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A multifaceted perspective on blogs and societyChih-Hui Lai

Online publication date: 31 May 2011

To cite this Article Lai, Chih-Hui(2011) 'A multifaceted perspective on blogs and society', Journal of InternationalCommunication, 17: 1, 51 — 72To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/13216597.2011.559156URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13216597.2011.559156

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A multifaceted perspective on blogs andsociety

Examples of blogospheres in Southeast and East Asia

CHIH-HUI LAI

Abstract: This paper proposes to employ a multifaceted perspective to systematically

understand the impact of blogs on societies. Through the presentation of the structural,

technological and usage factors that shape the use of blogs in Southeast and East Asia, this

paper demonstrates the potential of this perspective to account for the variations of blog use

across societies. These variations are further reflected in different social roles that bloggers

play in these respective societies. With data drawn from email interviews with 14 bloggers

located via Global Voices, a global blogging website, and supplementary secondary sources,

this study also examined different types of self-organizing communication networks emerging

among bloggers and non-bloggers at national and transnational levels in Southeast and East

Asia. Implications of the findings for theoretical and practical contributions to research on

blogs and contemporary collective action are discussed.

Keywords: blogs, communication networks, collective action, Southeast Asia, knowledge,

technology and policy

INTRODUCTION

Over the past decade, the Internet has played an increasingly critical role in maintaining or

facilitating social dynamics, albeit with varying degrees of impact. Significant historical

events such as terrorist attacks (Bucher 2002; Preece 2002), natural disasters (Dameron,

2007; Jefferson 2006), political campaigns (Sharma 2008; Smith 2009), and recent global

financial crises (Goldsmith 2008) allow us to witness the contributions of the Internet in

supporting fruitful communication in human society. Blogs, being a form of online journal

allowing continuously updated musings about any topic, appear to play a particularly

important role in these processes. With the growing use of blogs in both developing and

developed societies, research has started examining the social implications of this new media;

many hopes are even pinned on blogs to advance democracy in the bloggers’ societies. A

majority of studies on blog use emphasize the realization of citizen journalism (e.g., Gilmore

2004) or purposive political engagement such as campaigns through blogs (e.g., Albrecht

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et al. 2007). Yet, little attention has been given to whether and how blog use and its

democratic implications are manifested in different social contexts.

Research about the potential of blogs for democratic practices (e.g., formation of the

public sphere) is thus far concentrated in developed countries such as the United States, with

a special focus on unpacking the relationship between political bloggers and the mainstream

media (Tremayne 2007). This narrow focus persists in research conducted in developing

societies. Take Southeast and East Asia, for example; research on the impact of the Internet in

general and blogs in particular is growing (e.g., Baber 2002; Chu & Tang 2005; Chung

2007; George 2005; Hachigian 2002; Hill & Sen 2000; Kalathil & Boas 2003; Kluver &

Banerjee 2005; Yang 2003; Zheng & Wu 2005). But this work is concentrated in a few

known societies such as China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Moreover, the focus tends to be on

technology use under extreme circumstances such as natural disasters and political conflict,

with scant attention paid to other social aspects of technology use closer to people’s everyday

life, such as education, voluntary associations, and consumerism.

In fact, Southeast and East Asia represent a region with a wide diversity of information

and communication technology (ICT) adoption (see Table 1). In several countries such as the

Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, and China, there is high penetration of mobile phone use,

along with a noticeable increase of various online applications, including blogging and online

social network websites (Edelman 2007; iProspect 2007; Universal McCann 2007). Yet other

countries in this region, particularly Cambodia and Myanmar, are identified by International

Telecommunication Union (ITU) (2006) as the least developed countries (LDCs), where the

telecommunication development, especially the Internet penetration, lags behind their

neighboring countries. These countries also vary in terms of Internet policies and regulations

(OpenNet Initiative 2007a) and freedom of speech. For instance, Cambodia is ranked as

Table 1 � Adoption of Internet and mobile phones in the ten target countries in

Southeast and East Asia (2007�2009)

Internet penetration (% of population) Mobile phone penetration (% of population)

Myanmar 0.02 7

Vietnam 25 80

Cambodia 0.5 26

Philippines 6 76

Indonesia 12 55

Thailand 11 81

Singapore 61 131

Malaysia 56 97

China 16 48.5

Taiwan 67 110

Source: BuddeComm http://www.budde.com.au

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relatively free in terms of the level of press freedom, compared to the restrained situation its

neighboring countries such as Vietnam and Myanmar experience (Reporters Without

Borders 2009).

Reflecting on these descriptions, it is reasonable to conjecture that blog use in different

societies may exhibit different patterns because of a variety of political and socio-cultural

contexts coming into play in shaping blog use. This paper proposes a multifaceted perspective

to examine the impact of blogs on society. In what follows, a brief review is first provided on

the concept of public sphere, followed by the discussion of the perspectives applied in research

on blogs. The methodological approach used for applying the multifaceted perspective and

deriving analysis, along with the implications of the findings, are detailed after the review.

