Blogging motivations for Latin American bloggers: A uses and gratifications approach

The author of this chapter investigated the motivations that drive bloggers in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries to write personal blogs. The conceptual framework drew on the uses and gratifications theoretical perspective as a means for exploring such motivation. Different types of motivation for blogging were analyzed. The motivations included self-documentation, improving writing skills, self-expression, information sharing, passing time, and socialization. An online survey was designed, and 90 bloggers from six Latin American countries participated in the study. Results of both quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate that the three most-cited reasons for blogging were the opportunity that blogs provided for participants to freely express their thoughts and feelings, the facility for publishing information in their areas of interest, and the chance to practice their writing skills.