanking the respondents for their participation and verifying that the survey had been sent so respondents would not retransmit the survey.

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.438 to .917.3 In addition, frequencies were computed on respondents demographic characteristics and correlations were run between demographics and the top three motivational factors.

RESULTS Respondent Profile Slightly more than three fourths (77.3%) of respondents are male, and almost 9 of 10 are White (89.5%). The respondents are highly educated, with 89.7% reporting some college or higher, and they report an annual income of $90,500 on average. In addition, they average 47.7 years of age and have been accessing blogs for an average of 5.2 years. The demographic characteristics of this surveys respondents are similar to the proles of blog readers reported by others (Blogads, 2006; Graf, 2006).4 Motivations for Using Blogs Means. The rst research query identies the primary reasons for using blogs. Means and standard deviations of the 56 motivational items are ranked from highest mean to lowest to ascertain the key reasons for connecting to blogs (Table 1). The top ve reasons for using blogs are for links to information sources (M D 4.34, range D 15), for information I cant get from traditional media (M D 4.34), because blogs are interesting (M D 4.24), to access information at any time (M D 4.18), and blogs are independent of traditional media (M D 4.17). The ve weakest reasons for accessing blogs are for information for my own blog (M D 1.94), to avoid conservative media bias (M D 2.11), to make a social connection with others (M D 2.14), to communicate with friends that have blogs (M D 2.26), and for research for work or school (M D 2.4; Table 1). Motivational factors. This study also sought to categorize individual motivational items into broader categories for fuller interpretation of blog use gratications. Through factor analysis, nine categories of blog use motivations emerged (Table 2). 1. Convenient Information Seeking (Variance D 26.7%, Reliability D .917). Blogs are a convenient way to actively seek up-to-date and in-depth information about current issues. Blogs offer links to a variety of information and provide access to experts. Blogs are perceived as a one-stop venue containing a vast array of information that can be quickly scanned because blogs aggregate important news in one place. Eleven of the 14 items
3 The factor indices are below the normal .70 standard for internal reliability. However, low reliability scores are not unusual for an index of only two or three items (Babbie, 1990). One of the main ways to ensure reliability is to use measures that have proven reliable in previous research. But this is an exploratory study that does not draw on past items but rather attempts to uncover new motivations. 4 For example, the Blogads survey respondents were 72.4% male and 27.6% female, 96% reported some college or higher, almost three fourths had incomes over $60,000, and the greatest percentage of respondents (27%) were in the 41 to 50 age group. These ndings are similar to Graf (2006).

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TABLE 1 Blog Gratifications by Mean Score Blog Motivations for links to more information sources for information I cant get from traditional media because blogs are interesting to access information at any time because blogs are independent of traditional media for a wide variety of information for specic information of interest to keep up with current events because its easy to access information to keep up with political issues because I want to learn something new for news analysis to get a wide variety of opinions because I dont trust traditional media to access a specic blog/blogger because blogs provide the most up-to-date information to check on the accuracy of traditional media to get information quickly for depth of information to nd out about the war on Iraq and its aftermath to learn about both sides of an issue for the ongoing debates and arguments to expose traditional media when they make mistakes for credible information for specic political perspectives (i.e., conservative, libertarian, liberal) because blogs admit their bias upfront to expose traditional media for bias because bloggers save me time looking around for important news for access to experts to avoid liberal media bias to see how politicians stand on various issues because blogs are humorous for bloggers personal accounts of news or events because of the good writing to make up my mind about important issues to nd out about issues affecting people like myself to help me develop my critical thinking skills to compare my opinions to others to relieve boredom to keep up with social issues and trends to judge the personal qualities of politicians because blogs are exciting to use as ammunition in arguments with others to follow the interactions between the blogger and others to be in contact with like-minded people M 4.34 4.34 4.24 4.18 4.17 4.16 4.13 4.11 4.11 4.08 4.07 4.06 4.01 4.01 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 3.98 3.96 3.95 3.94 3.93 3.82 3.80 3.77 3.76 3.70 3.70 3.65 3.64 3.64 3.62 3.60 3.59 3.57 3.50 3.37 3.36 3.34 3.28 3.10 3.09 3.08 3.05 SD 0.69 0.73 0.65 0.82 0.87 0.71 0.71 0.74 0.75 0.69 0.68 0.80 0.81 1.00 0.99 0.87 0.88 0.84 0.86 0.96 0.82 0.83 1.10 0.86 0.89 0.95 1.00 0.99 0.99 1.30 0.91 0.84 0.98 0.92 0.97 0.90 0.99 1.00 1.10 0.99 1.01 0.96 1.20 1.00 0.99 (continued )

