`Entering the blogosphere': some strategies for using blogs in social research

TLDR

Since 1999, blogs have become a major feature of online culture, hailed as democratic guardians, bottom‑up news producers, and new sites for self‑construction and community. The article argues that the blogosphere offers a valuable addition to qualitative researchers’ toolkits, outlining practical, theoretical, and methodological challenges and key ethical issues in blog data collection. The authors investigate everyday understandings and experiences of morality by analyzing blog content within a research project context.

Abstract

Since 1999 blogs have become a significant feature of online culture. They have been heralded as the new guardians of democracy, a revolutionary form of bottom-up news production and a new way of constructing self and doing community in late-modern times. In this article I highlight the significance of the `blogosphere' as a new addition to the qualitative researcher's toolkit and some of the practical, theoretical and methodological issues that arise from this. Some of the key ethical issues involved in blog data collection are also considered. The research context is a project on everyday understandings and experiences of morality.