Seminar - the final chapter

As I promised, here are the main conclusions me and my co-investigator reached with the Seminar on Blogging. I'll finally shut up about it after this, but I think some of you are interested to read this. I must warn you that we didn't reach any new, bright, original conclusion but, as this is a recent subject, all studies are important at this point...

Main Conclusions
Writing in blogs may be an answer to the psychological needs of self-knowledge and personal development (visible in the fact that most of the participants refer to an important event in their lives, conducting to the creation of the blog); affiliation (noticeable when we acknowledge the relationships formed between bloggers and the way that their contents are gradually directed to their readers); a vehicle of emotional expression; and recognition (there seems to be a public intention behind all blogs, which may be a way of people seeing the contents they publish recognized and valued).

The blog-relationships formed by the participants are acknowledged as personally significant and capable of responding to psychological functions that are usually met by offline relationships (nevertheless, they don’t always respond to the same functions, sometimes they respond to less, sometimes more, sometimes the functions are different).

The particular characteristics of blog communication are the reason the participants choose to justify the fact that the online relationships usually develop faster than the offline ones. Bloggers see themselves as being authentic in the blog context, sometimes even more so than in their daily lives.

Many participants find that online it is easier to express their true selves, meaning features of their identities that they consider important but harder to express on offline relationships. This aspect is responsible for the degree of satisfaction they find in their online relationships – the more authentic they can be, the more satisfactory and intimate these relationships are.

The blogs can also function as a way to update their identities – by talking about features of their character that they would like to develop or maintain. The fact that the “readers” validate these features helps the process of actualization of the identity.

The emotional catharsis was an important part of what we observed in this study – the fact that the Internet allows people to be anonymous and avoid certain consequences of freedom of expression seems like the biggest reason for this catharsis.

The blogs may also be an instrument that facilitates a life transition, as it allows people to reflect upon significant life events. By writing about these events it is possible to achieve a new understanding of their life paths, an alternative understanding that is more positive to them at the present moment. This means that it is also a way to understand themselves better.

But blogging isn’t just about recognition for what bloggers publish – they seem to be really interested in investing in personal relationships that emerge from this type of communication. We observed a great amount of dialogue in the posts that are published, with a constant reference or merely an acknowledgment of the existence of the “readers”. The main conclusion we reached with this study is that blogging is significant enough to be a context of psychological development to those who participate in it.

So blog ahead!