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TABLE 1 (Continued ) Blog Motivations to feel involved because they help me relax to get behind a cause to express my opinions because Im addicted to them so I dont have to pay for a newspaper or magazine to research for work or school to communicate with friends who have blogs to make a social connection with others to avoid conservative media bias for information for my own blog Note. Range D 15. M 2.92 2.82 2.79 2.70 2.64 2.44 2.40 2.26 2.14 2.11 1.94 SD 1.00 0.99 1.10 1.10 1.20 1.20 1.20 1.10 1.10 1.40 1.20

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that make up this factor are among the strongest reasons (mean score of 4 and higher) for accessing blogs. Antitraditional Media Sentiment (Variance D 8.04%, Reliability D .834). Respondents connect to blogs because they are independent of traditional media, which they nd distasteful and view with suspicion. Blog users connect to blogs for information that they believe mainstream media omit and as a respite from the traditional media that they believe are biased to the left or to the right. Users also rely on blogs as a way to check on the accuracy and bias of traditional media accounts and to expose their mistakes. Four of the nine items that make up this factor are also among the strongest reasons (mean score of 4 and higher) for accessing blogs. But to avoid conservative media bias is one of the least likely reasons for accessing blogs, which indicates that blog users tend to be conservative and do not use blogs as an alternative to perceived conservative media bias. Expression/Afliation (Variance D 4.28%, Reliability D .809). Respondents access blogs to express personal viewpoints, feel involved, interact with like-minded individuals, and make social connections. Blogs depend on user expression and interaction. Without an audience willing to enter blog conversations and involve itself in the ongoing strife, bloggers would be lone, disconnected voices. Although bloggers need followers, interacting does not seem to be as important to blog users. Of the six items that make up this factor, ve are among the least likely reasons for connecting to blogs (mean scores less than 3). Guidance/Opinion Seeking (Variance 4.00%, Reliability .798). Respondents rely on blogs for support and validation of their own opinions and to help them make up their minds about important issues. Blog users nd out about issues that affect them, keep up with social trends, develop critical thinking skills, evaluate their stances on various issues, and judge the personal qualities of politicians. Blog Ambiance (Variance D 3.02%, Reliability D .731). Users enjoy afliating with a specic blogger, reading personal accounts of events, and following his or her interactions with others. They are drawn to the good writing and nd blogs humorous and interesting, and they enjoy the overall atmosphere of a blog. Although every new online source

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TABLE 2 Blogs Use Motivation Factors I access blogs : : : F1. CONVENIENT INFORMATION SEEKING a to get information quickly to access information at any time because its easy to access information for a wide variety of information to keep up with current events because blogs provide the most up-to-date information to keep up with political issues for specic information of interest because I want to learn something new for links to more information sources for depth of information for news analysis for access to experts because bloggers save me time looking around for important news F2. ANTITRADITIONAL MEDIA SENTIMENTb to expose traditional media for bias to avoid conservative media bias to expose traditional media when they make mistakes because I dont trust traditional media to check on the accuracy of traditional media for information I cant get from traditional media because blogs are independent of traditional media to avoid liberal media bias for credible information (not found in traditional media) F3. EXPRESSION/AFFILIATIONc to communicate with friends who have blogs for information for my own blog to express my opinions to make a social connection with others to be in contact with like-minded people to feel involved F4. GUIDANCE/OPINION SEEKING d to judge the personal qualities of politicians to nd out about issues affecting people like myself to make up my mind about important issues to keep up with social issues and trends to see how politicians stand on various issues to compare my opinions to others to help me develop my critical thinking skills F5. BLOG AMBIANCE e because of the good writing because blogs are humorous because blogs are interesting to access a specic blog/blogger for bloggers personal accounts of news or events to follow the interactions between the blogger and others

0.78 0.75 0.75 0.73 0.70 0.64 0.64 0.59 0.56 0.55 0.53 0.52 0.50 0.49 0.78 0.77 0.75 0.73 0.69 0.57 0.55 0.48 0.44 0.78 0.76 0.72 0.71 0.47 0.42 0.72 0.68 0.58 0.57 0.46 0.44 0.40 0.70 0.58 0.55 0.53 0.53 0.40 (continued )