NETWORKED PUBLICS ON THE INTERNET

With the advent of various ICTs, including the Internet and mobile technologies, human

society has seen the possibility of overcoming the limitations of time and geographic space to

fulfill fundamental purposes of communication and information exchange. Indirectly or

directly, people around the world are interrelated, at different levels, as part of a network

society (Castells 1996), which can take technical and economic forms at the macro level

(e.g., transnational economic transactions, national telecommunication infrastructure) as

well as micro-level communication networks between individuals. Essentially, what makes

these networks important in contemporary society is their potential for democratic practices,

including the formation of the public sphere (Castells 2007, 2008). According to Habermas

(1996, p.360), the public sphere is ‘a network for communicating information and points of

view’. These communication networks are now facilitated, with the aid of technology, at

local community, national, and global levels (via the multimodal exchange of interactive

messages from many to many both synchronously and asynchronously). The notion of the

‘global public sphere’ has also been posited along with this variegated view of communica-

tion networks (Volkmer 2003).

Placing the Internet in this framework, it is contended that Internet activities, including

blogs, can serve as public spheres where individuals come together due to their political

sentiments and intended connections to like-minded folks (Langman 2005). Yet critical views

contend that the Internet should not be equated with the generation of a new political

culture; instead, it adapts itself to the current social system. In other words, the Internet may

create a public space for people to engage in self-serving expression and conversations; but the

technology itself does not decide whether a public space can transform into a public sphere

(Papacharissi 2002, 2009).

PERSPECTIVES OF RESEARCH ON BLOGS

Building on the technology-neutral view (Papacharissi 2002, 2009) on the potential of the

Internet in creating public spheres, a salient question is thus projected to blogs: How to place

blog use in the current social system? Specifically, can blogs create a social system that

parallels the existing institutionalized ones? Researchers have thus far broached the potential

of blogs to facilitate public communication and exchange of opinions transcending physical

limitations, but with an emphasis placed on technological features and user activity.

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Compared with other online citizen-based platforms (e.g., chain emails, Usenet discussion

groups, and message boards), blogs have a number of discernible characteristics that

contribute to their growing popularity, including the ease of use, low barriers to creation and

maintenance, easy interactivity, and potential for wide distribution (Reese et al. 2007). And

because of these features, blogs are often seen as a promising way to carry out democratic

practices in the form of communication and exchange of autonomous opinions among blog

users. From the perspective of individual citizens, blogs become a vehicle for self-presentation

that affords individuals a channel for genuine expression without being constrained by the

traditional media (Coleman 2005). Hence, blogs are often credited with the capability to

expand the permissible opinions outside the arena of traditional mass media (Allan 2006).

Peretti and Micheletti (2003) articulate that blogs are a type of micromedia which allow

personal opinion to be expanded to reach a larger audience, which in turn allows the veracity

of news accounts to be critically evaluated by invoking debates about the merits of events,

information and actions. In challenging the dominant corporate force, blogs are also

recognized as a way to exercise cultural freedom, through which consumers can rewrite the

hierarchical production process of electronic consumer goods (Schaffer 2004).

Despite these aforementioned rich conceptualizations pointing to the ability of blogs to

facilitate the formation of public spheres, what is still lacking is a coherent framework to

place blog use in current social systems and investigate whether and how blogs are

manifested in democratic potentials. In other words, with the majority of research focused on

either technological aspects or user motivations, little attention is paid to the influence of

other structural factors, such as political contexts and social environments, in encouraging

or constraining blog use. Structural factors, however, have been a major focus of research on

the Internet.

It is known that while the Internet lowers the costs of organization among citizen

activists, it also reduces the costs of government monitoring and thus reinforces state-defined

interests (Drezner 2006). The empowering influence of the Internet on activist networks is

thus in part constrained by the regime type (Drezner 2006). In some states, strict laws are in

place to prevent the free exchange of political ideas in any fundamental way (Misztal 2000).

Hence, the democratic potential of the Internet is presumed to be linked to political culture,

regulation and level of Internet access in a given society (Kluver & Banerjee 2005). In short,

compared to user and technological perspectives, a structural perspective stresses the

structural constraints and enablers on technology use. That being said, placing too much

emphasis on the structural forces may also result in the production of deterministic biases

(Dahlberg 2004).

A MULTIFACETED PERSPECTIVE

Each perspective on blog research invariably has its strengths and weakness. It thus follows

that, rather than favoring either one, integrating multiple interrelated perspectives may help

gain a more comprehensive understanding of blog use and its impact on society. Viewing

Internet use as constituted within existing social relations and cultural meanings, Dahlberg

(2004) contends that overly favoring either the user perspective (instrumentalist), the

technological perspective (technological determinist) or the structural perspective (social

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determinist) will only allow us to arrive at limited understandings of the Internet. Therefore,

to avoid such reductionist conclusions, Dahlberg suggests the necessity of incorporating

multiple intersecting elements that constitute the characteristics of the Internet. For example,

Dahlberg explains that research about democracy practices via the Internet can probe user

motivations and intentions, the democratic possibilities afforded by the technical aspects of

the medium, and the social structuring of online communication and identities.

This multifaceted approach has been adopted in recent Internet and blog research, albeit

in an indirect manner. Baber (2002), for example, studied the democratizing potential of the

Internet and argued that the use of the Internet not only reinforces existing social trends but

also helps facilitate new ones. In the blogging context, McDermott (2007) observed the

potential of the lightly regulated Singapore blogosphere in simultaneously enabling political

participation and reinforcing the legitimacy of the semi-democratic nature of the regime.

MacKinnon (2008, p.34) pointed out the political implications of blogs written in Chinese

rest on not only ‘how people choose to use them but also to what extent the Chinese

government succeeds in controlling the use of weblogs for political dissent’.

