Parenting blogs as a platform for the (self-) presentation of a modern Polish family

Abstract

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The paper aims to present the results of the parenting blogosphere analysis focusing on the ways of presenting a modern Polish family.

RESEARCH PROBLEM and METHODS: The research problem was constructed as questions about the characteristics of the Polish parenting blogosphere, profiles of parenting blog authors, the scope and motivation to create content which is a source of information about the family. In the empirical part of the study, qualitative methods, netnography, content analysis and auxiliary quantitative research on statistical data were used.

PROCESS OF THE ARGUMENTATION: The first part of the paper explains the legitimacy of using selected research methods and presents the process of selecting the research sample. Secondly, it describes the specificity of the Polish family. Then, the article presents the characteristics of parenting blogs and their authors. Finally, the most prevalent models of the Polish family presented by bloggers are identified.

RESEARCH RESULTS: The results of the analyses show that the topic of family is usually perceived through one’s own experiences. The blogs included in the analysis do not describe family problems in a general context but rather they are focused on the roles of mothers, fathers or relationship with children. The family is often seen as a collection of individual problems of related people.

CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, RECOMMENDATIONS: The family, from the bloggers’ perspective, is very diverse and it depends on many factors (trends, socio-economic situation or culture). The uncertainty associated with the social and environmental acceptance of new family models is becoming increasingly common. Therefore, this study opens a discussion on the changing image of the family presented in social media. The topic seems important in the absence of comprehensive research on the parenting blogosphere in Poland.