A multifaceted perspective on blogs and society

Abstract

This paper proposes to employ a multifaceted perspective to systematically understand the impact of blogs on societies. Through the presentation of the structural, technological and usage factors that shape the use of blogs in Southeast and East Asia, this paper demonstrates the potential of this perspective to account for the variations of blog use across societies. These variations are further reflected in different social roles that bloggers play in these respective societies. With data drawn from email interviews with 14 bloggers located via Global Voices, a global blogging website, and supplementary secondary sources, this study also examined different types of self-organizing communication networks emerging among bloggers and non-bloggers at national and transnational levels in Southeast and East Asia. Implications of the findings for theoretical and practical contributions to research on blogs and contemporary collective action are discussed.