The Story of Livejournal: How Russians Started Blogging
DRAGILEVA, OLGA (2009)
2009
Tiedotusoppi - Journalism and Mass Communication
Yhteiskuntatieteellinen tiedekunta - Faculty of Social Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2009-07-20
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:uta-1-20357
https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:uta-1-20357
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of this study is to re-create the story of the development of Livejournal, the most important service of the Russian Internet. The thesis looks at the history of Livejournal from the year 2001 when the service was created and until 2009. The study is focused on the relationships between users of the service, its administration and different actors in society.
The research material consists of three kinds of texts. Firstly, these are articles of the leading news source of the Russian Internet, Lenta.ru that speak about Livejournal. Secondly, the academic works dedicated to Russian blogosphere. Thirdly, interviews with blogosphere experts are included in the empirical material. The articles and the academic papers were obtained on-line, while the interviews were conducted via telephone and with a help of the narrative interview method. The methodology of the thesis consisted of narrative theory and grounded theory.
The result of the research is the story of Russian-speaking Livejournal, where the relationship between blogging and various pillars of Russian society is identified. Livejournal has first appeared in Russian society as communicational tool of the intellectual elite, but soon gained broad popularity and has attracted businesses, media and political actors. Generally blogging has served as a tool which Russians have been using in order to overcome the lack of such institutions of society as free media and safety nets.
Asiasanat:Livejournal, Russia, Blogosphere, Runet
The research material consists of three kinds of texts. Firstly, these are articles of the leading news source of the Russian Internet, Lenta.ru that speak about Livejournal. Secondly, the academic works dedicated to Russian blogosphere. Thirdly, interviews with blogosphere experts are included in the empirical material. The articles and the academic papers were obtained on-line, while the interviews were conducted via telephone and with a help of the narrative interview method. The methodology of the thesis consisted of narrative theory and grounded theory.
The result of the research is the story of Russian-speaking Livejournal, where the relationship between blogging and various pillars of Russian society is identified. Livejournal has first appeared in Russian society as communicational tool of the intellectual elite, but soon gained broad popularity and has attracted businesses, media and political actors. Generally blogging has served as a tool which Russians have been using in order to overcome the lack of such institutions of society as free media and safety nets.
Asiasanat:Livejournal, Russia, Blogosphere, Runet