Making Sense of Corporate Tour-Guide Bloggers' Networking Behavior: A Social Network Perspective

Drawing on studies of social networks and technology sensemaking, this study examines tour guide bloggers’ perceptions of their corporate blogs and how their perceptions and interpretations lead to different types of relationships in their blog networks. We conduct a qualitative case study of a major Taiwanese travel agency. Our findings suggest that corporate bloggers as actors make different senses on blogging and these senses lead them to establish different levels of closeness to their alters (other network actors). Providing social support and especially material support play significant roles in aggrandizing the transitivity, which help to attract more visitors to their blogs. However, the innovation and potential connections that may follow from the individualistic styles of some bloggers in addition to the hedonic emotional support to a travel blog should not be overlooked. Corporate bloggers should thus consider offering more incentives and should be given freedom to prosper in their grassroots use of technology.