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TABLE 2 (Continued ) F6. PERSONAL FULFILLMENT f so I dont have to pay for a newspaper or magazine to relieve boredom because Im addicted to them because they help me relax F7. POLITICAL DEBATE g for specic political perspectives (i.e., conservative, libertarian, liberal) for the ongoing debates and arguments F8. VARIETY OF OPINION h to get a wide variety of opinions to learn about both sides of an issue F9. SPECIFIC INQUIRY i to research for work or school to use as ammunition in arguments with others to nd out about the war on Iraq and its aftermath

0.66 0.51 0.47 0.45 0.58 0.49 0.78 0.71 0.58 0.52 0.40

Note. Because blogs admit their bias upfront, To get behind a cause, and Because blogs are exciting did not load on any factor. Total Variance D 55.55%. a Eigenvalue D 14.97, Variance Explained D 26.7%, Reliability D .917. b Eigenvalue D 4.50, Variance Explained D 8.03%, Reliability D .834. c Eigenvalue D 2.39, Variance Explained D 4.28%, Reliability D .809. d Eigenvalue D 2.24, Variance Explained D 4.00%, Reliability D .798. e Eigenvalue D 1.69, Variance Explained D 3.02%, Reliability D .731. f Eigenvalue D 1.52, Variance Explained D 2.72%, Reliability D .604. g Eigenvalue D 1.29, Variance Explained D 2.31%, Reliability D .438. h Eigenvalue D 1.24, Variance Explained D 2.22%, Reliability D .712. i Eigenvalue D 1.17, Variance Explained D 2.09%, Reliability D .527.

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8.

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has been hailed for certain technological and functional characteristics, blogs are a combination of several online sources. Users recognize the benets of blogs and enjoy their distinct properties. Personal Fulllment (Variance D 2.72%, Reliability D .604). Users nd blogs relaxing and a way to relieve boredom. Some users even claim they are addicted to them. Blogs fulll various emotional needs and users spend their free time exploring this relatively new online venue. Political Debate (Variance D 2.31%, Reliability D .438). Users go to blogs for information from a specic political perspective and for the ongoing debates and arguments. This factor involves keeping a critical eye on the political scene, and especially on partisan politics. Variety of Opinion (Variance D 2.22%, Reliability D .712). Blogs offer users a variety of opinions and the opportunity to learn all sides of an issue. When blog users are eager for more than just the facts, they connect to blogs for opinion and analysis from an array of individuals. Where other online sources and mainstream media excel at delivering information and news, the strength of blogs lies in their personal analysis of events and issues. Specic Inquiry (Variance D 2.09%, Reliability D .527). A purposive activity that encompasses seeking specic information and looking for support of ones point of view. Most blogs tend to be centered on an issue, topic or ideology.

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Associations between demographics and motivations. This study also assessed whether demographic characteristics are associated with the top three motivation factors. Pearson correlations nd several weak but signicant relationships. Respondents who are motivated to access blogs for Convenient Information Seeking tend to be highly educated (r D .05, p < .05) and female (r D .07, p < .01). Those who turn to blogs because of Anti-Traditional Media Sentiment are older (r D .09, p < .001) and male (r D .05, p < .05). Younger (r D .14, p < .001) female (r D .12, p < .001) respondents who are less educated (r D .06, p < .01), and report lower incomes (r D .07, p < .01) are attracted to blogs for reasons of Expression and Afliation. DISCUSSION This descriptive study offers a rst step in developing a blog uses and gratications scale based on open-ended responses rather than on adapting items from other media use scales. This study set out to discover the motivations for using blogs and unique factors, if any, that were not identied in past studies that used preexisting uses and gratications items derived from other Internet or media studies. In addition, this descriptive study sought to contribute to the understanding of uses and gratications of blogs by quantitatively analyzing 56 reasons for accessing blogs that were identied through open-ended responses that were reported in an earlier study by Kaye (2007). To this end an online survey that was targeted to blog users was posted for 1 month in spring 2007. The top reasons (based on mean scores) for accessing blogs suggest that users primarily turn to blogs because they nd them an easy, convenient venue that allows them to keep up with current issues, access in-depth analysis, and tap into a wide variety of information and opinion. Connecting to blogs to learn something new, for links to more information, and for access to experts were strong motivations in this study yet they were not even offered as possible blog use motivations in a study conducted by Kaye (2005) in which items were adapted from previous media use studies. Moreover, different from other online resources, blog readers turn to blogs as a substitute for disliked and distrusted traditional media. Users also believe that blogs post information that the traditional media trivializes, omits, or glosses over. Using factor analysis, the nine motivational factors found in this study are Convenient Information Seeking, Anti-Traditional Media Sentiment, Expression/Afliation, Guidance/Opinion Seeking, Blog Ambiance, Personal Fulllment, Political Debate, Variety of Opinion, and Specic Inquiry. The factors explain 55.55% of the variance. Further, the top individual motives (by mean score) largely fall into the rst two factors, which have the highest eigenvalues and explain about two thirds of the total variance. Information Seeking Information seeking is one of the most cited reasons for using radio, television, and the Internet (Eighmey, 1997; Kaye, 2005; Kaye & Johnson, 2002, 2004, 2006; Lin, 2002; Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000; Rubin, 1981, 1983) and was also reported as a primary motive among this studys respondents. Moreover, this study supports the previous qualitative study (Kaye, 2007), which suggests information seeking is a more complex activity than found in previous uses and

