Understanding Bloggers: Opinion Leadership and Motivations to Use Blogs Among Bloggers and Blog Readers

The blogosphere is a relatively new arena for marketing and communications, and provides a lively arena for consumers’ exchange of opinions about brands and products (Universal-McCann 2009). A recent Technorati survey (2010) showed that 42% of bloggers surveyed reported they blog about brands they love or hate. This exemplifies the key role bloggers play in this one-to-many communication method and their role as e-fluentials, opinion leaders who spread information via the Internet (Burson-Marsteller 1999). Drawing from the literature on opinion leadership and electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM), as well as Uses and Gratification (Blumler and Katz 1974), this study explores differences between bloggers and their audiences (blog readers) in terms of opinion leadership and motivations to use blogs.