The multifaceted approach may be especially salient to understand blog use across

societies. It is reasonable to assume that different aspects (structural, technological, usage)

may interact with each other in shaping similar and different blog uses across societies. In

Southeast Asia, the impact of the Internet on society is known to be contingent on a wide

array of factors, ranging from economic reform that incorporates Internet promotion, citizen

satisfaction with the current regime, penetration of Internet access, and transnational

use of the Internet by advocacy networks (Kalathil & Boas 2003). Therefore, this study

employs a multifaceted approach to examine blog use in Southeast and East Asia. This region

was chosen for investigation because it represents varying degrees of political, economic,

technological and social developments. Given the multifaceted perspective employed and the

goal of understanding blog use across societies, a general research question asks:

RQ: What is the state of blogospheres in Southeast and East Asia and what are the emerging

patterns of blog use across societies?

ANALYSIS OF BLOGOSPHERES IN SOUTHEAST AND EAST ASIA: METHODOLOGICAL

APPROACH

The purpose of the analysis undertaken in this study was to provide an example of how to

employ a multifaceted perspective to observe blog use across societies. The analytical

framework is organized as follows. First, with the aim of providing context regarding blog use

in ten countries in Southeast and East Asia (Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, China,

the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Taiwan), secondary sources tracking

social and political environments in these target countries were provided and summarized.

Note that the introductory information listed under each country about its social and

political systems as well as the state of technology use was meant to give context to blog use

in these societies, and thus it was not intended to serve as the major source of analysis. In

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addition to secondary sources, the interview data collected with 14 bloggers were used to

inform the understanding of blogging practices in each individual country.

The 14 bloggers include nine bloggers recruited through Global Voices and five bloggers

(from Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and China) who were contacted indirectly through

Global Voices. These bloggers are often called ‘bridgebloggers’ because they seek to mediate

between different cultures and languages (Zuckerman 2008). That is, unlike local blogs

directed at local audience, bridgebloggers provide comments on the events taking place in

their country as well as filtering information for their readers from outside. Global Voices was

chosen as the main site of recruiting participants and analysis for this study because it is an

international blog with an emphasis on content and perspectives from countries outside of

the United States and Western Europe that are rarely covered in international mainstream

media.1 This characteristic serves the purpose of this study well because bridgebloggers from

Southeast Asia are well represented, and their postings in English are readily available for

analysis.

In total, 25 bloggers were approached and 18 responded to the invitation inquiry, but

only 14 bloggers provided relatively complete answers to the questions and were included in

the discussion of the results (see Appendix for interview questions). The purpose of the

interview arrangement was to elicit comments from bloggers regarding their understanding

of the overall picture of the blogosphere in their own countries. Hence, these bloggers were

not asked about their own personal experience of using blogs. Interviews were conducted via

email during February and March 2008.

Lastly, interview data helped tease out the findings of the emergence of communication

networks in the blogospheres across countries. These participating bloggers’ posts on Global

Voices during the interview period were also analyzed and included in this part of discussion,

as was the information (e.g., links to other blogs, exemplary events) provided in their

responses to interview questions. In the sections that follow, after the presentation of the

individual cases, the analysis of the emerging communication networks that arise in the

blogospheres across these cases will be discussed.

FINDINGS: A MULTIFACETED PICTURE OF BLOG USE

Figure 1 and Figure 2 summarize the analytical results illustrating the state of the

blogospheres as well as the roles of bloggers in these target countries.2 It is worth mentioning

that instead of pursuing an in-depth analysis of individual cases, the emphasis is placed on

the applicability of a multifaceted perspective in understanding blogospheres in different

countries that represent a wide breadth of diverse social, political, economic and

technological environments. A general principle guiding the presentation of different

contextual aspects such as legal considerations and policies listed under each country was

to address the extent to which citizens have the freedom, financial ability and are willing to

use blogs to participate in public conversations and information exchange of various types. In

other words, these aspects were not necessarily construed with an overarching moral

assumption attempting to idealize blogging practices across cases.

Myanmar. In Myanmar, Internet cafes are the primary places where people go online.

Nonetheless, users are not only required to register, but their online activities are also

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recorded every five seconds by the cafe owner upon request by the authorities (Reed 2008).3

In addition to the legal factor, other hurdles to Internet access include prohibitive costs and

unnecessary bureaucratic procedures, including the requirement of preparing a signed letter

from the relevant porter warden ensuring that the applicant is not ‘politically dangerous’

(Crispin 2007). Yet, in the face of various levels of repressive control, Myanmar has a rich

Alternative source of information for the public

Mya

nmar

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Tha

iland

Mal

aysi

a

Phi

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nes

Sin

gapo

re

Indo

nesi

a

Cam

bodi

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Media watchdog

Alternative source of information and expression for the public and for the mainstream media

Chi

na

Tai

wan

Policy decision

Media watchdog

Alternative source of information and expression for the public and for the mainstream media

Figure 2 � The roles of bloggers in the public forum in ten Asian countries. The

horizontal arrows are used to show the diversity of the role bloggers play in the

countries from the left to the right; they do not indicate the progressive develop-

ment.

- Politics - Legal

consequences - Cultural self-

censorship - Language

- Politics - Regulation - Legal

consequences - Language

- Legal consequences

- Cultural self-censorship

- Regulation - Language

- Economics - Language - Policy

- Policy - Legal

consequences - Misuse

Constraining Enabling

Mya

nmar

Vie

tnam

Tha

iland

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aysi

a

Phi

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- Media & culture

Tai

wan

Figure 1 � Current state of blogging in ten Asian countries: Potential factors

influencing the degree to which individuals are able to and willing to express opinions

and engage in public conversations.

