Why Blog?
Why blog?
Certainly a small part of the fun is hoping for admiration and affirmation. I check my blog stats and google analytics regularly and a peak in readers certainly is another boost for writing more posts. Eventually you get to “know” your colleague bloggers, and human contact grows. The most important reason for me to blog is to keep up with developments in my field and make ideas and these developments known and published. A growing number of professionals have started weblogging to share their personal knowledge.
What factors influence this knowledge sharing with bloggers?
A recent study published the results of their test of a behavior model in terms of why people share knowledge with others within online communities. They conducted surveys in three online communities. Important factors for sharing knowledge is fairness or a trusting climate within the online community, and openness or a climate in which information flows freely. The culture of the community is of importance, identification is not. The feelings of affiliation are based on the shared culture and interests not on identification.
They also found that individuals who enjoy helping others provide more helpful knowledge. The enjoyment related to helping others significantly influenced the sharing of information and knowledge. The climate of sharing information and knowledge itself also increases this climate. The climate can be seen as a motivator for knowledge sharing.
The more valuable the information is the more likely an individual will share it. The perceived need for the information was a strong motivator to provide the information.
This knowledge sharing behavior is linked in important ways to members’ desire to receive feedback from a virtual community that creates, maintains, and enhances an effective knowledge sharing platform.
Limitations of this study
Only three online communities in Taiwan were surveyed. This may introduce a selection bias and limited external validation of the results. In short are these results also applicable to other communities in other countries? What do you think?
Yu, T., Lu, L., & Liu, T. (2009). Exploring factors that influence knowledge sharing behavior via weblogs Computers in Human Behavior DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2009.08.002
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October 6, 2009 @ 11:21 am
The wording of the abstract is revealing. It starts off with “share their ideas”, then there is “contribute personal knowledge” and finally “share their expertise”. But ideas, knowledge and expertise are very different things. The authors appear not to understand these differences.
Another distinction that the authors appear not to understand is the distinction between blogs (in which the blog owners’ ideas generally have higher status), and communities (in which many people’s ideas have equal status).
Their lack of clarity about basic concepts makes me disinclined to attach much importance to their survey results.
Science Report » Blog Archive » Why Blog?
October 6, 2009 @ 2:00 pm
[…] Go to Publisher to continue reading […]
October 6, 2009 @ 2:13 pm
Choosing peer reviewed articles to write a post about is in my case often based on “a gut feeling”. Does it sound reasonable? Can I recognize this or that. In this case it was recognizable. Didn’t seem far off track does it?
Kind regards Dr Shock
Why do people blog? | Health & Nutrition 2.0
October 6, 2009 @ 11:31 pm
[…] Why do people blog? October 6, 2009 by ColbyFiled under: Social Media (General), Teaching Here is a good summary of a recent study exploring factors influencing knowledge sharing practices on the web: https://www.shockmd.com/2009/10/06/why-blog/ […]
October 7, 2009 @ 1:54 am
I find it fascinating that cbtish thinks the blogger’s ideas have higher status than the readers. That is not my experience at all. We’re all in the same boat together in MH blogs especially. The ‘professionals’ rarely distinguish themselves.
I am one blogger among a pile of bloggers some of whom have become friends (in real life too). I would never have the arrogance to assume anything I stated had some imprimatur attached. I welcome comments telling me I’m wrong. I may not agree with them, but I would hate to provide an environment where I never ever heard them.
All the best, David.
Tweetlinks, 10-06-09 [A Blog Around The Clock] « Technology Blogs
October 7, 2009 @ 6:19 am
[…] Why Blog? A study […]
October 13, 2010 @ 12:23 am
to share information with and communicate with friends and family members with whom they may not talk on a regular basis. Participants who blogged for this motive also maintained blogs to send messages to many people at once, rather than one at a time
So my dear son that’s why I blog, and the second reason is I want to keep my brain going and not forget things and how to write things, love, your mother, Dinkie-Maud.