Encouraging words

Contrasting with Christian Blogger Studies

36 Reasons to blog regularly agree / disagree.
Cheong, Halavais and Kwon found
~ Sharing and defending their faith, edifying fellow Christians, and sustaining fellowship
~ Usually chronicle their evangelical faith and beliefs teaching/learning and explaining mainstream news 
~ Self-expression and reflection
~ Life documenting an integral part of religious blogging

~ Campbell highlights the influence Christian bloggers have framing authority through traditional sources: God, the Bible, and theological texts.

~ Campbell, Hutchings, and Myers suggest affiliation and community are driving desires for Christians to cluster online.

Contrasting with Previous Research

32 Reasons to create a blog, few agree with other research findings.
~ Creating community, expressing opinions to influence, sharing emotional information, and self-expression were not mentioned.
~ Documenting life appeared once as "leaving a legacy for my kids."
~ Making money was mentioned once. 
~ Feedback mentioned twice.

U & G + N. P.

Uses and Gratifications theory focuses on the user consuming media.
~ Blogging is media creation.
~ Bloggers do fulfill and gratify needs.

Fisher's Narrative Paradigm goes beyond uses and greatifications.
~ N.P. is a filter for motives to determine if the communication (post) is a "reliable, trustworthy, and desirable guide to thought and action in the world" (Fisher, 1985, p. 351).

Christians and technology

~ Christians are called to be stewards of media 
(Schultze & Woods, 2008).


~ Blogging is public, and a symbiosis tends to occur between blogger and audience.


 ~ Blogging can be a social activity  
(Nardi, Schiano, & Gumbrecht, 2004).

Blogs are an extension of the individual

~ Blogs have matured into multi-media, Web 2.0 places for communicating facts, opinions, thoughts, and even research of an individual or a group of individuals into cyberspace.

~ Blog posts are a form of narrative that reflects a blogger's perspective and judgment (Baumer, Sueyoshi, & Tomlinson, 2008).

~ Bloggers tend to be sensitive and open to adventures. They use identifying information while sharing personal experiences (Guadagno,  Okdie,  & Eno, 2008)

Justification of the study of Christian blogger motives

~ Fills in the research gap between the secular studies (general blogger motivations) and Christian blogger motivations.

~ Extends the research of Cheong, Halavais, and Kwon (2004) and Campbell (2010).

~ May help scholars and religious leaders understand the impact Christian bloggers have world wide.