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history of exile organizations campaigning for democratic change (Metzl 1996). These ethnic

groups in exile in Thailand constantly provide information to people in Myanmar, such as the

formulas to reach proxy servers for receiving and exchanging information with the outside

(Holmes 2007; Williams 2007). In fact, the organization taking place through the Myanmar

blogosphere garnered worldwide attention during the large-scale protest occurring in

September 2007 (AFP 2007b; Cropley 2007; Fowler 2007; Holmes 2007; Williams 2007).

Despite the repressive political environment, Blogger Shint4 commented that blogging

influence has gradually come to the fore in Myanmar. One of the examples is the rapid

growth of local blogs and the foundation of the Myanmar Blogger Society. Obviously, there

are different approaches to presenting the lived experiences of Myanmar in general and

young Myanmarese people in particular. The content analysis of Shint’s blog posts on Global

Voices shows that she appeared to let readers get to know Myanmar from different aspects of

non-political issues, ranging from bloggers’ efforts to advocate for the setting up of health

clinics in the rural areas of Myanmar, cultural traditions such as Myanmar New Year

Thingyan and Buddha Day, mobilization of a petition for removing double taxation imposed on

Myanmarese living abroad, and the discussion of irregular electricity supply in Myanmar. In

some way, it appears that these social dimensions represent the ‘permissible’ blogging

practices in Myanmar given its repressive political control.

Vietnam. Unlike Myanmar, Vietnam has various laws and regulations in place to preempt

Internet users’ violations; nonetheless, there are still some loopholes in this net of regulations.

Although it is required by law that they report information about their customers, many

cybercafe owners do not actually maintain these records. Moreover, ITU’s report in 2002

showed that the accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) implicitly forced the

Vietnamese government to contemplate the creation of a friendly and healthy investment

environment. In other words, a high-profile filtering regime may not be the optimal approach

given this economic reality. Not surprisingly, online podiums are seen to become part of

people’s alternative information outlets in Vietnam (AFP 2007c) and blogging is popular

among the younger generation, meaning those who are usually under 30, which is about the

two-thirds of the population (AFP 2007a). Under these seemingly conflicting political and

economic conditions, an American blogger in Vietnam described the ‘limited’ influence of

various types of blog topics in Vietnam:

There are plenty of travel (steven k baily) and food blogs (stickyrice) around . . . As far as I know,

blogging has more of an influence in the government sanctioned areas, such as culture and

music.

A distinct yet unsolved problem facing the adoption of the Internet and blogs in Vietnam, as

well as in Cambodia and Thailand, is language (OpenNet Initiative 2007a). For example,

Blogger Mark Robertson’s posts (on Global Voices) identified two types of bloggers devoted to

promoting Vietnam perspectives: those who wrote in Vietnamese and those who came from

Western countries and wrote in English.5 Given the obvious linguistic reasons, he admitted

that he could not adequately get a glimpse of the Vietnamese worldview and failed to

generate a competent blogroll. Under these circumstances, it is conceivable that bloggers who

understand and write in Vietnamese thus become more popular. Examples include Joe Ruelle

and Vietnamese God.

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Thailand. Blogging has become a popular activity among Thai Internet users. According to

Universal McCann’s blog report in 2007, more than half of the Internet users in Thailand are

blog users, with 45% of those being readers who also write their own blogs. Yet, freedom of

speech on blogs in Thailand is not as promising as these figures would suggest. Internet

censorship began in Thailand in April 2002. Since then, it became the norm for blogs or

online discussion boards to be blocked if they conveyed critical comments directed at the

military junta. Moreover, authors of any blasphemous comments, insults, or threats alluding

to the monarchy face a prison term of up to 15 years (Reuters 2007). Blogger CJ Hinke

mentioned the role of bloggers in Thailand under these conditions:

Bloggers as citizen journalists are more unrestrained in expressing their views and unfettered by

‘objectivity‘, This means that more culturally sensitive issues are reaching both Thais and

foreigners. However, public web discussion boards are heavily self-censored by moderators so that

they are not shut down by govt; nearly all have been so threatened.

China. Unlike Myanmar, the Chinese government employs sophisticated technological

means to control Internet content. The media landscape in China represents an extremely

strenuous and sophisticated control net executed through various formal and informal

mechanisms (e.g., policies, economic incentives, self-censorship of ISPs and individuals),

coupled with the lack of transparency in the regulations (US Department of State 2007). In

China, the prevalence of non-political blogs has been acknowledged. According to Universal

McCann’s report in 2008, around 88.1% of active Internet users in China read blogs, with

70.3% of users writing blogs. Yet, when it comes to politics, the impact of blogs is minimal.

Chinese blogger Zola stated that:

It is still rare for bloggers to have the nerve to discuss the negative side of the news about China

because these political-oriented bloggers have been faced with the obstacle to incur any

foreseeable impact.

Cambodia. Classified by ITU (2002) as the country with the lowest Internet penetration in the

Southeast Asian region, Cambodia faces a number of barriers that may impede the

development of Internet and blog use. These barriers include prohibitive prices, lack of

sufficient dial-up telephone lines to access the Internet, and the complexity of computerizing

Khmer language. Yet, unlike the authoritative regime of Myanmar, the Internet users in

Cambodia appear to live in a relatively safe environment when it comes to freedom of speech,

since there is no official censorship in place (Munthit 2007). So far, there is also no evidence

of restrictions on access to the Internet or reports of government monitoring (US Department

of State 2007). Blogger Bun described a blogosphere in Cambodia that is growing in presence

and influence:

It’s relatively new to my home country as lots of people care much about many other issues

important to their living and growth. However, I tend to believe that a new culture of open

dialogue is crucial to the way people deal with problem and controversy . . . And so bloggers act as

providers of source of information.

