Exploring the Aspects of Blogging as a Professional Activity and their Influence on Authenticity of the Author and Credibility of the Blog

Blogging has established itself as an important and influential part of the modern online media. At the dawn of the blogosphere people were publishing their diaries and life journals. Nowadays, some bloggers operate blogs that are hardly any different from online newspapers and magazines. On the one hand professional blogging is broadly accepted in the society, but on the other hand it is poorly understood. The purpose of this explorative study is to broaden the understanding of blogging as a professional activity. In particular, this study explores the aspects of professional blogging and the interplay between credibility, authenticity and monetisation in blogs. To understand blogging as a professional activity an extensive literature research is conducted. First, main concepts of blogging as a social activity are discussed. Then, the changes that come together with the transformation of a social activity into a professional activity of blogging are discussed. To look at the activity of blogging from an unusual perspective, a comprehensive qualitative survey is conducted with blog readers. The survey examines not only readers’ perception of blogging as a professional activity, but also motivations for reading blogs and attitude to monetising practices and labelling of monetised content in blogs. Information received from the survey is used to draw some conclusions about the state of the art of blogging as a professional activity, and challenges and opportunities blogging industry faces nowadays