Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

the case of Russian expatriates on LiveJournal

Nina Kresova1 SIETAR Europa CongressTallin, 21/09/2013

Research data101 Russian-speaking emigrants' blogs on LiveJournal.

Database: http://www.vitartis.com

Blogs or weblogs are “frequently modified web

pages in which dated entries are listed in reverse

chronological sequence” (Herring et al., 2004).

Data collection method: initial search on several

platforms as Blogspot, Blogger, Wordpress and

LiveJournal and via Google blog search; snowball

sampling techniqueNina Kresova2 Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

25 differents countries:

Argentina (1), Australia (5), Belgium (1), Canada

(8), China (2), Croatia (Hrvatska) (1), Finland (3),

France (2), Germany (1), Iceland (1), Ireland (3),

Israel (11), Italia (1), Italy (5), Japan (3),

Luxembourg (1), Mexico (8), Netherlands (1), New

Zealand (1), Russia (1), Saudi Arabia (1), Singapore

(2), Spain (4), Sweden (3), United Kingdom (4),

United States (28)

Who blogs? Where they live

Nina Kresova3 Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

Who blogs? Graph 1: Age

Nina Kresova4

3,2%

0%

10,6%

26,6%

22,3%

18,1%

4,3%

9,6%

3,2%2,1%

15-20 20-25 25-30 30-35 35-40 40-45 45-50 50-55 55-60 > 60

Average age: 36 for Women and 40 for Men

Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

Who blogs? Graph 2: years of emigration

Nina Kresova5

24,5% 24,5%

16,3%

21,4%

10,2%

0%

3,1%

0-5 5-10 10-15 15-20 20-25 25-30 >30

Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

Who blogs? Graph 3: occupation

Nina Kresova6

25%

19%

11%10%

7%

7%

6%

14%

1%

Computers

Research+Universities

Communication

Language+Translation

Manufacturing

Teaching

Medicine

Other

Housewife

Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

Who blogs? Graph 4: marital status

Nina Kresova7

80%

15%

4%

1%

Married Single Divorced Widow

Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

Who blogs?

38 year old

Higher education

Qualified worker

Married with children

Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?Nina Kresova8

What they are blogging about? Graph 5: blogs' creation dates

Nina Kresova9

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Female

Male

Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

What they are blogging about? Graph 6: Bio box

Nina Kresova10

about me to readers credo about LJ

Male

Female

Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

What they are blogging about? Graph 7: avatars

Nina Kresova11

33%

7%

6%16%

38%Conceptual image

Artwork

Joke

Picture of someone else

Personal photo

0,0

5,0

10,0

15,0

20,0

25,0

30,0

35,0

40,0

45,0

Conceptualimage

Artwork Joke Picture ofsomeone

else

Personalphoto

women

men

Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

Written in Russian

Long term blogging

Abstract reflections, observations on private and

social life events

High self-disclosure

Feedback is always expected

What they are blogging about?

Nina Kresova12 Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

To maintain contact with native language

To maintain contact with the social environment

of the place of origin

To clarify and reinforce one’s social

identity and sense of belonging

Why they are blogging?

Nina Kresova13 Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

Other studies Narratives about presidential election 2012 (Kresova,

Ivanova, 2013).

Bloggers of the study reveal an “insecure” identity (Tajfel, 1974) in relation to

both host- and homeland societies

Friends and enemies of Russian emigrants: discursive

strategies to reinforce social identity (Kresova, Sauthampton

University, July 2013)

Bloggers of the study choose as their in-group “negative Other” “bad” Russian

emigrants. They position themselves as reliable members or worthy

candidates of both national majorities (host- and homeland).

Shall I tell you about my life: narratives from emigrants’

blogs (Kresova, Charles University, July 2013)

They manifest clear awareness of their responsibility, realistic vision of their

life and successes. They present themselves as fighters who don't surrender

under any circumstances.

Nina Kresova14 Living and blogging abroad: who, what and why?

Thank you for your attention!

The research has been supported by the Estonian Science Foundation and FP7 Marie Curie People

COFUND (ERMOS 52-2011, ETF 8874)

Nina KresovaUniversity of Tartu, Estonia

vitartis@gmail.com