Differences in the Teen Blogosphere: Insights from a Content Analysis of English- and Czech-Language Weblogs

Abstract

Extant research on youth online content and culture is mostly based on US and Western contexts. Our goal was to examine whether a dominant global online youth culture or whether the local context (for example, language and popular culture) influences youth online content. We compared English language blogs from the US blogosphere, and Czech language blogs from the Czech blogosphere, written by 13- to 17-year-old youth. The last three entries from each blog were selected for content analysis, yielding a sample of 1038 entries. Results showed that English-speaking bloggers presented less personal information, used a text-based style and wrote mainly about their peers and everyday structured life. Czech-speaking bloggers used visuals, and focused on the public scene. Meta-blogging played a significant role in both blogospheres. The pattern of similarities and differences suggested that the blog authors’ physical context likely influenced the particular format or content of their blog entries.