A personality trait on the Big Five personality inventory; individuals characterized as high on this trait tend to be imaginative, independent, and prefer variety while individuals characterized as low on this trait tend to be down to earth, conforming, and prefer routine.
Published in Chapter:
Personal Blogging: Individual Differences and Motivations
Rosanna E. Guadagno (University of Alabama, USA), Cassie A. Eno (University of Alabama, USA), and Bradley M. Okdie (University of Alabama, USA)
Copyright: © 2010
|Pages: 10
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-368-5.ch026
Abstract
The present chapter examines current research of blogging practices; it focuses on the personal blog, a blog created and maintained by an individual and not used for financial or occupational gain. The authors maintain that individual difference factors, such as personality and gender, may contribute to differences in likelihood to blog, motivation to blog, and blog content. The authors argue that the same factors that allow for differentiation of individuals in more classic self-expressive communication modalities (e.g., journaling) may also delineate individuals in new modes of online communication and self-expression. However, these factors may manifest themselves differently over more contemporary methods of self-expression and communication. The authors conclude that bloggers and blog readership appear to be steadily growing, making this area of online self-expression increasingly deserving of scientific inquiry.