Title: Blogs: are they headed downwards in social networking? An empirical analysis

Authors: Parag Uma Kosalge; Suzanne Crampton; Ashok Kumar

Addresses: Department of Management, Seidman College of Business, Grand Valley State University, #3053, 50 Front Ave., Grand Rapids, MI 49504, USA ' Department of Management, Seidman College of Business, Grand Valley State University, #3053, 50 Front Ave., Grand Rapids, MI 49504, USA ' Department of Management, Seidman College of Business, Grand Valley State University, #3053, 50 Front Ave., Grand Rapids, MI 49504, USA

Abstract: Many businesses today utilise blogs to expand opportunities to communicate, collaborate, and network. However, some believe it may be on a downward path as users today may prefer micro-blogging with Twitter and Facebook. Since the adoption of web services is typically bottom-up, it is important to understand perceptions toward workplace blogs, especially among the younger generation. A study of over four hundred users finds statistically significant evidence for reduced user perceptions of blogging over the years. The study also identifies four business areas that users find important for blogs, including employee networking and online sales. This research is one of the few recent works that show a relationship between importance and performance, previously assumed to be independent. For blogs, the relationship is found to be continuously increasing. The importance-performance analysis framework can now be used as a tool for decision-making by businesses as well providers of the blogging technology.

Keywords: blogs; adoption; electronic business; web services; importance; performance; social networking.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2019.099063

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2019 Vol.15 No.1, pp.72 - 91

Received: 25 Aug 2018
Accepted: 16 Dec 2018
Published online: 12 Apr 2019 *

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