Singapore. In Singapore, blogs (the Internet) and the mainstream media occupy distinct and

separate domains of public knowledge. The government implements strict control on

newspapers and broadcast media through restrictive legal frameworks and licensing schemes

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(US Department of State 2007). Specifically, media organizations tend to subscribe

themselves to the stance of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) when reporting on

politically, ethnically, or religiously sensitive issues (US Department of State 2007). In

contrast, in the Internet arena, the government claims to adopt a light-touch approach, that

is, the application of self-regulation by Internet users (Media Development Authority 2007).

The reason for this double standard is presumed to be linked to the government’s economic

consideration, namely, to maintain Singapore’s competitiveness in the global information

economy. Nonetheless, under this seemingly light control, the exception is political websites,

which are still being regulated and required to register with the authorities.

Reflecting the government’s official endorsement of Internet use, blogs are generally

accepted and encouraged in Singapore. Universal McCann’s (2007) report reveals that

around 75% of Internet users in Singapore read blogs and 36% write blogs. Cowboy Caleb, a

Singaporean blogger, observed that in Singapore, where the traditional media is highly

regulated, blogs provide another forum for the public to pursue items of interest that would

typically be ignored or only lighted covered by the media, such as cultural heritage. But once

a blogger touches on political discussions, stricter control mechanisms will be invoked.

Malaysia. Similar to Singapore’s dual standard imposed on the traditional media and the

Internet, in Malaysia, people experience relatively greater freedom when exchanging

information and opinions on the Internet, compared to the constrained situation occurring

in the traditional media channel. According to Universal McCain’s (2007) report, around

80% of Malaysian regular Internet users read blogs and 38% write blogs. In an effort to

promote its multi-billion dollar Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project, since 1996 the

Malaysian government has adopted no-censorship policy on regulating the Internet speech in

order to attract economic investment and facilitate development (OpenNet Initiative 2007c).

In contrast with its tight control on the traditional media, the government tends not to

censor directly the sources of the Internet content, including blogs and Internet news

websites.

Malaysian Blogger Howsy chronicled in his blog posts the growing influence of Malaysian

bloggers in 2007 on different fronts.6 One observation is that the impact of blogs in Malaysia

has become too substantial to be ignored by the government, which has attempted to

institutionalize corresponding solutions in hopes of instilling a spirit of responsibility in the

blogosphere. A series of debates have been evoked among the government, the mainstream

media and the blogosphere. Specifically, the government repeatedly advised the news media

not to use information from blogs, given its untruthful and inaccurate nature. The

government also considered organizing a cyber media unit to provide an alternative

source of correct information to counter the misinformation on government policies that

are disseminated online. This backlash also resonated with the traditional news media. The

main newspaper, New Strait Times Press even filed defamation suits against bloggers Jeff Ooi

and Rocky due to their untruthful blog posts.

The Philippines. After the the fall of Ferdinand Marcos in a ‘peoplepower’ uprising in 1986,

there was little government regulation on either mass media or telecommunication industries

in the Philippines (Coronel 1998). There are thus far no cases of government restrictions on

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access to the Internet or reports about the monitoring of Internet content (US Department of

State 2007). In contrast, the strict legal regulations such as defamation accusations still

apply to the traditional media (Reporters Without Borders 2007). According to Universal

McCain’s (2008) report, around 90% of regular Internet users in the Philippines read blogs

and 65.8% write blogs. Despite the high percentage of blog use, Blogger Palatino envisioned:

We (bloggers) are still few and unable to influence mainstream news in a significant way.

Bloggers are still relegated as second class news gatherers or reporters. Blog articles are mainly

used to highlight bizarre stories or human interest topics.

Indonesia. In Indonesia, there is no explicit censorship of Internet content, only a rule in place

stipulating that Internet cafes are required to provide the identities of Internet users to the

agency under the Ministry of Information on a monthly basis (US Department of State 2007).

The purpose of this rule is to preempt the occurrence of online crime. There are also no

reported government restrictions on Internet access, except one recent incident involving the

blocking decision of YouTube and MySpace, because both carried a short anti-Islamic film

(AFP 2008).

In general, in Indonesia, there is no conspicuous journalistic antagonism between the

traditional media and the blogosphere, contrasted with the situation in Malaysia, for

example. Rather, many newspapers in Indonesia have attempted to attract readers by

adopting interactive features, such as setting up a reader online community or launching

reader debate through SMS (Kurniawan 2007). Blogger Enda commented on this situation:

For Indonesia cases only, there are several cases where blog becomes source of information when

it came to scams or hoax and where in other countries blog has become a place for dissenting

opinions, in Indonesia, since currently we have a quite free and liberal media, blogs are taking

position as media watchdog instead, correcting and pointing out the inaccuracy in media.

Taiwan. In Taiwan, where there is relatively high freedom of speech, blogs are observed to

serve as semi-public forums for discussion of social matters, rather than the force invoking

societal change. In Taiwan, 74% of Internet users had experience reading blogs, with 24% of

Internet users reading blogs on a regular basis while 50% did so occasionally (RDEC 2007).

Demographically, professionals and military servicemen account for 80% of those blog users.

