Bloggers Under the Rule of Digital Platforms

Blogging was initially considered solely as a leisure activity. Over time its’ professionalization began to take place (Karabacak, Genç, 2019). Bloggers use their social media channels as a platform for entrepreneurship, generating income from content creation. It includes both on- and off-platform income (Johnson et al., 2022). Bloggers convert social and symbolic capital accumulated online into economic capital offline (Ivanov et al., 2021).

Bloggers become dependent on digital platforms. Platforms’ actions or other external restrictions, including sanctions, may lead to financial problems of bloggers, such as monetization suspension.

Two nationally representative population surveys on the topic of digitalization (2022, 2024) were used to study Internet users who have any kind of blog. This research assessed the prevalence of blogging and identified the factors contributing to its transformation into a way to earning for living. In addition, the tactics that bloggers have resorted to in order to maintain their business and income in the face of external constraints are analyzed.

Between 2022 and 2024 about 2-3% of respondents aged 14 and above identified themselves as bloggers. The majority of them have blogs with no more than a 1000 subscribers. Only every third blogger regularly posts content (35% in 2022 and 28% in 2024), while the rest post something only occasionally. Such activities are mainly carried out by young people and women. Only one in five bloggers receives regular income from this activity (17% in 2022 and 22% in 2024). Mostly, they have large audiences. Under the external constraints bloggers appeared to be flexible. Many of them moved from digital platforms that left national market for another alternatives.