Political participation by political bloggers in Hong Kong: a case study of the 2014 umbrella movement

Abstract

Political blogs have played an increasingly more important role in Hong Kong politics. However, research on this topic remains scarce. This analysis examines how political bloggers in Hong Kong used their blogs to participate in politics through a detailed content analysis of 960 political blog articles published on two major news websites -House News Bloggers and Speak Out HK- during the 2014 Umbrella Movement. This study found that "soapbox" stood out as the most popular function hereof, as political bloggers on both ends of the political spectrum actively used their blogs to influence the legitimacy of the Umbrella Movement in the public discourse. A substantial number of blog articles from House News Bloggers also included the functions of "transmission belt", "informing readers", and "mobilising political action". Finally, only a small proportion of the articles from House News Bloggers and Speak Out HK included the function of "conversation starter".