Blogger BigJohn commented on the sluggish growth of bloggers’ social impacts in Taiwan:

We have more than ten local 24-hour news channel broadcasting on cable and digital TV

platform. But, the result of the combination of all these is that we have a lot of consumers but no

citizens, at least not enough. Many bloggers like me have been doing experiment of citizen

journalism for years, but our achievement is rather small comparing to the chaos created by our

MSM and politicians. There seems to be a bottleneck, and that is what I am trying to figure out.

Blog-mediated communication networks

The analysis of interview data and secondary sources shows that blog-mediated commu-

nication networks take shape both in and beyond the blogospheres in Southeast and East

Asia at local, national, and transitional levels. As a consequence, different forms of individual

and collective outcomes are observed. What follows are the detailed descriptions of these

emerging networks (see Figure 3).

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Networks for private goods. As mentioned in the previous section, in certain countries where

restricted control is implemented on Internet speech, such as Myanmar, Vietnam, China and

Thailand, blogs become a way for people, especially young people, to express their ideas and

keep a record of their life experiences. For instance, in Thailand, a large proportion of foreign

bloggers (‘expatriates’) write about their daily experiences living in Thailand. In Vietnam,

despite writing for personal purposes, these foreign bloggers actually cement personal

connections with each other and constitute loosely tied networks, according to Carley, an

American blogger living in Vietnam.

In addition to the expressive benefits (e.g., personal expression of cultural values),

another type of private goods derived from blog use is that of political benefits for bloggers

(e.g., political recognition, better treatment from politicians/authority), which is instru-

mental in nature. In the Philippines, rebel soldier Antonio Trillanes was elected as the

senator in the 2007 midterm elections while he was in jail. Blogger Palatino mentioned that

the Internet, bloggers and the media possibly contributed to Trillanes’s victory. During the

2008 General Election, Malaysia experienced for the first time that blogger candidates,

including Jeff Ooi, Elizabeth Wong and Badrul Hisham Shahrin, were running for public

office, and Jeff Ooi was eventually elected as the congressman.

Knowledge exchange as networks of practice. In the blogospheres of Southeast and East Asia, a

variety of collective actions have been facilitated through self-organizing knowledge

networks. Blogger Rai observed that, in Southeast Asia, there are several laudable examples

of communities formed for knowledge exchange. For instance, in Singapore, yesterday.org, a

meta-blog, was created by Singapore bloggers interested in heritage and history. Bloggers use

Networks for MobilizationCivic networks (e.g., Myanmar)Campaign networks (e.g.,Malaysia)Supportive networks (e.g.,Thailand)

Knowledge NetworksNetworks of practice (e.g.,Cambodia, Singapore)Cross-checking troupes (e.g.,the Philippines)

OutcomesIndividual benefitsCollective actions(community, societal,global)

Networks for Private GoodsPersonal pleasure (e.g.,Taiwan, China)Personal status (e.g., thePhilippines)

Figure 3 � Three types of communication networks emerging in the blogospheres of

Southeast and East Asia.

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this blog to call attention to heritage among the larger society. Blogger Shint mentioned that

there are more and more young people in Myanmar interested in blogging and thus

becoming news sources/collectors/distributers, which in turn strengthens the blogger

community.

Similar attempts of building a blog community are also observed in Indonesia (e.g., 27

October 2007 is Indonesia’s national blogger day) and Cambodia (e.g., the organization of

blogging training since July 2005).7 Specifically, Bun, a blogger from Cambodia, pointed out

that bloggers in Cambodia are devoted to enhancing information technology (IT) awareness

among the younger generation. This type of action has attracted students from ten

universities in Cambodia. Essentially, Bun noted that at the heart of the Cambodian

blogosphere is a picture of how bloggers tackle the issues facing the nation and how they

manage to increase the competitive advantage of their nation by instilling blogging

knowledge into the promising younger generation.

Another type of knowledge networks is the ad-hoc cross-checking troupe. For instance, in

Vietnam, music fans on an online forum uncovered the plagiarism case related to Bao Chan,

one of the country’s most established pop music composers (Nguyen 2006). After the

revelation, Bao Chan was forced to make a public apology. In the Philippines, Blogger

Palatino also lists a number of successful examples illustrating the influence of Filipino

bloggers in public domains. For instance, elite writer Malu Fernandez was forced to apologize

to the public after several bloggers reacted vehemently to her article published in People Asia,

which projected detestation and sardonic attitudes toward overseas Filipino workers (OFW).

These examples show how the cross-checking troupes in the blogosphere form as the need

arises.

Networks for mobilization. Three different types of networks that can foster collective action

and mobilization are also observed in the blogospheres of Southeast and East Asia. The first

type is made up of the civic networks consisting of exile groups and citizen reporters. In

Myanmar, for example, the recent large-scale protest occurring in September 2007 witnessed

the power of self-organizing networks that were facilitated by mobile phones and blogs. Ko

Htike, a blogger who is from Myanmar and currently lives in London, reported that he

received several pictures from citizens when the protest just broke out. In response to this

movement, OpenNet Initiative (ONI) (2007b) conducted a more in-depth analysis, which

showed that these citizen reporters in Myanmar were mostly university students and youth.

They tend to cement a trusted circle of contacts through which to transmit photographs and

videos taken with mobile phones and digital cameras to outside bloggers. According to ONI’s

report, multiple generations, including younger bloggers and their social networks,

experienced the impact of blogs during this protest and began to learn how to use blogs as

a way to retrieve and share information.

