Chinese Bloggers Who Blog Usage Behavior Empirical Study

With the application of the new generation internet technology Web2.0 getting more and more mature, its typical application blog came into China in 2002. Throught several years' rapid development, nowdays blog has become so powerful in china that there are many articles or comments from blogs triggering nationwide discussion, even the traditionally mainstream medium have to pay their attention to and trace the information diffused by blogs. People in China find that plenty of news and information in their lives is originally from bolg!Although the number of the blog user in China increases dramatically, at present, the several top blog service providers(BSP) in China are all struggling for their finance balance. Behind the flourish of blog is the whole blog industry still searching for an operation strategy that is able to make money as well as ensure blog's stable and lasting development. The key point of this problem is the blog users, however, there are scarce research focusing on blog users in China. This paper regards blog as an information system, based on previous researches on information technology acceptance theory, adopting the model of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), trying to find out the determinants of blog usage. With thorough literature review, this paper summarizes the blog characteristics, which are included in the research model and try to find out the relations of these factors with the blog users' usage behavior.This paper deals with the following two major problems:1. Which of the four factors in the UTAUT model: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions has influence on blog usage, and how?2. As to the blog users, what are blog's characteristics, and how these characteristics exert influence on blog usage?Based on former researches, blog characteristics brought in, to solve the two prime problems above as its goal, this paper puts forward a research model with relevant hypotheses, and conducts surveys and investigations on more than 260 blog wirters in several different provinces and cities all over the country. On the foundation of data processing with scientific statistical methods, this paper verifies the hypotheses and then draws out some meaningful conclusions, which approve or disapprove the results of former researches. Blog usage intention is influenced by performance expectancy, social influence and blog characteristics. Blog usage is influenced by blog usage intention and blog characteristics. Concerning the conclusions that are not verified by this research, this paper offers reasonable explanations with blog users in China as its research objects and under the specific research environment. Based upon these conclusions, this paper advances some valuable insights and operating suggestinons for the blog service providers in China,trying to offer a sound theoretical and practical foundation for further healthy development of the China blog industry.