Teenagers, blogs and socialization: a case study of young French bloggers

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to better understand the world of blogs and youngsters by describing and trying to understand the young blogger. It is a first step towards questioning not only the importance of blogs for youngsters, but also the fact that blogs might constitute a virtual form of peer socialization.Design/methodology/approachThe first part of the paper deals with an account of blogs, and with peer socialization. The second part shows the results of a case study (Miss34) and of a qualitative study that allows us to better understand teenagers, blogs and socialization. Based on these pieces of information, the third part presents a discussion of the results as well as their managerial implications.FindingsThe blog is a very different mode of expression compared with others that teenagers may have access to. Blogs are not all different but, have similarities. Finally, with regard to socialization, the blog is not a substitute for the forum. Strictly speaking, teenagers essentially do not use blogs to give their opinion on products or services, but sometimes speak about products and services they buy. On the other hand, a more “passive” kind of socialization is going on through blogs.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is exploratory. The aim is not to generalize from these results. A suggestion for a future research will be to use a quantitative approach in order to be able to measure this phenomenon.Practical implicationsFrom a managerial point‐of‐view, the aim is to target the youngsters better through a better understanding of their world.Originality/valueThis paper is the first work on virtual socialization by peers.