Reasons for blogging?

From the department of altruism never existed:

Blogging may help people feel happier and more satisfied with their friends, according to Melbourne researchers.

The findings, from researchers at Swinburne University of Technology, show that after two months, new bloggers felt more socially connected than those who did not blog.

Psychologist James Baker said this suggested that blogging could actually be good for people - helping them to feel part of a community.

"It makes people feel closer and more connected," Mr Baker said.

"That's good because there's been a fair bit of press about the dangers of blogging ... so you'd hope there's some sort of benefit."

The research, conducted by Mr Baker and Professor Susan Moore, is based on two surveys, with the first asking 134 new users of the social networking site MySpace whether or not they intended to blog.

The results, published in the latest edition of the journal CyberPsychology & Behaviour, showed people who intended to blog were more psychologically distressed than those who didn't intend to blog.

They had higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress, and were more likely to use self-blame and venting to cope and also less satisfied with the number of friends they had.

Two months later the researchers followed up 59 of the same group of MySpace users, this time comparing those who had blogged to those who had not.

The findings, which have been submitted to a journal, showed the bloggers were happier about the number of friends they had, both online and face-to-face, and were more likely to reach out to these friends for help.

'They felt more socially integrated," Mr Baker said. "They felt that their friends were a better fit and they connected better."

The researchers are planning further research that will look at the experiences of a larger group of bloggers.