dc.description.abstract | Digital platforms such as blogs and social networking sites provide new means for
individuals to gather and spread information about products and services through
electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM). Within those platforms, individuals have the
potential to emerge to become influential actors with the power to affect the
behaviours and attitudes of others. Despite the growing interest in online influence,
there is still a limited understanding of how key individuals share and engage in
eWOM. This study looks at tech-bloggers as an emerging actor category that create
and develop consumption oriented online content such as product reviews using
blogs and associated technologies.
This thesis presents an in depth qualitative investigation to understand how this
emerging actor category have been able to establish an influential status. Existing
literature often labelled bloggers as “opinion leaders” obscuring what is new and
different about them. Building a practice based discussion of these emerging actors
aims to capture activities and processes in a wider, natural setting. Paired with the
exploratory nature of research, this thesis draws on a conceptually grounded,
qualitative research approach utilising interviews with key tech-bloggers, marketers
and blog analysis.
Findings show that these emerging actors engage in three distinct but interrelated
practices centred on audience construction, content development and network
formation. Audience construction requires emerging actors to develop quality
content utilising existing networks composed of other actors within the same
category and the audience. As a consequence, emerging actors are socially embedded
in a multiplicity of interactions online and offline to develop their blog and their
content. This study contributes to existing concepts in eWOM by showing how
emerging actors develop a particular expertise, distinct from consumers, in attracting
an audience. Furthermore, these emerging actors transform from being knowledge
replicators to become knowledge producers developing communication content in
line with a wider audience. As tech-bloggers become more established as emerging
actors, tech companies are adapting their marketing to account for these practices.
The result is a co-creation of product news and advice on new products between
emerging actors, marketers and the audience. Thus, this work gives a more nuanced
account of eWOM and the role of emerging actors shaping communication in this
sector. | en |