Personal journal bloggers: Profiles of disclosiveness

Personal journal blogs, which are primarily about bloggers’ selves and inner states, are often characterized by high amounts of self-disclosure. This study employed the uses and gratifications perspective to reveal the characteristics of disclosive personal journal bloggers. Path analyses of data from an online survey revealed that the most disclosive bloggers were women who were generally disclosive in their offline lives as well. Disclosive bloggers were typically motivated to blog to archive and organize their thoughts, much as one would expect for an online diary. Target audience was a stronger predictor of disclosiveness than the potential audience. The theoretical and practical implications of study results are discussed, along with potential directions for future research.