Attractiveness and Responsiveness of Moblogs

The (r)evolution of personal and collective publishing offers new tools allowing the Internet users themselves to become content creators. Along with the personal typing in weblogs a new practice for communication has emerged in the form of snapping pictures and sharing them in the web. These virtual picture galleries constructed and updated right from the field with the help of a mobile device has become known as moblogs. In this paper we examine practical functions of moblogs as a space of self-presentation and intercommunication. Our methodology consists of web-ethnography that combines methods from ethnomethodology, conversation analysis and ethnography. The focus is on the participants authors and visitors -and their actions and interactions. We also use two analytical notions: attractiveness and responsiveness to describe the functions of the moblogs and differences between them. As result of the study we present four part taxonomy of the different moblog functions and analyze further more detailed the participative processes of moblogs of each category. From the basis of our analysis we suggest as a conclusion that moblogs are used for storing, sharing, publishing and communicating with images, meanings and messages.