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gratications studies. Blogs users are attracted to blogs because they are rife with information and opinions from many different perspectives and sources.

Avoiding Traditional Media This study found that turning to blogs as an alternative to mainstream media emerged as the second strongest motivational block. Of importance, this study supports the open-ended motivations revealed in the earlier study (Kaye, 2007), and it demonstrates the strength of antimedia sentiment as a reason for accessing blogs. In addition, this motivational block demonstrates that antitraditional media sentiment is a multivariable construct that is more complex than simply comparing news reports. In general, users value blogs precisely because they believe blogs have dodged the tentacles of the traditional media infrastructure. Users access blogs because they do not trust or like traditional media that they feel is inaccurate and biased because of its corporate and political leanings. Blog users also take pleasure in exposing others for inaccuracies, bias, and illogical and inconsistent stances. Moreover, respondents perceive that blogs penetrate the facade of traditional mediathey present the backstory, which leads in part to the belief that blog information is more credible than that reported by traditional media (Fuentes, 2000; Johnson & Kaye, 2007b). Blog users are typically highly critical of the mainstream press (Kaye, 2007), which they believe conceals itself behind the guise of objectivity. Although blogs tend to be slanted to the bloggers point of view, it is not the particular bias itself that is troublesome, but the perception of a hidden agenda that drives consumers from traditional media to blogs (Kaye, 2007). In this study, blog users are drawn to blogs to avoid liberal media bias rather than conservative bias. This nding is likely related to the respondents political posture (40% Republican, 16% Democrat, and 17.7% Independent.) According to Pew Research Center (2007) party afliation is associated with perceptions of liberal media bias; three fourths of Republicans claim the media is left leaning, but only 37% of Democrats concur.

Blog Ambiance and Expression/Affiliation Another gratication factor that emerged from this study that conrms the qualitative work conducted by Kaye (2007) is blog ambiance. Users seek the personal accounts and analysis of favorite bloggers, they follow the interactions between bloggers and their supporters, and they nd blogs humorous and well written. Although this is not a very strong factor, it is an important one as it signies that motivations that are unique to a particular medium cannot emerge without open-ended inquiry. Expression/Afliation also emerged as a motivation for using blogs. In general, the mean scores indicate that seeking a wide variety of information and opinion are stronger reasons for accessing blogs than afliating with like-minded individuals. Kaye and Johnson (2007), however, suggested that seeking a wide variety of information may not necessarily translate into a wide variety of opinion. Blog users may intend to seek diverse opinions but end up on blogs that are gathering places for like-minded individuals. Although the inherent nature of blogs invites interaction and expression, the Expression/ Afliation factor suggests that blog users are motivated for more passive information seeking