The second type of mobilization networks are networks for political campaigns. Blogs,

along with other communication technologies (e.g., emails, YouTube, text-messaging), have

played an important role in recent political campaigns, for example Malaysia’s 2008 General

Election (Sharma 2008; Theophilus 2008). During this election, YouTube, as a venue for

video blogging, was exploited by opposition candidates to disseminate flirting scenes

involving incumbent officials. Hence, this media use was deemed as a destructive force

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contributing to the defeat of the ruling coalition (United Malay National Organization) in this

election. Similarly, in the Philippines, the social media were wisely utilized by the Partylist

groups, who represented the marginalized and underrepresented sectors of Philippine society.

The third type of networks for mobilization are supportive networks. In Thailand, as

Blogger Hinke observed, facing repression by government, bloggers tend to develop a

cooperative spirit. For example, there is a non-partisan activist community providing support

to cyber-dissidents unaware of the new cybercrime law when they are arrested. Another

example of this type of supportive networks is in Singapore. A blogger named mr brown (Lee

Kin Mun) wrote an article in his column for Today, the state-owned newspaper, on 30 June

2006, in which he humorously hinted that recent government measures would result in bad

consequences and a rising cost of living in Singapore. This article ended up costing mr brown

the columnist job in Today because a few days later, the Ministry of Information,

Communications and the Arts responded to it with another critical article published in

Today, in which mr brown was rebuked for abusing political resources to convey his political

ideas. Yet the uproar that ensued subsequent to this exchange of comments led to an

organization of a small-scale protest. A group of netizens notified each other through text-

messaging to organize a ‘Flash Mob’ style protest at the City Hall subway station to support

mr brown.

DISCUSSION

Evidence presented in these analyses suggests that the vitality of blogs in the ten target

countries reflects the interplay among usage patterns of blogs (user aspect), the technological

features of blogs (technological aspect) and the political, economic and social environments

(structural aspect) that are characteristic of each country. By observing differences among

these aspects in the ten countries, we can also see the emergence of communication networks

in diverse forms. Further elaboration of the general implications from the findings is discussed

below.

Blogs as contested public spheres

Despite the various technological and structural constraints, blogs serve an increasingly

critical role in shaping public opinions in flexible ways. For example, the observation of cross-

checking networks in the blogospheres of Southeast and East Asia echoes the research on

consumerist activism and anti-corporate movements (Conway et al. 2003; Peretti &

Micheletti 2003). That is, people can use blogs to form fluid networks and practice political

engagement through issues relevant to their personal lives and communities (Bennett 1998,

2004).

The formation and prosperity of citizen networks through blogs, however, exists

alongside the recreation of the communication space occupied by other institutional actors,

including mass media and government. It has been argued that blogs may exert effects on

political debates through media reportage, which is based on the collection of ‘a summary

statistic’ from blogs about the distribution of opinions on a given political issue (Farrell &

Drezner 2008). In other words, mass media and bloggers (through mass self-communication)

are interacting in this new platform in a symbiotic manner (Castells 2007), a situation that

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can be observed in societies such as Indonesia and Taiwan. On the other hand, the

interaction among bloggers, the mass media and government may take shape within

the confines of regulation, which in turn provides understood boundaries for acceptable

expression within each sphere. In Singapore, for example, the mass media still occupy a more

dominant position in public debates where bloggers are involved. In China and Vietnam,

topics of blogging can be freely expressed as long as they are within the ‘sanctioned’ range.

The blogosphere embodies not only a contested public sphere for citizens, mass media and

government. It is also a source of reciprocal influence of public forums taking place at local,

national and international levels. It is known that the expanding use of the Internet not only

makes it easier for people to communicate across the borders but also increases the

vulnerability of government to international pressures (Smith & Fetner 2007). The

mobilization networks both in and outside Myanmar explains the potential of self-organizing

publics elevated to transnational networks of advocates. Meanwhile, the cases of Vietnam

and Malaysia point to the fact that keeping pace with the global trade market acts as a

motivating force for governments to relax the standard of Internet censorship in their

countries.

In fact, using a multifaceted perspective to observe the emergence of self-organizing

networks through blogospheres echoes the concept of ‘produsage’ proposed by Bruns (2008).

Placed in the social, technological and economic environments of user-led content creation,

the notion of produsage (produsers are a hybrid of users and producers) highlights the critical

role of networked and decentralized communication systems and the new form of networked

sociality in enacting democratic practices in current society. Bruns argues that instead of

relying on the hierarchical social organizations to take control of information flow and

content production/distribution, emerging groups of produsers engage in the processes of

collaborating and building sociality in the networked social structure.

Reflecting these conceptualizations, on a general scale, the blog-mediated networks

observed in this study can be said to embody new forms of sociality created and maintained

through blogs. But more importantly, these forms of sociality are manifested through three

types of networks (networks for private goods, knowledge networks, and mobilization

networks) both similarly and differently across societies. For example, in Taiwan, China and

the Philippines, all of which characterize different political and social systems, bloggers and

those who read blogs tend to engage in networked sociality in the form of cross-checking

troupes. In Myanmar and Malaysia, sociality through mobilization networks underlies the

constant struggle between institutionalized and insurgent politics. In Cambodia, mobilization

tends to take the form of bloggers advocating social awareness and engaging in education

initiatives. As such, a multifaceted perspective can lend itself to understanding complex forms

of sociality constructed through blog-mediated networks.

