The sustainability of blogging: a look at Chinese bloggers

About

The blogsphere is continuing to expand. However, this is only one side of the coin. On the other side, many bloggers are abandoning their easily established blogs. Therefore, two general questions arise. The first one is how to describe or portray the development of the blogsphere more specifically: what indicators can best map out the picture of the evolving blogsphere? The second one is, what are the major factors with which we might best understand the sustainability of people’s blogging behaviour. The research framework of the current study is grounded in studies of the diffusion of innovations, with a focus on the individual level exploration of the determinants of people’s behaviour. The data utilized in the analysis are derived from two large-scale online surveys of Chinese bloggers, conducted in 2005. The study aims to provide a second look at the seemingly simple phenomenon, i.e. the popularization of blogs. The social and commercial implications of the findings are also briefly discussed.