Report on Gender, Identity and Language Use in Teenage Blogs by David A. Huffaker and Sandra L. Calvert (2006)

Report on Gender, Identity and Language Use in Teenage Blogs by David A. Huffaker and Sandra L. Calvert (2006)

Abstract        

            The study analyzes the online identity and language use among male and female teenagers which has created weblogs which can be viewed publicly on the internet or World Wide Web. Online identity and language use on those weblogs are examined in terms of the exposure of personal information, sexual identities, emotive features and semantic themes.

Introduction

            The researchers assert about the proneness of adolescents to use the internet in today’s modern world, collected from various sources. Especially for teenagers, which have just reached the age of puberty, they tend to use the internet indirectly for identity exploration and also to expose their emotions.

Objective of the Study         

            The objective of the study is to examine how adolescents use weblogs to explore their identity. The researchers have analyzed the language and emotional codes that teenagers use to express themselves in weblogs.

Theories and Hypotheses

            Before starting the analysis, the researchers come out with several theories and hypotheses. Firstly, male teenage bloggers will provide more personal information than the female ones. Secondly, females will use emoticons more often than males. Thirdly, the girls will discuss intimate topics such as sexual identity more openly than the boys. The fourth hypothesis is males will use language that is more aggressive, resolute and active. The final hypothesis is the female bloggers will use language that is more passive, cooperative and accommodating than males.

Methodology

            For the methodology, the researchers decide to do a content analysis on the blogs by teenagers that is selected randomly. For the sampling, firstly, the blogs are retrieved using two of the oldest and famous blog hosting sites which are Blogspot and LiveJournal. Secondly, those blogs must be suitable to their technical specifications. After the removal of inactive URLs or links, 184 teenage active blogs remain which consist of 63 male blogs and 121 female blogs. After using the stratified random sampling to equally divide the gender participants, 70 blogs remain which consist of 35 male blogs and 35 female blogs. Only 67% of the bloggers reveal their age. Most of them are between 13 to 19 years old. The mean age among 26 male bloggers is 15.31 while for the females, the mean age is 15.67 from the 21 bloggers who revealed their age.

            For the procedure, DICTION 5.0, a content analysis software package is used. The software evaluates documents in terms of word counts as well as content types and language tone. The front page of each blog is examined to search for personally identifiable information, emotive features, sexual identity, and gendered language.

Findings

            The results from the use of DICTION 5.0 cover aspects of online identity and language use for the total sample, as well as for males and females separately. Then, comparisons of male and female blogs, and also statistical analyses are conducted. Regarding the exposure of personal information, the hypothesis is male teenage bloggers will provide more personal information than female bloggers. However, the results show that there is no obvious difference between the genders for the majority of the categories. The most exposed information is names (70%), followed by age (67%) and contact information in the form of email (61%). The less disclosed information is full name with 20% only and also birth date (39%). The second analysis is regarding the use of emotive features. 63% of the total bloggers use emoticons which represent both graphical icons and text-based smiley. Blog authors frequently use Happy (53%) and Sad (30%). Other emotive features such as Angry (4%), Flirty (5%), or Tired (5%) are less frequent. Also contrary to the prediction, there are no overall gender differences regarding the use of emoticons. However, there is a trend that male bloggers use more flirty and sad emoticons rather than the females. On the other hand, regarding the language, the results are in line with the fourth hypothesis which demonstrates that male teenage bloggers produce more sureness, activeness and resoluteness in their language. Finally, for the communal language patterns, the results are contrary to the prediction. Earlier, the researchers expect that females would use more cooperating and accommodating language, however, the results show no difference between the genders.

Discussion

            The discussion from the study explains that anonymity and flexibility are inherent in the Internet arena because personal information is easily exposed. Providing personal information is a cause for concern. Sexual predators can pose a serious threat to minors who are online. Regarding the use of emotive features picture that blogs provide a space for self-expression because majority of the bloggers use emoticons. The result support the words of David Crystal (2001) in which he suggested that emoticons are used to fill a void in online communication. In terms of the language use, it is hard to differentiate which gender is more active, passive, confident and resolute because the language and the social interactions on the Internet are changing, perhaps because the participants are changing. In addition, the researchers claim that comparing language on the Internet to traditional gender and language studies is often oversimplified because online interactions offer more freedom and flexibility.

Conclusion

            In conclusion, the researchers state that the Internet has produced a new medium for identity exploration. The language on the Internet represents a new type of discourse that is shaped by the creativity and innovation of its communities of users (Crystal, 2001). This new discourse can be used to express the identities and emotions especially among adolescent users. In addition, weblogs represent a CMC environment where both identity and language play important roles. From the data, it can be said that teenage bloggers decide to reveal personally identifying information, including their names and their sexual orientations. Regarding the gender issue, it is hard to differentiate the use of emotive features and the discourse because the trend is changing continuously, while the traditional expectation and prediction of male and female are interchangeable nowadays because of the technology. The researchers finally conclude that blogs deserve further exploration by scholars because there is a need for a more in depth study for CMC.

Bibliography

Crystal, D. (2001). Language and the Internet. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Huffaker, D. (2004a). The educated blogger: Using weblogs to promote literacy in the      classroom. First Monday, 9 (6). Retrieved January 4, 2005 from            http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue9_6/huffaker/index.html.

Huffaker, D. A. and Calvert, S. L. (2005), Gender, Identity, and Language Use in Teenage             Blogs. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10: 00. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-    6101.2005.tb00238.x  (Volume 10, Issue 2, page 00, published 2005, first published     online January 2006)