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reasons rather than for a need for public expression. This nding could be related to the respondents low levels of blog participation. Just under 10% of this studys respondents very often/often send comments and links to blogs, slightly less than one third sometimes send comments and links to blogs, and almost 6 out of 10 report they rarely/never participate on blogs. Perhaps it takes a major event, such as 9/11 or the onset of a war, to induce blog participation. At other less eventful times blogs are used more for monitoring purposes. Perhaps if data were collected at a more contentious time than spring 2007, blog activity would have been higher. As offered by Kaye (2007) blog ambiance coupled with antitraditional media sentiment suggest that blogs act as a foil (Gieryn, 1983) to traditional media. In other words, blogs are dened to a large extent by what they are nottraditional media. If not for the traditional media providing the fodder with which blogs take issue, they could not serve as the counterpoint to traditional media. Without an axe to grind, antitraditional media sentiment would not emerge as a strong motivational factor for using blogs. Motivational items derived from studies of uses and gratications of the very media that blogs rally against cannot detect this adversarial aspect of blog use. Therefore, this studys motivational items, which were based on open-ended responses (Kaye, 2007) conrm the essence of blog usedislike of traditional media paired with the ambiance of blogs. Demographic characteristics inuence reasons for connecting to blogs. Educated female respondents link to blogs for Convenient Information Seeking, whereas younger, less educated female respondents with lower incomes are motivated to use blogs for Expression/Afliation. In contrast, older male respondents seek out blogs because they do not like or trust mainstream media. These ndings support the basic assertion of this study by underscoring the importance of developing a comprehensive scale of blog use motivations. Correlations of the top three motivational factors indicate that different types of users are drawn to blogs for different reasons, and many of these reasons are different from those found in past uses and gratication studies of other mainstream media and online sources. Future Research Continued examination of the uses and gratications of blogs is necessary to zero in on the most salient reasons for accessing blogs. This study contributed to that end by offering a rudimentary scale for future development. More testing is needed with different samples of blog users to conrm the motivations that emerged from this study. The 56 motivational items used in this survey factored into nine motivational blocks. This number of blocks makes interpretation difcult, especially when the weakest ve blocks explain less than 2% of the variance each. Variable reduction of the weakest motivations may result in fewer but more reliable factors. It is recommended that mean scores and inter-item correlation be used in this process. For example, To get information quickly and Its easy to access information are signicantly correlated (r D .66). The correlation coupled with the conceptual similarity suggests that these items could be combined into one item: It is easy to get information quickly. Further, because of the conceptual overlap and signicant correlations between To expose traditional media for bias and To expose media when they make mistakes (r D .72) and with Check the accuracy of media (r D .69), it is recommended that these three variables be reduced to one: To expose inaccurate media reports.

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Last, because the following items either received low mean scores or did not load on any factor, it is recommended that they be omitted from future research: For information for my own blog (M D 1.94); For research for work or school (M D 2.4); So I dont have to pay for a newspaper or magazine (M D 2.44). To get behind a cause (M D 2.79) did not load on any factor, and it along with To help me relax (M D 2.82) were the least mentioned reasons for using blogs in the study of open-ended responses (Kaye, 2007). Although To avoid conservative media bias (M D 2.11) is a weak motivation, it might be so due to the conservative nature of blog users. Therefore, it is suggested that the item be retained for future study as a gauge of user perception of media bias and its inuence on blog use. Overall, it is suggested that omitting the aforementioned motivational items may reduce the overall number of factors, thus increasing interpretability and strength, resulting in more robust results. That being said, the purpose of this study is not to deliver a denitive list of blog use motivations but to quantitatively analyze the motivational items derived from openended responses to ascertain their reliability for further study of blogs within the uses and gratications framework. Researchers should continue investigation based on the motivational items presented in this study rather than rely on preexisting motivations that measure traditional media or Internet use that need to be adapted for blogs. Limitations The respondents were not randomly selected but were solicited through announcements posted on a wide variety of blogs and through snowballing. This method was selected because attempting to generate a random sample of blog users at a time when a minority of Internet users5 was connecting to blogs would yield a very high nonresponse rate due to nonqualication. Although the nonprobability sampling and the snowball method are not ideal, they do provide an acceptable and appropriate means of reaching smaller subsets of the online population, such as blog users (Atkinson & Flint, 2001; Web Center for Social Research Methods, 2008; Witte, Amoroso, & Howard, 2000; Witte & Howard, 2002), and they can generate results that are representative of a subset of users (Babbie, 1990). The nonrandom sampling procedures used in this study follows the method used in other published research of Internet use (Johnson & Kaye, 2002, 2003a, 2003b; Kaye & Johnson, 2002), and it also includes a snowball method that has been employed in other published studies (Johnson & Kaye, 2004; Johnson et al., 2007; Kaye, 2005; Kaye & Johnson, 2004; Reber & Berger, 2006; Witte et al., 2000; Witte & Howard, 2002; Yang, 2000). In addition, this study primarily drew survey respondents from blogs with large followings. These popular blogs tend to focus on social and political issues. That blogs are seen as alternative news and information sources indicates that a primary reason users are attracted to them is because they gratify needs that are not derived from mainstream sources. Future studies should look into the motivations for using different types of blogs, especially those that cover narrow topics, to measure whether perceptions of content inuence motivations. This line of research would be similar to early television gratications studies that initially looked at the reasons for watching television in general (Rubin, 1981) and then later examined reasons for watching specic type of programs (Rubin & Perse, 1987).
5 At

the time of data collection only about one third of Internet users connected to blogs.

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