Self-organizing collective action

With the growing use of the Internet and mobile phones, it is not uncommon to see that

voluntary-based self-organizing is performed through spontaneous cooperation and decen-

tralized information sharing among citizens (Bimber et al. 2009; Rheingold 2002, cited by

Bowman & Willis 2003, pp.15�16). Blogs are especially credited with helping to transmit

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messages or elicit support at the collective level, especially in unusual times such as during a

natural disaster (Dameron 2007). Yet most of the existing understandings are gained by

extrapolation from successful cases of blog use in one society to those in another society. This

paper thus makes a contribution by examining collective action through blog use across

societies.

In line with the multifaceted perspective as proposed throughout the paper, analysis

shows that collective action takes diverse forms in the blogosphere, reflecting the results of

the influence associated with structural, technological and usage contexts in each society.

For example, fluid and ad-hoc forms of collective information sharing are made possible

through blogs (e.g., gathering information about interesting topics, public figures with bad

manners, or bloggers under attack by mass media/government). Hence, findings of these self-

organized collective actions are expected to expand the literature of collective action, which

has mostly focused on online political activities (Gurak 1997; Kollock 1999; Mele 1999) and

knowledge and information networks in task-based organizational contexts (e.g., Fulk et al.

1996; Fulk et al. 2004; van den Hooff 2004; Yuan et al. 2005; Yuan et al. 2007).

CONCLUSION

With the goal of presenting examples of using a multifaceted perspective to understand blog

use on broader social levels, this paper examined blog use in Southeast and East Asia, which

represents the region with diverse social, economic, cultural and political characteristics.

Analysis indicated that employing a multifaceted perspective on blogs can bring to light the

similarities and differences of technology use across societies. It was shown that structural,

technological and usage factors are interrelated, and critical in shaping blog use in the ten

target countries. Specifically, three types of communication networks through blog use were

observed in these countries, which include networks for private goods, knowledge networks,

and networks for mobilization. The emergence of these communication networks is common

in the blogospheres of these countries, albeit appearing in varying forms.

Limitations

For each case, presentation and analysis of contextual factors and blogging practices rely on

secondary sources and interviews with 14 bridgebloggers. Given the goal of this study to

demonstrate the usefulness of a multifaceted view to understand blog use across societies, the

methodological approach adopted is deemed appropriate. Each interviewed blogger is viewed

as a representative of his/her country, which may nevertheless raise validity concerns about

the claims derived in the findings. But it is important to note that these bloggers joined Global

Voices because of their adequate knowledge about the blog situation in their respective

society. Hence, it is believed that their accounts are accurate in terms of deciphering the

factors that may influence blog use in their countries. Moreover, findings of this study help

contribute to the literature of communication networks and collective action (e.g., Flanagin

et al. 2006). It is hoped that these conceptual and theoretical contributions may compensate

for the methodological limitations mentioned in this study.

This study also provides critical considerations to research that attempts to understand

the impact of new media technologies across societies. Results of this study show the

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emergence of different types of communication networks enabled through blogs, both within

and across societies. We can argue that when considering technology use placed in existing

political, social and geographic boundaries, we may invariably observe emerging patterns of

connections organized around physically decentralized social networks made up of

individuals that produce and share content with and among each other (Hine, 2000;

Howard, 2002). Admittedly, the website of Global Voices itself presents a filter that defines the

blogospheres globally based on geographic regions (e.g., Latin America, the Middle East). This

filter is not necessarily problematic, but future investigations are needed to delve into the

problem of how to define and locate a field or site that is capable of providing insight into

technology use as contextually situated. It is believed that this line of methodological work

will greatly help to illuminate the multifaceted perspective on new media proposed in this

paper.

Chih-Hui Lai, Department of Communication, Rutgers University, conducts research on how

individuals, groups and organizations use information and communication technologies

(ICTs) to communicate and how relationships evolve or emerge through the process. She

analyzes social implications of online and mobile applications and examines how a social

network perspective can be salient in helping understand the use of these applications and

how that may dovetail with the pursuit of communication among users. Her work has been

published in Human Communication Research and Communication Research. Correspondence:

chihhui@rutgers.edu

An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the International Communication

Association (ICA) annual conference in Singapore, June 2010.

NOTES

1. Global Voices is an international blog that focuses on collecting and summarizing

content that has been self-published online in different countries and languages

(especially those outside of the United States and Europe). Its team of editors and

authors consists of more than 300 bridgebloggers and translators around the world.

See more details at http://globalvoicesonline.org/about/faq-frequently-asked-questions/2. For more details about the political and social environments of each country in relation

to blog use, please contact the author.3. Myanmar’s Computer Science Development Law 1996 stipulates that unauthorized

possession of computer equipment or use of information technology to undermine the

state will be punished by seven to 15 years in jail and an unspecified fine. See more

details at http://www.blc-burma.org/HTML/Myanmar%20Law/lr_e_ml96_10.html4. Identities of the bloggers being interviewed are kept confidential and therefore

pseudonyms are used whenever the opinions of bloggers are quoted in text.5. Details are available at http://globalvoicesonline.org/2007/05/01/vietnam-bloggers-

crash-the-linguistic-divide/6. http://howsy.blogspot.com/2007/12/2007-flashback-wow-what-year-for.html7. http://cloggersummit.wikispaces.com

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APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. In general, how would you describe the role of bloggers in providing any information

about your country (filled in differently depending on the respondent) to the world or to the

public?

2. Are there any particular examples that you could use to illustrate the influence of

blogging in your country?

3. What has been the reaction of the bloggers?

4. Are these examples successful? If no, can you elaborate more?

5. What has been the overall impact of the bloggers, in your perception?

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